BOOTS and their open innovation platform

The Boots Centre for Innovation helps entrepreneurs transform their ideas into products, which seek to meet market needs as well as provide measurable benefits to customers.  Working across time-zones and languages, the Centre is a growing open ended network of innovation partners who work together on everything from consumer research and product testing to legal issues, launches and extensive distribution opportunities.

The innovation process follows four key stages:

1. Initial Evaluation: The Boots Innovation team evaluates submissions from a technical, commercial and regulatory perspective. They also review how closely each opportunity fits with their strategy and whether it offers something truly different and valuable for customers. Whether or not the application is successful, they aim to give feedback within three months.

2. Feasibility: If the concept meets their criteria they will then engage their experts in that particular product category to assess feasibility of including the product in either the Boots brand portfolio, or a more general retail offer. They identify what additional information is needed and establish how the product would be sold and marketed to customers.  3. Due Diligence: If the category experts see a good future for the suggested product at Boots, a partnership agreement will be entered into and due diligence work will be carried out. At this point they will identify the safety, legal and commercial requirements which the product must meet, and make sure any challenges can be overcome.

4. Development: All products need some development to comply with their specific retail requirements. After the initial evaluation, the process can take from three to 36 months depending on the product type, the stages of development, merchandising timetable and the needs of the entrepreneur.