Argos rise hits mid-market retailers.

Investors Chronicle, July, 2005

Value-based general merchandiser Argos - owned by GUS - has now overtaken the more aspirational department-store retailer, John Lewis, in the homewares market, according to retail consultants Verdict Research. Argos is now the homewares market leader, with a 5.2 per cent share in 2004. John Lewis, meanwhile, is close behind, with a 5 per cent share.

The homewares sector consists of smaller home products, such as toasters and towels, rather than the larger furnishing items. And Verdict's research shows that Argos's rise at the expense of John Lewis reflects a wider trend, with value operators, which include grocers Tesco and Asda, having increased their share of this market from 42 per cent to 49 per cent between 1999 and 2004. Over the same period, mid-market...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.