After bringing in
my-wardrobe.com founder Sarah Curran MBE last year to accelerate the
development of its luxury strategy, Shop Direct has announced plans to launch a
standalone etail brand offering edited collections and products from accessible
and high street luxury fashion and beauty brands.
VeryExclusive.co.uk will
launch during London Fashion Week in February 2015 and will focus on women’s
clothing, footwear, accessories and beauty.
The accessible luxury arm
of Very Exclusive will offer diffusion and second lines from designer fashion
and luxury beauty brands, including the likes of Marc by Marc Jacobs, McQ, Red
Valentino, Carven, Kenzo, See by Chloe, Vivienne Westwood Anglomania and J
Brand Jeans. The high street luxury division will focus on premium high street
brands and the ‘luxe’ collections of high street retailers, such as Reiss. The
beauty offer will include brands such as Stila, T3, Bliss, Elemis and Laura
Mercier.
The core target audience
for Very Exclusive will be women aged 26 to 35. The brand will offer an account
with a representative APR of 18.9 per cent and
will also retain Very.co.uk’s USP of ‘Take 3’, which enables customers to
spread the cost of their purchases across three monthly, interest-free
payments.
Led by Curran, a number of
high profile team appointments have been made to bolster the team behind Very
Exclusive. The brand’s fashion buying is headed up by Vikki Kavanagh, who
joined earlier in the summer from Harvey Nichols. Leading the beauty team in a
consultancy capacity is Clare Morgan, who was formerly head of beauty at
Harrods.
With a wealth of experience
at Shop Direct, Hugh Longland is overseeing strategic brand partnerships and
marketing for Very Exclusive. Heading up content development for the site will
be Emily London, who is set to join as editor-in-chief from her role as London
editor of American style website, Refinery29. Leading style blogger, Simon
Glazin, joins the team as social editor. Looking after PR and communications
for the brand in a consultancy role is Lauren Stevenson, who was most recently
head of PR and communications at Harrods.
Curran is also actively
recruiting for a number of further roles across buying, trading and creative.
Once complete, the satellite team for Very Exclusive will be based in Shop
Direct’s offices on Pollen Street, London, and supported by the wider capability
in its head office in Liverpool.
Overseeing the development
of Very Exclusive on behalf of Shop Direct’s executive board and reporting in
to CEO, Alex Baldock, is group retail and strategy director, Gareth Jones.
Gareth said: “Shop Direct’s edge as a digital retailer in a keenly competitive
marketplace is our range of famous brands combined with unique ways to pay and
a seamless, ever more personalised customer journey.
“When it comes to famous
brands, we already sell more than any other UK retailer. Over the last couple
of years, we’ve brought onboard new premium brands like UGG, GHD and Hunter,
and they’ve rapidly become best sellers for us. With that in mind, we brought
Sarah in to the business towards the end of last year to explore the options to
accelerate our luxury strategy.
“After months of market
research and testing, it’s extremely clear to us that there’s a real appetite –
both among existing customers of Very.co.uk and women who don’t currently shop
with our brands – to shop a standalone luxury site and have the option to
spread the cost. We’ve also been delighted with the reaction from the luxury
brands we’ve spoken to, who’ve seen immediately that Very Exclusive offers them
the opportunity to access a customer base that wouldn’t otherwise be able to
afford to buy their products outright. We’re confident that Very Exclusive is
going to be a massive success.”
Sarah Curran, managing
director of Very Exclusive, said: “With Very Exclusive, we’ll be looking to
offer a curated edit, along with our favourite must-have pieces of each
collection that will fit perfectly into every woman’s wardrobe. As well as
offering the option to spread the cost, there’ll also be a keen focus on
accessible price points. The site itself will provide a rich editorial
experience that will guide women through the season’s collections, trends and
key looks.
“We believe Very Exclusive
is going to go down a storm with stylish women across the UK and are throwing
our full weight behind the brand. We couldn’t be more excited to see the
reaction when we push the button next spring.”
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