Strong Christmas trading period will boost Q2 figures for online retail group Very

Liverpool-based online retailer, Very Group, expects 16-18% growth in its Q2 EBITDA on the back of a strong Black Friday and Christmas trading period.
Publishing an update for the seven weeks to December 27, 2024, today, the former Littlewoods business said home and toys, gifts and beauty categories were the star performers, with 15% and 7.3% year on year improvements, respectively.
Games consoles, perfumes and pillows were among the best selling items, with LEGO and air fryers also performing well.
The group delivered overall retail sales growth of 2.3% year on year, supporting group retail sales growth of 0.5% year on year.
Annualising against a period which included significant gaming product releases, including the PlayStation 5 console and Xbox Series X console, electrical decreased -2.1% year on year, but saw good growth in Apple products and computing.
Among the top selling items by sales value were: PlayStation 5 console; Meta quest 3 console; Ninja Foodi Dual Zone.
Among the top selling items by volume were: Marc Jacobs perfumes; Silentnight pillows; LEGO Disney Stitch.
Very Group CEO, Robbie Feather, 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.”
He added: “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.”
During the period Very;s Skygate fulfilment centre processed 6.9 million items, with 218,000 items processed on November 29, 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.
The group also maintained its next day delivery service throughout the peak period, with a cut-off of 7pm on December 23, for delivery before Christmas.