Very Group set up for ‘very strong’ Christmas, says boss Birch

The online retailer, which returned to profit and broke the £2bn sales barrier in its annual results today, is confident that it will have a very strong Christmas trading period driven by a 14.1% surge in new customers to Very to 3.4 million during its financial year.

Birch said: “Our model has really chimed with consumers and has met the challenges that Covid-19 has presented in a number of ways – we are multi-category, we have top brands alongside a strong own-brand offering and we offer flexible ways to pay with credit.”

Birch said a large proponent of The Very Group’s new customers have been attracted by its credit offering and have made multiple purchases since signing up.

This combined with the brand’s automated fulfilment centre Skygate, which was unveiled in March just as lockdown began and is able to process customer orders in 30 minutes, means the business is well set up to respond to increased online demand over the Christmas period.

Birch says the etailer plans to run its Black Friday promotions over a three-week period beginning at the start of November, but the business will be approaching this year’s discounting event “with more flexibility in terms of being prepared to change should we need to based on customer demand”.

“Black Friday is a really important time of year, not just in terms of the event itself but customer acquisition, and we’ve been able to make it profitable historically,” said Birch.

The brand is still operating its former warehouse in the Northwest with “a skeleton crew” with the option to ramp up capacity there should customer demand require it.

“We have every confidence based on the depth of our offer and our fulfilment that we are well set up to have a very strong Christmas trading period,” said Birch.