Holland & Barrett has been busy of late, with recent results revealing a second year of double-digit growth as it continues its three-year transformation journey.
Stores are being upgraded, its first experience store opened in Cardiff in March and chair Alex Gourlay recently told Retail Week the growth of online is now higher than stores, thanks to its investment in digital solutions.
But Holland & Barrett’s latest focus amid its transformation is its wellness app H&B&Me, which determines a person’s biological age based on a series of questions on nutrition, exercise habits, sleep and emotional wellbeing.
Tamara Rajah, the retailer’s chief transformation officer and head of wellness solutions, explains that the app came into fruition about 18 months ago and was launched in May last year.
“The H&B&Me app is thinking broadly about healthspan and how to ensure users are building healthy habits today to prevent conditions such as cardiovascular disease,” she explains.
“We focused on nutrition, fitness, emotional wellbeing, sleep and adding quality years to life.
“It all came from customer data and insights telling us people are looking for solutions based on how they’re feeling, improving their immunity and other things, rather than just wanting to buy vitamin D supplements.”
Once the app determines a person’s biological age, it suggests ways for users to reduce this age through tailored goals and small sustainable changes over a 21-day programme.
“The goals are very simple and made to incorporate into daily life, such as getting enough protein, fibre, doing strength exercises as well as cardio, sleeping for enough hours,” Rajah explains.
“This is not designed for just those with Oura rings and every other exercise device; it’s for the average person, as we want to reach the whole population.”
Enhancing personalisation
Early results from customers using the app show it’s making an impact. In a nine-week trial, 87% of participants said they saw “significant improvements” in energy, mood, sleep and diet based on changing to healthier habits.
“We’ve tried to make the habits, exercise and activities as realistic as possible,” Rajah says. “There was another app I was using when we did market research for this, and if I wasn’t getting enough sleep, it would pop up with an alert at two in the afternoon saying it’s time for a nap.
“You could work out that I’m working at that time, so it’s got to integrate into your daily life.”
Holland & Barrett has added features and upgraded the app over the past year, responding to feedback, allowing customers to edit answers, and introducing points, rewards and challenges for users.
The app is even becoming more personalised and innovative. Rajah says the ultimate aim is to start adding this into other aspects of the retailer’s shopping journey to reach the entire country.
“We’re getting deeper into personalisation with the digital coach that sits behind the behaviour change programmes on the app,” she says.
“In the next phase, users can say ‘stop telling me to eat something different for lunch, I can’t’ and then the coach won’t suggest that again.
“We want to make it really personal to you as it gets more clever.”
She adds that the coach will be able to take other data factors into account. One example, which hasn’t been built yet, is that it will understand the weather.
“If it’s raining outside, the coach won’t tell someone to go for a run at that moment. It may suggest indoor pilates instead.”
Reaching the masses
With a focus on preventative health, wellness for the masses, and investment across all aspects of the business, Holland & Barrett are finding ways to get the most out of the app.
A trial is taking place in 20 stores where colleagues can download the app for the customer on the spot, find out their biological age, immediately advise the customer on improvements and suggest products to boost health.
Rajah says the trial is going “very well” and the data from colleagues is strong.
“Customers and colleagues are finding a real richness in the conversation and it’s a very neat way of taking the retail experience to a whole other wellness level, instead of it just being a product transaction,” she adds.
Marketing a new wellness app to a wide audience won’t be easy but Rajah says in the medium term, the aim is to get this out to the whole country.
“This will be through partnerships and this could be with various employers as a way to raise the wellness levels of employees,” she explains.
“We’re looking at how to scale it and make it a core part of our proposition and we’re now looking at getting it out to the entire nation.”
No mean feat for a retailer that is in the midst of an overhaul, but the first signs of the app’s potential could be seen when the retailer won the Salesforce Customer Experience Gamechanger Award at this year’s Retail Week Awards.
As the app continues to develop and reach new heights, customer needs of personalisation, wellness and preventative health measures are set to be met.
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