WWD hosted its first ever Beauty Inc Virtual Wellness Conference last week, featuring industry experts leading the conversations around inner health and outer beauty, and the businesses transforming the $4.2 trillion wellness category in the areas of fitness, health, self-care and more.
While people spent months at home navigating a pandemic, the beauty industry has gone through a massive shift to a heightened awareness of what consumers are now willing to put in and on their bodies. A focus on cleanliness and hygiene has brought on new consumer shopping behaviors and priorities around a healthy lifestyle, which has prompted brands to rethink their mission, product offerings, and ecommerce strategies.
Klarna’s Head of US, David Sykes, shared data from the Klarna app, which allows people to shop at any online store, around how consumers have been spending on Wellness across 3 top categories: personal care, athleisure, and sleep. Spend among Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X has increased across all 3 categories.
The top wish listed items in the personal care category included facial masks, primers and concealer, the top item in athleisure was sneakers (where the category saw a 105% spike in April), and in the sleep category, Gen Z increased their spend by 68% compared to pre-COVID times, with the top wish listed item being luxury pajamas.
The health & wellness category will continue to be a top priority for consumers in a post-COVID world, and the brands across beauty, athleisure, personal care and others in this space will need to understand their customers and shopping behaviors to best position themselves for success.