Newpharma is expanding its online services and launches relaxation app
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Newpharma, Colruyt Group's Belgian online pharmacy, focuses on science-based services and products to help people live a healthier life. The aim is to give people low-threshold access to health products with both preventive and curative effects. With preventive health in mind, Newpharma is now launching the 'Relaxation by Newpharma' app: a free digital experience which stimulates the five senses to relax. The app invites users to join in with 3D animations, sounds, yoga and breathing exercises: highly relevant in times when stress and burn-outs are all around us. This service is in line with Colruyt Group's ambition to focus more strongly on services that guide customers towards better mental and physical health.
Sales of anti-stress products on the rise
Health is a key priority for Colruyt Group. It aims to positively affect the daily choices made by customers, help them to be conscious consumers and to live healthier by offering relevant products and services. Newpharma, Colruyt Group's online pharmacy, is also actively engaged in this pursuit. Stress is one of the most common causes of health problems. Newpharma wants to tackle this phenomenon preventively. Every day, Newpharma receives enquiries from customers looking for products that can help them relax or reduce their stress levels.
Sales in the category of rest-, sleep-, and mood-enhancing products have been going up over the years. In the darker months of November and January, Newpharma even saw an absolute spike in sales. Gilles Jourquin, Newpharma CEO:"We want to give a well-considered response to the increasing customer needs in terms of stress and relaxation. We do this not only through our extensive product range, but have also started looking for ways to provide preventive health. We see it as our social role to make health resources available to our customers in an accessible way. Hence the idea of launching our free 'Relaxation by Newpharma' app - to complement our products."
Pooling expertise within Colruyt Group for an overall experience
The story of the app is a great example of how synergies can be found between the retail group's different formulas. For this project, Newpharma joined forces with yoga specialists from Jims, Colruyt Group's fitness chain. Breathing and yoga exercises are indeed the strong pillars of the app. Users can select simple and effective breathing techniques which will help lower their heart rate and increase oxygen levels in the blood. Like other exercises in the app, these breathing techniques have a positive effect on stress and anxiety. Pieterjan Nuitten, Jims Managing Director, also sees future opportunities in the collaboration with Newpharma: "Within Colruyt Group's health pillar, Newpharma is a first-rate online pharmacy and product expert. At Jims, we see ourselves mainly as experts in workouts, also an essential part of healthy living. In that respect, Newpharma and Jims are logical and complementary partners. Newpharma provides the necessary digital infrastructure and the products, while we focus on teaching people the right exercise techniques. We are looking forward to further developments in the relaxation app and will definitely think about what we can do for each other in the future."
One more party also collaborated: music experts from Raygun who composed appropriate sounds for the exercises. Indeed, the stimulating binaural beats and 3D sound in the app have a proven impact on general well-being and are an ideal complement to the movement and meditation exercises.
Accessible app always within reach
The ‘Relaxation by Newpharma’ app is free and accessible to anyone aged 16 and above. To counter stress and build resilience, the app enables users to refocus and meditate. With the unique experience of combined 3D animations, yoga movements, breathing techniques and soothing sounds, users can achieve optimal relaxation with the app. Specifically, the app has three angles which generate greater peace of mind: concentration, sleep and relaxation. Exercises are provided for each of these 3 areas. Throughout the process, customers also receive personalised feedback on their performance. Thanks to the camera function, users can compare their positions during exercises with those of the in-app avatar and correct their posture during subsequent sessions.
Gilles Jourquin explains: “Finding a better balance between body and mind, aiming to achieve 'well-being' in the broadest sense of the word, is what drove us to develop this app. We provide simple but well-thought-out exercises aimed at reducing stress. The exercises can be applied flexibly wherever people are - at work, at home or on the road - and also when time is limited.”
Direct link to online pharmacy and product range
The ‘Relaxation by Newpharma’ app also provides a direct link to the range of natural products, both from the western and eastern world (of medicine), in the online pharmacy. These include essential oils, herbal remedies, teas and so on. In the future, the idea is to focus even more on personalisation, with matching products for the customer from suppliers which Newpharma has a long-standing good relationship with.
Newpharma will now use user feedback and specialist insights to further enhance the app to best meet its customers' expectations.
The app is freely available via the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Search in the stores by ‘Relaxation by Newpharma’.