Phlo, which provides GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, will see its services featured across Holland & Barrett stores and online, signposting customers to additional support alongside its existing nutrition and wellness range.
Leila Thabet, Holland & Barrett’s wellness platform director, said the partnership represents a continuation of Holland & Barrett’s 150-year history as a health retailer and 15-year history of supporting weight management.
“Because we are a business rooted in the high street, we take what our customers tell us very seriously,” she told NutraIngredients.
“We know from speaking to them that more than a quarter are currently struggling with or have challenges around weight management,” she said. “It’s an important area for them, and we believe in offering end-to-end solutions and holistic support regardless of their journey or mission.”
The partnership in practice: Signposting not prescribing
Obesity rates are at their highest in human history, with 890 million people living with obesity globally and 2.5 billion overweight, according to the World Health Organization.
These high rates of obesity and overweight have fed into consumer demand for weight loss solutions, with Holland & Barrett’s consumer data showing 55% of UK adults wish they could manage their weight better, 64% are ‘actively managing’ their weight and 33% are actively trying to lose weight.
Thabet says the new partnership will therefore broaden Holland & Barrett’s offering, ensuring consumers can access clinically supervised weight management support in a responsible way, something which is particularly relevant in the UK, where 30% of adults are obese and 4% of households have at least one GLP-1 user.
However, while Holland & Barrett will signpost customers toward clinical journeys via in-store and online displays, it will not proactively direct or prescribe medical routes.
“It’s not something that we recommend, and from a regulatory perspective, we can’t,” she said. “It’s also not the right thing to do because it’s not right for everybody. We let people know it is available to them if they want to explore it, but they also have to go through clinical checks to make sure they’re eligible.”
“We’re not trying to become a pharmacy – this is about supporting personalization," she added.
Holland & Barrett will offer nutritional advice to those on weight loss journeys, including those on GLP-1 drugs, who are more likely to experience nutritional deficiencies, with research showing that roughly one in 10 have at least one new nutritional deficiency after taking the drug for six months.
However, in the UK, regulations dictate that supplement brands must not suggest their products can address symptoms arising from prescription treatments, as this can stray into medical territory. Brands and retailers must therefore be wary about how they position products, something which Thabet says Holland & Barrett is well adjusted to.
“There are nutrition needs no matter what weight management journey you’re on,” she said. “Regarding the regulatory aspect, as a wellness retailer, we’re used to straddling that. We believe in breadth and offering options without prescribing anything to our customers.”
She added: “We’re never going to say, ‘You should take this supplement.’ It’s about offering nutritional support that people are already aware of, like protein or fiber.”
From sales to support: The evolution of retail environments
Ultimately, Thabet said Holland & Barrett is moving towards a “holistic wellness ecosystem” – an evolution that has seen the company transcend the traditional constraints of a retail environment to offer in-house support, advice and sign-posting.
“This is one piece of the puzzle in offering holistic end-to-end support for customers,” she said. “No matter what journey you are on, we are able to provide support. You might have a challenge with weight management but you might also be perimenopausal and have a breadth of other things that you’re navigating. So this is really about how we we offer that end-to-end support, and that’s where we see the opportunity.”
Holland & Barrett is also continuing to invest in its own-brand weight management ranges, with new launches planned throughout 2026 and beyond.
