Retail Week speaks to THG Nutrition’s chief executive Neil Mistry about the recent Myprotein rebrand, striking retail partnerships with giants like WHSmith and Holland & Barrett, and how he’s trying to turn around declining sales.
Neil Mistry has been a Myprotein employee since before it was bought by THG in 2011. He had spent nearly 17 years with the brand in various roles before being appointed as the chief executive of THG’s Nutrition division two years ago.
In the half year to June 30, 2024, THG Nutrition reported a 10.9% decline in year-on-year sales to £300m. THG added that the first half was a “more challenging period” for the division with sales expected to improve in the second half.
But as Myprotein, the hero brand under the division completes a full rebrand, Mistry says things are looking brighter for the peak period and the new year. Here, we talk about the rebranding strategy, retail partnerships with giants like WHSmith and Holland & Barrett, and why he thinks this might be the solution to THG Nutrition’s declining sales.
Can you talk to me a bit about the Myprotein rebrand?
“The nutrition space has evolved over the last four or five years. I think Covid-19 has accelerated that as well. The term nutrition has evolved, not only from being a performance focused area, but also wellness. And this conversation around wellness is continuously progressing, and we are seeing product categories grow from greens to brands like Huel which are doing incredibly well as businesses.
“And therefore, we felt our brand not only needed a refresh, but we wanted to play in the entire health and wellness space. So we undertook the rebrand to allow Myprotein to be positioned as a number one destination for health and wellness. And we feel like we’ve now set the template to allow us to flourish in those areas, whereas perhaps previously, it was focused on snacks and whey protein.”
What is the strategy behind the recent retail partnerships with WHSmith and Holland & Barrett?
“I think it extends to the question on why we did the rebrand. Essentially, another reason of us undertaking the rebrand is for us to break down the barriers of nutrition. We want to continuously be accessible, and what that has allowed us to do is have more fruitful conversations with retailers including the likes of WHSmith and Holland & Barrett. What it allows us to do as a brand is enable us to tap into that impulse buyer, and therefore increase the occasion on which customers can attach themselves to the Myprotein brand.”
Do you think the rebrand will be effective in turning around the declining sales of THG Nutrition?
“Where we’re at today, as with any rebrand, you’ve got to rotate your stock going from your old to the new. We’ve tried to minimise the cost to the business while doing so. I feel very confident of where we are taking this brand, and the fact that we’ve now played quite confidently in the performance and wellness space.
“I believe that with the range of great tasting products, and the occasions that we play in, from after the gym to the impulse to the breakfast occasion, we play across multiple fronts. Yes, there will be, as there always are, challenges. We’ve faced a couple of them this year. We will continue to work through those challenges if they come about. But I’m quite confident in the business model that we’ve created to allow us to adapt to these challenges as they come.
“But as a brand that can play across the multiple occasions, across multiple products, across multiple regions, across multiple platforms, whether that be online or offline, I feel like we’re in a good place to tackle anything that’s thrown at us.”
What are your long-term goals for THG Nutrition?
“You are going to see a lot more from our brand going into next year, through partnerships, licensing, and becoming bricks and mortar. The brand metrics are continuously coming out very strong overall. So I feel quite confident as a brand going into 2025 knowing that we’re in a good place.
“You’ll see us play in different regions as we progress. Obviously, we are an international business, but we will continue to look at ways in which we can expand our international growth as well.”
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