RETAIL INTERVIEW THE VERY GROUP
Doubling down on digital Nicole Sweeney, toys category manager at The Very Group, operator of online-only retail brands Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, plots pandemic purchasing patterns and predicts Christmas performers Tell us a bit about your business.
How many suppliers do you deal with and what are your key brands?
We are the UK’s largest integrated online-only retailer and financial services provider, with 4.5 million active customers. As a multi-category retailer, we sell everything from toys to iPhones, TVs, fashion and homeware across 1,900 famous brands, offering our customers a range of flexible ways to pay.
How would you describe your range?
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We use our rich data set and analytics to shape a range that’s More right for Very’s customers and people than proposition, collaborating with ever have suppliers to focus on ‘must have’ shopped toys, brands and characters, such as LEGO and L.O.L! Surprise. Our online due to customers value newness, so it’s Covid and we really important that we showcase believe this the latest innovation alongside shift will be brands we know they love at price points that work for them. permanent We drive traffic and awareness through creative content and robust digital marketing campaigns, like our year-round ‘must have’ toys campaign, as well as brandspecific campaigns and seasonal focuses like Christmas.
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We work with more than 60 suppliers across a great mix of categories including core toys such as dolls, prams and action figures, as well as construction, arts & crafts, family games, outdoor and preschool. LEGO, Barbie, L.O.L Surprise!, Leapfrog and Disney are just a few of our key brands, many of which we’ve worked with for a long time, building a strong assortment and selling plan. Strong partnerships with our supply base mean we see a great performance from both evergreen brands such as Barbie and LEGO and newer brands. Looking ahead to A/W21 and S/S22, innovation will be the name of the game when we launch exciting new licences and new products from long-standing favourite brands.
What are your key product categories? The past year saw huge growth in outdoor toys, electric scooters, construction, family games, and arts & crafts, as we all adjusted to staying at home. Toys played an important role for our customers during lockdown. We saw record demand in these categories.
The challenges of entertaining children in a variety of ways, from screens to games and puzzles, indoors and outdoors, required a superhuman effort from parents! Toys helped to make occupying children that little bit easier. As restrictions ease and customers are out and about more, we expect there to be less pent-up demand for these categories and thoughts will start to turn to Christmas. Traditional favourites such as fashion dolls, action figures and vehicles, as well as character and licenced products including Barbie and Disney, will play a bigger part in our offering. Our market share tends to increase in higher price point toy categories, and we’re proud of our business proposition, which enables customers to access the brands they love using flexible ways to pay.
What big ticket items are selling well? Our loyal customers and Very’s business proposition – combining big brands with flexible ways to pay - allows us to excel in this space. Our flexible payment options play an important role in enabling customers to access the toy brands we know they love. We’ve seen huge growth in electric scooters and some higher price-point
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