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10.15.2008

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“Centuality”: How Women Choose Wellness Products

In 1998, wellness was a hot trend. Ten years later, wellness is a cultural obligation. It’s no longer socially acceptable in North America to be unconscious of one’s personal health and wellbeing. One must be well to be happy, fulfilled, fun, engaged, self-expressed and vibrant. This responsibility to be well is felt most acutely by women, the wellness-keepers of our culture and the gateway to over $60 billion in annual household spending for wellness products.

Manufacturers and retailers have responded to the wellness demand by providing a glut of “better for you” and health and wellness products. The explosion of wellness solutions in the marketplace has created serious competition for the attention of women. So, what’s the pathway to women wellness consumers?

Centuality

“Centuality” is a play on words summarizing the three key criteria that women use when choosing wellness products and services: fiscal responsibility (e.g., dollars and cents), the five senses, and common sense or logic.

Run-time: 3 minutes 4 seconds

Dollars and Cents

Women express tremendous concern over responsibly managing finances. In today’s economy, every penny counts so women are very discerning about the value they receive from each wellness purchase. This is not to say that women are penny-pinching. To the contrary, women will spend more on quality wellness products because they view them as wise investments. Women prefer to spend money on quality foods, supplements, exercise classes, massage therapy, etc. because they believe preventive wellness actions will cost less in the long run when compared to medical bills that could result from inattention to prevention. Value is not determined by price alone, but by the quality/price ratio. Indicators of quality typically included freshness, authenticity, organic, artisanal, and local.

Financial stability is integral to wellness, because worrying about money can be a major stressor. Women, especially those who are not partnered, worry about whether they have enough money to adequately care for themselves and their children today, and certainly in the future. College funds and retirement savings are chronic concerns, and women invest in wellness now out of fears that they cannot afford to be unwell. Financially, women today often do not have the option of not working due to illness. The ability to relax and have emotional wellness really hinges on a woman’s financial stability.

Take away: Communicate the value of personal health benefits, especially when prices are a bit high.

Five Senses

Quality is not always objective, but often resides in subjective perceptions. Women are especially attuned to how products smell, look, feel, taste, and sound. Product packaging and retail environments are strong contributors to wellness product and service perceptions. Women enjoy aesthetics. They delight in attractive wrappers, boxes, or bottles, aromas that stir the appetite or imagination, textures that beg a lingering touch, and, of course, taste that delivers on expectations. Women comment that sound is an important part of their wellness. This is often overlooked in product packaging and retail environments. The sound of silence, water, laughter, and music contribute to feelings of well-being.

Women report farmers’ markets are increasingly desirable places to purchase wellness products. These environments and the products therein deliver rich sensory experiences. Packaging tends to be simple yet attractive, sampling is encouraged, and the physical space is an enchanting explosion of color, aroma, and sound (e.g., conversation, laughter, and music).

Take away: To speak to the female consumer you need to deliver more than words can say.

Common Sense

When it comes to wellness, women are very pragmatic and intuitive. If a solution (e.g., product or service) resonates on a gut level, they will be inclined to try it. For example, high-fiber cereal for weight management will make more sense to women than a high-fiber ice cream. Solutions need to be logical as women do not have the time to extensively consider the plethora of choices available to them.

Take away: Keep solutions and messaging simple and logical.

How This Adds Up

Wellness is a holistic pursuit for women involving her mind, body, and spirit. Accordingly, they want products that speak to them at all of these points of connection. Centuality is the guiding principle that manufacturers and retailers can use to appeal to the woman wellness consumer.

Acknowledge women’s caregiving obligations and their keen sense of financial responsibility. The woman wellness consumer is savvy, not miserly. Communicate value as quality rather than price. Quality is conveyed by retail environment aesthetics and knowledgeable service, product ingredients, packaging, messaging, and communications. Cues should be in overall alignment since disjointed themes will undermine quality perceptions. It is important to note the retail environment and the product have a mutual role in defining the other’s quality halo. Manufacturers and retailers should consider working in close partnership as each pursues innovations, because women consumers do not consider your merits independently.

Wellness must make sense to women, and simplicity is the key. Solutions or retail experiences that are too complicated will create frustration and stress rather than calm and satisfaction. Overly scientific formulations, long ingredient lists, busy packaging, crowded aisles, obtrusive shelf danglers, and incongruent merchandizing (e.g., hair bands next to produce) all serve to perplex the consumer. Simplicity cues quality, and women will pay more for high-quality wellness products that intuitively work with their holistic wellness perspective. It must pass the “common sense” test!

With Centuality as a guiding principle, manufacturers, retailers, and marketers can proceed with confidence that they are capturing the attention of the primary wellness consumer – women. If they recognize you are speaking to them from a point of empathy they will be loyal to you as they would a friend.

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