page_title: Catalog merchant
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Catalog merchant / Countries / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: Argos, showing the new branding on Victoria Lane in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Taken on the afternoon of Saturday the 3rd of April 2010.
context_page_description: A catalog merchant is a form of retailing. The typical merchant sells a wide variety of household and personal products, with many emphasizing jewelry. Unlike a self-serve retail store, most of the items are not displayed; customers select the products from printed catalogs in the store and fill out an order form. The order is brought to the sales counter, where a clerk retrieves the items from the warehouse area to a payment and checkout station.
context_section_description: In the United Kingdom, the sole national general goods catalogue merchant left in the high street market is Argos.  Former catalogue retailers include Littlewoods, which owned the 'Index' brand as a high street competitor to Argos and Kays, which unlike Argos and Littlewoods/Index had no shops and sold only by postal orders.  Littlewoods, Kays and existing Grattan built their businesses around offering credit, however in the 21st century most High Street shops now offer store cards (a means of credit specific to the retailer) meaning these catalogues have lost some of their market niche.
  Littlewoods also ran a smaller catalogue that did not offer credit called Index.  Unlike goods from the Littlewoods Catalogue, which were purchased via postal order, Index goods could be purchased at Index branches and some branches of the Littlewoods department stores.
  Unlike Littlewoods, Kays and Grattan, who focused mainly on Clothing, Argos (and formerly Index) focus primarily on furniture, electronics and white goods.  In 2001, Argos started a clothing catalogue called Argos Additions, however they sold the brand to Shop Direct Group in 2004.
caption: A smaller branch of Argos in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Argos is the largest catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom.
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