Wellness Industry Trends and Opportunities During COVID-19

Even before the novel coronavirus pandemic struck the global economy, consumers around the world were taking wellbeing in-house turning to emerging innovations and trends in the health and wellness industry. The wellness industry is booming on the back of growing awareness among consumers, rising disposable income, and the millennial desire to change their lifestyle

The wellness industry includes all those activities that encourage physical and mental wellbeing from yoga to healthy living, nutrition and weight-loss, personal care and grooming, meditation, spa retreats, workplace fitness, and wellness tourism. Currently, the wellness industry is one of the biggest and fast-growing market industries. It has gained extensive popularity for endorsing a wide array of products and services.

Source- Global Wellness Institute

The key trend observed during COVID 19 in wellness industry is accelerating demand for at-home wellness. Drivers for the household wellness trend include the desire for experience and self-improvement among millennials, increasing penetration of internet and emerging technologies, drastic change in attention to mental health, consumers choosing to cocoon at home, and greater discretionary spending. Besides, there is an increased demand for digital wellness, as people adapt to spending more time at home. Furthermore, there has been a rise in the importance of mental wellbeing during the pandemic which is shifting more consumers towards products that can aid in mental wellbeing. This in result is boosting the demand for home-based OTC sleep aid devices, particularly as many health-conscious consumers are preventing the sleep aids that include the consumption of chemicals. In 2019, the global retail value of sleep aids reached around USD 3 billion.

Source-Statista

Another trend observed in wellness industry during a pandemic is the rising inclination of consumers towards immunity-boosting food. As consumer fears about obesity and wellbeing amid the pandemic, nutrition has become a major influencing factor in household kitchens. The demand for immunity-boosting foods and vitamins to combat pandemic symptoms is on the rise. As more consumers are adopting healthier lifestyles and at-home fitness to improve immune systems, personal nutrition demands have shifted to include pre-and post-workout fuel, niche personal preferences including vegetarianism or health-focused diets, and a need to consume in-trend superfoods including turmeric, kefir, and kale.

The COVID 19 pandemic has forced the fitness studios and gyms to close intermittently. However, several fitness studios and gyms are offering workouts and personal training via new virtual options. A new wave of wellness has arrived, characterized by both in-person and virtual experiences, as a result of pandemic upheaval and a new global wellness imperative. Yoga has been the most popular virtual class. As per the Mindbody, a software-as-a-service company that offers cloud-based online scheduling and other business management software for the wellness services industry, yoga consists of 32% of virtual bookings with an average of approximately 22,000 yoga bookings per day.

Touchless spa services are offering a lucrative opportunity to the wellness industry during the COVID 19 pandemic. Touchless services including compression therapy, cryotherapy, IV drips, salt caves, float tanks, and hyperbaric chambers are providing consumers a new way to relax and recover without any additional contact. Though these no-touch services are perfect right now, they'll most likely be a supplement to massages and other high-touch spa services after COVID.

Fatpos global predicts that the global wellness industry is anticipated to proliferate in the coming years on account of the rising prevalence of chronic lifestyle diseases. Over the last few years, there has been a considerable increase in the occurrence of diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, cancer, dementia, and other stress-related disorders due to sedentary lifestyles and hectic schedules. This in turn has resulted in the adoption of several healthcare activities such as athletics, meditation, and yoga. In addition, the increasing trend of using wearable devices including fitness bands and trackers is driving the market growth.