It’s that time of the year when we start thinking about marketing plans for the coming new year, and inevitably, updates to the service menu. Beyond considering what sells and what doesn’t, spa directors today have to look ahead to ensure their offering remains on trend for consumers, especially with the wellness market in a constant state of evolution.
At a recent We Work Well event, we asked 80 industry professionals for their input on currently popular spa & wellness trends; following is their collective feedback, ranked in order of frequency:
As you can see, this list has many of the buzz words we’ve been hearing, with some appearing in multiple categories. The list of “bad fads” was much shorter; flobee, shake plates, thigh-master, the gazelle! The dictionary definition of a trend is “general course or prevailing tendency.” What we are unable to know in advance concerning trends is what their shelf life will be – how long will some of these remain popular or sought-after components of a spa or wellness experience? Some trends become part of spa culture, and others will they quickly fade, giving way to the next group of new and exciting developments.
On that front, a peek into trends on the horizon came from a panel at the Global Wellness Summit in Singapore, moderated by Global Wellness Institute VP of Research Beth McGroarty. McGroary and her esteemed panelists, marketer Cathy Chon, journalists Sarah Miller & Rina Raphael, Well & Good co-founder Melisse Gelula and economist Thierry Malleret shared what they see in the near future of the wellness market.
These included a rise in discussions of “whispered about” issues such as menopause, puberty & incontinence, fertility health, psychedelics research, return to simplicity, and a marrying of sustainability and wellness. Here are some of the trends mentioned, grouped by general topic:
Mental Wellness
- Connecting with nature
- Nutritional psychiatry; diets for depression, anxiety
- Affordable counseling
- Collective responsibility, movement towards workplace & community support
- Education moving back to standard methods and away from reliance on tech & devices
Food & Nutrition
- Wellness beer
- Lines being blurred between fitness & nutrition
- Boom in luxury organic produce
- More investment in farming
- Family meals together
- Artisanal meats
- Paleo & Vegan fine dining
Wellness Travel
- More sensible approaches; not necessarily tech-free, but tech-aware
- Mindful activities
- Access to water – in room water filtration
- Wilding – crazy activities in exotic locations
- Carbon offsets for travel
- Months-long cruises and wellness ships
- Travel forecast to double by 2025
So this is what the experts are saying; our job in the spa trenches is to consider these, and decide if there is any way to apply them to our business models in a sensible and compelling way. While the word “wellness” has never been more popular, with that comes the inevitable “wellness bashing;” the media will continue to highlight, in a negative way, the silly and occasionally dangerous solutions that are portrayed as being wellness-oriented by marketers in all silos. As Melisse Gelula shared, “10 years ago when we started Well & Good, things like boutique fitness, smoothies & superfoods were considered fluffy. Then journalists started asking for more investigative approaches.” Now some of these trends have become mainstream, as will certainly happen with a few items from the lists above.
Our challenge going into 2020 is to fine-tune our vision and decide what works in our respective businesses and for our clients, so we can, in a way that is inclusive and effective, educate clients on how to reach their desired states of wellness, with the spa front and center as a guide.
About the Author
Lisa Starr is the Principal of Wynne Business Consulting & Education, which specializes in spa, wellness & salon businesses. Lisa has over 30 years of experience in the beauty industry, in all aspects from technician to regional manager. She has spent the last 18 years as a consultant and educator, helping companies maximize spa operations performance in both front and back of the house, and consults on a variety of topics including operations issues, finances & compensation, marketing, inventory management, retailing, human resource development, and business process improvement. Lisa is leading the Grow Well, professional development for We Work Well.
Follow Lisa on Twitter@StarrTalk, on Instagram@WynneBusiness, or email lstarr@wynnebusiness.com
