Increased demand for online shopping has led to Shop Direct, the company which owns the famous brand, dumping the glossy publication in favour of focusing on its website.
With online making up more than 90 per cent of its sales, bosses at Littlewoods decided the time was right to dump the catalogue.
Launched in May 1932, the first catalogue was a 168-page collection of hand-drawn pictures of goods such as nickel-plated gas irons.
Almost an immediate success, the catalogue was improved and grown each year it was published and in later years boasted some of the UK's most famous faces as its models.
Twiggy has appeared in the pages of the catalogue, as has George Best, Joan Collins and Coleen Rooney.
In its heyday, the catalogue had a print run of a staggering 25 million copies, but last year it sent out just 300,000 copies.
Although ditching the massive catalogue, Shop Direct said it would still allow customers to make phone orders and that Littlewoods would still produce a small brochure showing off some of its leading products.
Alex Baldock, chief executive, said: “This is a big step in Shop Direct’s transformation and, importantly, it’s one that’s been led by our customers. They’ve embraced online at a phenomenal pace – this is where they’re browsing and where they’re buying.
“We want to spend in areas that really matter to our customer. We know they want a slick, easy online experience and they want it tailored for them. We’re going to give them what they want.”
The catalogue market was transformed with the emergence of the Internet and phone transactions slowly diminished after the mid-1990s. It was around this time that Littlewoods began closing its stores, with the outlet at Merry Hill in the West Midlands being one of the first outlets to close in 1996.
Index was a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom, that was owned by Littlewoods from 1985 until 2005. Many Index stores were attached to Littlewoods stores.
History. The original Littlewoods brand was a shopping catalogue and retail business headquartered in Liverpool, and was bought by the Barclay brothers in 2002. The website launched in the 1990s and in 2005, the physical stores were sold, leaving Littlewoods as a pure play online retailer.
It was announced in March 2005 that part of the Index chain of catalogue shops was to be sold to GUS plc (then owner of Argos) and the remainder was to be closed. In July 2005, Associated British Foods purchased the 120-branch Littlewoods retail chain on behalf of its retail subsidiary Primark for £409 million.
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis. High energy costs and a move to shopping online are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
Work to restore a historic clock at the iconic former Littlewoods building in Liverpool has started. The 86-year-old landmark building on Edge Lane is being transformed into a film studio and production hub. The building was the home of the football pools when it was first built in 1938 and closed in 1994.
It all began in the early 1400s when the Italian publisher and humanist Aldus Manutius, 17 years before his death, compiled a catalog of books that he produced. It was Manutius who invented the concept of paperback books (pocketbooks). His catalog was meant to introduce these pocketbooks to Venice.
Catalogs served not only as sales material, but also as entertainment and a method for people to keep up with what items were popular elsewhere in the country. After they outlived their usefulness, paper was reused for many other purposes, and today the industry still strongly supports recycling.
The pools business declined after the introduction of the National Lottery in 1994. Littlewoods, Vernons and Zetters were brought together in 2007 by Sportech under the brand 'The New Football Pools', now known as 'The Football Pools'. They offer other small stake, high prize games such as Premier 10 and Jackpot 12.
Catalogs can be credited as the beginning of direct-to-consumer marketing. While the physical-print editions of mail-order catalogs have mostly gone the way of the dinosaurs, marching to extinction, companies like Amazon still use digital versions of this powerful marketing strategy.
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Very (also known as Very.co.uk) is a British online retailer with headquarters in Speke, Liverpool. The brand was launched in the UK in July 2009 as part of the Shop Direct Group (now The Very Group). Very had formerly been known as Littlewoods Direct, and formerly Woolworths.co.uk.
"Very" - an initiative created by the Shop Direct Group, who own Littlewoods and Great Universal - has joined forces with the likes of Jasmine Guinness, Caprice, Peaches Geldof and designers Ann Louise Roswald, Amanda Wakeley and Preen, who have all created exclusive collections for the site.
It was in May 1932 that the first Littlewoods catalogue was produced and from there on, it became part of so many people's households in the city and beyond.
In July 2016 a committee of the UK parliament issued a report entitled “Leadership failures and personal greed led to collapse of BHS”. The Guardian reported “Sir Philip Green's reputation ripped apart in damning report on BHS demise.
The Shops Act 1950 legislated that large shops were to remain closed on Sundays. Goods were not allowed to be shipped on Sundays, and many shops also had a half-day where doors would close early on a certain weekday, as decided by each local council. This was often a Tuesday or Wednesday.
Sir John Moores CBE (25 January 1896 – 25 September 1993) was an English businessman, telegraphist, football club owner, politician and philanthropist, most famous for the founding of the now defunct Littlewoods retail and football pools company.
Very (also known as Very.co.uk) is a British online retailer with headquarters in Speke, Liverpool. The brand was launched in the UK in July 2009 as part of the Shop Direct Group (now The Very Group). Very had formerly been known as Littlewoods Direct, and formerly Woolworths.co.uk.
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