During the festive period (the seven weeks to 22 December 2023), The Very Group saw its retail sales grow 3.4% year-on-year, which was supported by group retail sales growth of 2.1% year-on-year.
The company said its performance was consistently ahead of the UK online non-food retail market and represented growth in market share during the period. It added that toys, gifts and beauty, which were up 8.8% year-on-year and electrical, which was up 7.4% year on year, were its standout categories.
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Fashion and sports were down 3.9% year-on-year with the retailer pointing out however, that it experienced good growth in premium fashion, which was up 14.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, home was was down 2.9% year-on-year.
GlobalData retail analyst Tash Van Boxel believes home as well as fashion and sports weighed down Very UK’s performance.
She said: “Very has struggled to compete in these categories with the likes of Next seeing 9.1% growth in its online sales in the nine weeks ending 30 December 2023.”
She believes the retailer needs to emphasise its partywear and winter essentials next year and highlight its existing ranges as well as add new brands to its offer.
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By GlobalDataShe explained “this will enable the pureplay to better compete with clothing and footwear specialists in the lead-up to festive events.”
The Very Group’s CEO Lionel Desclée pointed out that given the current economic conditions, consumers were on the lookout for amazing deals over the festive period.
He said: “We served these to existing customers and plenty of new customers during our Black Friday campaign with games consoles, wireless earbuds and perfume among our best sellers.”
Overall, he believes his team delivered a brilliant range of products, strong pricing, an engaging new marketing campaign, and an improved online experience to give families everything they needed over Christmas.
Van Boxel agrees that given 2023’s stagnant online non-food sales, The Very group has ended the year on a positive note.
She highlighted that sales during the period were aided by its new Christmas campaign, ‘Let’s make it sparkle’, which shared offers and gifting options ahead of the festive period, and enticed new and returning shoppers to its platform.
She added: “Given the strong reception to The Very Group’s latest campaign, it must continue to build on this momentum, focusing on new marketing campaigns throughout 2024. This will enable the online pureplay to stay at the fore for consumers and thus retain its popularity outside of the golden quarter.”
Looking ahead, Desclée said: “Whilst we are pleased with these results, we also know that the year ahead will be challenging for all retailers. However, our operating model, which combines multi-category digital retail and flexible ways to pay, will remain resilient and continue to provide families with a one-stop-shop for everything they need.”
