Argos safe for now
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that e-tail giant Amazon is looking to snap-up prime retail locations in the UK with a view to opening outlets that would provide a ‘click-and-collect' service - a sort of Argos type thing, we suppose.
Well, Amazon spoke to Reuters shortly after, very briefly, to state that it has no plans to open retail outlets anywhere in the world. And that was all it wanted to say on the matter.
A closer inspection of the ST story reveals that there don't seem to have been any Amazon insiders sourced for the story, rather an unnamed number of property landlords, who reckon Amazon is surreptitiously trying to build a portfolio of retail assets.
If both stories are true - that Amazon is buying retail property, but has no plans to open stores - this opens the possibility of either a joint-venture or the acquisition of a bricks-and-mortar operation.
This could involve another brand being the retail front-end and Amazon providing all the logistical and online infrastructure. Such an operation would indeed be a direct competitor to Argos in the UK.
