Argos to leave Irish market

There's two third party websites. One that allow you check prices drops in Argos, the other to see what products are in stock and where in the county at a glance. Argos constantly blocked these while not providing the same functionality. Argos would instead post endless sales of items that are not in stock anywhere. Just impossible to use.
 
I always saw them as a catalogue version of Roche's Stores and long past their expiry date in the current format.

Was handy for a few bits though, but you go to collect and it's like the old green shield stamps collection point in Dundrum in the 70's. (Yep, I know it was connected to green shield stamps)

Very dated model.
 
AlbacoreA said:
I thought they'd become very sticky on returns, in recent years. Put me off them for expensive items.

I think they strategically let the Irish arm wither over the last 3 or 4 year.
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They give me the 3rd degree when I returned a faulty printer,, they even plugged it in for me to demonstrate the fault
 
I will really miss Argos for their customer reviews. Sometimes a cheap product could get brilliant reviews, and a more expensive one that sounded better just wasn't doing the job as well.
The click and collect was also handy, showing how many items were available,so I could check elsewhere for a better price.
 
Sue Ellen said:
SNIP models of machines that appeared to be out of date. SNIP
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Irony of ironies that was a great feature of Argos where you were trying to replace something that had become mainstream obsolete but had convenient utility for you e.g. radio cassette players ! Granny was not particularly keen on some of the modern stuff - it just didn't sound the same
 

The reviews are still available on places like Harvey Norman and Amazon.

The click and collect was handy alright but over the last few years their prices weren't great.
 
They (or their parent company) were bought by Sainsburys who have never had any interest whatsoever in the market over here. Sad really, they were good for little things like hoop earrings and microsd cards
 
lff12 said:
They (or their parent company) were bought by Sainsburys who have never had any interest whatsoever in the market over here. Sad really, they were good for little things like hoop earrings and microsd cards
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It was more that the standalone model no longer worked in the UK or Ireland except in selected locations.
Vast majority of UK shops are, or will be, integrated into a nearby Sainsbury's.

Ireland (republic) has no Sainsbury's and that was the primary reason for not continuing as they did not see it as a market that suited the new model.
 
Sounded more like a mismatch of brands which they bought without much thought then didn't know what to do with. I think the move into Sainsbury's was cost saving which they couldn't do here, and wasn't wholly successful in the UK either.

The stores here were doing ok until they starved them off stock and let the online system fail apart. They had the same system in the UK and it still works fine.
 
lff12 said:
They (or their parent company) were bought by Sainsburys who have never had any interest whatsoever in the market over here. Sad really, they were good for little things like hoop earrings and microsd cards
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Is there really anything you can get in Argos that isn't even handier to get on Amazon?
 
24601 said:
Is there really anything you can get in Argos that isn't even handier to get on Amazon?
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There was a time when most of the stuff was a lot quicker from Argos. It was easier returning stuff to Argos.

But then they starved Argos of stock, and they started to be difficult with returns. Upped their prices. While Amazon set up a distribution point here, making everything faster including returns.

That it survives in the UK where you can even get food from Amazon, suggests it still has niche. When I was in the UK over the summer I get some things in the local Argos far faster than from Amazon.

They basically abandoned Argos in Ireland. They did it long before the lockdown, and it has little to do with Amazon. IMO.

Amazon has gone into overdrive pushing Chinese cheap stuff, and 3rd party sellers, it's actually hard to filter it out. Lots of stuff won't deliver to Ireland again. Ironic now postal motel is gone. Often aren't that cheap compared to high street. It's not as good as it was either.
 
24601 said:
Is there really anything you can get in Argos that isn't even handier to get on Amazon?
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We hadn't shopped in Argos for years, until we moved to our current house, where there was one close by. We 'rediscovered' what they had to offer, and I have to say, we used it pretty frequently after that. The convenience / same-day factor was the biggest plus. Order it on the net, and nip down to pick it up. I can certainly see why, with Sainsbury's outlets all over the UK, they've gone down that route.

I needed a travel adaptor recently as we were heading away and couldn't find one at home, Argos was the first place that came to mind, then the penny dropped. Missing it already.
 
lff12 said:
Look for specific branded items. Their reviews are too easy to game and yes, far too much questionable quality items.
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It used to be you could research what to buy on Amazon. These days you need to research elsewhere and go to Amazon to check if their price on the exact model you want is acceptable (and it's not even always easy when searching for a specific brand and model...).
 
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