Beauty category drives Very’s 'strong' Christmas trading

The Very Group has published its golden quarter results, with Beauty - specifically fragrance - driving strong Christmas trading in a “challenging market”.

For the Christmas and Black Friday period, seven weeks to 22 December 2023, Very UK, Littlewoods and Very Ireland's retail sales grew by 3.4% year-on-year, supporting group retail sales growth of 2.1% year-on-year.

Very’s performance was consistently ahead of the UK online non-food retail market and represents growth in market share during the period.

Toys, gifts and beauty were up by 8.8% year-on-year, with perfume among the best-selling items, specifically Marc Jacobs fragrances.

Lionel Desclée, Group CEO at The Very Group, commented: "Our team delivered a brilliant range of products, strong pricing, an engaging new marketing campaign, and an improved online experience to give families everything they needed this Christmas.

"As expected in the current economic climate, consumers were on the lookout for amazing deals. We served these to existing customers and plenty of new customers during our Black Friday campaign with games consoles, wireless earbuds and perfume among our best sellers.

"Whilst we are pleased with these results, we also know that the year ahead will be challenging for all retailers. However, our operating model, which combines multi-category digital retail and flexible ways to pay, will remain resilient and continue to provide families with a one-stop-shop for everything they need."