Argos says it will have add almost 4,000 'aspirational' products by early next year, boosting its appeal to the middle classes.
According to Argos managing director John Walden the chain has added more expensive electronics, kitchenware from Denby Pottery and cookers from Stoves that sell for £2,500.
'The offer was biased towards a less affluent shopper - from the product to the customer experience. But by early next year, we will have added about 8,000 new lines and about 40 or 50 per cent of that will be more aspitational products,' he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
Walden said he decked out much of his house with Argos products when he relocated to London from the US two years ago inlcuding two Dysons vacuum cleaners and Habitat furniture.
Argos is testing stores where the catalogues on tables for browsing are being replaced by iPad-style tablet computers. A new store design will also aim to tempt more affluent shoppers into stores with 'fast lanes' for serving those in a hurry.
The retailer is one year into a five year 'digital transformation plan' and has hired a number of new directors to help push the plan.
Mobile commerce on tablets and smartphones at Argos more than doubled (124 per cent) in the first-half of its financial year and made up 16 per cent sales. It said 43 per cent of total sales were online including those through its 'Check & Reserve' service.
Multichannel sales represent 52 per cent of total Argos sales. Profit at the chain, which is owned by Homebase parent group Home Retail, more than doubled to 7.7 million in the first-half.
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