According to the plan after acquiring Argos last year, online sales will be strengthened.
Since last year, they have used the domain name Argos.com as the official website of the Argos online mall.
Over the past year or so, online ordering has become the largest method for Argos department store, while the proportion of traditional phone, text message and in-store orders has been decreasing.
Since acquiring the Primark clothing chain, this strategy has also been applied to this cheap clothing brand.
Not only does Primark have its own online shopping mall, but it will also have a dedicated clothing section on Argos.com.
Although Argos Retail Group is still increasing the number of their stores, after evaluation, they believe that the e-commerce model can greatly reduce the company's operating costs and allow them to replace the warehouse stores that previously displayed a full range of products in each city with more drive stores and pickup points with a wider coverage.
For example, when expanding in the French market, Argos used this approach - opening warehouse stores that display a full range of products in important commercial areas of each city, and then in other areas, combining drive stores and pickup points to complete coverage of a city in the shortest time.
Moreover, compared with full-category warehouse stores that require a larger area, the required floor space for both drive stores and pickup points is greatly reduced. Often, a full-category warehouse store requires more than 500 square meters of display area alone, while a drive store only needs less than 100 square meters. As for pickup points, even a small store of 20-50 square meters can be used.
This will provide more options for store branches and greatly reduce rental costs.
The biggest reason why Argos was able to cover all large and medium-sized cities in France in such a short period of time is the use of this flexible approach.
Therefore, in order to encourage users to use the Argos website to purchase goods, starting from New Year's Day this year, the Argos Retail Group has launched a free delivery campaign for users who spend more than 99 euros...
Well, in England and France, users who choose to pick up the goods themselves need to pay part of the packaging fee. If the goods are delivered to their home, they have to pay the delivery fee. Currently, the Argos website only supports delivery and pick-up in cities where it has outlets, and does not support postal services in other parts of the country.
For example, in England, Argos covers all cities and most towns, but I'm sorry, we can't provide it in more remote areas.
As for France, delivery is currently only provided within cities.
However, at the same time as Argos Retail Group began to enter the German market, DS Holdings also invested 50 million pounds in "Speedway", a logistics and warehousing company previously spun off from Argos, to continue to increase its scale and launch personal express delivery services covering Britain and Ireland.
At this time, the largest express logistics giant in the UK is the Royal Mail. This state-owned company has monopolized the UK's postal industry for 350 years and enjoys various privileges in the UK, including exemption from value-added tax and the company's mail trucks are not subject to parking restrictions.
The Royal Mail's business accounted for 97% of the UK's postal service market at that time, and handled an average of 80 million mail deliveries per day in and outside the UK. It should be noted that 20 years later, ZTO, the world's largest express delivery company, only handled an average of 60 million pieces of mail per day.
However, Barron knew that the current situation would soon change and would reach a major turning point on January 1, 2006.
At that time, the UK postal regulator will begin to implement new rules, allowing postal companies to compete openly and "share" the UK postal service market.
Before then, Britain's postal regulator will issue long-term operating licenses to 13 postal companies, a move that will clear the way for them to compete fairly with the Royal Mail.
Therefore, "Subida" at this time needs to prepare in advance to "grab the cake" when the time comes.
On July 25, the Argos website launched its membership program.
After users register as members on Argos.com, they will be able to accumulate points when shopping on the website, and can use the points to offset service fees including packaging and delivery fees.
After the launch of this plan, the number of registered members on the Argos website began to increase rapidly, exceeding 5 million new users in just one week...
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Barron's team has made great progress in finding large passenger aircraft to convert into private jets.
This progress came from Boeing, which responded that an airline had cut its order for Boeing's 747-430 and was likely preparing to purchase Airbus's upcoming A380. Therefore, a Boeing 747-430 aircraft that had already completed its main construction could be delivered to Barron in advance and the interior space and decoration could be customized for him.
If this is the case, it is expected to be completed within three months, which means delivery can be made before September 20.
It is estimated that including the cost of internal decoration, the total funds required will be around US$250 million to US$270 million.
If you want to get the plane in the shortest possible time, this is probably your only chance besides buying someone else's second-hand plane.
So Barron immediately made the decision to buy this Boeing 747.
Barron had previously learned from Abramovich that he had just ordered a private jet, but it was a Boeing 767.
Although the Boeing 767 looks like a model that is positioned further back than the 747, in fact, the Boeing 767 is much smaller than the 747.
Until the Airbus A380 came along, the Boeing 747 held the record for the world's largest passenger aircraft.
For example, Prince Alwaleed's Boeing 747 private jet is a 747-400, and the 747-430 that Barron is about to buy is a newer model than his.
The final version of the Boeing 747, the 747-8, will not be announced for development until the end of next year, and will not be rolled off the production line until after 2011 - it is a project launched by Boeing to compete with Airbus' A380.
In order to fulfill Barron's order, Boeing sent a special team to London to assist Barron in finalizing the modification plan for his Boeing 747.
An extra-large bedroom inside is a must, and it also needs to be extremely luxurious...
In addition, it is also necessary to leave a garage on the bottom floor of the aircraft that can park the convoy, so that Barron's entourage can leave directly by car wherever they go.
The aircraft will be named "Duke of Devonshire" and the Devonshire family crest and the aircraft's name will be painted on its fuselage.
The aircraft was purchased and held by DS Asset Management, and its subsidiaries shared the daily maintenance costs - these can be counted as company expenses to reduce taxes.
Barron's previous Gulfstream G450 was also operated in the same way.
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According to the plan of Manchester United Club, starting from mid-July, after the end of the European Cup, they led the team to Asia and started their first Asian tour.
The first stop of the Asian tour is China. Three friendly matches will be held in China's Magic City, Qindao and Hong Kong, against Shenhua, Luneng Taishan and the Hong Kong regional team respectively...
In addition, a series of activities will be held in these three cities to communicate with Manchester United fans.
At the same time, Manchester United will also cooperate with Alibaba to set up an official store of Manchester United on Taobao to sell genuine peripheral products of Manchester United to Chinese fans.
It can be said that this trip to China was entirely a business event organized by Manchester United's brand management company to establish the brand image to the fans in China. After Manchester United's management, including head coach Ferguson, were able to obtain a part of Manchester United's commercial operating income, head coach Ferguson also changed his attitude. He is no longer so opposed to players participating in these activities as long as it does not affect the team's normal competitive state.
After all, in addition to these, during this trip to China, many players of Manchester United Club and Manchester United Club also received sponsorship from many Chinese companies and carried out advertising cooperation with them, earning considerable income.
Well, in this process, we will also pay attention to the commercial image of the players. Anyway, we will not let Ronaldo accept the endorsement of the Golden Throat Lozenges...