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Christmas Argos Black Friday

Argos falls foul of Black Friday boom as festive sales grow just 0.1%

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

January 15, 2015 | 1 min read

Argos has suffered from what IMRG described as a "compression" of Christmas, as Black Friday failed to deliver any significant sales boost over the key period as a whole.

Despite the four-day event driving a 45 percent uptick in like-for-like sales, it's overall growth for the 18 weeks to 3 January was just 0.1 per cent, well below the two per cent rise analysts had expected.

The Home Retail Group brand suffered under the strain of the spike, with its digital channels registering over 13.5 million visitors, three times as many as it had on Black Friday the year before.

Chief executive John Walden said the chain has previously seen a gradual build in sales, which peak at Christmas.

But Black Friday distorted this as "consumers satisfied their Christmas shopping lists with bargains."

Walden said next year it would be more selective about what’s on sale.

Sister brand Homebase faired marginally better, with like-for-like sales up 0.6 per cent, but still below the 4.1 per cent growth analysts predicted.

Christmas Argos Black Friday

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