Summary
- New Holland & Barrett partnership brings 52 SKUs into 125 Co-op stores.
- Smaller “top-up” pack sizes developed for everyday shoppers.
- Independent retailers can look to wholesalers’ own-label medicines push, such as Parfetts’ new paracetamol line, to defend share.
The battle to capture health and wellness spend in convenience is heating up, with two major moves announced this week from both retail and wholesale sides of the sector.
On Wednesday (27 August), Co-op confirmed a new partnership with Holland & Barrett that will see the specialist’s vitamins, supplements and wellness lines rolled out across 125 Co-op stores.
The initiative introduces 52 SKUs from Holland & Barrett, Symprove and Zooki under new ‘Health and Wellness’ bays, covering gut health, family wellbeing and preventative health. Smaller ‘top-up’ pack formats have also been designed with convenience shoppers in mind.
With over 70 per cent of the UK adult population taking some form of vitamin and mineral supplement, Francesca Miller, Co-op commercial buying manager, said the move reflects significant growth in preventative health.
“The proactive health and wellness market is continuing to grow at a significant rate, and we believe the convenience sector has a huge role to play in supporting our shoppers as more and more of them take positive steps to improve their health and wellness,” Miller said.
“We are the experts in convenience and Holland and Barrett are the experts in proactive health, so we’re excited to be able to partner with them for this new offer.”
Holland & Barrett CEO Anthony Houghton added: “By combining our product expertise with Co-op’s strong community presence, we’re creating a trusted and convenient route to better access to preventative health for everyone across the UK. Together, we can help more customers make small, positive changes that have a big impact on their long-term overall wellbeing.”
For many independent retailers, the timing underscores the need to sharpen their own health and pharmacy propositions. Just a day earlier, wholesaler Parfetts revealed it is expanding its Go Local own-label medicines range with new paracetamol tablets, following the successful launch of ibuprofen earlier this year.
The paracetamol packs (16 tablets, £1 RRP) promise a POR of 62.1 per cent – more than double the margin typically achieved on branded equivalents – and come in shelf-ready trays with modern blister packs designed to rival branded products on look and feel.
“This is just the beginning of our drive to expand the Go Local medicines category, ensuring retailers have a compelling own-label offer to rival the brands and meet shopper demand,” said Cheryl Hope, trading director at Parfetts.
With winter medicines season looming, symbol retailers and independents may see own-label medicines as a powerful way to defend share against the bigger chains’ health and wellness push.