The Very Group has increased its full year sales and profits after boosting its group customer numbers by 7.6%.
In the year to 3 July, group revenue climbed by 13% to a record £2.32 billion while group pre-tax profit came in at £81.7 million compared to £48.4 million in the prior year.
The group, which owns Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, said the revenue increase was driven by an uplift in Very retail sales of 24.9% in the period.
During the year, Very increased its number of customers by 12.4% to 3.82 million which boosted the number of group customers by 7.6% to 4.82 million.
It also extended its artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, Very Assistant, from the Very app to its website, which led it to become the group’s largest customer service channel. This combined with a focus on providing online tools for customers to self-serve helped inbound customer service contact to reduce by almost a quarter year-on-year.
The group also strengthened its executive team with the appointment of former BBC technology director Matt Grest as chief information officer. In addition, former Fenwick chief executive Robbie Feather is set to join the business as retail managing director in late 2021.
