Argos

Founded in 1973, Argos is a unique catalogue retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience.

It sells general merchandise and products for the home from over 700 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, online and over the telephone. In the last financial year, Argos sales topped £4.3 billion.

This fast paced, general merchandise and home retailer currently operates from over 700 stores, including 39 throughout the Republic of Ireland, online and over the telephone. In the last financial year, Argos International sales topped £4.3 billion (€5.32 billion euros).

Argos serves over 130 million customers a year through its stores and takes four million customer orders either online or over the phone. On average, 18 million UK households, or around two thirds of the population, have an Argos catalogue at home at any time. Argos expects to add around 20 stores in the new financial year. Its internet site is the second most visited internet retail site in the UK. Argos is Retail Week's 2009 Online Retailer of the Year and winner of the Customer Service Initiative Award.

Although run as an independent business, Argos is part of the Home Retail Group. Home Retail Group is the UK's leading home and general merchandise retailer with sales of over £5.9 billion in the last financial year. It sells products under two distinctive and complementary retail brands, Argos and Homebase, which are household names in the UK. Argos is a unique multi-channel retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience and is the UK's leading seller of general merchandise. Homebase is the UK's second largest home improvement retailer and is recognised for choice, style and customer service across the wider home enhancement market.
Home Retail Group employs approximately 51,000 people, and has 1,000 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland and serves over 200 million customers a year.

Did you know;

• Home Retail Group makes 7 million deliveries to 1 in 6 UK homes each year
• Argos serves over 130 million customers each year through its 680 stores
• Over 1/3 of Argos' sales now bypass the store as the order or receipt channel

We're not just a great business with our figures; but with our people too...

• Argos ROI have the most improved staff turnover figures in the company
• Argos ROI have the second highest Employee Engagement results within the company
• Argos ROI has the highest promotion rate within the company
• Argos ROI... more than a store... a CAREER!

Careers at Argos are different

A lot of people think they know exactly what a career in retail management entails. Well, at Argos, they can show you a few surprises. Not being your average retailer, Argos don't offer average retail management careers, and they don't look for average people; they look for people with the potential to shape the business and inspire their employees.

You see, Argos is unlike the vast majority of other retailers... they provide all the support and backing their management teams could ever ask for. Not to mention giving them the freedom to get on with running their store the way they want to. It means real responsibility, leading by example and never being afraid to muck in. That's what being an Argos Manager is all about.

Empowerment comes as standard. After all, you could be part of a management team of four running a £30m business. But if you're the right sort of manager for Argos, you'll thrive on this sort of challenge. Which is why the attitude you bring is just as important as your experience!

Opportunities in Stores

Argos has always been dedicated to providing their customers with the best range of goods at the most competitive prices. Not to mention the most convenient shopping experience. This has meant they've continually evolved to improve and widen the range of services they offer.

But whatever they do, they realise that they can only be as good as their people. Argos people are the real secret to their success! The ones who deliver the outstanding customer service that makes Argos more than just another shop and keeps their customers coming back for more, time and time again.

Awards

Argos won two top awards at the prestigous 'People in Retail Awards' in 2006', one for Employer of the Year and one for Team Player of the Year. The retail bulletin's 'People in Retail Awards 2006' recognise that it is people that make a difference in retail. Enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment to customer service creates a buzz that transforms an everyday shopping experience.

At the Retail Week awards 2009 Argos received two awards;

Online Retailer of the Year - this award recognised the success of Argos.co.uk, which allows customers to purchase products for home delivery and reserve products for collection in-store. The ability to link internet to store is truly a multi-channel offer.

Customer Services Initiative of the Year - this award acknowledged the service which enables customers to shop online or by telephone and get a text message when their item is ready for collection in-store, meaning they only have to visit the store once.

Store Manager of the year

Milton Keynes Store Manager, Marie Wilson was named Store Manager of the Year at the Retail Week Awards 2005.

In a year where the awards attracted a record of entries, Marie was up against some very tough competition from store managers of Currys, B&Q, The Carphone Warehouse, Holland & Barrett and Waterstones.

Marie joined Argos from school in 1981, initially as part of the youth training Scheme. Her employment started as a customer advisor, in 1993 she was promoted to a management position where she stayed until 2001 working her way up to store manager. She then managed a number of stores before being asked to set up and open a new store in 2003.

Opening a new store is never easy. Opening a new store in the run up to peak trading is decidedly tricky. This was the task facing Marie in the winter of 2003. Managing and training a new team with limited support, but in the end the store opened two days ahead of schedule, with a fully flexible team and traded successfully through peak period. Since then the performance of the store has gone from strength to strength.

Marie has shown throughout her work with Argos, commitment to retail, energy, enthusiasm and dedication. She has stuck to her own personal belief in empowering her people to achieve success. Constantly going that extra mile to ensure that the customer receives a quality of service that exceeds their expectations.

The Retail Week awards have come to be recognised as the showcase for the leading performers in the UK retail industry. This is the first time that an Argos store manager has won this award, and it is recognition that the job of managing an Argos store and driving high standards of performance for customers through a team is a very significant and fulfilling challenge.

Developing the brand

As an internationally leading general merchandise retailer, Argos provides a highly successful and unique offer of choice, value and convenience.

Further market share gains achieved. With sales growing 8% to £4.3 billion, Argos continued to extend its share of the overall home and general merchandise market.

Widest ever customer choice. The current Argos catalogue offers over 17,000 lines across all stores and channels. Since national roll-out of the additional Argos Extra ranges, awareness of the wider offering has continued to build.

UK wide new stores; extending customer reach. There were 30 store openings, bringing the total at the end of the year to 700 stores. Of the 30 store openings, 3 were relocations and 10 were in new catchments, with the remainder being additional stores in an existing catchment area. The openings included 26 Argos Extra stocked-in stores.

Training & Development

Argos and the Home Retail Group take an active stance in developing the skills of its people. In the last year, they provided over 236,000 days of training. The figure includes the number of training days allocated in stores for both off-job and on-job training and inductions.

Every new starter has a formal induction to orientate themselves within the Group. Additionally, each employee has access to a development training programme. Entry to the programme is agreed with an employee's line manager during bi-annual reviews where training needs are assessed and agreed. 40 different training programmes are offered to all managers across the Group and all head office staff and this offer is refreshed every quarter. Workshops are available for managers in order for them to develop the necessary skills to get the most out of the performance reviews with their teams and offer good support.

Argos has an internal programme of developing management talent to enable employees to step up to senior management and future Board positions. Three different programmes are offered based on an individual's grade and in total five programmes are run every year, covering a period of approximately six months training.

Employee engagement

Argos see it as essential that they engage their employees as it is through their efforts that they can deliver their strategy. The company do this by listening to feedback made in their annual employee surveys and through clear top down communication cascaded through team briefings, large employee events, Intranet sites and staff newsletters.

The business conduct regular employee opinion surveys across all areas of the Home Retail Group, to understand colleagues' views and to identify ways in which they can continue to improve the working environment. The surveys calculate an ‘engagement' score which comprises a number of different measures including pride and advocacy.

Regular team briefings are held to share key messages and create a cascade to all employees, where relevant. Store managers brief their employees daily on key operational issues and new product launches.

Employee events are held at offices, distribution centres and at conferences, and these are used to communicate important changes within the Group, such as the recent demerger from GUS and the launch of new business initiatives, including Christmas and Easter trading plans to staff. In addition, Argos hold a number of functional conferences on a regular basis.

View all Argos UK retail jobs »

View all the retail jobs from Argos Ireland »

McCarthy Recruitment is actively seeking to fill positions for this client.
To apply please register with us or call 0161 828 8720 to discuss your options with our team of experienced recruitment consultants.

In a rush? Then use the 'CV Quick Submit' feature.

Make your move now with McCarthy.