Sainsbury's takes the Argos route to more Locals

The supermarket giant is desperate to find a way to encourage shoppers away from the discounters Aldi and Lidl

A truck arrives at the Argos Distribution Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, central England (AFP)

Have you ever stood waiting in the snaking line that stretches throughout an entire Sainsbury’s Local, wondering “I wish I could pick up a blender to whip up my basket of fruits into a delicious smoothie?”

Well, you may able to do just that if Sainsbury’s has its way. The supermarket want to take over Argos and bring its laminated catalogues and little blue pens into its stores. Whether this could work – as stores become smaller and shoppers become more impatient – remains to be seen, especially for anyone who attempted to use Argos’s so-called “Fast Track” service this Christmas.

But with Sainsbury’s already banking £2bn a year on non-food items, and desperate to find a way to encourage shoppers away from the discounters Aldi and Lidl, this could be the answer to some of those problems.

Argos arguably invented click and collect and turned itself from a dusty pre-internet relic into a viable business. Sainsbury’s will be keen for a share of this market, and if its drivers can also drop off a toaster or kettle in the slots when groceries are being delivered, then shoppers might not go to Amazon so often – and investors will be pleased that more high-margin goods are being flogged. It also means shoppers could see an Argos in every “big box” Sainsbury’s supermarket, resolving the difficult question of what to do with all the empty space that has plagued the sector since Tesco thought it wise to embark on the ill-fated space race.

The trial of 10 Argos’s in Sainsbury’s appears to be working, and with the supermarket already operating around 500 high street stores, this could be a simple way for it to open up even more convenience stores when leases come to an end.

And, as Sainsbury’s seems to think, you can never have too many Sainsbury’s Locals.

Click here for Argos discount codes