British retailer Holland & Barrett has announced the launch of a new personalised wellness app.

The new platform, called H&B&Me, uses a tool that assess a customer's biological age vs their real age, providing tips on how to reduce it.

The health and wellness brand said that the age is calculated using advanced risk modelling and data from 400 million person-years of research to calculate a simple biological age score.

Customers can then take part in 21-day programmes, designed by behaviour change experts, which encourage them to adopt small, sustainable habits that the company says have been proven to reduce their biological age, ultimately improving wellness and preventing long-term illness.

A digital coach provides daily motivation, while users also have access to monthly challenges and integrated home health test results.

Additionally, users can earn points and rewards for healthy behaviours, redeemable at Holland & Barrett.

The move comes as the retailer continues on its digital transformation journey, with the company investing £96.3 million in the business last year.

The investment has included the launch of a new suite of digital platforms, enhancements to the online customer experience, and "major improvements" to fulfilment operations and supply chain automation.

The new app has been tested as part of a nine-week trial, with the results demonstrating that 87 per cent of participants reported significant improvements in energy, mood, sleep, and diet based on adopting healthier habits.

“We’re living through a societal shift towards prevention, testing and self-care, combined with insufficient public health care provision due to constraints on national health systems, yet with unprecedented interest from consumers in their own wellness," said Tamara Rajah, chief executive of wellness solutions and chief transformation officer. "This highlighted an unmet need for an accessible, affordable, engaging preventative wellness solution, which not only tracks wellness, but crucially empowers people to move beyond quick fixes and build healthy habits that lead to lasting improvements in overall wellbeing.

"This is what we’ve created with H&B&Me, and it sits right at the heart of H&B’s purpose to make health and wellness a way of life for everyone and add quality years to life.”

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