Web sales deliver the goods for Argos

Home Retail Group, the parent company of Argos and Homebase, has said its argos.com website now contributes 22 per cent of total sales for the brand.

The retailer delivered half-year results which showed total sales of £2.7bn for the 26 weeks to 30 August - level with the same period the year before.

However online business for both brands has grown.

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Argos said: "Argos and Homebase will continue to develop their internet offerings, which benefit from integrating the strengths of the store portfolios and the scale efficiencies of the shared home delivery infrastructure."

Orders made over the internet, phone and in-store orders for home delivery made up 38 per cent of sales for the period.

Of internet sales (approximately £400m for the period, based on total sales of £1.8bn), more than half were sales reserved online, but paid for at the store.

The retailer said this channel grew by 50 per cent for Argos in the period, driven by web features such as real-time stock checking of any product in the two nearest stores to the customer's location as well as text messaging confirming the online reservation and reminding the shopper their reservation is about to expire.

Other website features in development by Argos include customer reviews, initially trialled in electricals, and 360-degree images of products to give the customer a better idea of what they are buying.

On the DIY side, the retailer said homebase.co.uk has reached £25m of annual sales: small beer compared to the online revenues of its sister company, but Home Retail Group said plans are in place to double the number of product lines that can be bought over the web to 7,000 over the next 12 months, which will provide the opportunity to double internet sales over the medium term.