Online retailer Very had a record-breaking Christmas as the coronavirus lockdowns saw people surge to internet shopping.
The Liverpool company said sales in the run-up to Christmas were 25.2% up year-on-year, following strong trading throughout 2020. Revenues topped £500m for the first time in the company's history.
Home and electrical products sold the most, both up more than 45%, while the company attracted 500,000 new customers and had 139m website visits.
As well as benefiting from the move to online shopping as many physical stores were closed, Very was boosted by other coronavirus trends, such as people investing in their homes during the pandemic.
The company's sales of DIY products tripled, while it saw big increases in the number of beds, other furniture and soft furnishings it sold. Other benefits from the pandemic came in sales of sportswear and wellbeing products.
Very Group CEO Henry Birch said: “We are delighted with Very’s outstanding performance, which shows UK families were more determined than ever to celebrate this Christmas, despite all the challenges of 2020.
“Because we sell everything our customers could possibly want except food, are online only and offer a range of payment options, we were perfectly placed to help a record number of people make the most of the festive period.
“Christmas shopping started early at Very and our committed team worked tirelessly to deliver for our customers. Continued appetite for entertaining the family and home improvement during the pandemic resulted in strong growth across our electrical and home categories, in particular.
“Our record-breaking performance was supported by our new fulfilment centre, which processed 3.9m orders during peak; an incredible achievement for a facility that only launched in March this year, when the first national lockdown was announced.
“While the economic picture remains unpredictable, we have strong momentum as we begin the year. I believe our resilient, flexible and proven business model, which is online, multicategory and offers customers flexible payment options, will continue to help us thrive in 2021.”
Very, which was formed by the merger of the Littlewoods and Shop Direct companies in 2005, said overall group revenue, including financial services, rose 15.3% to surpass £500m.
