As a sign of the chain taking the need to transform seriously, Holland & Barrett have appointed Steve Carson as their managing director in order to to drive through several digital transformation initiatives. Carson joins the British health foods company from Sainsbury’s catalog style retail arm Argos.
At Argos, Carson managed the catalog companies own transformation and transition, shifting it from a paper driven take-home directory and to a ‘digital first’ company. This was in his role as director of retail and customer operation.
Holland & Barrett is owned by the Russian company, run by Mikhail Fridman: L1 Retail. Fridman purchased Holland & Barrett in 2017 for £1.8 million ($2.3 million). Holland & Barrett is a chain of health food shops with over 1,300 stores in 16 countries, including a substantial presence in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. The brand has become synonymous with the sale of vitamins, supplements and homeopathy.
The digital focus will be with the development of e-commerce, logistics and supply chain. With e-commerce, offering users a personalized service will be part of the challenge. This centers on the question of how retailers can make their digital solutions personalized and deliver customized user experiences to shoppers?
Through the appointment Holland & Barrett not only signal the start of a wider digital project, the chain also plans to offer more products internationally, primarily through on-line ordering.
For related digital transformation news, see the article “Sure signs of retail’s digital transformation.”
