Holland & Barrett has opened a new distribution centre to meet a 400 per cent spike demand for online orders during lockdown.

The health supplement retailer has reduced its product lines by 2,500 for two weeks in order to clear its backlog - although orders still have a week-long lead time instead of the pre-Coronavirus next-day service. These delays have caused many customer complaints in recent weeks.

A separate distribution centre has now been opened at its facility in Burton, with 200 new staff hired to fulfil orders, with a further 150 new staff appointed to its customer service team to help fulfil home delivery from 50 stores.

“Like many omnichannel retailers, over the last two months we have seen an unprecedented increase in demand for online orders at 300 to 400 per cent of the normal level,” explained a spokesperson.

“We are aware some customers have had to wait too long for their order and we sincerely apologise to anyone that has experienced these delays," the statement continued. “Our customer service team has received an extraordinarily high volume of order queries as a result of delays and are working day and night to answer these."

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