The Dunfermline branch of Argos will be the first in Scotland to remove its iconic catalogues from the store.
Argos hailed a key milestone in its 40-year history as it threw open the doors to a new trial store where tablet computers will replace the retailer’s trademark laminated catalogues.
Customers will be able to browse, check product reviews and order via in-store iPads at six “digital concept” shops being launched by the group, with a 60-second fast-track collection service for those ordering online.
Tables of tablets will take the place of its traditional catalogues, pencils and paper slips across the trial outlets, although Argos assured customers it would not axe its catalogues altogether, and would still make them available on customer service desks for those “more comfortable using them for shopping”.
Argos is scaling back the print version of its catalogue as it introduces more digital versions, while it is also closing or relocating at least 75 stores over the next five years.
It insisted the store estate will remain at the heart of its business, however, with about 90% of all sales still involving a shop.
Argos managing director John Walden said: “Stores continue to be critically important as a national network for product collection, and a local presence for local colleagues to provide customer service.”
Its concept stores will enable shoppers to pay online for the first time and then pick up orders from fast-track points with a new distribution model allowing either immediate, same-day or next-day collection.