Shop Direct hails record Christmas
Shop Direct, the owner of Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, increased its total sales by 4% year-on-year over the Christmas trading period.
In the seven weeks to 26 December, fashion brand Very.co.uk saw a 23% surge in sales which balanced an 11% decline at the group’s heritage brands Littlewoods.com and KandCo.com.
Black Friday was the group’s busiest trading day on record, with orders at Very.co.uk up 134% year-on-year. Demand across the group outstripped the previous daily trading record – Cyber Monday 2013 – by 51%.
Boxing Day sales were also buoyant with demand up by 21% as customers shopped the sale.
Shop Direct said its digital momentum continued in the period with online sales rising to 89% of total sales from 84% in the same period in 2013. Sales via mobile devices grew by 45% to account for 56% of online sales. Website visits increased by 18% to 76 million, with mobile devices accounting for almost two thirds of all traffic at 64%.
In addition, the group saw strong growth in click and collect orders with the number of parcels delivered to a Collect+ store up by 112%. Customers took advantage of a late 10pm order cut-off on 23 December, with over 160,000 items delivered on Christmas Eve.
Shop Direct chief executive Alex Baldock said: “It was another record Christmas at Shop Direct and Very.co.uk once again led the charge.
“We like Black Friday. It was huge for us and acted as a starting gun for Christmas shopping – peak came earlier than in recent years. Traders like ourselves will thrive in the environment that Black Friday creates and we’re happy that it’s here to stay.
“The highly promotional market looks set to continue into 2015. We’ll continue to make sure we’re offering customers great deals while maintaining sales and profit growth.”
