How Holland & Barrett Streamlined ProductLabelling Compliance for Global Success

The Challenge: Taking Wellbeing in New Directions

Through its franchise and wide-ranging partnerships, H&B already has a presence in 19 countries, but as the company scales and its global presence grows, the team knew they needed expert help to expand into new markets without compromising on quality and compliance.

H&B’s global growth plans also coincided with a major transformation project, as the retailer looked to revitalise its existing product lines with all-new packaging. The refreshed labels aimed to modernise the look and feel of H&B’s own-brand stock, creating a sleeker aesthetic whilst making essential product information clearer and more easily discoverable for consumers.

In addition, as the company’s in-store food range grew, H&B was also looking to launch a new ‘Plant Points’ initiative – guiding customers towards a healthier, more varied diet with packaging that assists with eating 30 different plants a week.

With so many projects to manage and a complex regulatory landscape to navigate, H&B turned to Ashbury to boost efficiency and streamline compliance, in order to get products on the shelf as quickly as possible.

The Solution: Simple, Scalable Product Compliance Support

Holland & Barrett initially trialled Ashbury’s regulatory consultancy services on its range of food products, but this soon expanded to other ranges within the store, particularly around H&B’s ambitious transformation project. This involved a full review and approval of specifications and artwork for 100s of SKUs within the business, as well as NPD and upgraded SKUs.

Within this project, the team at Ashbury were able to make several improvements to the product information approval process, including simplifying the pack copy format to make it easier for the graphic service provider, ensuring greater artwork accuracy each time.

This change had a dramatic effect on H&B’s KPIs, with the business going from an average of 13.4% right-first-time artwork approvals to an incredible 69.4% of version one artworks being signed off. Prior to this, approximately two thirds of all artworks were being approved at version three or beyond – following Ashbury’s involvement, this now sits at just 20% of all product artwork.

Commenting on the results, Andy Boyd, Transformation Manager (Technical VHMS) at Holland & Barrett, said: “Ashbury have been working at such a high standard improving the accuracy of specifications and labelling that as many as 131 artworks have been approved at version 1 – this was unheard of 12 months ago – and the number keeps rising!”

This isn’t the only way that Ashbury’s expert advice is driving greater efficiency at H&B – other improvements include:

• with their partners at Ashbury, leading to greater consistency, more accuracy, and fewer queries
• Supplier welcome packs – training for H&B’s suppliers to advise them on best practice for their product specifications is ensuring production is standardised and quality and safety are maintained
• Project briefing forms – by providing clearer communication around existing product development, Ashbury has simplified the process for updating artwork, making it easier to modify packaging and retain a competitive edge

By sharing expertise, streamlining processes, and removing friction, Ashbury has been able to transform regulatory compliance within H&B and deliver new and updated products to consumers at a faster rate.

Through a dedicated point of contact within the Ashbury team, H&B benefits from regular communication and a tailored, hands-on service. This enables Ashbury to remain flexible and adapt to the business’s complex needs – whether this is supporting global expansion by checking formulations and advising whether products are suitable for different markets, or offering new services, such as website reviews, to help the retailer reach all its compliance goals.

Celebrating the successes of the Holland & Barrett and Ashbury partnership, Ellis Northover, Head of International at Ashbury, shared these thoughts:

“I’m incredibly proud of the team we have here at Ashbury and their outstanding commitment to helping our partners solve real-world challenges through practical, actionable advice and market-savvy recommendations.

“Holland & Barrett’s experience is a prime example of that hard work and dedication, and I’m delighted to see the impact it’s had on their goals. Our resourcing model ensures consistent turnaround times while aligning seamlessly with the retailer’s systems, processes, and policies.”

Looking Ahead: A Labelling Compliance Legacy That Lasts

Building a successful partnership with a leading retailer like Holland & Barrett requires confidence and trust, and Ashbury believe in delivering this through pro-active, pre-emptive support and a collaborative approach to compliance excellence.

As the partnership grows, the team are looking forward to working with H&B on an even greater number of projects, continuing to support their international goals, and celebrating new milestone achievements.