Payments technology specialist Lee Tango talks Sainsbury's Argos stack integration journey
Sainsbury's recently announced it was selling Argos in a deal that will allow the retailer to concentrate on its core grocery business. It expects cash proceeds of at least £120 million from the agreement with Swift Partners, whose shareholders include Richard Pennycook - a former Co-op Group Chief Executive. It stumped up £1.4 billion for the chain back in 2016.
Much of the focus has been on the £120 million figure, and the “catalogue retailer killed by the internet” narrative wrapped around it, but that is not the interesting part of this story, according to Lee Tango, Senior Director of Global Product and Solutions Strategy at Visa Acceptance Solutions.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: "Argos was sold last week for £120 million. Everyone's writing about what that says about the death of the high street. I think that's the wrong story."
"I spent nine years running the payments technology inside that business. Long before this deal, Sainsbury's had already taken £720 million out of Argos - selling its financial services card book to NewDay back in 2024. Add the two numbers together and the real ten-year picture is closer to £840 million against the £1.4 billion Sainsbury's paid for it. Still a loss. Just not the fire sale people are calling it."
"Here's what I actually think happened: Sainsbury's never fully integrated the Argos stack - payments, supply chain, fulfilment - in the decade it owned it. Payments doesn't sit at the edge of a retail business. It's woven through the middle of it - refunds, order status, upsells, till systems that don't talk to the website three feet away. I know, because I was the one who convinced the Argos board to rebuild that architecture digital first, back around 2011. And it cost me a few sleepless nights at the time."
‘Deluded arrogance’
The Sainsbury’s/Swift Partners deal has been slammed by Ian Chaplin, former Head of Buying at Argos.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Still in shock after 24 hours….. not about the long overdue sale of Argos but the words of Simon Roberts below. If ever a statement summed up the deluded arrogance of a company it is this. Simon Roberts, Sainsbury's Chief Executive, said of the decision: Sainsbury's has transformed Argos into a leading multi-channel retailer with millions of customers and thousands of talented colleagues.”
He added: “Every word is the opposite of what they actually did. They bought a leading multi-channel retailer, then through lack of respect and knowledge transformed it into a business that lost share in all categories and lost millions of customers. They let thousands of talented colleagues leave and replaced them with corporate puppets. When trying to create a core range across the two businesses they kept 80% of the Sainsbury’s products and 20% of Argos despite sales and cost price info supporting the opposite.”
Chaplin concluded: “Speaking with suppliers over the years, not one had a positive word to say about Argos under the Sainsbury ownership. To those of us lucky enough to get out in 2018/19 it was painful to watch but totally expected. To those that really needed to keep their jobs in the tough market out there it was insulting watching a business being so badly mismanaged. Hopefully the future will be a bit brighter but one walk around an Argos store today will tell you its probably too late.”
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Multi-channel retail will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
