While Ozempic isn’t going away, other hot wellness trends are gaining attention.
At WWD’s annual Beauty CEO Summit, Muriel Gonzalez, president of The Vitamin Shoppe, gave attendees a sneak peek at the company’s upcoming trends report, identifying five key opportunities in the wellness category, including TikTok’s latest, “sexy water.”
Notable categories include:
Longevity has become something of a buzzword in the health and wellness space, but according to The Vitamin Shoppe, the term has truly spawned a new category.
“It’s not just about living longer, it’s about living healthier and feeling better,” Gonzalez says. “There’s a new term now called ‘healthspan,’ which replaces the old term ‘span.’ It’s about being active and staying active for a longer period of time.”
This has led to a number of supplement use cases gaining traction, including cellular health, cognitive function, and of course, stress management.
Gut health has become a super trendy topic in recent years, and for good reason: Many doctors refer to the gut as your second brain. Plus, data shows that at least 90% of serotonin, the happiness neurotransmitter, is produced in the gut.
Gonzalez believes social media has helped drive consumer interest in the microbiome and gut health.
“If you look at TikTok, it’s absolutely amazing the millions of views on digestive issues. There’s even a new term called #GutTok,” she said.
While gut health began with a focus on probiotics, several other product types, such as psyllium husk and digestive enzymes, have also begun to gain prominence in this area.
Wellness brands across the board are looking to address women’s health disparities, which McKinsey & Company says “could boost the global economy by $1 trillion per year by 2040.” With that comes a host of areas ripe for investment and innovation, including menstruation, perimenopause, menopause, pregnancy and postpartum care.
Gonzalez pointed to the menopause products market as one key opportunity, saying he expects it to grow from $18 billion to $24 billion over the next 36 months.
“It’s a very serious issue now,” she says. “Women are feeling much more comfortable talking about it, and there are a lot of new products aimed at women that weren’t there before.”
We all know the Sleepy Girl mocktail has been a social media sensation, but it’s no longer the only “sexy water” in town. According to The Vitamin Shoppe, functional drinks with green powders, adaptogens, nootropics, magnesium and more are all trending.
“Today’s consumers want more,” Gonzalez said. “They want hydration plus.”
This has led to a continued rise in powders and non-alcoholic drinks that offer additional benefits, Gonzalez reported.
Since Ozempic took the health food world by storm, other categories have been quick to respond, especially with supplements to help with side effects like nausea, digestive issues and muscle loss. Gonzalez said products like multivitamins, probiotics, fiber and protein are key in this space.
Plus, it’s big business: According to JP Morgan Research, the GLP-1 market could exceed $100 billion by 2030, and 30 million people in the U.S. alone could be taking the drug by 2030.
To further support GLP-1 users, The Vitamin Shoppe recently launched Whole Health Rx, a telehealth platform that prescribes weight loss medications, increasing accessibility.
