Despite a major setback during the pandemic, the wellness market is expected to grow 10 percent annually through 2025, according to a research report titled The Global Wellness Economy: Looking Beyond Covid.
The report highlights a shift in consumer values in a post-pandemic world where prevention and wellness take on a greater importance than previous years. According to the report, some of the markets that took the greatest hits during the pandemic, including personal care and beauty, are expected to see some of the biggest growth over the coming years.
Some key findings based on wellness sectors:
Personal Care & Beauty (pandemic loser, future winner): Consumer spending expanded from $1 trillion in 2017 to $1.1 trillion in 2019, and then declined by 13% to $955 billion in 2020. In 2020, Asia-Pacific moved from being the third to the first-ranked market. Spending will bounce back post-pandemic, with 8.2% annual growth through 2025, to reach $1.4 trillion.
Mental Wellness (pandemic and future winner): Posted strong 7% growth from 2019-2020 (from a $122 billion to a $131 billion market), as consumers desperately sought solutions to help them cope with pandemic stresses. The largest segment, “senses, spaces and sleep,” grew 12.4%, while the smallest segment, meditation and mindfulness, grew the fastest (25%). The forecast: strong 10% growth annually through 2025, to reach $210 billion.
Spas (pandemic loser, future winner): From 2017 to 2019, the spa industry was growing at a fast 8.7% annual rate and reached $111 billion in revenues across 165,714 spas–with a big jump in hotel/resort spas (from 48,248 to 60,873). The high-touch industry got hit hard in 2020: Revenues fell by -39% (to $69 billion) and spa establishments dropped to 160,100 (with a loss of over 4,000 day spas). But the industry is expected to recover fast, with the market growing 17% annually through 2025, and more than doubling revenues (to $150.5 billion).
“The wellness economy will grow to $7 trillion in 2025 because the forces that have been driving it remain as powerful as ever: an expanding global middle class, an aging population, and rising chronic disease,” said Katherine Johnston, GWI senior research fellow. “But the pandemic has brought new shifts and a global ‘values reset’: ‘Wellness’ now means far more than a facial or spin class, with a growing focus on mental wellbeing and the importance of work-life balance, social justice, environmental sustainability, the built environment, and public health. These drivers will underpin the recovery of the wellness economy; they will also shift consumer, policy and healthcare spending in new directions.”
For more, read the full report here.