Talks between Sainsbury’s and JD.com over the acquisition of Argos collapsed last week. The supermarket giant confirmed that it had “terminated discussions” after the Chinese retailer had communicated that it was only “prepared to engage on a materially revised set of terms and commitments.”

The deal’s failure may disappoint Sainsbury’s leadership – but Argos remains a strong brand, and could attract more attention and further bids. YouGov BrandIndex data reveals that the company performs very favourably compared to its competition across several key metrics. 

Impression scores, which track overall positive and negative sentiment, are at 45.6 compared to 13.2 for general retailers. Perceptions of the brand’s Quality are higher than average (24.4 vs. 11.2), as are opinions of its Value for Money (36.9 vs. 6.7). 

The gap between Argos and its competitors is even higher when it comes to Customer Satisfaction scores – five times higher than the average (51.3 vs. 11.8) – and Recommend scores, which track overall brand advocacy (38.0 vs. 10.3). At 50.4, Consideration scores, which measure whether consumers would choose a particular brand the next time they are in the market for a product or service, also outstrip the industry average of 12.5. 

Summarising Argos’s position, Index scores – a measure of overall brand health – sit at 34.5 compared to an average of 10.0 for general retail brands. Highlighting areas of strength, and possible areas for improvement, the brand  performs a little better among consumers aged 18-34 (36.0) for this measure, and a little worse among over-50s (33.1). It also does better among women than men (36.5 vs. 32.5). 

Is Argos the right fit for Sainsbury’s portfolio of brands at this time? Only Sainsbury’s leadership can truly say. But as negotiations with JD.com collapsed, some commentators have cautioned against selling the retailer for a “silly price”, and it’s a warning that may have some merit: Argos is a well-liked and respected brand among the UK public.  The question now is whether Sainsbury’s writes the next chapter in the laminated book of dreams – or hands the task off to a new owner.

This article originally appeared in City AM