Holland & Barrett bets €17.5M on Irish fulfilment and next-day delivery
What's the deal? Holland & BarrettDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → will invest €17.5 million (c. £14.65m) across digital and retail fulfilment in Ireland over the next three years. From November 1, 2026, the health and wellness retailer will shift fulfilment of its Irish online orders from the UK to Ireland through an expanded partnership with Kildare-based Road Truck Services (RTS).
What's the endgame? The spend splits into €8.2m for a new digital fulfilment model and €9.3m for existing retail fulfilment with RTS. The retailer will hold about €1.5m of extra stock locally, lifting its Irish stockholding to roughly €4.7m. It expects around 328,000 orders and 1.8 million units to flow through the Irish network each year.
Why now? Ireland is one of the company's strongest markets, with about 2.8 million customers over the past year, including 300,000 online. H&B now runs 70 stores and employs 419 people in the country, with headcount up 4% over the year.
What changes for customers? Moving stock closer to shoppers is intended to enable next-day delivery, wider choice, and better availability. "Holding more stock locally will help us deliver faster and offer greater choice and availability," said Vineta Bajaj, group chief financial officer.
The signal: The move localises logistics rather than simply opening stores, backing both an established 70-store estate and a growing online channel. It comes as H&B closes some UK branches under a separate £70 million investment, citing "changing shopping patterns and evolving high streets" — a sign the retailer is reshaping where and how it serves customers.
Read more: logisticsmanager.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
