Shop Direct to develop new fulfilment centre in the East Midlands

Shop Direct, the UK’s second largest pureplay digital retailer, today announced proposals to upgrade its fulfilment capabilities by creating an automated, 500,000 square foot distribution and returns centre in the East Midlands.

Development of the site at East Midlands Gateway is due to start in May 2018, and the group plans to begin exiting its existing fulfilment sites in Greater Manchester from mid-2020. The new site is expected to be fully operational by peak 2021.

The move is expected to impact 1,177 permanent Shop Direct colleagues and 815 agency colleagues. Redundancies are anticipated as a result of the site closures.

As part of an 18-month project, Shop Direct reviewed its fulfilment sites at Shaw, Little Hulton and Raven, and concluded that limited accessibility, layout and loading restrictions, coupled with a lack of space, mean that these centres won’t meet the group’s future operational ambitions.

The existing fulfilment operation has supported Shop Direct on its journey from a catalogue business to the UK’s second largest pureplay digital retailer, delivering 49m products to customers annually. Very, Shop Direct’s flagship brand, grew like-for-like revenue by 14.6% last year, on the back of 15.9% growth in 2016 and 17.4% in 2015.

For Shop Direct to continue to meet customer demand, the business now needs a new, purpose-built and automated facility in a central, well-connected location, that can accommodate all one-man fulfilment and returns operations on one site, and that provides room for continued expansion.

The space offered by the new site will mean that Shop Direct can process more orders and use new technology to make the business more responsive, reducing the time it takes to get products to customers. The site’s position in the East Midlands, adjacent to the M1 and East Midlands Airport, with its own rail freight terminal, will enable the business to increase its cut-off time for next day delivery to midnight from the current 7pm, and to explore the introduction of same day delivery in the future. Approximately 500 permanent roles will be created at the new site, and this is expected to increase by an additional 200 to 300 agency colleagues during peak periods.

Shop Direct has entered into consultation with Usdaw, the recognised trade union, and will also be consulting with colleague representatives. The group will be working closely with affected colleagues to support them.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Derek Harding, interim group CEO of Shop Direct, said: “This is a tough day for the business and we know how difficult this news will be to hear for our teams in Shaw, Little Hulton and Raven. However, these proposals are necessary for our future and to enable us to continue to grow and meet rising customer expectations.

“We take very seriously our responsibilities to our colleagues, many of whom have been with us for a long time and who work tirelessly to deliver for our customers. We are working alongside Usdaw, our recognised trade union, and will listen carefully to what they have to say. We’ll also work closely with local authorities and community leaders to make sure this process is carried out as fairly and sensitively as possible for our colleagues.

“We’re announcing this now to give our colleagues the best possible opportunity to prepare for the change. Over the next two to three years, we’ll be partnering with local and national organisations to provide our colleagues with tailored advice and training, including career skills, access to financial planning and vocational courses to support re-training. It’s also our plan to offer apprenticeships in in-demand skills across our existing operational sites.

“Our priority is to provide a fair outcome for our team and we’ll do everything we can to support colleagues through this transition.”

– ENDS –

CONTACT INFORMATION

Media enquiries

Brunswick                            

Eilis Murphy                            0207 404 5959

Cerith Evans                           0207 404 5959

Shop Direct                          

Lauren Young                         07919 228622

Dave Lafferty                          07552 283266

Bondholder enquiries

 Shop Direct                          

Will MacLaren                        will.maclaren@shopdirect.com

ABOUT SHOP DIRECT

Shop Direct is the UK’s second largest pureplay online retailer, with annual sales of £1.93 billion. Our digital department store brands are Very.co.uk, Littlewoods.com, VeryExclusive.co.uk and Littlewoods.ie. We receive an average of 1.3 million website visits every day, with over two-thirds (69%) of our sales completed on mobile devices.

We exist to make good things easily accessible to more people – via our department store range of famous brands, market-leading ecommerce and technology capabilities and unique financial services products offering flexible ways to pay.

We sell more than 1,800 famous brands, including big name labels and our own exclusive brands. We have four million customers and deliver 49 million products every year. Our free click and collect service, Collect+, delivers to 7,000 stores across the UK, providing ease and convenience for customers.

Over recent years, we have been steadily transforming into a world class digital retailer. The first phase of this transformation programme has focused primarily on developing the front end of the Shop Direct customer offer – from the websites and mobile apps to brands and product ranges. The group is now moving into its next phase of development, creating a digital end-to-end supply chain for Shop Direct that is fit not only for today, but far into the future.

For more information on Shop Direct, visit www.shopdirect.com or follow us on Twitter at @ShopDirect.

ABOUT THE SHAW, RAVEN AND LITTLE HULTON SITES

Shaw fulfilment centre – one-man collated product (smaller parcels, often with multiple items)

• 705 Shop Direct colleagues, with 636 agency colleagues
• 950,000 sq. ft.
• Occupies three converted former mills and two stock handling and sortation facilities
• 5m orders fulfilled per annum
• Opened as a warehousing and distribution centre for Littlewoods in 1979

Little Hulton fulfilment centre – one-man non-collated product (large, one-man orders)

• 59 Shop Direct colleagues, with 43 agency colleagues
• 330,000 sq. ft.
• Occupies two warehouse units
• 1m orders fulfilled per annum
• The company began operating at Little Hulton in 1998

Raven returns centre – one-man returns

• 413 Shop Direct colleagues, with 136 agency colleagues
• 250,000 sq. ft.
• Occupies one converted former mill
• 2m returns parcels processed per annum
• Raven was a Great Universal Stores site when the business was acquired by Littlewoods in 2003

ABOUT THE NEW SITE

The new fulfilment centre at East Midlands Gateway will move all aspects of Shop Direct’s one-man fulfilment operation under one roof, including inbound, distribution, outbound and returns. The facility, which is expected to require a total investment of around £200m, will host approximately 500 permanent colleagues and use the latest in automation technology from Knapp, improving efficiency in Shop Direct’s fulfilment operation, including processing new orders and returns faster than ever before.

The proposed new, single fulfilment site will provide better access to the distribution network and the UK’s major motorways, with its proximity to the M1 and East Midlands Airport and on-site rail freight terminal. This will offer more options to create new customer propositions, from later cut-off times for next day delivery in the short term, to same day and international delivery in the future.