Littlewoods Catalogue

Littlewoods catalogue is a famous British Mail Order Catalogue, which began publication in 1932 and remains popular today.

Littlewoods Catalogue - heritage

The first Littlewoods catalogue appeared in 1932, inaugurating serious mail order catalogue shopping in the UK.

John Moores, publisher of the Littlewoods catalogue, had once been a lowly Post Office clerk in Country Kerry, south-west Ireland. The food in this distant outpost was abysmal, and household goods difficult to obtain. So Moores created his own supply Company, and brought in necessities from Dublin and England.

The company flourished and provided the start up money needed to launch his Littlewoods Pools empire. He had made enough money to last a high liver for a lifetime, but he was only 35 and hungry to make an even bigger impact in the business world. His mind went back to his old supply company, and he decided to go back into the mail order business.   

Inspired by the success of Sears & Roebuck in the United States, Moores decided that mail order catalogue shopping was the way to go. He opened Littlewoods Mail Order Stores Ltd, and launched the  Littlewoods catalogue, from rooms over a shop in Liverpool. The Littlewoods catalogue was unique, at the time, in using "agents".

US catalogues had simply been sent direct to customers. Moores took the uniquely British approach of employing agents to show the Littlewoods catalogue to relatives, friends and neighbours, and to collect orders and payments. For this they received a commission of at least ten per cent.

The internet revolution forced Littlewoods catalogue to adapt. This led to the  launch of Littlewoods Direct, where you can order a catalogue or use the Littlewoods Web site to check out the product range.

Littlewoods also used to run high-street stores, but these were sold off, most stores going to Primark, but others went to Argos.