Boots has today opened the doors to a new format store in London’s Covent Garden that is part of its wider plans to re-invigorate its offer to lift sales and win back shoppers from emerging rivals in the health & beauty sector.
The 28,524 sq. ft. store features a new Beauty hall that stocks over 300 brands. Shoppers can access advice from the ‘Boots Beauty Crew’ and take advantage of two beauty studios.
The new outlet is also home to Boots biggest ever wellness range, with 32 new brands including Beauty Kitchen and Equi.
Meanwhile, the store features a rehydration point (see below) for refilling water bottles and an Innocent bar for people to pick up snacks.
In Pharmacy, there are Amazon-style lockers for prescription collections, extra advice and consultation spaces, and a “warmer and friendlier” waiting area.
Sebastian James, Managing Director of Boots UK & Ireland said: “Our new Covent Garden store starts a journey of reinventing Boots for the future. The store is full of exciting beauty brands, ideas for living well and services to help you get better, all with the great care that Boots colleagues give. We will learn what people love and want from this shop and this will help us shape a blueprint for our whole 2,500 store estate.”
The performance of the Boots chain has been lacklustre of late, with its sales weakening as a result of the tough trading conditions, underinvestment in its stores, and increased competition from value-oriented chains and online beauty retailers.
James yesterday warned of further tough times ahead with waning consumer confidence and political uncertainty pushing the UK towards a possible recession. “It’s quite tough out there. There are some storm clouds gathering…We need to be ready,” he said.
Boots has already stated that it is reviewing its store portfolio, with reports suggesting around 200 outlets could be closed. Yesterday, James said the focus would be on rejuvenating its larger stores, suggesting that its smaller pharmacy-based outlets would bear the brunt of any closures.
“Retail store numbers are not far off what we think we need,” he said. “But we need to do some rationalisation [in pharmacy]. There are high streets with three or four branches of Boots on them. It’s about reducing duplication, not coverage.”
Despite the tough conditions, James stated that Boots had taken market share in all of the big categories it operates in, including pharmacy, in the last six months.
He added: “Most of our competition have had a period of time – three or four years – where they’ve gone out and they’ve opened new stores and revamped their shops, and now it’s our go. I think if we play it well we should be able to take quite a material share of the market.”
NAM Implications:
- A long overdue shot in the arm for Boots…
- …brimful of ideas, all of which could help…
- Only issue is whether Walgreens will allow the funding necessary for a national roll-out? (See Sunday Times – 23/6/2019)
