Consistent reinvention
As our customers' shopping habits have changed, so have we. We've regularly reinvented ourselves over more than 100 years, from catalogues to bricks to clicks to mobile. One thing has always remained the same – our customers value flexible ways to pay – and we’re proud to continue to offer them that service to this day through Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com.
Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the biggest moments in our story.
- 1930s: Littlewoods Home Shopping launched by the Moores family in Liverpool.
- 1980: First phone order was taken.
- 1985: Shop Direct Ireland launches.
- 1990: First online order was taken.
- 2003: Manchester based Great Universal Stores merged with Littlewoods to form one retail giant – Shop Direct.
- 2009: Very.co.uk launched.
- 2014: In-house UX lab built, giving us amazing real-time customer insight.
- 2015: We cut the catalogue and went 100% digital
- 2017: A busy year for us, our Very mobile app hits 1m downloads and we opened the doors to Sky Vic in the heart of London.
- 2018: Very chatbot goes live, helping our customers service their account through chat.
- 2020: Became The Very Group to reflect our flagship consumer brand Very.co.uk
- 2020: Our new fulfilment centre, Skygate, opens it's doors
- 2022: In the Republic of Ireland, Littlewoods Ireland rebranded to Very