| Shop Direct Group | |
|---|---|
| Type | Limited company |
| Founded | 1 November 2005 (1923 as Littlewoods Pools) |
| Headquarters | Speke, Liverpool, England |
| Key people | John Moores (Founder) David and Frederick Barclay (Owners) Mark Newton-Jones (Chief Executive) |
| Industry | Retail/Home shopping |
| Products | Clothing Electronics Home furnishings |
| Revenue | £2. A limited company in the United Kingdom is a Corporation whose liability is limited by law Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Speke (pronounced Speak) is an area of the City of Liverpool, in Merseyside, England, close to the boundaries of the Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Sir John Moores ( 25 January 1896 &ndash 25 September 1993) was a British businessman and philanthropist Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay (both born on 27 October, 1934) are British Businessmen. A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Home Shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing / home Shopping channels industry which includes such billion dollar companies as HSN, QVC, In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather Electronics refers to the flow of charge (moving Electrons through Nonmetal conductors (mainly Semiconductors, whereas electrical Furniture is the Mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body (seating furniture and beds, provide storage or hold objects on horizontal In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 1 billion[1] |
| Employees | c. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. 19,000 |
| Subsidiaries | Littlewoods Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited, Everyday Financial Solutions Limited, Home Delivery Network Limited, Optimum Contact Solutions Limited, CDMS Limited. A subsidiary, in business matters is an entity that is controlled by a bigger and more powerful entity |
| Website | www.lwsdg.co.uk/ |
| Littlewoods Business Infomation | |
Shop Direct Group (or until May 2008, Littlewoods Shop Direct Group;LSDG; or LWSDG)[2]) is a United Kingdom retail Limited company, based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A limited company in the United Kingdom is a Corporation whose liability is limited by law Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland
Formed from the merger of the Littlewoods and Shop Direct groups on 1 November 2005,[3][1] LWSDG has its roots in the pools and retail business founded by John and Cecil Moores, and the home shopping business of "Great Universal Stores" (now called GUS plc), respectively. Littlewoods is the name of a former retail and gambling empire founded in Liverpool, Merseyside, England by Sir John Moores. Shop Direct Group (or until May 2008 Littlewoods Shop Direct Group; LSDG; or LWSDG) is a British retail Limited Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Sir John Moores ( 25 January 1896 &ndash 25 September 1993) was a British businessman and philanthropist GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom
Owned by Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay (95%) and the Bank of Scotland (5%),[3] it is the largest home shopping company in the United Kingdom. Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay (both born on 27 October, 1934) are British Businessmen. The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and Clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Home Shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing / home Shopping channels industry which includes such billion dollar companies as HSN, QVC, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
Contents |
History
Littlewoods
Founded by John Moores and his brother Cecil in 1923, Littlewoods was initially a football pools company, which used its network of pools agents and printing company (founded in 1928) to establish itself as a catalogue retailer from 1932 onwards. Littlewoods is the name of a former retail and gambling empire founded in Liverpool, Merseyside, England by Sir John Moores. Sir John Moores ( 25 January 1896 &ndash 25 September 1993) was a British businessman and philanthropist
The success of the catalogue shopping business led to the opening of a Littlewoods high street department store in Blackpool in 1937. Blackpool (/ˈblækˌpul is a seaside town in Lancashire, England.
In October 2001, Littlewoods became the owner of the Swan brand for electrical goods and kitchen equipment.
In November 2002 the Moores family sold the Littlewoods Group to the Barclay brothers for £750 million. Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay (both born on 27 October, 1934) are British Businessmen.
Littlewoods also owned the Index chain of stores. Index was a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom, purchased by rival Argos in 2005
GUS/Shop Direct
The home shopping/catalogues business of Argos and Homebase owner, GUS plc, ARG Equation (including Great Universal, Kays, Choice and Marshall Ward) was de-merged and bought by the Barclay brothers in 2003, where it became Shop Direct. Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, and west of Doncaster England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom Following clearance from the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the two businesses formally merged in October 2005. The Competition Commission is an independent body responsible for investigating Mergers market shares and conditions and the regulation of firms under United Kingdom
Formation of Littlewoods Shop Direct Group
In March 2005, following a twenty year history in which it had never made a profit, it was announced that part of the Index chain of catalogue shops was to be sold to Argos, and the remainder was to be closed [1]. Index was a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom, purchased by rival Argos in 2005 Argos is the largest general-goods Retailer in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with over 700 stores
In July 2005 Associated British Foods purchased the 120 branch Littlewoods retail chain on behalf of its retail subsidiary Primark for £409 million. Associated British Foods plc ( is a British Multinational food ingredients and retail group with sales of £6 Some of the stores were converted into branches of Primark, and the remainder are being were sold on to other retailers. The Littlewoods name disappeared from the British high street in March 2006.
Following these disposals, the Littlewoods home shopping business was formally merged with that of Shop Direct (the GUS plc home shopping business), to form the United Kingdom's largest home shopping business. GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The merger was in reality effected in early 2004 when work started on a business optimisation programme, consolidating various business functions.
In May 2008 LWSDG announced it would change its coporate brand name to Shop Direct Group, to reflect the multi branded nature of the business [2]
Associated Companies
As well as its core home shopping business, Shop Direct Group owns and operates a financial services business, formerly known as Everyday Financial Solutions, and now known as Shop Direct Financial Services, which is the consolidated brand under which Littlewoods and Shop Direct's finance arms were merged.
The Group's contact centre company, formerly known as Optimum Contact Solutions, is now known as Shop Direct Contact Solutions.
Home Delivery Network Limited website is the Group's logistics arm, the result of the merger between Business Express and Reality, the former Littlewoods and Shop Direct delivery companies respectively. As well as delivering home shopping for the Group's brands, also delivers for Tesco Direct, Amazon, Dabs. com and other third parties.
CDMS website is the Group's direct marketing and publishing company.
Brands
LWSDG currently operates a variety of home shopping brands, consisting of the former Littlewoods brands and the former Shop Direct brands (Additions Direct, Abound, Great Universal, Marshall Ward, Choice, and Kays). A sports website, called sport-e. com was also opened by the group in 2003. The 'Littlewoods Direct' brand was formerly known as 'LX Direct' and 'Littlewoods Xtra'. The shop provides a range of items ranging from clothing and jewellery to electrical goods and appliances. Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal Ornament, such as a necklace ring or bracelet made from Gemstones Fashion advisors Trinny and Susannah are currently the faces of Littlewoods. Trinny Woodall (born Sarah-Jane Woodall 8 February 1964 in Marylebone, London) is an English fashion advisor and designer, Television Susannah Caroline Constantine (born 3 June 1962 is an award-winning English fashion guru, style advisor presenter, Bestselling fashion They fronted Littlewoods when orders rose thirty per cent during its sponsorship of their ITV1 programme Trinny & Susannah Undress in 2006. Trinny & Susannah Undress is a British reality Makeover and fashion-themed Television programme on ITV featuring fashion [4] As of January 2007, they have also provided twelve pages of fashion advice within the Littlewoods catalogue and also produced a booklet called The Golden Rules, which was distributed to all Littlewoods customers with fashion advice aimed to suit all body shapes. January 2007 is the first month of that year It began on a Monday and 31 days later ended on a Wednesday. [4] They have also compiled guidelines aimed at customers searching online, who are then able to type-in their body measurements and get instant advice on which Littlewoods clothing is suitable with accordance to their figure. The duo have also launched their own clothing range with Littlewoods. Littlewoods also own Littlewoods direct, Marshall ward, Additions direct,Choice and Kays.
Sites
LWSDG occupies one of Europe's largest warehouse distribution centres from which it can deliver its stock to its customers. This complex, known to the company as Shaw National Distribution Centre is found in Shaw and Crompton, Greater Manchester. Shaw National Distribution Centre is a home shopping-catalogue warehousing and distribution centre owned and operated by Shop Direct Group located on Linney Lane of Shaw and Crompton is a town and Civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England Greater Manchester is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2 It comprises three former cotton mills and a number of state-of-the-art stock handling facilities, and is supported by strong geographic positioning and well served local transport links.
LWSDG owns another former mill in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham - Raven Mill in Chadderton, which it uses for processing returned goods. The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a Metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. Chadderton (pop 33000 is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It also uses a third party-run site in Derker. Derker is an area of Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester, England.
On 9 May 2006, the company announced the closure of three warehouses in Eccles, Wigan and Worcester. Events 1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Wigan is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south of Preston, west-northwest of Manchester Worcester (ˈwʊstə is a city and County town of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands of England. These closures have taken place, with all operations being transferred to their Shaw and Crompton site. Around 1,200 jobs were lost from the closures, but further jobs were created at Shaw NDC.
LWSDG has recently invested in a new state-of-the-art head office, Skyways House, a £31 million renovated aircraft hangar, situated in Speke, South Liverpool [3]. Speke (pronounced Speak) is an area of the City of Liverpool, in Merseyside, England, close to the boundaries of the The Speke site also houses a state of the art computer data centre. The group sold the original Littlewoods Head Office in Liverpool (SJMB) to Bruntwood Estates. They retained a single floor in that building due to lack of space in Speke, but moves planned for the end of November and early December 2007 will relocate the remaining staff to the Speke head office site. It also has a data centre adjacent to The Plaza (SJMB as was) and has other offices in Manchester although these are due to close by mid 2007.
Through its contact centre company, Optimum and financial services company, Everyday, it operates call centres in Aintree, Merseyside, Bolton, Burnley, Crosby, Merseyside, Preston, Sunderland, Newtown and Worcester. A call centre or call center (see spelling differences) is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by Aintree is a Village and Civil parish in Sefton, Merseyside. It lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 Bolton ( is a large town in Greater Manchester, in the North West region of England. Burnley is a large Market town in the borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73500 Crosby is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, on Merseyside, England Preston ( ˈprɛstən is a city and local government district in Lancashire, England, located on the River Ribble. Sunderland (, or /ˈsʌn(dlən/ is a City in Tyne and Wear, England. Newtown is a locality in Cheshire, England. History Newtown is located to the north-east of Chester, and can be found just outside Worcester (ˈwʊstə is a city and County town of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands of England.
Criticism
The company has attracted some criticism in recent years for poor customer service. Industry watchdog The Direct Marketing Association has "expressed concern" [4] about LWSDG's customer care and many customers have posted negative experiences on websites such as Kelkoo [5], Ciao[6] and DealTime[7]. Direct Marketing Associations are national trade organizations that seek to advance all forms of Direct marketing. (Some of these reviews refer to 'LX Direct', which was renamed 'Littlewoods Direct' in March 2007. )
Trivia
The National Football Museum in Preston, Lancashire, holds a Littlewoods Collection which chronicles the history of the Littlewoods Pools business. The National Football Museum is a Museum in Preston, England, founded to preserve conserve and interpret several important collections of Association Preston ( ˈprɛstən is a city and local government district in Lancashire, England, located on the River Ribble. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea Preston also being home to one of the Littlewoods Shop Direct Group head offices. Preston ( ˈprɛstən is a city and local government district in Lancashire, England, located on the River Ribble.
In August 2006 LWSDG closed the former Shop Direct head office Manchester Arndale and some staff relocated to the new Speke site. Manchester Arndale (known locally as The Arndale Centre or just The Arndale) is a large Shopping centre in Manchester City Centre,
References
- ^ a b Littlewoods Shop Direct Group Implements Witness Systems’ Impact 360 Workforce Management Solution. witness. com (2007-01-09). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Retrieved on 2007-08-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the
- ^ Communcation on Progress 2007, URL accessed April 4, 2007.
- ^ a b Littlewoods Shop Direct. fasttrack. co. uk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-02. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the
- ^ a b Editors at The Times. "Littlewoods signs up Trinny and Susannah". The Times. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. Retrieved 2007-02-15. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 590 - Khosrau II is crowned as king of Persia 1637 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor
External links
- http://www.lwsdg.co.uk - Littlewoods Shop Direct Group Official Website
- http://www.thecatalogshop.co.uk/ - 7 decades of catalogue shopping in the UK
- http://www.hdnl.co.uk/ - Home Delivery Network website
- Shopping Catalogues
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