So. Argos is planning to reinvent itself for the digital age, and will move from being a catalogue-led business to being digital-led, ie generating more sales through tablets and mobile phones. I'm not surprised. The 'big book' catalogue strategy is sooo last century. Argos reckons that two-thirds of the population – some 18 million households – have an Argos catalogue. Yes, I have one somewhere at Francis Towers, but I can't think of the last time I looked at it. Although I do realise that circumstances would perhaps be different in that respect if I had young children to shop for. The Argos catalogue is unlike, say, the Ikea catalogue – also a 'big book' but a very different proposition and one that still works, as it's all Ikea's own stuff so they can control the prices and make it clear they will be valid until a certain date. For Argos, competing with the likes of Tesco and – crucially – online retail juggernaut Amazon, life is very different. Argos will test different sizes, distribution and formats of catalogue as the main print piece shifts to a "supporting role". And it sounds like this will involve increased use of cross-media too, so the way it uses print will be smarter. This is undoubtedly going to be bad news for the gravure printers who have been used to printing millions of sections for this print fixture on an annual basis, and I'm sure Artisan will also be reviewing forward loading on its bindery as a result of this morning's news. The flipside being that we know the 'flick-to-click" model of smaller, more frequent catalogues works well for both high street retailers and etailers. Ultimately, Argos will be spending less on print overall in future, but it might just be spending more on web and sheetfed print here in the UK.