3 micro trends in the wellness industry

Let’s take a look at the micro-trends that are fuelling changes within the wellness industry.

What are micro-trends?

These refer to smaller or niche shifts in consumer behaviour that are impacting the business landscape in the short term.

Whilst smaller in nature, micro trends can still be seen all around us, impacting everything from the clothes we wear and the food we eat, to how we travel and what we talk about. The insights and inspiration found within them can also help to develop new ideas or business models.

Let’s explore some examples to better understand their influence.

1. Crisis Fatigue

The Trend: One micro trend born out of the mental wellness macro trend we identified earlier in the course, is a spike in demand for mental wellness solutions that cater specifically to crisis fatigue. Crisis fatigue is the sense of feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, and numbness associated with the layering of crisis upon crisis.

The Drivers: By-products of a modern society underpinned by tension and conflict, it’s no shock that millennials and Gen Z are regularly defined as ‘generation angst’ and ‘among the unhappiest generations ever’.

The unprecedented events of 2020/2021, however, have supercharged this movement, and as the world continues to collectively navigate a global health pandemic, a rise in political unrest, the near-future implications of a climate emergency and, for Black people, the added emotional impact of fighting for racial equality, a growing sense of crisis fatigue appears to have taken hold.

These unforeseen events have once again highlighted the need for targeted mental wellness solutions geared towards addressing specific symptoms of modern society, as well as the divergent needs of those living through an era of collective crises.

2. Athlete-Engineered

The Trend: As the high-performance lifestyle trend has gained traction within mainstream consciousness, one such micro-trend that has emerged alongside it is products and services that open up access to the metrics, expertise and solutions usually reserved for the elite athletes of the world, in a way that makes sense for the everyday consumer.

The Drivers: Mirroring the way in which consumers have previously turned to pop stars to guide personal style and beauty choices, or celebrity chefs to influence daily eating habits, it makes sense that as high-performance living has entered the wellness zeitgeist…athletes have been identified as the high performers to emulate.

Expectations have shifted with consumers recognising that every aspect of a pro athlete’s performance is meticulously monitored by some form of ground-breaking technology, their personal data then analysed by experts whose insights are actioned via cutting-edge products and services. Today, backed by advances in technology, this is making it easier for innovative brands to provide that level of expertise to a wider market.

3. Self-Improvement as Self-Care

The Trend: According to one survey, 94% of millennials reported making personal improvement commitments and said they’d be willing to spend nearly $300 a month on self-improvement [2]. It then comes as little surprise that ‘Betterment’, the desire to do better, be better and feel better, in all areas of life, has emerged as a micro trend.

Encompassing everything from mental training and goal-setting, to increasing productivity or learning a new skill, today’s form of self-improvement is inextricably linked to self-care, as individuals search for ways to elevate their lives in a way that also boosts their wellbeing.

The Drivers: Fuelled by the values of a generation navigating a ‘no days off’ culture, social media inflicted models of perfection, and the constant pressure to evolve, this new embodiment of self-improvement is also being driven by technology. Today, self-help apps offer a way for coaching, connection, and personalisation to be more accessible and streamlined.

Elsewhere, the demand for brands to provide today’s ‘life-long learners’ with product-related skills and activities that facilitate self-improvement, has also sparked the emergence of brand activations that “enable consumers to meet, learn, test and play”, while celebrating the tangible quality of products and services.

If you’d like to learn more about building a future within the wellness industry, check out the Welltodo online course, below.

References

[1] Companies Extend Partnership With Ad Council to Launch Phase Two of the #AloneTogether Campaign

[2] Why Millennials Are Obsessed With Self-Improvement