Very.co.uk notches up record breaking Christmas period
Pureplay Very.co.uk increased retail sales by 25.2% year-on-year in the seven weeks up to and including 25th December to record its best ever Christmas trading period.
The brand, which is owned by The Very Group, says that home and electrical were the standout categories, up 46.2% and 44.8% respectively.
Including Littlewoods, group retail sales grew 18% in the seven weeks to 25th December.
Revenue increased 23.3% YoY, while overall group revenue grew 15.3% YoY to surpass £500 million for the period for the first time.
Mobile apps, chatbots and automated fulfilment centres
Very.co.uk pulled in 500,000 new customers, up 25.5% year-on-year. There were 139 million website visits, +49.7% YoY, whilst sales via its mobile app rose by 33%.
150,000 customers a week used the Very Assistant chatbot, which draws on artificial intelligence to automatically recognise and answer customer service queries in a text chat environment.
3.9 million orders were processed – peaking at 265 orders per minute – through the Group’s new automated fulfilment centre, which launched in March 2020.
Henry Birch, CEO at The Very Group, says: “UK families were more determined than ever to celebrate this Christmas, despite all the challenges of 2020.”
“Because we sell everything our customers could possibly want except food, are online only and offer a range of payment options, we were perfectly placed to help a record number of people make the most of the festive period.”
He adds: “While the economic picture remains unpredictable, we have strong momentum as we begin the year.”
“I believe our resilient, flexible and proven business model, which is online, multicategory and offers customers flexible payment options, will continue to help us thrive in 2021.”
