Holland & Barrett: Why Garden Centre’s are the perfect place for concessions

This year Holland & Barrett stepped back from promotion-led marketing, instead asserting itself as a leader in the health and wellness sector – the go-to for anyone looking for wellness products.

Back in January, after a £4m campaign encouraging consumers to prioritise health and happiness in 2024, Holland & Barrett committed to improving the nation’s overall wellness by signposting experts, nutritionists and an extensive food range.

Prior to this year, the last time Holland & Barratt advertised on TV it was plugging its penny sale, something they became known for far and wide. Two years later, their TV campaign took a new slant, bringing together H&B nutrition packed food and the largest range of vitamins and supplements on the high-street.

With gut, immunity, sleep, women’s health and movement being the key “missions”, its strategy plays perfectly in hand with their customer loyalty.

Holland & Barrett Rewards for Life is available in store, online and on the app. You collect points when you shop, and they turn them into money off vouchers for you to spend. You’ll get 4 points for every £1 you spend, plus £3 on sign up towards your first money off voucher. Plus, they offer exclusive member only offers and promotions. 

With Holland & Barrett customers loving to be rewarded for their purchases, the increase in Garden Centre’s adopting a loyalty card fits with the type of targeted consumer.

There are many benefits for retailers of implementing an app-based loyalty scheme:

• Customer satisfaction as you surprise and delight
• Instant notifications to stay in touch with customers, keeping your brand at the forefront of their minds
• Higher uplifts in marketing response
• 20% uplifts in Average Transaction Value
• 50% greater lifetime value spends

Holland & Barrett has an ambitious 3-year transformation strategy to become customer’s first choice for wellness products, advice services and solutions. To help achieve this they are investing in revitalising the store experience, taking a flexible approach to space planning and piloting new locations and store footprints.

Looking at the demographic of a Holland & Barrett customer, there are 3 things that appeal:

• Wide range of products available
• Quality products
• A brand you can trust

Through their years on the high street, they know their customer inside and out. Health and beauty products are a frequent purchase and enticing a customer to keep purchasing that product is a key objective for any retailer within this sector.

This summer, Holland & Barrett has launched a new partnership with NEXT, opening three new “store within a store” concessions.

H&B will offer its customers a specially curated range of its top 1,000 products from its latest ranges of health and wellness solutions, including leading brands, innovative services, sports nutrition, and trending beauty, plus access to personalised advice from highly trained H&B colleagues to support them with their wellness goals.

On top of this, Holland & Barrett opened its first garden centre concession as a trial at Gates in Leicestershire, again offering a carefully curated range of 1000 products. A second is to follow at the end of the month at Pugh’s Garden Village at Radyr in South Wales.  It is understood that the health and wellness retailer will assess the first two sites before deciding on a roll-out.

Holland & Barrett also have partnerships with Tesco and travel concessions at WH Smith.

Looking at why Holland & Barrett, there are clear reasons why Next and Garden Centres were the right fit for partnership. With a similar demographic, not only for an older customer group at retirement age, who may spend more time in their garden as well a need additional wellbeing products.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increasing demand for garden centre ranges. In 202/2021, a new appreciation for outdoor space (plus the garden centre being the first retailers to be allowed to reopen during the pandemic) saw plant and garden furniture sales increase. Now, people are in the market to replace and upgrade. Over the past three years, demand in gardening and plants has ballooned at an exceptional rate and, by 2025, is expected to reach £5 billion.

Similarly, the pandemic caused a shift in mindset when it came to wellbeing, with many prioritising taking vitamins and minerals to help deter unwanted germs and keep fit and healthy, especially as gyms closed.

The garden centre industry continues to evolve to provide a retail and leisure destination that supports this multi-million-pound market. The introduction of Holland & Barrett concessions, alongside fashion and homewares, seems a great idea looking forward as Garden Centres continue to become a one-stop shop for consumers.