Argos (Argos)

Member Name: chris212

Product:	Argos
Date:	28/06/09 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Always a store nearby - Cheaper than some other stores

Disadvantages: Products not always on stock - Not the friendliest of staff

Argos are one of the biggest catalogue stores in the United Kingdom. By catalogue store I mean the store leaves very little of the store for the customers, as it does not have any of its products in display except for one or two items; with the vast majority of the store used like a warehouse.

What this means is the store does not put any products on display, meaning they cannot be stolen and the store does not lose any money, meaning they can sell their products for less than other stores. In terms of layout of the store space open to the public, it will use consists of a number of tables that will have the stores latest catalogue along with a blue machine. The blue machine is used to enter the products number from the catalogue to ascertain whether the product you want is in stock or not. Once a person knows whether the product is in stock or not they can write down the product code and take it either to the self service point or to the till.

One of the good points about the store is that it lets you reserve products to pay for and picked up in store, meaning you can save on posting and packaging. The way this is done is either by using the self service points or going to the till. The only thing that you will need to do this is the reference number of the reserved product.

In Cardiff, I am within easy reach of three stores, but there can be problems with some of the stores. The nearest of the three is the smallest store, meaning is does not stock as higher number as the other two stores. Which can be really annoying as you go to the store and quite often I have found the product that I want is not in stock, meaning I have to travel to one of the other two stores.

The second problem that I have, in relation to the same store is the time you wait between paying for the item and then receiving the item. As this is unique to a catalogue store as you cannot actually take the products to the till and walk out. As you have to wait for your number on your receipt to be called and the wait time on the display is not always accurate. The worse thing of all is the staff don't even apologies when it has taken a fair length of time to retrieve the product.

In terms of the staff at the stores, what I have found is that the majority of the staff are young, either school leavers or students working part time. While I'm a student myself, you get the feeling from the staff that they have better things that they ought to be doing and you do not feel important enough. The example of above of not even apologising when you suffer a long delay for a product, a simple 'sorry for the delay' would be polite and courteous.

Overall the, while Argos stores may be cheaper than other store, they are still more expensive than internet sites. This means that usually I only use the store if I want the product there and then. I would therefore suggest to a friend to have a look at the store but I would not suggest a friend to go out of their way and only go to Argos.

Summary: Ok if you want you item there and then