“ Personalization is rapidly climbing consumers ’ list of priorities , with nearly nine in 10 ( 88 percent ) of consumers planning to prioritize personalization as much as or more than they did two or three years ago .”
The Growth of Wellness
Our friends at PwC are not the only researchers who see brighter days ahead for the spa industry . Management consulting firm McKinsey & Company recently published a report highlight consumer attitudes toward wellness , and their analysis will likely be music to the ears of spa leaders around the globe .
According to McKinsey ’ s research , 79 percent of respondents said that they believe wellness is important , and more than four in ten ( 42 percent ) consider it a top priority . The company ’ s study included consumers from six countries — Brazil , China , Germany , Japan , the United Kingdom and the United States — and in each of those countries , they found that the prioritization of wellness has risen over the past two years . In the U . S . specifically , 48.2 percent of respondents said that wellness is more of a priority than it was two to three years ago .
This heightened focus on personal wellness , as well as a rise in consumer purchasing power , is part of the reason why the global wellness market — estimated by McKinsey to be worth $ 1.5 trillion — is expected to see annual growth of between five and 10 percent in the years ahead . Their research indicates that consumers view overall wellness as consisting of six discrete elements : health , fitness ,
nutrition , appearance , sleep and mindfulness .
Within these categories ( all of which spas are well-positioned to cater to in some form or another ) lies encouraging data for spa leaders . For example , more than a third of global consumers report that they “ probably ” or “ definitely ” plan to spend more on their nutrition efforts in the
next year , half reported a desire for products and services that meet their need for higher-quality sleep and more than half said they wanted to prioritize their wellness more .
Big Spending
Consumers in each of the countries featured in McKinsey ’ s study spend most of their wellness-focused money on products and services promote better health , but their spending on other dimensions of wellness varies . U . S . consumers , for instance , spend the most on mindfulness ( 6.3 percent of overall wellness spending ), while those in China ( 11.1 percent ) and the U . K . ( 8.5 percent ) spend the most on fitness . German consumers , meanwhile , spend more than a quarter of their wellness budgets ( 27.8 percent ) on fitness , and those in Japan prioritize appearance ( 29.7 percent ) more than the other nations surveyed .
These figures represent a tremendous opportunity for the spa industry to better position itself with spa-goers and non-spa-goers alike . By emphasizing the role that their treatments and services can play in the adoption of a more wellness-focused lifestyle , spas stand poised to capture a considerable percentage of the increasingly large amounts of money consumers are prepared to spend on improving their own well-being . McKinsey ’ s research indicates that , at present , consumers split their wellness spending between products and services at rates of 70
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