INDUSTRY IMPLICATIONS: BEAUTY, ARCHITECTURE, TOURISM

INDUSTRY IMPLICATIONS

The current health and wellbeing trend has not only impacted the healthcare industry but has impacted several other industries, as well as consumer behaviour, particularly that of Generation X and Millennials.

BEAUTY

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Consumers are blurring the line between personal healthcare and selfimprovement through the merging of aesthetic and medical treatments.

“The doctor’s surgery and the beauty spa are converging into a hybrid o!ering where customers can get both aesthetic and medical treatments in one place.” (Walker and Berden, 2018) The normalisation of medical beauty treatments means that consumers are no longer confined to a doctor’s surgery to seek treatments such as laser therapy, facial lifts, and dermal fillers. Health benefits are now expected from beauty products as consumers are no longer satisfied with single-benefit products; they crave more. Research informs, “we’re seeing more health-beauty crossovers, more beauty products that go beyond the superficial... Fake tan Fake Bake, for example, contains added vitamin D. Rather than simply giving the user a fake tan, the product also provides the goodness the sun would have delivered.” (Wallman, Dagliden and Ellerby, 2010) As consumers are increasingly made aware of innovative ingredients with valuable health benefits, they are now not just considering what they are putting into their body, but on to their body too. The superfood ingredients have migrated into the skin-care, beauty and hair-care industries; they have well-known, antioxidant benefits that appeal to consumers for their qualities to protect skin and hair against pollution in an era of urbanization.

“Consumers’ interest in natural ingredients shows no signs of abating, as they question what they ingest, they’re equally demanding about the nature of what they put on their body and hair.”

(JWT Intelligence, 2018)

BEAUTY CTD..

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With trend drivers like social media, celebrity culture and technology pushing health and wellbeing forward, the beauty industry is keen to respond in order to keep consumers engaged and updated. With major influencers like Kylie Jenner able to go under the knife to achieve ‘perfection’ “the prevalence of selfies has led to a new phenomenon of wanting to look more beautiful online than in real life. Indeed, make-up influencers have come to define a new ideal for beauty: heavily contoured, narrow noses and enough foundation to look entirely airbrushed.” (Walker and Smith, 2018) Snapchat and Instagram have created filters that give consumers that look at the press of a button and now the beauty industry is creating options for consumers to achieve this look also without having needles and injections.

It can be argued that this is mentally damaging for Gen Z and Millennial consumers by giving them a false perception of perfection. However, in a selfie obsessed era consumers and brands are having to accept this idea of attaining the perfect appearance, and it can be seen as a positive that the health and beauty industry are steering consumers away from the needle as “there is a new genre of skincare products designed to mimic dermatological and surgical results for those who want the smooth e!ect without the syringe.” (Walker and Smith, 2018) This is saving consumers money and regret, whilst still making them feel luxurious and well.

ARCHITECTURE

With health and wellbeing at the forefront of consumers’ minds, people are now looking beyond the obvious to attain a healthy lifestyle. With American consumers spending 90% of their time indoors (JWT Intelligence, 2019) architects are designing interiors proved to benefit the health of the occupants. “The science behind indoor environments that support people’s health and wellness is a new frontier,” said Dr. Brent Bauer, Medical

Director of the Well Living Lab” (Safian-Demers, 2019) Wellness real-estate is the incorporation of intentional wellness elements into the design, materials and building of architecture and housing. This is part of a newly adopted wellness ecosystem that consumers are a part of: a lifestyle that promotes health, wellbeing and longevity. The

Global Wellness Institute (2019) estimates that “the global wellness real estate sector is worth $134 billion in 2017, growing at 6.4% annually since 2015.” The Health and Wellness macro trend has created new expectations for consumers: from shopping centres, hotels, airports and hospitals, it is not just their own home in which consumers demand to feel well within.

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ARCHITECTURE CTD..

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Biophillia is a micro trend that has derived from the wellness trend that is taking over the globe. Oliver Heath Design, a sustainable architecture and interior design practice, defines biophillia as, “[the focus] on human’s innate attraction to nature and natural processes. It suggests that we all have a genetic connection to the natural world built up through hundreds of thousands of years of living in agrarian settings.” (Oliver Heath, 2019) With studies informing that nature is a key component in the optimal environment for healing, places like hospitals have adapted to this trend in order to improve patients’ well-being. In one case, “Kaiser’s Radiation Oncology Center in Anaheim included a zen garden to help make patients feel more at ease as they undergo physically gruelling cancer treatment” (Smith, 2018) This demonstrates that biophilia can have a huge impact on the quality of life of consumers, implying that this micro trend has the capability to develop and better the lives of many. Consumers and architectural companies alike are interpreting this strategy di!erently, ranging from simply adding more foliage in o!ices, to the creation of entire homes built to improve the inhabitants’ personal wellbeing; demonstrating the increasing consumer attention to their surroundings. With this being a new concept there is lots of room for innovation and interpretation for businesses to develop and apply in the future.

TOURISM

Wellness is having a lasting e!ect on the tourism industry; an increasing number of consumers are travelling with the pursuit of enhancing their personal well-being. As found by the Global Wellness

Institute (2019), “globally, wellness tourism has expanded from $563.2 billion in 2015 to $639.4 billion in 2017. The sector’s 6.5% annual growth rate from 2015- 2017 is more than double the 3.2% growth rate for general tourism.” The health and wellness trend that is taking over the globe has opened a great opportunity for the travel and tourism industry, expanding from a typical ‘spa break’ to a multitude of luxurious wellness trips. Younger consumers are driving wellness tourism, with Generation X and Millennials showing the biggest interest. These consumers are choosing to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle as a result of this trend, “for younger consumers in particular, wellness travel is not just focused on developing their own sense of wellbeing but also how their holiday will impact on the environment and local community.” (McGregor and Smith, 2018) highlighting the impact this trend is having on not only consumers but the planet and environment.

TOURISM CTD..

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Travel and hospitality companies are evolving with this trend, for example, Amatara Wellness Resort in Phuket, Thailand promises a transformative life journey to rebalance the health of consumers through their wellness trip packages. They provide therapies, treatments, activities and workshops that involve many natural remedies, ingredients and processes to alleviate the pressures of a full-speed, cosmopolitan lifestyle, in a relaxing location. In locations like Phuket, surrounded by sea and clean air, consumers benefit from therapies like, “thalassotherapies, (cures based on sea elements)...an emphasis on seaside wellness, where sunshine, sea-air [and thalassotherapies] are used to enhance wellbeing.” (Smith and Puczkó, 2013) The consumer demand for wellness trips as such will be high as consumers living in cities and the mainland have no easy access to the sea. .

As more consumers seek wellness retreats for a beneficial impact on their health and state of mind, it reinforces the apparent interest, that consumers have developed, for the environment in which they are situated and its e!ect on their long term well-being. It has been noted that, although trips like these are advantageous to consumers, they have a lasting negative impact on our environment due to high-carbon flights that are necessary to reach these destinations, meaning that the enviroment su!ers as a result of consumers’ good health.