Holland & Barrett recently launched its biggest food transformation in a decade, dubbed ‘food that loves you back’.
The health food retailer has spent two years redeveloping and “completely overhauling” its food offer, according to chief commercial officer Alex Dower. The first wave of the revamp will see more than 500 new items across own-label and brands hit the shelves this month.
With the relaunch supported by a £5m marketing campaign, Holland & Barrett clearly has big ambitions for its new food offer.
Retail Gazette sits down with Dower and commercial growth director Lisa Tookey to find out what to expect from Holland & Barrett’s food push.
Holland & Barrett goes back to its grocery roots
The relaunch is evident when taking a stroll around the Holland & Barrett’s Marble Arch flagship. The shop layout has changed, with the introduction of new chillers and food placed front and centre.
In some way, this is Holland & Barrett going back to its roots.
“We’ve always been known for food – we started as a grocer in 1870 in Bishop’s Stortford,” explains Dower.
“And we’ve innovated since then with plant-based and speciality diets. But we see this as the opportunity to lead again in the market”.
“The best way to be healthy is to eat a nutritious diet. So in terms of our transformation, the first thing we started with was our food range.”
Dower says the new food range has been developed around various health “missions”, with each product clearly laying out its benefits.
“You can see that with each of the ranges, whether it be glow, tummy love, immunity, all of those key missions are where we’re trying to deliver for customers in a simple way.”
Holland & Barrett is also the first UK retailer to introduce “Plant Points” to its food packaging, designed to help shoppers eat at least 30 different plants per week.
Highlighting why this is important, Dower says: “In your body there’s trillions of bacteria in your microbiome. And the most positive impact you can have on your health is keeping a healthy microbiome.
“Science has said the best way to do that is by consuming 30 different plants each week, so that’s why we’ve devised Plant Points scheme on pack.”
Although the business is the first to include the concept, he insists the brand doesn’t plan on “owning” it and hopes other retailers go on to adopt it too.
In another first, Tookey explains all Holland & Barrett staff have been qualified to advise in wellness both in-store and online.
“It’s unique to Holland & Barrett and you’ll pay for that service in other places if you want to see somebody about any particular health issues,” she says.
“We want to make sure that people are living the longest, fullest healthiest life that they can.”
While Tookey notes the business isn’t quite at the stage of giving a prescription of food as medicine, that is “absolutely where [it’s] heading”.
“Sometimes people need a bit of a diagnosis. Part of our business is about working with partners who can help diagnose things a bit more complicated or need a bit more of a deeper dive into a health diagnostic.
“And then food and vitamins or supplements are your ‘so what what do I do now’. We’ve got this entire catalogue of brilliant products that we can help with”.
Why revamping food now?
It’s been a tough time in the plant-based market of late. In August, Beyond Meat saw sales drop by almost a third as the cost-of-living hit shoppers’ spending habits.
Meanwhile, in May The Guardian reported sales of many vegan items across the UK had flatlined or fallen, raising questions over the resilience of plant-based products and health foods as shoppers tighten their purse strings.
However, Dower insists Holland & Barrett hasn’t experienced this in the same way with its health foods. In fact, he says it has achieved double digit sales growth this year.
So, how is it confounding the market?
“We’re super aware of cost of living. In fact, 100 of the lines we’ve launched are less than £2” he says.
Dower also believes there is a gap in the market that Holland & Barrett’s health food can plug.
“Most customers have a mission when they come in, and we’ve got some great supplements to help with that but we haven’t always had the food products to help them.
“I think by developing this food range we now complete the mission.”
Tookey adds that its food range offers greater benefits with alternatives that can be found in the supermarket.
“For example, our kombucha has adaptogens added into it, they’re created by scientists, nutritionists and chefs. So they are absolutely completely differentiated from anything you’ll find in a supermarket,” she says.
“They are mission-led as well, whether that’s around gut health immunity or beauty from within. That is really unique to our business”.
While plenty of new products have been added to Holland & Barrett already, Tookey points out that this is only first wave of its revamp, and that “waves two and three will be coming next year”.
“We’re really ambitious for the food range but it’s not ambitious for ambitious sake. It’s making sure we’ve got the right ranges that are customer led and mission led”.
With even more food on the way, Holland & Barrett fans are sure to have their eyes peeled for further updates from the retailer.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
