Sainsbury’s considering sale of Argos to firm dubbed ‘Chinese Amazon’

Sainsbury’s has announced it is in talks to sell e-retailer Argos to a Chinese online giant (Picture: Reuters)

Sainsbury’s is looking to sell Argos to China’s version of Amazon.

Britain’s second-largest supermarket has revealed it is in talks with Jingdong, which trades as JD.com.

The group acquired Argos for £1.4 billion in 2016 in a bid to compete with online retail giant Amazon – but the business has not been as profitable as hoped.

Following the takeover, dozens of standalone Argos stores were closed in favour of outlets within Sainsbury’s superstores.

Argos currently operates 1,100 collection stores across the country and is the third-most visited retail site in the UK.

In a statement released today, Sainsbury’s said: ‘Following recent media speculation, J Sainsbury plc confirms that it is in discussions regarding a potential sale of Argos Retail Group Limited JD.com, Inc.

‘Sainsbury’s is committed to delivering the strongest and most successful future for Argos customers and colleagues and the Group’s ‘More Argos, more often’ transformation strategy is delivering solid progress.’

Chinese e-commerce giant Jingdong sells food, homeware and clothes to more than 600 million customers worldwide(Picture: Getty Images)

It added that the deal would ‘accelerate Argos’ transformation’ and ‘further transform the customer experience’.

‘No agreement has been reached and there is no certainty at this stage that any transaction will proceed’, the statement clarified.

Argos already has franchised outlets in China, while Jingdong has been growing its footprint in the UK, having acquired a 23,000 sqm warehouse in Rugby this summer.

The e-commerce website sells food, homeware and clothes to more than 600 million customers worldwide across more than 200 countries.

It currently operates 11 sites in the UK.

The firm was established by entrepreneur Liu Qiangdong in 1998 as a store selling magneto optical drives, before going online in 2004.

Sainsbury’s acquired Argos in 2016 for £1.4billion, incorporating many of its collection stores within its supermarkets (Picture: Shutterstock)

Liu is now one of China’s wealthiest men, with an estimated fortune of $5 billion (£3.7 billion).

In 2014, it became the largest Chinese company to be listed on the US Nasdaq and last year posted a revenue of nearly $160 billion (£118 billion).

Argos was founded by Richard Tompkins in 1978, branded after its Greek city namesake.

The chain became synonymous with its signature catalogues which were taken out of print during the Covid pandemic.

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