The Very Group (‘the Group’), which operates digital retailer Very, today (14 January 2025) announces its Christmas and Black Friday period trading results for the seven weeks to 27 December 2024.
- Very UK delivered retail sales growth of +2.3% year-on-year, supporting Group retail sales growth of +0.5% year-on-year.
- Absent the impact of Nike1 sales, Very UK and Group retail sales grew by +4.5% and +2.8% year-on-year respectively.
- Across this period, Home (+15.0% YoY) and Toys, Gifts & Beauty (+7.3% YoY) were the standout categories, with Fashion & Sports (+2.9% YoY, +11.2% YoY excluding Nike1) also in growth.
- Games consoles, perfumes and pillows were among the best-selling items, with LEGO and air fryers also performing well.
- On the back of strong peak trading and progress with our ongoing cost initiatives, the Group expects Q2 FY25 YTD Group adjusted EBITDA growth of 16% – 18%.
Robbie Feather, Group CEO at The Very Group, said: “Christmas is a special time for our customers, and we at The Very Group are proud to help families make the most of the festive period. We’re delighted with our strong peak trading performance, which has been made possible thanks to the determination of our brilliant team who focus on helping families get more out of life, all while continuously enhancing the online shopping experience.
“By bringing together our amazing assortment of products with compelling deals and our best-in-class fulfilment operation, we delivered growth in almost all categories, with games consoles, air fryers and perfume among our best sellers.
“Customers left shopping later this year but when the time came, they made the most of our offering, with this momentum carrying on into our Boxing Day and January sales. Looking ahead, we remain focused on the rest of 2025 which we expect will remain highly competitive. We are confident that our proposition, which combines multi-category digital retail and flexible ways to pay, will continue to be valued by our customers, providing them with a one-stop-shop for everything they need.”
Peak trading highlights
- Very UK retail sales grew +2.3% YoY, or +4.5% excluding Nike1.
o Home grew by +15.0% YoY
o Toys, Gifts & Beauty increased +7.3% YoY.
o Fashion & Sports were up +2.9% YoY, with good growth in menswear over the period. Excluding Nike1 the category has increased +11.2% YoY.
o Annualising against a period which included significant gaming product releases, including the PlayStation 5 console and Xbox Series X console, electrical decreased -2.1% YoY but saw good growth in Apple products and computing.
- Our strong retail trading and ongoing cost management means we expect YoY adjusted EBITDA growth of 16% – 18%.
- Among the top-selling items by sales value were:
o PlayStation 5 console
o Meta quest 3 console
o Ninja Foodi Dual Zone
- Among the top-selling items by volume were:
o Marc Jacobs perfumes
o Silentnight pillows
o LEGO Disney Stitch
Including Littlewoods and Very Ireland, Group retail sales grew +0.5% YoY for the 7 week period ending 27 December 2024, or +2.8% excluding Nike1.
Operational highlights
Sophisticated automated fulfilment operation
- 6.9m items processed at Skygate, the Group’s highly automated fulfilment centre.
- 218,000 items processed on 29 November 2024, the busiest day of the Group’s peak period, and beating last year’s busiest day of 205,000 items.
- The fastest order during the peak period was processed and despatched in 16 minutes.
- We maintained our next day delivery service throughout the peak period, with a cut-off of 7pm on 23 December for delivery before Christmas.
