Colruyt Group enables customers to collect Newpharma orders at ColliShop collection points

Monday, February 1, 2021

Helping customers to take care of themselves

"People are more and more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle; a balanced diet and regular exercise have become part of our daily life. Prevention is becoming all the more important to stay healthy as long as possible. As a food distributor, we have a responsibility to take and a role to play in this", Chris Van Wettere, General Manager at Colruyt Lowest Prices, says.

Colruyt Group is constantly taking initiatives in this sense: improving the nutritional composition of the private-label products and mentioning the Nutri-Score on their packagings, the digital health coach of SmartWithFood, and also the stake in Newpharma, the biggest Belgian online pharmacy. "We want to continue to build on our complementarity with the key players in the healthcare system and can make a significant contribution to a healthy lifestyle. Facilitating the access to parapharmacy products and thus improving ease of use for the customer, is part of that", Chris Van Wettere continues.

400 ColliShop collection points for Newpharma orders

Colruyt Group wants to allow customers to combine the advantages of purchasing from the online pharmacist Newpharma with the convenience of its network of ColliShop collection points in the Colruyt, OKay en OKay Compact stores. As of today, 1 February 2021, customers will be able to collect their purchases from the Newpharma webshop at one of the 400 ColliShop collection points. "We do this at the request of customers", Chris Van Wettere says, "Customers want to be able to choose between home delivery or collecting their order at a time that suits them best. The fact that they can combine this with their food purchases is a plus. The Newpharma packages will remain available to the customer at the ColliShop collection point of his choice for two weeks.'

In practice, the selection and purchase of products from the newpharma.be site remain the same. The website offers some 39,000 references in beauty and cosmetics, vitamins and nutritherapy, well-being, pregnancy and baby care etc. All of this on top of the pharmacy items that do not require a prescription (the so-called "Over The Counter" or OTC products). For Colruyt Group, this is a new step in the specialisation strategy of the online shops linked to the ColliShop collection points. "By choosing the Dreamland, Dreambaby, First-class Wines and also Newpharma webshops, our customers can count on real expertise and a large distribution network, now also for parapharmacy products", Chris Van Wettere concludes.

Parapharmaceutical offer at the store

The Colruyt Lowest Prices stores will now systematically include a shelf dedicated to parapharmacy, with a varied selection of articles such as food supplements (immunity, vitamins etc.), first aid, skin care, cough and colds, etc. "We are convinced that these products constitute a good basic range and meet the needs of our customers who come to do their weekly grocery shopping.These products will be an integral part of the Colruyt product range and will therefore also be sold at the lowest prices, in accordance with our formula's promise", Geert Elen, commercial development manager at Colruyt Lowest Prices, explains.

This initiative will involve some 80 stores in 2021. The objective is to roll this out at a national level in the short term. The project will be constantly evaluated in order to fine-tune and expand the offer.