Jason Wootton outside the Sandbach shop
An online retailer which is one of the country’s biggest suppliers of self-administered health tests is making the move into bricks and mortar across the UK believing a high street resurgence is underway.
Healthy Stuff Group, which has doubled in size over the last year, has opened a second high street store so it can offer a face-to-face service to its customers.
Following the purchase of a health food shop in Knaresborough, near Harrogate, the firm has now bought a store in Sandbach, in Cheshire, and has plans to open a further seven shops this year.
The company has seen a huge increase in demand for its industry-leading hair and finger-prick blood sample tests from people taking investigations into their medical symptoms into their own hands.
The company, which currently processes around 13,000 tests each month, analyses customers’ mailed samples, providing them with the information they need in order to amend their diets or make changes to their lifestyle.
Now its array of self-administered tests will be available to buy in store to complement the existing range of health supplements and well-being products which are already available to buy.
Group chairman, Jason Wootton, said: “People want the connection, community, and social experiences that physical retail spaces provide, and we’re confident that this is driving them back to the high street.
“We’re not seeing a reduction in demand online, but we’re sure that a personalised service is among the reasons people want to return to shopping in store. Personalisation helps create a deeper connection between you and your customer, but it also allows for more targeted cross-selling by introducing new products.
“I think the result will eventually be a hybrid high street that supplies the best of both worlds: the choice and convenience of the digital world with the customer service, humanity and immediacy of a store.
“The key thing here is the experience. Online will always have the convenience of purchasing from the sofa, but humans often want more than that. They are making social shopping trips to discover goods in person and I think that as a retailers if we get that experience right we will reap the rewards.”
Healthy Stuff Group is not alone in championing the high street. Many British retailers that are predominantly store based have bounced back; shares in Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct and Flannels, have almost doubled since early 2021.
While many stores such as Wilkos and more recently Body Shop have not survived on the high street, there is a belief that some consumers have developed digital fatigue with online shopping.
Marks and Spencer, which for years epitomised the struggles of the British high street, rejoined the FTSE 100 index last year as sales and profits bounced back strongly.
Jason added: “In the last 12 months we have experienced unprecedented growth and we expect this to continue as more and more people are forced to take their healthcare into their own hands.
“A longer-living population, increasing pressure on the National Health Service and better technology means that the health and wellbeing sector is likely to be among the more successful markets in 2024.
“We genuinely believe there is a place on the high street for our company. We can enhance the customer experience through our testing so they can gain valuable insights into which products will help them improve their health.
“Our tests, which are clinically proven and almost identical to those used by medical professionals, are in heavy demand, but we want to go one better and help the NHS by inviting people into our new store to take a test as part of a wrap-around service involving face-to-face consultation and access to health and well-being products.”
Healthy Stuff Group has become one of the country’s largest suppliers of self-testing kits which are used by customers in 40 different countries and processed in its state-of-the-art laboratory in Castle Donington.
Its tests work by measuring IgE and IgG4 antibody reactions in the body which can uncover evidence of an allergic reaction – when the body mistakes a protein for a harmful substance and creates antibodies as a defence system to fight it – or an intolerance.
The firm, which has been in business for 14 years, also supplies tests which can measure a person’s kidney and liver function, as well as a prostate health test and a kit that measures levels of Vitamin D.
And it has also released a menopause kit, which allows people to detect elevated levels of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), which is a sign that they have started going through the menopause.
