Shop Direct benefits from ‘turbo-charged’ Black Friday

Multi-brand online retailer Shop Direct, owner of Very and Littlewoods, has reported that sales on Black Friday eclipsed those of Cyber Monday to make it the biggest trading day in the group's history.

Shop Direct is claiming that it more than doubled its sales target on Black Friday, with all six of Shop Direct’s digital department store brands featured hourly deals, and that orders at flagship brand Very.co.uk surged 134 percent year-on-year.

However, Cyber Monday was still a success for Shop Direct, with orders on Very.co.uk up 19.7 percent on last year’s busiest shopping day.

Jon Owen, retail brands and trading director at Shop Direct, said: “If Black Friday came of age last year, it was turbo-charged this year. We were blown away by its success – it has definitely secured its place as a staple of the UK retail calendar.

“Our customers lapped up our market-beating deals and the strong demand continued throughout the weekend and into Cyber Monday, making it the most successful few days in Shop Direct’s history.”

Shop Direct marks biggest trading day in its history on Black Friday

Shoppers rushed to Shop Direct’s website to take up offers including 30 percent off beauty brands, up to 150 pounds off smartphones, as well TV’s, jewellery and clothing.

Tablet devices accounted for 63 percent of overall traffic on Black Friday, which peaked at 76 percent of traffic at 7am when shoppers searched for deals with their tablets as soon as they got up.

Shop Direct is the UK’s fourth largest online retailer, with annual sales of more than 1.7 billion pounds. Its flagship Very.co.uk is currently a 700 million pound brand and receives an average of 950,000 website visits every day.