We are spending more on our health and our wellbeing than ever before. In days gone by we measured our wellbeing by the state of our health, indulging ourselves by visiting a spa, a health retreat and taking our daily dose of multi vitamins.
Today the global wellness industry is growing at a phenomenal rate, of 10% per annum, and will continue to do so up until 2025. Globally it is valued at $5.3 trillion in 2023, whilst in the UK the size of the market is £30.6 billion in 2023. There are so many more facets to the industry – from personal care to beauty and ageing, healthy eating and nutrition, wellness tourism, fitness, mind and body, preventative medicine, traditional medicine, and the wellness real estate.
There are a plethora of trends driving growth across each of these sectors. Gym classes have soared in popularity, as have running events like the London Marathon – app Strava saw an 122% increase in users completing marathons last year. Sea moss has been trending on TikTok, menopause and collagen continues to increase in popularity, too, taking the top spot as Holland & Barrett’s most searched term of the year, with sales increasing by 59%.
Trends Driving Growth in 2023
If you are looking to build a brand in the beauty space, wellness is the sector to invest in. Over the coming months we are dipping into the wellness industry to share more; today we explore lifestyle trends.
Leisure Travel for Wellness
Let us start with travel. After pressing intermission on travel commitments, many of us have vowed to take wellness-driven expeditions to recharge our mental, spiritual, and physical well-being. We are pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and selecting far flung destinations that not only help us to unplug from our work life routines, but also help us to mentally pause and reflect; we are consciously choosing to slow down and value what matters most.
More of us are taking off on journeys that are off-the-beaten-path: Mexico for traditional Mayan ceremonies, Peru to visit Shamans and for those of us travelling solo, Bali, and India to partake in meditation or spiritual life practices like yoga.
Sound Therapy
Is an ancient healing practice that has been used for centuries across different cultures to destress and relax. Playing low-frequency sounds, which have been linked to brain relaxation (higher frequencies are thought to encourage focus).
Now more than ever, Brits are looking for ways to relax and switch off from everyday life, with searches for music therapy gradually on the rise. Studios are taking this into account too, with David Lloyd Clubs recently launching what they’re calling the UK’s first soundwave therapy class, “Binaural Beats.” Taking place in specially designed meditation rooms, participants have the option to choose from several playlists using different frequencies depending on whether they’re feeling anxious, tired, or fatigued.
Mindful Drinking
We’ve already seen a big shift in attitudes towards drinking alcohol over the past few years, with the number of people going teetotal on the rise and 2020 stats revealed that a quarter of the UK doesn’t drink. Trending TikTok hashtags “damp lifestyle” and “sober curious” – both of which have millions of posts detailing how to enjoy alcohol more mindfully – prove that millennials and Gen Zs are moving away from the previous binge drinking norm. Dry January has continued to boom this year, with restaurants, pubs and bars going out of their way to offer alcohol-free alternatives.
Sexual Health
Our longing for connection has meant we readily seek out advice, tools, and resources to embrace intimacy. Sex toys have become more mainstream and are now seen as a wellness product. Smile Makers is a brand that is on a mission to make women’s’ sexuality a daily part of their over wellbeing through introducing new products which are also personalised. Attitudes towards sex are gradually shifting, too, with more embracing sex as a form of wellness and a sure-fire way to increase both your health and mood.
Wellness is a balance between daily habits that have an impact on not only how we look but how we feel, as well as our quality of life. Not only are we as consumers investing in the future of our health by accessing our daily habits, and what makes us happy as well as the state of our sleep and our mental wellbeing, but corporate institutions are investing in the health and wellbeing of their employees, and hotel groups have taken into serious consideration how to build their hotels for the future – from opening up yoga and Pilate studios to introducing meditation and sleep apps into hotel rooms, to recruiting top-notch chefs and dietitians to ensure the best quality and most nutritious foods are a focal point on their menus. It has been fascinating watching how this has changed over the past few years; this is an interesting sector to invest in. We will be sharing more on this over the coming months.
Need Support with Developing your Brand?
Bespoke Advantage is an international consultancy working with clients across the beauty and wellness space to develop and grow their brands. If you are looking for support in developing a brand or you have an existing brand and you are looking for support on how to grow this, get in touch, we would love to hear from. Book in today for our Strategy workshop.
As a beauty and wellness consultancy, we develop a comprehensive strategy for your business by understanding your vision (and the marketplace) and then delving into the details to create order and structure neatly packaged up to deliver you commercial results. We design brand identities and visual elements, manage your product development, build your go-to-market strategies to help you to engage with your ideal customers.
We are proud to support our clients from different regions of the world – from Saudi Arabia, to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, the US, Canada, Europe and the UK – from entrepreneurs, to multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies. And we work with you across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including the hair care market, professional nail care market, spas, salons, hotels and the aesthetics market – here’s a snapshot.
If you would like to discuss your ideas with us, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
As an international beauty and wellness consultancy, we are proud to work alongside clients from different regions of the world – Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Africa, Australia, Canada, US, Europe and the UK . We love collaborating with entrepreneurs, multi-award-winning beauty and wellness brands, retailers, investors, distributors, embassies and trade bodies across the retail sector, and the professional sector, including those selling into the hair care market, hotels, spas, professional nail care market and aesthetics market.
If you need support with devising a new strategy, developing a new product range, designing your packaging or rebranding your current product range, managing your PR, or with planning your market-entry into international markets, get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Bespoke is a brand management expert with deep industry knowledge, extensive experience and a comprehensive understanding of the beauty and personal industry in the UK and Europe, complemented by an extensive network of contacts in the relevant market segments. Bespoke’s expertise, experience and contacts significantly contributed the success of the UK/Europe project with the companies that Bespoke assisted successfully entering or well on track to enter the UK and European markets. The Bespoke team was very professional, responsive and obliging and always delivered within timeframes. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Working with Janet over the past year has been a real pleasure, she has fantastic industry experience and knowledge of the UK beauty market. She has delivered a number of webinars for my clients looking at how to enter the UK market, providing an overview of the market and how to build a strategy. She took the briefs we provided and added real value to them, included key insights and information that my clients have found incredibly useful. Feedback on these sessions has been very positive. Janet is a clear communicator and has always delivered as agreed and on time. We are continuing to work together on other projects and I very much value the conversations we share.
‘Janet has a wealth of experience across retail, buying and marketing. She conducted a full strategic review of our cross functional business and the travel retail market to develop a comprehensive buying and quality control strategy that was signed off at board level. I highly recommend her as an asset to any business.’
‘As a Queensland-based company, we were determined to tap into the European market and establish a strong presence. From the very beginning, Bespoke Advantage demonstrated a deep understanding of our export goals and objectives. Their comprehensive knowledge of the European market, coupled with their extensive network of contacts, enabled them to connect us with key decision-makers and influential stakeholders in our target countries. Their strategic guidance and insights were invaluable in shaping our export strategy and positioning us for long-term success.’
‘Through Janet’s management skills, expertise and proven track record on the job she successfully managed the purchasing of our retail operations and ensured the integrity of our brands in-stores. Her enthusiasm and total dedication, delivered results in any project she was involved in.’
‘Janet has excellent beauty market knowledge. Level headed with clear vision, direction and the ability to drive business forward, Janet led the teams through a complete product design change advising on what the key marketing messages should be, incorporating her technical knowledge and beauty expertise.’
‘Absolutely fantastic course. Condensed learning from Janet, an expert in developing beauty brands. Also, valuable introductions to expert professionals, in the Masterclass sessions. In 12 weeks, you will learn from Janet, what would take years to learn by yourself. A very worthwhile investment’