At the Global Marketing Development Center (GMDC) Health, Beauty and Wellness conference, The Hartman Group and GMDC presented findings from their recent joint research entitled “Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally Conscious Lifestyles Study”. The analysis brings to light a very important trend for retailers – the health and wellness industry is on the rise. It’s not a fad. It is a macro-trend that’s here to stay. In this landmark study, Hartman and GMDC have sized up and broken down the growth of health and wellness. They also identified top triggers and issues that lead to the adoption of healthy lifestyle modifications, including economic factors.
What does the economy have to do with it? It turns out that although consumers are making many changes in their consumption behavior, health and wellness products are not getting left on the shelf. In fact, many health and wellness products are viewed as alternatives when trading-down, for example fresh food as opposed to eating out, body care as an alternative to the spa, and hair care versus the salon visit.
Nevertheless, consumers are still exhibiting the trend we’ve seen away from CPG’s. Private label health and wellness products have seen accelerated growth from 5% in soaps and body care to 17% in vitamins and upwards of 24% in the big winner of the year – OTC medicines.
This has major implications for consumer-centric retailing and in-store marketing programs.
By providing the information consumers need to make an informed choice in this sector, retailers can re-position their store to become the consumers’ health and wellness destination. Research reveals that some of the factors which contribute to incremental sales increases include:
- In-store visibility that allows for products to be easily found and compared side-by-side with their alternatives,
- Placement in-store
- Informative messaging at the shelf that speaks to their purchase decision criteria (by category)
- Retail atmosphere/environment.
According to the Hartman report, “the overall retail atmosphere makes a huge difference in consumer openness to trying new health and wellness products – quality perception and health and wellness perceptions are inexorably linked.”
It goes on to say that consumers hesitate less to try new products in a more elegant retail space, assuming “the quality is there” and that the retailer has been diligent in seeking out and presenting appropriate products.
If retailers stay ahead of this trend and make this a priority in store design programs and in-store communications, then all signs point to healthy growth!
