Figure 1.--These boys' suits were offered in a Littlewoods catalog about 1950.
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Figure 1.--These boys' suits were offered in a Littlewoods catalog about 1950. |
Littlewoods Mail Order is the leading mail order company in the UK. The company was founded in 1923, but only later baegan marketing clothes. American companies began mail order marketing in the the 1870s, but mail order companies developed later in Europe, presumably because most customers were closer to retail shops than was the case in the United States. Littlewoods are still producing catalogues, and past issues provide a wonderful record of evolving styles and fashions in British clothing, household things, and sports goods. While Littlewoods not have the long history of a company like Sears or Montgomery Wards, their catalogs are a useful record of evolving styles beginning with the 1930s. Littlewoods was the largest private company in Brotain. The reclusive billionaire Barclay brothers in 2002 put up £750m to take control of the Littlewoods stores and home shopping businesses.
Originally a football pools company owned by John Moores, Littlewoods is a now solely a retailer, with a 75 year history.
The modern Littlewoods company evolved from J&C Moores which was not a clothing or mail order company, but a printng company. The company was founded in 1923 and then incorporated Jeffersons Ltd.--a limited company (corporation) in 1926. It focused on meeting the needs of the Pools Organisation, producing football coupons, stationery and publicity material. Jeffersons changed its name to J&C Moores Ltd in 1929. The company in the 1930s launched a mail order division, printing publicity material and certain sections of the catalogue. The company in 1938 moved into a new building at Edge lane built to accomodate modern new printing equipment
At the outbreak of war in 1939, the original company was closed, except for a small section, which was known as Littlewoods Mail Order Shopping Printing Department (LMOS).
After World War II, the company was re-incorporated as J&C Moores Ltd. in 1946 with the ownership vested in LMOS. The Moores family until 2002 still owned all of the shares--there were only 32 shareholders. There were no members of the family on the Board of Directors, but there is a link board between them and Littlewoods; John Moores (Junior) will eventually become a director and some of the family remained actively involved.
Littlewoods has a history that stretches back over 70 years. American companies began mail order marketing in the the 1870s, but mail order companies developed later in Europe, presumably because most customers were closer to retail shops than was the case in the United States. One source lists Littlewood catalogs as early as 1932. Littlewoods are still producing catalogues, and past issues provide a wonderful record of evolving styles and fashions in British clothing, household things, and sports goods. While Littlewoods not have the long history of a company like Sears or Montgomery Wards, their catalogs are a useful record of evolving styles beginning with the 1930s.
Littlewoods Mail Order is the leading mail order company in the UK. There are few better known names on the British High Street than Littlewoods. The company's stores offer an extensive range of clothing and home furnishings. The company in fact was the largest private company in Britain. The reclusive billionaire Barclay brothers, who run a business empire which stretches from the Ritz hotel to the Scotsman newspaper, in 2002 put up £750m to take control of the Littlewoods stores and home shopping businesses. The purchase ended nearly 80 years of family ownership of the Littlewoods empire, which was founded in 1923 by Sir John Moores. His first venture was into football pools and he expanded into mail order in 1932 before opening his first store, in Blackpool in 1937.
The Littlewoods Organisation plc ("Littlewoods") carried on business as a retailer by mail order and through high street stores. There were in 2002 a chain of 112 stores nationwide.
Littlewoods in 2000 had a turnover of around £2 billion. The company reports that they have more ways to market than any other retailer in the UK in that they have: 1) a standard agency mail order business, 2) a direct mail catalogue which is the biggest in the country,
3) high street stores, both Littlewoods stores and our Index stores, 4) a shop TV channel, and 5) an e-commerce channel.
Catalogue goods were sold through a network of agents who earned commission on the payments remitted to Littlewoods in respect of sales made to the agent or sales through the agent to third parties. In relation to the latter, the agent supplied the services to Littlewoods of introducing the third parties as customers and procuring sales to the third parties. The agent earned commission in respect of payments received for sales by Littlewoods and is entitled to take commission in any one of four ways: (i) by obtaining an immediate cash payment of 10% of the relevant sales payment; (ii) by using the 10% commission to pay (in whole or in part) for goods he or she has already obtained; (iii) by applying the commission (enhanced for this purpose to 12.5% of the relevant sales payment) in payment (in whole or in part) for further goods which he or she subsequently ordered ("the third option"); or (iv) by carrying the commission forward and allowing it to be accumulated to be used in future in one of the ways specified in (i) to (iii) above.
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