Latest / The Retail Podcast / Redefining Wellness Retail With Holland & Barrett on Store Design, Community, and Innovation

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Redefining Wellness Retail With Holland & Barrett on Store Design, Community, and Innovation · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  But just the making pretty warehouses doesn't cut it
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  anymore. We have to give people a reasons
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  comes to shock. We have to give people an
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  experience. Some of you that they can meet
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  like minded people and have a space, they can meet like minded
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  people. Hello and welcome to the Retail
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  Podcast live from London right here in Oxford Street.
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  I'm joined by Richard Fisher, part of the design team at
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  Holland and behind. So Richard, for people who don't
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  know who Holland and Bar are and what you do, I do appreciate you
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  a global company. Would you mind just taking us
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  through your history? Tell us a little bit about how
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  many stores, for example, you have and and why you operate.
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  So we are 150 years old. We have just over 800 stores in
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  the UK. We are really well known in the
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  UK and it better looks for being a health and Wellness retailer.
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  We have about 200 stores in Better Lux at about 100 stores
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  around the rest of the globe and Far East, the Middle East.
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  We've just had two of the, the store upstairs and the, the new
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  refit and refurb store. And Richard, what's more, I
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  think for people who don't understand about retail design,
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  what does that encompass? So retail design is insure
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  everything in the shop you can't buy.
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  So it's everything you everything shop you thought buy
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  they allowing you to navigate the store and give you a set of
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  what brand's all about and what it gives them what it can do and
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  then to have elevated just an empty space as somebody that's
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  that's been nervous. I said this too.
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  I saw half imagine you to turn up with a high vis jacket and
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  our bell. I'd say come on, let's go out.
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  It's let's let's go around the store 24.
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  Hours ago you would have got bad.
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  Yeah. So I it's, it's a fascinating
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  journey and there are so many parts that I want to go in.
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  But if we start with the customer and the customer
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  journey into store when you're thinking about designing the
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  future of Holland and Barrett with your team because this
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  things don't happen to vacuum. So I have to acknowledge that
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  that yes, we're talking about design, but there is a team of
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  people that care about this. But I'm just curious what that
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  looks like for you. So you know, we talked about a
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  refit being about a seven-year lifespan.
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  So what a type of missions that you're trying to address through
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  the ZAI? Ultra, I've got to get your
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  attention. You're just walking down the
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  street. I've got to get your attention.
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  And so once I've got your attention, I can get you into
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  store, I can get you to the product you want.
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  So being able to articulate, giving you something before you
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  move into the store, get your attention, bring you into store,
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  and then be able to go, everyone, how do I navigate this
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  store? How do I get through to the
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  store? As long as we're going, we'll
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  need to go and find the white product and be able to
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  understand if I got the white products or everybody can go
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  with this product. So yeah, it's that ability to
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  sort of bring people in, get their attention and then not
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  scare them and not confuse them. Not getting for like, how do I
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  get out of this place for you? As is like any sense.
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  Yeah. So it's that sort of ability to
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  go get them into store, get into the products and then really
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  importantly, get them out of store with a really good check
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  out experience, say leave a store.
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  And it's all very positive, almost seamless experience.
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  It's really hard to do this podcast and not seeing like a
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  fanboy, right, because I have to sort of stay impartial.
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  But I love the fact that you have this premium fill when
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  we're walking around and as someone who sometimes I just
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  want to go in and get my vitamin C because I'm printing a bit
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  under the weather or other tongue.
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  You're trying to lose a bit of weight.
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  And so we know I'll be recommended that I might be low
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  on iron or some other if you sort have this 2 speed store,
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  which is like the Nirvana. So I've noticed upstairs you do
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  have wider aisles, you do have sort of that premium materials.
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  Is that so? Oh, we really could see that.
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  Look, we could be just a grocer, right?
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  You could use the oils and oils as a product, but that's not
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  what we who we are. And so you said that's really
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  important of I've been recommended something.
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  Yeah. What we funds to Holland Barrett
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  is that we're not letting our customers do as much the heavy
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  lifting. We're asking them.
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  They come in. No, you wait in the morning
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  going. I really wish I could have some
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  zinc. I really feel like some
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  magnesium paperweight and more. You go money hurt.
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  I'd like get hurt, you know, I want to be able to think quick.
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  I want a dead night's sleep, but we should be able to do that
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  heavy lifting. So yes, there is that premium
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  feel, but that's all built on the ability to have a
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  trustworthy brand. So to have that ability that
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  people come in and go, these guys who know what they're
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  talking about, It's so sort of underlying values that the shop
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  fit can show. So if you coming in, you go,
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  yeah, these guys know what they're doing.
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  They're not just they truly puts time and energy and effort into
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  their surroundings and that then projects onto the products and
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  the experience. You have and so when you're
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  looking at design, are you, do you have that like is it an
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  international customer that's Holland and Barrett customer or
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  do you actually does that breakdown reaching?
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  I mean is the store format that we we've seen of what your
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  future store would be like? Is that the format that would
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  sort of gradually go across the world?
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  Absolutely, yeah. So our colleagues in in Benelux
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  have been a really good job. We we are very lying in our
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  looking field. We're saying to how it's only
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  subtly changed. So when we're talking to a
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  customer in Greece, we changed the way we talk subtly.
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  But they're all brand values remain say.
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  What I'd like to do now is look about about your process as
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  someone, as an expert in the field you live and breathe
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  looking at store formats. What are the things that are
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  really important to you? So for example, sustainability,
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  accessibility and security. What are the things or the
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  pillars of design that you yet called close to you and they're
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  looking at those processes? To me personally it comes down
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  to 2 words. It comes down to showbiz and
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  punk, you say about. Me to weavers to get.
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  But did you think about it? It has to be showbiz.
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  Absolutely. You have to sell the dream.
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  It still has to be beautiful. It has to be somewhere people
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  want to go and indulge themselves.
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  And look, I agree. Yeah, but punk.
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  Why punk? Punk.
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  Rizzle about getting your attention.
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  It has to be disruptive. Look, I I will try my hardest.
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  I will try my hardest to make you like what we design.
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  But that's all choice. I hard control that.
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  What I can control is getting your attention.
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  Yeah. So that's what we try and do.
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  We try and write things, show these beautiful.
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  Sell the dream. If I ran, we have to be
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  disruptive. I have to get your attention
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  because until I have that, you're not coming anywhere
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  anyway. I'm really curious as someone,
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  again, an expert in the field, what part of the customer
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  journey for you is really important?
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  And I know maybe the answer is all of them, say, for example,
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  discovery check out walking into the store.
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  Is there something that when you looked at the refit and redesign
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  of the sport that you thought, you know, we need to maybe bring
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  more, for example, different check out formats?
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  We want more self check out, we want more, I don't know,
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  assisted check out. What's your blood priority or
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  design of obviously punk? It has to grab your attention
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  and it has to sort of be a rebel in that sense.
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  It's a bit more of a boring answer.
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  OK, it's. Sky OK, so how do you scale?
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  It if you, if you, if you can only do it once, you're only
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  going to get a very, very small group of people whoever see your
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  work. So you have to be able to think
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  about how am I going to get to Skype?
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  So we have 8 of the stores. Yeah, Hugh, you can only do it
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  in six stores because the capital constraints, yeah,
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  you're only ever going to affect less than 1% of your stakes
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  correctly. So you have to design something
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  in a way that is beautiful. There's all these things, but
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  you have to get to Skype. So being able to design
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  something that is has a great term investments has the ability
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  to be able to scale that can be reproduced quickly massively
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  over and he stayed this big that is the secret.
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  So if the initial approach and get in dog ways, yeah you are an
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  artisan A. Bet 800 or 3000, you have to be
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  able. It makes so much sense.
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  And obviously this expert in the field, enormous in the field.
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  That's OK. So I just want to form in
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  because I noticed green and community are two things that
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  really stood out for me in the new reef fits or so.
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  Just to be clear, on Oxford Street there are two Hollander
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  barracks about 500 metres apart. One of them is a refit which is
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  the, you know, something accident.
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  What am I doing this? Why don't you tell us the two
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  different stores? So we have we yet to have five
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  stores now all around Oxford's race and so two of those are
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  brand new stores. So we've they were candy shops,
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  Bones, a candy shop and one was a Harry Potter up until just for
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  Christopher. So there we get to those and
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  seven grade combat. So we do about 50, but only a
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  bit of brand new stores and refits throughout the year.
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  To get through our big refit numbers, we have to be able to
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  use a lot of our existing estates and then effectively
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  refit them and do in a way that is capitally sensitive.
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  So we do that away by we change just the floor, the ceiling,
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  create some key touch points around the crown of store.
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  So things up till, but the majority of things like the
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  gondolas, we couldn't say. So the store looked brand new,
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  but we've actually only changed some very key touch points.
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  Can you just look for the home in on the sports zone
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  downstairs? Because I I love that I, you
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  know, this sort of collective, I mean, Jim Shark could do a
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  really good start. Good job of that on Regent
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  Street in their flagship. And it feels like you're almost
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  echoing reaching out to that community.
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  So just yeah, talk us through because again, for people that
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  literally understand, what is that sports zone downstairs
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  about? So sports, sports in the officer
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  streets is all about how do you as you look, Jim Charles really
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  interesting because they caught a masculine brand.
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  Yeah, I do play to to you're a female demographic, but
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  predominates. Yeah.
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  Weight Lifters. Big lads where we have the
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  answers, we have to make sure our demographic or we are
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  inclusive. Well, we cannot be it please, we
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  aren't inclusive. So if you're, if you want to
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  lose weight or you want to go do a lot of society or you want to
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  you're in a fig, you're feel free, healthy, you get these are
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  so we have to be inclusive. So the way we design as far as
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  the car is, is inclusive. So we you know, the tailored
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  vision is the temptation is to go and do lots of body viewing
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  stuff. But if you look at our new range
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  like triactive, we particularly use almost warm neutral colours.
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  Yeah. So that we are inclusive.
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  What so inclusive to everybody? Yeah, I mean, this is incredibly
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  not sad, but I love the colour palettes.
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  Not because I know anything about colour, I just love design
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  and and colour. You must be one of those people
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  as well. But when you see colour talents,
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  you get excited. That blue.
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  Oh, I didn't know that. But when you were talking about
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  the emotional feel, I could imagining what and I'll take
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  some photos and maybe share them with you now through the show so
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  you can see what what we're talking about.
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  But it does have that freemium feel to it as well, right?
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  And it is increasing because you're so right.
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  My you know, the assumption. I didn't think about
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  bodybuilders, but yeah, everyone their protein shakes because
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  they want to. But now everyone from teenage
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  kids to old age pensioners, I'm worried about their protein
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  intake. So that's super fascinating.
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  OK, you mentioned Cardiff to me and we mentioned that maybe a
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  potential follow up to this show at Cardiff.
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  Talk. Talk to me about sorry.
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  Talk to me what you can about Cardiff.
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  So Cardiff is, we have taken on the old Wilco site.
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  It's a massive, massive site. So we we have an abundance of
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  space and what it's allowed us to do is have a huge step on in
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  where we're going. It's allowed us to do things in
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  and around store that you couldn't do in a smaller 50 Bay
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  store. So he's a huge step on it will
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  be very punk. It'll be very showpiece.
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  I mean, he will do retention and I think what he will start to do
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  is take people on the journey and the MO Wellness, a lot of
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  people and Wellness. You you're told what to do.
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  Eat this treat, this journal, this sing, this dance, this
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  Disney, and then take this data you've got.
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  It's overwhelming. Yeah.
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  And where we want to take Cardiff, I mean, it's the next
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  step change of where we're going is it's a Wells coach.
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  Yeah. So you will put our arm and you
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  and we go hey, feeling talk to us.
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  Hey, how can we help you? And how do we help you navigate
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  to those products that Wellness needs?
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  How do we take Wellness as a not just a product, yeah, but a way
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  of life? And how do we help you achieve
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  your Wells goals? That's fantastic.
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  What? When's the store due to open?
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  20th of in March. OK.
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  So in a couple of weeks. Fantastic.
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  That's we try not clash from Six Nations.
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  I'm just conscious of the fact I've got so many more questions
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  I want to ask in terms about your principles.
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  And then just to finish off in terms of innovation or when you
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  looking to the future, how how do you see the future of retail?
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  I'm really curious about how how you see it and it doesn't have
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  to be. So let's not limit that.
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  This is a Holland and Barrett vision of the future.
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  I'm just curious about your opinion as an expert.
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  Training the future retailers and the man.
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  We have a lot of pretty warehouses.
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  We have a lot of things where we expect our customers to do a lot
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  of Eddie Houston where we have to get to somewhere that we give
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  customers a reason to get off Ed Burma on a Saturday afternoon
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  when comes to shot. Yeah, we're on Foster streets at
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  the moment. Then you look at the data, we're
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  past pre pandemic numbers. So retail is here, high streets
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  are here. We have to give people a reason
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  to go onto the High Street. Yeah, because five in High
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  Street is is important for everybody.
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  But it's at 100% so. Good.
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  But just the making pretty warehouses doesn't cut it
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  anymore. We have to give people a reasons
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  comes to shocks. We have to give people an
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  experience, something that they can meet like minded people,
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  have a space, they can meet like minded people.
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  I mean, I totally agree. And one of the things that
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  people take for granted, Gen Alpha, who is about 8 or 10 at
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  the moment, eight, I think Gen Z Gen's alpha, they will be $12
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  trillion of global retail spend will have that spending power
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  over the next in in five years times than that, right.
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  And so that's the thing that you want retailers to be billed
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  into, which, if I'm brutally honest, a lot of people are
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  still missing, they're still focused on nineteen 2000s
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  e-commerce, digital, forgetting the fact that the store is the
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  hub. And it's about how this hub
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  becomes the heart of the community, which irrespective of
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  China, UK, Europe, US, the, the society that we live in, we need
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  these community spaces. So as I said, I love the fact
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  that you've got this sport saying, I love the fact that
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  you've got these new community spaces, all maybe expert spaces
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  that you're going to have that you can come in and have some
• 14:57
  form of health experience. And obviously healthcare and
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  health is just a massive growth area.
• 15:02
  Richard, thank you so much for taking the time with us.
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  You're ever receiving Cardiff.