The Very Group has extended its next day delivery cut off for customer orders from 7pm to 10pm.

The company said it was able to do so because of automation technology at Skygate, its East Midlands fulfilment centre, which was launched last year.

Skygate’s automated sortation, selection, advanced picking and single or multi-order packaging technology has orders ready for dispatch within 30 minutes, compared to around four hours at Very’s previous fulfilment centres.

The retailer claimed that the fastest order to date, processed during Black Friday 2020, was ready for dispatch in 18 minutes.

Very recently migrated clothing and footwear returns to Skygate, with returned product now available for resale within half an hour.

The 850,000 square foot site launched the day the first national lockdown began in March 2020 and shipped 20 million items during its first year in operation.

During the retailer’s busiest ever Christmas trading period in 2020, it processed up to 256 orders per minute.

“Fast delivery is vital for a great customer experience, and that’s what we focused on when developing Skygate’s technology,” said Phil Hackney, chief operating officer, Very. “Throughout the pandemic, we’ve managed huge volumes of orders and extending the cut off time was the next natural step.”

Hackney added: “A later cut off for next day delivery gives even greater convenience to our customers and we’re particularly pleased to have it in place well in advance of Black Friday and Christmas. It’ll help us differentiate our offer even further during these crucial periods.”

Skygate is responsible for the fulfilment of 95 per cent of Very orders, houses six million items and processes 750,000 products every week.

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