The Very Group

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We LOVE Christmas!   It’s one of the most important times of year for our customers and we’re busier than ever, but that doesn’t stop us finding time for some fun and sparkle.   Here's a glimpse of our December highlights, including:   🎄 Hundreds of teammates dancing the night away at our epic Christmas party in Liverpool. 🎄 The final ‘balcony briefing’ of the year featuring our Sparkle Awards, which celebrated brilliant team members who’ve truly made a difference while living our values. With more than 2,000 nominations, we kept our judges busy! 🎄 Spending time together at our Christmas lunches. (Bonus points to Team Dublin for their creative seating.) 🎄 Taking a moment to reflect on a fantastic year over mince pies and a glass of fizz.   Merry Christmas.   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

Let’s spend a week with Lucy Breen: retail category manager, people lab board member and all round good egg! 🥚   (Featuring special guest, Nibbles. 🐶)   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

🖤 Black Friday 2024 🖤 What an incredible team effort! Together, we made it sparkle for our customers (and each other) with: 🌟 Amazing deals across thousands of products. 📲 A fantastic Very website and app experience, including our new Black Friday countdown clock. 🦩 A fl-amazing flamingo-filled marketing campaign, optimised by data and insight, to bring the best deals to our customers at the best times. 📦 Fulfilment heroes working tirelessly to give our customers fast and efficient delivery. 💬 Customer care super stars supporting our customers around the clock. ⚡ High-energy vibes across all our sites with live-streamed trading updates, sweet treats, dance-athons, fancy dress and even a Brazilian carnival at our Skygate fulfilment centre. And so much more. Thank you, Team Very. #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

It’s our busiest time of year and the energy in our Black Friday base camp is truly electric.⚡   For the entire Black Friday period, this buzzing hub is home to a cross-functional team of experts from across planning, events and onsite merchandising. Together, they ensure we deliver a seamless experience for our customers, including: ⭐ Using real-time data to prioritise high-impact actions ⭐ Monitoring a live dashboard (performance, trends, competitors and more) ⭐ Tracking live order volumes vs. last year — it’s seriously addictive!   Let’s go behind the scenes with Shavaun Sa, Melissa Storey and Casey Cain…🎥   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

We’re thrilled to share that our team has been highly commended in the ‘reporting in private business’ category at this year’s PwC UK Building Trust Awards. 🏆✨   The recognition highlights our commitment to open, fair and insightful reporting, with our sustainability disclosures receiving special acknowledgement.   A big congratulations and thank you to our brilliant finance and ESG teams who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the magic happen when it comes to reporting.    #LifeAtTheVeryGroup 📸 - Claire Johnson, Emma Ball, Nathan Main, Erinn Dunworth, Grace Osborne and Francesca White

To celebrate International Men’s Day, we hosted an inspiring virtual panel discussion with a brilliant group of men from across our business. A huge thank you to our financial services CEO Nick McBrien for expertly hosting the session, and to our panellists - Simon Duckels, Terence C., Michael Black, Rob Davies and Matthew Turner - for sharing their personal experiences and perspectives. The group tackled important and thought-provoking topics, including: 💬 The impact of positive male role models. 🗣️ Redefining masculinity in today’s world. 💬 Embracing emotional vulnerability. 🗣️ Challenging outdated stereotypes. 💬 Normalising conversations about mental health. Big thanks to our audience for tuning in and getting involved with the Q&A too. Together, we’ll keep making Very an even more inclusive place to work. #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

That’s a wrap on our first-ever aspiring managers programme! 🎬 Over nine weeks, the group engaged in an interactive and hands-on learning journey led by our brilliant learning and development manager, Darren Gallop.   The initiative equipped everyone with the skills, confidence and mindset to step into people manager roles at Very in the future.   It’s part of our Unbox Your Career platform, which empowers Very teammates to take charge of their growth and development. And the best news is, our aspiring managers programme will be back in the new year.   Let’s hear from some of those involved… 🎥   Alexandra Hyde Dr. Peter York Bernadette Moriarty   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

We’re thrilled to share that Very’s ‘Let’s make it sparkle’ brand platform won silver at the Effie UK Awards last night – one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies in the marketing world. 🥈   The accolade, in the seasonal category, recognises how ‘Let’s make it sparkle’ has delivered outstanding results and resonated with our target customers.    Huge congratulations to our talented brand and creative teams, and a big shout out to our amazing creative partner, The Gate London, for their collaboration and support. The win is testament to the energy, creativity and teamwork behind bringing ‘Let’s make it sparkle’ to life! ✨   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

We’ve partnered with ITV Daytime and Alison Hammond to bring extra sparkle to Christmas! 🎄✨   As the 'Very Godmother', Alison is helping viewers avoid festive faux pas—from feeding the family to finding perfect gifts—now live on This Morning. The campaign showcases products from brands like Ninja, Coty, Meta, and Lego, integrated into our above-the-line marketing. 📺   This ad, created with The Gate London and Zenith UK, continues our flamingo-filled Christmas campaign.    Learn more on our website: vhttps://lnkd.in/eg3ACBjs   Let’s make it sparkle! 🦩✨   #LifeAtTheVeryGroup

Huge congratulations to Mujtaba Ghauri and Rainer Noble on graduating from the WiHTL & Diversity in Retail Ethnic Future Leaders Programme! 🎓 They are the fourth and fifth Very teammates to complete the six-month programme, aimed at supporting high-potential individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds to progress into senior roles and enhance ethnic diversity in leadership. Reflecting on the programme, Mujtaba said: “The experience showed me the power of sharing my unique journey as an ethnic leader, building my personal brand, developing strong networks and other key tools for success. Listening to inspiring speakers boosted my confidence as a leader and in life. I’m excited to apply these insights to benefit my team, the business and my own growth, and to one day inspire others.” Rainer added: ”I loved my experience on the course and couldn't recommend it highly enough. The incredible speakers and content made the whole experience a real joy to be a part of.” Thank you to the WiHTL & Diversity in Retail team for creating this invaluable programme, and congratulations to all the other cohort members on your achievement! 🌟 (Also shown in pic 📸: Alan Hornsby) #LifeAtTheVeryGroup