PS4 and Xbox One help Argos smash festive records

Catalogue retailer Argos posted its best Christmas results in a decade with the help of video games.

The retailer called out gaming – in particular Xbox One and PS4 – for helping it increase like-for-like sales by 3.6 per cent. Sales of tablets and white goods also improved significantly.

The firm has become a significant player in games, and its 737 stores means Argos is now the UK’s biggest games retailer on the High Street.

Towards the end of last year it was picked by Sony and Microsoft to help stranded customers that had pre-ordered Xbox One and PS4 consoles from now defunct retailer Blockbuster.

The firm also launched a special video games mini-catalogue at the end of last year, and has been aggressive in its console bundles and pricing. This week it hit the headlines for cutting the price of Wii U to 180.