Very (online retailer)

Last updated

Very.co.uk
Company typeOnline brand of The Very Group
Industry e-commerce
Predecessor Littlewoods Direct
Founded2009 (online)
Headquarters Speke, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Area served
UK
Key people
Henry Birch (CEO)
Products Clothing, home accessories, toys, gaming
Owner Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay
Parent The Very Group
Website www.very.co.uk

Very (also known as Very.co.uk) is a British online retailer with headquarters in Speke, Liverpool. The brand was launched in the UK in July 2009 as part of the Shop Direct Group (now The Very Group). Very had formerly been known as Littlewoods Direct, and formerly Woolworths.co.uk.

Contents

History

The original Littlewoods brand was a shopping catalogue and retail business headquartered in Liverpool, and was bought by the Barclay brothers in 2002. [1] In 2009, Littlewoods Direct was rebranded as Very.co.uk, shifting its focus to online retailing and a younger market. [2] [3] The website launched officially in July 2009. A year later a mobile enabled version of the site was launched, upgrading to include video and images in 2011. [4] In the first quarter of 2013/14, mobile sales accounted for over a third of total online sales. [5]

Partnerships and promotion

Very makes extensive use of both celebrity endorsements and product placement on television and other media. Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton have acted as faces of the site, creating branded fashion collections and appearing in adverts. [5] [6] Other names who have worked with the brand include Jameela Jamil and Diana Vickers. [7] In December 2013, former Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh became a celebrity designer for the brand. [8] Michelle Keegan launched a fashion and homeware partnership with Very in October 2017. [9]

Very has sponsored V music festival, also offering a delivery service to the festival sites in 2012. [10] It has also sponsored Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5, with branded, 'click-to-buy' product placement. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susannah Constantine</span> English fashion writer (born 1962)

Susannah Caroline Constantine is an English former TV fashion journalist, writer, style advisor, television presenter, author and clothes designer. Her second book, What Not to Wear, co-written with her fashion partner Trinny Woodall, won her a British Book Award and sold 670,000 copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debenhams</span> Defunct British department store chain, 1778–2021

Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, and is still operating as a franchise in seven Middle East countries. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish department store chain Magasin du Nord. In its final years, its headquarters were within the premises of its flagship store in Oxford Street, London. The range of goods sold included middle-to-high-end clothing, beauty, household items, and furniture.

Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

TOPSHOP is a British fast-fashion company, which specialises in women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021. It now operates via the ASOS website and app, as well as being sold in Nordstrom stores in the US on Nordstrom.com. TOPSHOP previously had around 510 shops worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Very Group</span> Online retailer

The Very Group Limited is a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head offices are based in the Speke area of the city of Liverpool, England. The brand was established in November 2005 as a result of the merger of the former Littlewoods and Shop Direct companies. The retailer was known as Littlewoods Shop Direct Group until a corporate rebranding to Shop Direct Group in May 2008. In 2013, the company rebranded to Shop Direct, dropping the 'group' from its name. Shop Direct rebranded themselves to The Very Group in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Home Stores</span> Former British department store chain

British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products.

Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc, which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland was closed with immediate effect. Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores.

George William Davies is an English fashion designer and retailer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argos (retailer)</span> British catalogue retailer

Argos Limited is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and formerly in Ireland, acquired by Sainsbury's supermarket chain in 2016. It was established in November 1972 and is named after the Greek city of Argos. The company trades both through physical shops and online, with 29 million yearly shop customers, and nearly a billion online visitors per annum. It has also franchised overseas to countries such as China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mail order</span> Buying of goods or services by mail delivery

Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primark</span> Irish multinational fast-fashion company

Primark Stores Limited is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original Penneys brand is not used outside of Ireland because it is owned elsewhere by American retailer J. C. Penney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinny and Susannah</span> British fashion advisors and TV presenters

Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are two British fashion advisors, presenters and authors. They originally joined to write a weekly style column in The Daily Telegraph which lasted for seven years, but they are best known for presenting the BBC television series What Not to Wear for five series and then Trinny & Susannah Undress... on ITV. They have written several fashion advice books which have become bestsellers in Britain and America, and released their own clothing and underwear ranges. Trinny and Susannah have also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as makeover experts. Over the course of their career, Woodall and Constantine have dressed over 5,000 women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange UK</span> 1994–2010 UK mobile network operator and ISP

Orange UK was a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities. Orange UK merged with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK to form a joint venture, EE in 2010. EE continued to operate the Orange brand until February 2015, when new connections and upgrades on Orange tariffs were withdrawn. Existing Orange customers could continue on their plans until March 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Littlewoods</span> Defunct retail and betting company

Littlewoods was a retail and football betting company founded in Liverpool, England, by John Moores in 1923. By the 1980s, it had grown to become the largest private company in Europe but subsequently declined in the face of increased competition from rivals and the Internet. The original company, employing 4,000 people, was wound up in 2005; however, its brand name is retained by The Very Group as the online retailer Littlewoods.com.

YOOX Net-a-Porter Group S.p.A. is an Italian online fashion retailer created on 5 October 2015 after the merger between Yoox Group and Net-a-porter Group (NAP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jameela Jamil</span> English actress (born 1986)

Jameela Alia Jamil is a British actress, activist, podcaster, and television host and judge. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the radio host of The Official Chart, and co-hosted The Official Chart Update alongside Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1. She was the first regular solo female presenter of the BBC Radio 1 chart show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omnichannel retail strategy</span> Business model by which a company integrates both offline and online presences

Omnichannel retail strategy, originally also known in the U.K. as bricks and clicks, is a business model by which a company integrates both offline (bricks) and online (clicks) presences, sometimes with the third extra flips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Currys plc</span> British retail company

Currys plc is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, which was formed in 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Littlewoods is a British online retailer with headquarters in Speke, Liverpool, England. The brand was launched in the UK in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lipsy</span> Womens and childrens apparel

Lipsy Limited, also known as Lipsy London, is a British fashion and cosmetic retailer. The company sells women's and children's apparel, accessories, beauty products and homeware through external websites and in-store sales.

References

  1. Hodgson, Neil (8 May 2008). "Famous name on way out" . Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  2. Danaher, Tim (19 June 2009). "Littlewoods Direct to undergo Very rebrand". Retail Week. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  3. Ramsay, Fiona (29 June 2009). "Shop Direct tasks VCCP with rebranding Littlewoods Direct". Marketing Week. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  4. Alison (22 February 2011). "Fashion site Veryworld.co.uk upgrades to deliver rich media on mobile devices". Internet Retailing. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  5. 1 2 Davey, James (29 October 2013). "Shop Direct makes first profit in a decade" . Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  6. Creative Lounge Index (30 October 2009). "Watch Holly Willougby and Fearne Cotton in a festive ad for Veryworld.co.uk". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  7. "Jameela Jamil Launches Fashion Collection". Company. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  8. Martin, Rebecca (21 January 2014). "Kimberley Walsh Launches Her Debut Range For Veryworld.co.uk... And It's Totally Gorgeous". In Style. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  9. "5 minutes with Michelle Keegan as she launches her new fashion collection with Very". TV3.ie | Xposé Entertainment. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  10. West, Gillian (19 July 2012). "Veryworld.co.uk to deliver direct to this year's V Festival". The Drum. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  11. Farey-Jones, Daniel (3 January 2013). "Very.co.uk strikes click-to-buy partnership with Channel 5". Media Week. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  12. Macleod, Ishbel (13 June 2013). "Channel 5 and Veryworld.co.uk unveil 360 click-to-buy product placement initiative in Big Brother" . Retrieved 17 March 2014.