Licensing Award winning etailer sees group sales rise 6% year on year for period.
Shop Direct – the winner of The Radar Award at last year’s Licensing Awards (for retailers who have really ramped up their licensing activity in the last year) – has reported record breaking trading for the Christmas period.
For the seven weeks to December 25, 2015, Shop Direct saw total group sales grow 6% year on year (2014: up 4%), significantly ahead of the non food market.
Very.co.uk grew sales 17% like for like, and is on track to close the year as a £1 billion business, while Shop Direct is on course for another record year of sales and profit.
There were 82 million site visits for the seven week period, up 8% year on year.
The top Christmas gift was fragrance, with 284,000 units sold, although the category highlight was mobile phones, which grew 74% year on year.
Clothing and footwear sales were up 6% year on year, while Black Friday sales were up a staggering 64% year on year.
“Christmas 2015 was a record-breaker for Shop Direct, and we’re pleased to see our momentum continue to build,” said group ceo Alex Baldock.
“Received wisdom is that every retailer should be multi-channel. We don’t buy that. We like being a digital pureplay. It allows us to keep things simple and focus our energy on mobile innovation, which has been a big factor in our record peak trading.”
Shop Direct also announced a new £50 million Financial Services personalisation programme, in partnership with IBM, to expand its business further.
(Pictured left to right: The Licensing Awards host Alexander Armstrong with Shop Direct’s Neil Mitchell (buyer, boys, construction and outdoor) and Andrea Gornall (senior buyer, toys and nursery).
