With the size of the healthy economy expected to reach nearly $7 trillion by 2025, ensuring the health and well-being of individuals becomes even more important as uncertainty in the macro environment increases.
A recent survey of U.S. consumers by Restore Hyper Wellness found that consumers are willing to cut spending in other areas to ensure spending on health and wellness, showing the huge development potential of the health industry under the current economic downturn.
Restore’s report shows that consumers are using health services, products and solutions more and are willing to upgrade their health measures. 54% of respondents said preventive health measures are part of their daily life, while 85% said they would be open to trying new wellness activities, services or products.
Additionally, age 30 is the average age when respondents believe they should “start thinking about health,” while Gen Z respondents believe it should start at age 22 and millennials agree at age 26 age.
The uptick in consumer interest is not unexpected, with life expectancy in the U.S. reportedly falling for the second year in a row, and consumers are becoming more proactive about their health. 63% believe investing in wellness activities, services or products will save them money in the future.
Consumers are willing to cut spending in other areas
to ensure health and wellness consumption
While inflation and recession are top concerns for U.S. consumers, Restore’s survey shows that it won’t affect their spending on health. 62% of respondents said “preventive health and wellness activities would be the last expense they would cut”, and the same percentage said they would even be willing to cut back on social activities to cover the cost of participating in preventive care, more than half of consumers say they would be willing to forgo their in-store coffee, while a third said they would forgo cable and streaming services.
Consumers value conscious, thoughtful consumption more than conspicuous consumption, hoping to prolong life, rather than winning at all costs. This change in consumption attitude has brought earth-shaking changes to the health economy. This consumption field, which once belonged to the rich, has become more and more democratized, and the boundaries between categories and channels have become more and more blurred. Physical and mental health, fitness, nutrition Combining with beauty, the industry is rapidly changing, leveraging the power of personalization, technology and education, and the health industry is constantly redefining itself.
How will the health industry develop, and what are the latest bets made by the most influential players in the industry? Leaders from various industries including personal care, functional food, fitness, retail, investment and more joined us to discuss the future outlook of the wellness industry.
Jostein Solheim
Chief Executive Officer of Unilever Health and Wellbeing
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
Advances in science are very exciting. I think our job is to translate science into efficacy and explain it to consumers in a simple way. We’re seeing acceleration in many areas of science, which allows us to bring really high-impact products to market. For example, Nutrafol, which aims to explore mechanisms that stop hair loss, has published 10 scientific papers. The brand is not standing out in the fashion world but at dermatology conferences, which is a sign of what’s to come.
What’s your next step?
Hair care is a huge space and there is a huge opportunity to find consumers and address their fears and concerns about hair health. So we’re going to dig deeper into those areas to build better, closer relationships with consumers, to really personalize and support everyone we touch. We are always looking for new members who want to make an impact in the industry and who want to join us, and the process of launching new brands is ongoing.
Barbara De Laere
Global Brand President of Aveda, a hair care brand
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
The development of natural biotechnology and green chemistry, as this is closely related to the health of people and the planet, is the future of formulation, and we can also quantify this with GreenScore and others. The second point is to go back to ancient wisdom and realize that health is part of a long and good life. Ancient wisdom is becoming mainstream and starting to be combined with modern technology.
What’s your next step?
People are starting to define hair care more holistically. Today, hair care and feeling beautiful are indicators of overall well-being, and consumers have learned that lifestyle impacts scalp health and hair quality. We are researching the fields of scalp health, hair growth and hair strengthening, while focusing on the skincare trend of hair care and the huge potential of all types of treatments.
We are also focused on providing testing services, we have launched a tool for hair and scalp testing, the 10th generation is in development, the new version will take into account environmental, lifestyle and seasonal factors, and will also integrate it with the salon’s professional Combined care.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Lifestyle brand Goop
Founder and CEO
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
A health trend I’m very interested in is personalization. One-size-fits-all health solutions don’t exist, so the opportunity for startups and new technologies to use personal data for things like glucose tracking and microbiome testing, and access data through tools like smart wearables, is huge. It’s exciting to learn what works for our bodies and customize our wellness products.
Dr. Jason Wersland
Health Tech Brand Therabody
Founder and Chief Health Officer
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
The wellness industry has a lot of potential, but what excites me most is the potential for innovation in connecting the body and mind. Physical and mental health naturally integrate and influence each other. When we feel stressed, anxious, or in a bad state of mind, illness can follow, and being sick or suffering can also cause a lot of mental stress. We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to living a healthier life by harmonizing our mind and body.
Amanda Chantal Bacon
Founder of health brand Moon Juice
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
I’ve always been excited by the speed at which people are learning themselves, consumers who don’t know a lot about the product will do a try out of the trend, but that’s not what we’re seeing in this space, we’re seeing really deep connections and year after year. Repeated purchases are inseparable from the self-education of consumers.
Andrew Dudum
Health Platform Hims+Hers
Founder and CEO
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
Most young people today try something when it comes to health and wellness, but when things get complicated, it can be overwhelming. We want to make seemingly complex things really fun, beautiful, and accessible and easy to use.
What’s your next step?
Our supplements have expanded into broad areas such as sleep, energy and focus, and are beginning to reach everyone. In the next phase, we will build on this with personalized care, which will be highly customized and highly personal.
Katie Sturino
Founder of personal care brand Megababe
“Accept Your Body” campaign advocate
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
We will remove the stigma that has long been associated with certain problems, such as acne, chafed thighs, and more. We created this brand to confront taboo topics that the beauty industry was unwilling to embrace five years ago, and now there is more conversation around them. I also think we’re going to see more streamlined ways, like there are now a lot of fragrance-free, more streamlined products.
Kelly Dill
Venture capital firm Imaginary partner
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
There will be a lot of innovation in how women are treated differently than men. Coping with aging and self-care is an important part of health, and self-care is also mental health care, and if it makes you feel better about yourself, that’s a good thing.
What’s your next step?
We’re looking for businesses that are rethinking how they innovate around consumer health, whether it’s experiential, product-centric or healthcare-centric. We focus on mental health, women’s health, gut health, and more, but also menopause – how do we care for women at every stage of their lives? We’re looking for companies that can do that, while also delivering these ideas and messages to consumers.
Cristina Nunez
Co-founder of beauty investment agency True Beauty Ventures
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
Further developments achieved through the integration of science and biotechnology, and how we can improve our lives with small tweaks. People’s time is so limited and so many products appear in front of us every day, so the bar for efficacy is getting higher and higher. The megatrend we are seeing is how to live a healthier life while living longer, how to prolong health and even reverse aging?
What’s your next step?
Our investment standards in health are higher. It’s even better if a brand has some kind of beauty perspective, because that means they can cover a wider area. Building a brand and a loyal community in the health industry is harder than in beauty. We may not invest in health at an early stage like we invest in beauty, because we know more about how beauty works and the industry is more mature.
Max Kislevitz
Co-founder of fitness brand Bala
What excites you most about the future of the health industry?
The future of wellness doesn’t have to be business as usual, we’re merging fashion, fitness and lifestyle. The weirder the association, the more we want to do something that pushes those boundaries. It used to be that you had to wear all black to go to the gym and take it seriously. Now that it’s integrated into your everyday life, the corresponding aesthetic is even more exciting. BINC
Written by: Editorial Department
Editor: Lee
Image source: provided by the brand, the Internet
