Retail Interview - with The Very Group toys category manager Nicole Sweeney

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.

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?

We use our rich data set and analytics to shape a range that’s right for Very’s customers and proposition, collaborating with suppliers to focus on ‘must have’ toys, brands and characters, such as LEGO and L.O.L! Surprise. Our customers value newness, so it’s really important that we showcase the latest innovation alongside brands we know they love at price points that work for them.

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.

More people than “

ever have shopped online due to Covid and we believe this

shift will be permanent ”

How many suppliers do you deal with and what are your key brands?

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

Top

Best

■ Feber Super

Palace Playhouse ■ Sportspower 10ft In-

Ground Trampoline with

Easi-Store ■ Barbie Dreamhouse Large

Three-Story Dolls House with

Pool and Slide, plus Lights,

Sounds and 70+ Accessories ■ TP Hideaway House ■ Little Tikes Fountain Factory

Water Table

Sellers

pools and trampolines, as families take advantage of the warmer weather and stay local. The Barbie Dreamhouse continues to be a best seller too.

Which licences are hot news?

We are seeing the benefi t across some of our gaming brands of new console launches such as Fortnite and Super Mario last year. New properties have also started strongly, particularly in the preschool space, such as CoComelon.

What do you predict will be popular at Christmas?

We know our key brands such as LEGO and Barbie will continue to go from strength to strength at Christmas. We have a strong character assortment for A/W that will certainly drive sales across all categories, but particularly in the preschool category.

Electric scooters will remain a key toy for kids this Christmas, and we have expanded the offering across a wide range of price points. Brands winning in the electric scooter category are Razor and Zinc. There will also be some exciting innovation coming into the market to support the interactive and tech toys category.

What is planned for The Very Group in the future?

More people than ever have shopped online due to Covid and we believe this shift will be permanent. At the same time, families increasingly see value in spreading the cost of purchases. We already have a large share of the online market and a loyal customer base that benefits from our flexible ways to pay, and we’re well-placed to build on that in the future.

The top 10 most searched-for items on Very.co.uk*

1. Games console 2. TV 3. iPhone 4. Laptop 5. Nike trainers 6. Curtains 7. Pad

8. LEGO

9. Hot tub 10. Apple watch

11. Wardrobe 12. Vacuum cleaner 13. Garden furniture

14. Trampoline

15. Desk

16. L.O.L Surprise! dolls

17. Fitbit 18. Wallpaper 19. Airpods 20. Treadmill *From 23 March 2020 to 26 February 2021

Games consoles and LEGO among the UK’s most searchedfor pandemic products

Data shows games consoles are the most searched-for non-food retail items since the start of the pandemic in the UK, as gamers raced to bag the latest launches and families strived to stay entertained while at home, according to The Very Group, operator of Very.co.uk.

The online-only retailer has compiled a list of the 20 most searched-for products on Very.co.uk since the fi rst national lockdown began on 23 March 2020 until 26 February 2021, with games consoles - including PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch - taking the top spot.

The best in gaming was closely followed by TVs and iPhones, but entertainment wasn’t the only thing on UK families’ minds during lockdown. Customers wanted items to keep themselves occupied in the garden too, searching for garden furniture, hot tubs and trampolines. And they didn’t neglect the inside of their homes either, with curtains, wardrobes, vacuum cleaners and wallpaper also featuring in the table.

Unsurprisingly, staying fi t during lockdown was a priority too – even if we only had an hour’s outdoor exercise a day during some months. Nike trainers, smartwatches including Apple Watch and Fitbit, and treadmills are all included in the list.

And The Very Group gives a special mention to a classic: LEGO’s enduring popularity, boosted by a range of product launches, continued into lockdown. It reached number eight in the league table. L.O.L Surprise! toys also continued their popularity at number 16.

The Prime Minister’s ‘road map’ statement on 22 February 2021 was a trigger for a change in search trends. In the week immediately following the announcement, the nation turned its mind to children returning to school. Back to school related searches, including terms such as ‘school’ and ‘uniform’, surged 321% compared with the previous week and 136% on the same week in 2020.

Sam Perkins, managing director, retail, at The Very Group, said: “These results lay bare our pandemic priorities, as well as some interesting changes in what we’ve all been searching for. In almost every case – from consoles and hot tubs to TVs and garden furniture – we looked for things to improve the stay-at-home experience during lockdown.

“When you mix two huge and highly-anticipated console launches with a nation that’s stuck indoors, gaming was always likely to top the table. However, some trends are perhaps more surprising, like the dramatic upturn in appetite for hot tubs or the sudden increase in searches for curtains.

“But it can all turn on one announcement, just as we saw on 22 February. Suddenly, UK families focused on back to school and have now turned an eye to what they’ll wear when they meet friends. Following the gradual lifting of restrictions, we expect search and buying patterns to begin returning to pre-pandemic norms, which will likely benefi t fashion, in particular, with more of us socialising.”