Formerly the Littlewoods empire, Shop Direct has its headquarters in Speke in South Liverpool and the company employs around 2,000 people in the Liverpool city region. Tony McDonough reports.
Liverpool online retail giant Shop Direct is to open a London hub employing 250 people – but insists it remains committed to its Liverpool home.
Formerly the Littlewoods empire founded by Sir John Moores, Shop Direct has its headquarters in Speke in South Liverpool and the company employs around 2,000 people in the Liverpool city region.
‘Our Liverpool home’
The company, whose brands include Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com and VeryExclusive.co.uk, will open the 25,000 sq ft base in the capital next summer.
The London team will comprise a mix of new hires, existing employees, and some who will split their time between there and Liverpool.
And the company insisted that Liverpool will remain the main base of the group, saying: “We’re proud of our Liverpool heritage.
“We’ve been able to attract and retain some of the world’s best talent in Merseyside and will continue to do so.”
Growth plans
Shop Direct says the London hub will play “an important role in delivering and maximising some of the company’s landmark growth initiatives”.
These include its investment in advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the continued development of advanced IT capabilities, and the expansion of its brand roster and recently launched own label, V by Very.
It will also be the new home of the VeryExclusive.co.uk team, who are currently based in Shop Direct’s Pollen Street showroom.
Changing needs
Alex Baldock, group chief executive at Shop Direct, said: “We need to keep innovating to meet the ever-changing needs of our customer.
“That’s why we’re opening this fantastic new hub. The new space will reflect everything we stand for and are striving for.
“It’ll help us attract even more of the best people and get even closer to our existing partners, as well as forge important new partnerships.”
The announcement follows Shop Direct reporting in September a fourth consecutive year of record sales and underlying pre-tax profit (PBT) in the 53 weeks to 30 June 2016.
The group grew underlying PBT by 43.6% to £150.4m and sales by 4.3% to £1.86bn, with 62% of online sales originating from mobile devices during the period (2015: 56%).
Mersey roots
Littlewoods was founded in Liverpool in 1923 by Sir John Moores and eventually included football pools, high street retail outlets and a catalogue business.
The company grew rapidly over the subsequent decades and, at its height in the early 1980s, it was the largest privately-owned company in Europe and employed 22,000 people.
However, with the advent and growth of the internet the retail landscape underwent radical change and Littlewoods declined.
In 2002 the Moores family sold the business to David and Frederick Barclay for £750m and later became Shop Direct.
The pools business was also sold and is now operated by Sportech from a base in North Liverpool.