Georgia Seago reports
As a leading retailer of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements, Holland & Barrett has long been a staple on the UK high street for the health conscious customer. Founded in 1920 by English businessman and entrepreneur Samuel Ryder, the company’s origins are as a garden seeds and herbs retailer. In 1991 it was acquired by Lloyds Chemist PLC, before joining NBTY – which claims to be the world’s leading nutritional supplements manufacturer – in 1997. Though now parented by this transatlantic firm, Holland & Barrett’s head office remains in the UK, where it operates the majority of its 650 outlets across Europe.
The chain in its current incarnation has always stocked beauty products along with its other offerings in the health and wellness sector, but for 2014, there is a distinct focus on growing the beauty category in order to be “the destination retailer for all of our customers' natural beauty needs”, says Lucy Pottinger, Senior Beauty Buyer at Holland & Barrett. “The growth that we’re seeing on the category internally – currently 32% up year-on-year to date – shows that there is certainly the hunger from a business point of view to grow the category. A lot of it is down to awareness from our customers at what they’re putting onto their bodies being just as important as what they’re putting into their bodies.”
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