H&B bets on an omni-channel future

Holland & Barrett owner NBTY Europe is continuing to invest in bespoke retailing technology to keep it at the forefront of the growing trend for omni-channel shopping.

At its recent supplier day the retailer revealed that it had already invested £16 million in a beefed up IT and e-commerce system built around the Oracle ORPOS platform.

The new system offers a range of new marketing opportunities for suppliers including the ability to give discounts and vouchers to customers based on their purchasing history.

Additional marketing opportunities for suppliers will include in-store video-screens, bounce-back coupons given at the till, targeted promotions to customer segments and website placements on e-commerce sites.

Holland & Barrett has been adopting the Oracle till system at the rate of 50  stores per week. The latest phase of the upgrade is the launch this week of a new Oracle-based website enabling the retailer to offer a “truly omni-channel shopping experience”.

NBTY Europe’s group trading director, Kyle Rowe, said “As health and wellbeing customers become more omni-channel in their habits, the ability to effectively target them with bespoke offers means marketers can be more efficient with their spend, and link directly to sales. The fact that we can tell suppliers who is purchasing their products, how often and wen they buy is a game-changer.”

Holland & Barrett currently sells 3,500 products online – the equivalent of the stock inventory of a large store – and says it has the capability to expand that to 12,000.