Shop Direct’s Very brand goes window shopping

SHOP Direct, the Liverpool home shopping group, has launched a digital ‘window shop’ in the city.

The group says it may roll out its vitual shop concept if the trial at the Liverpool One shopping complex is a success.

It has taken over the shop front of the former Bathstore on Hanover Street throughout December to promote three of its key festive fashion trends,  ‘Glitz and Glam’, ‘Rock Chic’ and ‘Snow Princess’.

The collections have been created specifically to appeal to the tastes of Liverpool shoppers, based on their typical browsing and purchasing habits with the etailer.

The Very.co.uk ‘window shop’ will be open until January 6 and feature hi-tech billboards incorporating both near field communication (NFC) and QR code functionalities.

By using their smartphones or tablets, shoppers will be able to scan to view the collections and the wider Very.co.uk website, with their purchases delivered free the following day if ordered before 9pm.

Gareth Jones, retail director at Shop Direct Group, the home of Very.co.uk, said: “As a successful pure-play etailer, bricks and mortar is not on our agenda. But vacant shop windows offer a unique digital opportunity to get our brands and products in front of shoppers while they’re already on the high street and in browsing or buying mode.

“A third of traffic to the Very.co.uk website now comes from mobile devices and we are constantly innovating to enable shoppers to more easily engage with the brand and browse and buy our products while on the move.

“Scan to shop functionality has become more sophisticated over the last couple of years, particularly since the introduction of NFC. The increased flexibility, usability and transaction security of this type of functionality will make browsing and shopping via the Very.co.uk window shop quick, easy and safe.

“Depending on the results of this trial, we may then look to roll out the concept into more cities in 2013,” he added.