Argos has a long history of innovation, particularly for making in-store pick-up
of products easy for its customers. Its iPhone app quickly established itself as a
member of the top 10 free downloads on the iTunes App Store. Today, APIs build
upon this success, delivering innovative customer touchpoints within the stores. “Our
APIs underpin all of our channels, providing a consistent customer experience,” says
Jeremy Gooch, integration domain architect in the Home Retail Group.

Argos’ ongoing program of website enhancements drives new features to
improve digital paths to purchase. This process has awarded the company with
omni-channel retail capabilities and with renewed customer relationships. But
with 1 billion annual visits to its website (the most visited high street retailer
website in the UK), Argos has encountered a few speed bumps. “Our APIs were
initially solely focused on our mobile apps, but we soon identified unexpected
opportunities for their use in other channels and by other parts of the business,”
says Gooch. “It became clear that we needed a solution to empower our APIs for
the kind of scale, data security, and multichannel, multiplatform innovation fitting
our brand as a top digital retailer.”