All well and good

With #wellness reaching 24.6m posts on Instagram, the promotion of self-wellness has never been so prominent.

The global wellness market grew from $3.7 trillion to $4.2 trillion between 2015 and 2017, making it one of the most dynamic consumer markets. Wellness includes many elements and we believe three are of particular interest:

Eating well
The global vegan movement and `free from' market is increasing in popularity. In China the vegan market is expected to grow by over 17% by 2020 and in Hong Kong, 22% of the population regularly follow a plant-based lifestyle. Green Monday was founded in 2012, and David Yeung, the founder, has worked to promote this platform encouraging a one-day-a-week `green' philosophy to cut down on the consumption of meat.

The concept is now enrolled in 1,000 restaurant menus in Hong Kong and features across 30 countries. David Yeung also opened Hong Kong’s first plant-based green-living retail outlet, Green Common, in 2015, helping to reinforce his mission to "make it a norm to eat in a way that is good for ourselves, good for others and good for the planet".

Feeling well
The personal care, beauty and anti-aging market grew 4.1% between 2015 and 2017, to $1billion. Within this market, there is an increasing desire for `clean' beauty products, free from parabens, synthetic colours and phthalates with sustainability and wellness at the forefront of consumers' minds.

Major cosmetic brands are becoming more conscious of this and are taking action, with brands such as Net-a-Porter launching a clean beauty category and Birchbox launching its `Ingredient Conscious' category (see picture above) to help educate consumers on the difference between `natural' and `clean' beauty.

New trends we have seen gaining traction in this sector, include clean sleeping, sound therapy and gyms for children. We have also noticed a rise in wellness venues and clubs in major international cities, allowing like-minded individuals to target all aspects of wellness. Examples include The Well in New York, described as a `complete ecosystem to wellness' and Bhuti studio in Richmond, Surrey, which offers a `complete wellbeing escape', including workshops, classes, day spas, treatments and corporate wellness packages.

Working well
Workplace wellness is investment made by employers to improve employee wellness, both mentally and physically, and can range from de-stress and detox retreats, to yoga classes and nutritional workshops. The global workplace wellness market is estimated to have grown by 4.7% annually to $47.5 billion in 2017, as businesses recognise the implications that employee wellbeing has on productivity and costs. It is estimated that just 10% of the world's employees are currently covered by corporate wellness plans and it is considered pioneering in North America, Western Europe and Asia. 

Virgin Pulse, of the Virgin Group, promote workplace wellness to over 2 million employees across 190 countries worldwide and has expanded in China, Japan and Singapore. Singapore-based fitness studio UFIT launched a dedicated business division, UFIT Performance, providing wellness services to businesses. They are the official wellness provider to Disney and LinkedIn's Singapore operations and have also developed a wellness programme for Hewlett-Packard in the US. Their corporate wellness packages include a variety of services, including exercise programmes, bootcamp classes and specialist nutritional advice.

Sophie Pisano