SHOP Direct has this lunchtime told staff that it is to close its Crosby call centre and reduce staff  numbers elsewhere.

The home retail group, which used to trade as Littlewoods, will shed 900 posts across its  Merseyside operations.

Most of the jobs will be lost from its Crosby call centre but some will also go from Shop Direct’s  Speke head office.

The company this lunchtime told the Daily Post that a total of 1,150 posts will be made redundant,  but it expects to offer 250 staff jobs in other parts of the business.

Shop Direct said the move was made possible by changes to the way people shop with more  people buying goods online and fewer buying through its traditional Littlewoods catalogues  business.

Mark Newton Jones, Chief Executive said: “We recognise that this will be a difficult time for those  members of our team impacted by today’s announcement. We do hope to relocate 250 of them and  we will do everything we can to support those affected.

“Our business is changing because the way our customers choose to shop with us is changing. We anticipate that 70% of our sales will be online  by 2010/11 and, therefore, the future of our business is online-led. We are a strong and growing  business.

“In order to maintain this growth, we need to continue to adapt and change to the needs  of our customers.”

Usdaw national officer David Johnson said: “Our members are understandably extremely shocked and distressed at this announcement which the company made just this morning.

“We will be starting a consultation process with the company tomorrow and will be examining in detail their business case to close the Crosby call centre.

“The company maintain that the decision is not due to the current economic climate but is necessary because of the steady decline of the traditional catalogue home shopping business as customers switch to the internet.

“Usdaw will be doing everything possible to try and minimise the scale of the proposed job losses, and to represent, advise and support our members through this very difficult time.”

Today's news comes just days after sister company Home Delivery Network, also based in Speke, announced that 686 jobs were at risk under plans to close eight depots around the UK.

In its January trading update, the group said sales were up 9% for the six-week period with online  sales growth of 44%. The group’s online business now accounts for 56% of total sales, up from 18% three years ago.

Shop Direct has around 5m active customers shopping across its broad portfolio of brands in the  UK. It says customers have become more confident shopping online and, as such, the way  they interact with the business is changing.

Shop Direct Group, the UK’s largest online and home shopping retailer has sales of circa £1.6bn.