Littlewoods.com is one of the most famous brands in British retail, having been founded over 80 years ago. This article takes a look at some of the key events in its long history.
The Littlewoods story began in 1923 when John Moores and 2 partners founded the ‘Littlewoods Football Pool’. 9 years later, and looking for a new challenge, Moores founded the Littlewoods Mail Order business. The first catalogue was launched in 1932, with 168 pages. Agents working from home recruited local people who paid a small weekly installment for goods purchased.
By 1936, the mail order business was turning over more than £4million and the following year the first department store was opened in Blackpool.
In the 50’s the company launched 2 new brands, the Brian Mills catalogue and Burlington, both based in Sunderland. These revolutionized shopping by shipping supplies goods to customers before any payment was made.
The 1960s saw a new headquarter for the business, with Littlewoods locating to the JM Centre, a state of the art ‘skyscraper’ at 100 Old Hall Street, Liverpool. The new ‘baby boomer’ generation funded a rise in sales and the catalogue boomed.
By the 1970s, Littlewoods added to their range with a selection of electrical goods such as electric can openers, coffee makers, tumble dryers and electric blankets.
In the eighties, telephone shopping becomes the norm and the company opened up a call centre to cope with demand.
All change in the nineties as founder John Moores dies, 23 members of the Moores family take the helm. Littlewoods now enjoys 28% market share of the home shopping market and dispatching around 40 million parcels a year.
At the turn of the century, and with telephone orders in decline, Littlewoods embraced the internet with the launch of the Littlewoods Direct website. By 2001, the company had become the second largest home shopping retailer in the UK. The following year, the Moores sold the business to Sir David and Frederick Barclay for a reported £750million.
By 2006, Littlewoods had merged with the Shop Direct group and set up shop in a new state of the art headquarters in a converted aircraft hanger in Speke, South Liverpool. In the same year, Littlewoods closed all of their retail outlets, bringing to an end over 70 years on the high street.