Argos predicts online will top 75 per cent of sales by 2016 as it turns to Twitter to name alien baby

Catalogue retailer Argos has predicted that a switch to digital will see the online side of its business account for 75 per cent of sales by 2016.In the midst of a restructuring exercise which will see the closure of less profitable stores, the High Street favourite saw a rise in sales of 2.1 per cent year-on-year to hit £3.9bn in 2012.During this period online accounted for 43 per cent of business, up from 40 per cent the year before, but a shift in emphasis leads the company to suspect this side of the business will mushroom, principally on the back of explosive mobile growth which hit 117 per cent in 2011.Speaking to ToyNews Marc Spence, Argos’ trading director for toys, freetime and jewellery,said: “We absolutely expect online sales to continue to grow. By 2016 we expect 75 per cent of our sales to be digitally-led.“Argos is the UK’s number one toy retailer (by value) and toys is an incredibly important category to our business. The split between online and store sales for toys is roughly in line with our overall business, where internet sales represent almost half of total sales.“The feedback [to our digital plans] from toy suppliers has been very positive and they are excited to see what’s next.In a separate development Argos have started a campaign on Twitter for users to name the new baby alien they announced was born yesterday, centrepiece of a new television campaign.

We're pleased to announce the birth of our little baby! Welcome to planet Earth: http://t.co/yrgirEwY2T #NameOurBaby ^ArgosAliens

— The Argos Aliens (@ArgosAliens) June 25, 2013

The @argosaliens need some baby name suggestions. Tweet us with your suggestion using #nameourbaby

— Argos (@Argos_Online) June 25, 2013