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Home Retail News Retailer News

The Very Group: strong Christmas trading performance supported by sales growth in higher margin categories

by Fiona Briggs
January 15, 2026
in Retailer News
Reading Time: 3 mins read

The Very Group (‘the Group’), which operates digital retailer Very, today (15 January 2026) announces resilient Christmas and Black Friday trading results for the six weeks to 27 December 2025.

  • The Group’s flagship brand Very UK delivered retail sales growth of +1.9% year-on-year
  • This was driven by strong performances in standout categories such as Home (+7.9% YoY) and Toys and Beauty (+6.4% YoY).
  • Nintendo Switch 2, perfumes and Meta Quest 3S were among the best-selling items, with beauty gifts sets and coffee machines also performing well.
  • Black Friday was the Group’s best trading day since the pandemic.

Robbie Feather, Group CEO at The Very Group, said: “We know that Christmas is one of the most important times of the year for the families we serve and, here at Very, we’re proud to have been able to help customers make the season extra special.

“By bringing together our great assortment of products, competitive prices and flexible ways to pay, we’ve delivered a strong performance during the Christmas and Black Friday trading period. Despite a challenging and competitive market, we’re delighted to see topline growth with Very UK sales increasing +1.9%, which includes a strong performance across Home, Toys and Beauty. Plus, we’re pleased to have been able to give more customers the flexibility to spread the cost this Christmas. Our results over the period reflect the appeal to our customers of our multi-category retail and flexible payments offering.

“This resilient performance, including our best trading day since Covid, has been made possible thanks to the ongoing commitment and hard work of colleagues from across the business.

“As we look to the future, we continue to focus on delivering our strategic priorities, including driving innovation while leveraging technology and data to improve our customer offering. We are confident that our proposition will remain valued by customers and we enter 2026 with a great range of product offers that our customers will love, and we are well placed operationally to navigate the unpredictable nature of the market.”

Peak trading highlights

  • Very UK retail sales grew +1.9% YoY, this was driven by strong performances in standout categories such as Home (+7.9% YoY) and Toys and Beauty (+6.4% YoY).
  • Among the top-selling items by sales value were:
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PlayStation 5
    • Ninja Home Barista Bundle
  • Among the top-selling items by volume were:
    • Jimmy Choo and Calvin Klein perfumes
    • Metaquest 3S
    • Beauty Works gift sets

Including Littlewoods and Very Ireland, Group retail sales declined slightly by (0.4)% YoY for the six-week period ending 27 December 2025.

Operational highlights

  • 209,000 items processed at Skygate, the Group’s highly automated fulfilment centre, on 28 November 2025 – the busiest day of the Group’s peak period and its best trading day since the pandemic.
  • 1.3m items processed during Black Friday week – beating last year’s busiest week of 1.2m items.
  • The fastest order during the peak period was processed and despatched in 15 minutes.
  • Maintained next day delivery service throughout the peak period, with an order cut-off of 7pm on 23 December for delivery before Christmas.

Similar Retail News Articles:

  1. Strong Christmas trading growth at Very driven by exceptional sales in home and toys, gifts & beauty categories
  2. Margin gains lift The Very Group through a softer trading year, says GlobalData
  3. Equestrian brand LeMieux announces strong peak trading performance over the 10-week Christmas period
Tags: The Very Group
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