Brand Radar: Top 50 Wellness DTC brands
In the 5th edition of Brand Radar, we're delving into the Wellness industry, which has shaped the DTC world quite significantly.
Table of contents
Key trends in the Wellness industry
The US dominates the global wellness industry
Industry game-changers: AG1, Huel, Care/of
Learnings to apply for other DTC brands
TL;DR
Interest in wellness has surged post-pandemic, driven by rising health awareness and medical costs. The wellness industry, now larger than Germany's GDP, is projected to reach $8.45 trillion. Key trends include:
Consumer Skepticism: Increasing preference for scientifically backed products over "natural" ones.
Personalization and AI: Growing use of first-party data and AI to tailor services, with room for innovation in nutrition and mindfulness wearables.
Telehealth: High satisfaction (89%) among Americans using virtual healthcare.
Self-Education: Consumers independently researching health information online.
Market Insights
U.S. Dominance: 40 out of 50 top wellness brands on the Brand Radar are U.S.-based, driven by high healthcare costs and market size.
European Leaders: Top brands include Huel (UK) and foodspring (Germany) in functional nutrition.
Industry Gamechangers
AG1: Pioneered comprehensive one-scoop supplements, now valued at $1.2 billion.
Huel: Exemplifies strong community building and customer retention.
Care/of: Early adopter of personalized supplements, acquired by Bayer in 2020.
Learnings for DTC Brands
Wellness brands excel in digital experience, offering insights that could enhance other DTC sectors like home goods and hardware. The U.S. market is robust, but Europe presents growth opportunities.
Key trends in the wellness industry
Interest in wellness has surged, especially post-pandemic, due to unsurprising reasons: consumers aim to have greater control over their health and the medical costs have been rising globally.
The wellness industry offers a solution: simplified and personalised preventive healthcare, making it easy to understand, track and improve one’s well-being. Today, the industry is bigger than the Germany’s GDP and is estimated to reach 8.45 trillion U.S. dollars.
Among the significant emerging trends are:
The rising skepticism over scientifically unproven solutions. In other words, consumers are more likely to choose a “doctor-recommended” product over a “natural” one (McKinsey, 2024).
The adoption of first-party data and AI features to create personalised services and products. In wearables category, there’s still a gap for devices for nutrition or mindfulness, while the fitness wearables are a pretty established category.
Telehealth and virtual healthcare: 89% of surveyed Americans that used such a service were satisfied with it (World Economic Forum, 2022).
Self-education and research. Consumers are looking for answers independently through search, Reddit forums, and discussions with friends (this is also what Niek, the CMO of Spinoza has confirmed to us our Expert Interview).
1. The U.S. dominates the global wellness industry
According to the Brand Radar data, 40 out of 50 brands with the highest traffic volume were based in the U.S.
This can be partly attributed to the healthcare expenses in the U.S., the market's scale and purchasing power, and the network effect: numerous founders in the U.S. bring with them experience from prominent tech companies, mastering the art of successfully expanding brands.
In the European market, most of the top wellness brands are based in the U.K. and Germany. Functional nutrition and food is the biggest category, with leaders like Huel (the UK), foodspring (Germany), and yfood (Germany).
2. Industry gamechangers: AG1, Huel, Care/of, Hims& Hers
We identified 4 emerging sub-categories within the wellness industry led by pioneer brands AG1, Huel, Care/of and Hims and Hers. These companies have brought more players into the industry that have also been growing fast and made it to the top 50 Brand Radar list.
AG1 has brought a one-scoop supplement for a multitude of target areas
Founded in 2010, AG1 today is worth more than $1.2 billion and has pioneered a new way of taking supplements. AG1 is “designed to replace multiple supplements by providing a comprehensive blend of nutrients in one tasty scoop each day.” Consumers benefit not just from the convenience of a multi-purpose product, but also from the time saved on researching and comparing various ingredients. We found other brands like Seed or Grüns, offering a similar experience. Gainful is also an interesting new entrant that customises its blends.
Huel shows one of the best examples on building a community
We have done a breakdown on this already in the last DXP Snapshot but Huel is a very inspiring case on how to build a loyal audience. The brand is so strongly focused on retention that today has thousands of customer advocates. Huel not only incentivised repeat purchases but also provides value in other ways, like entertainment and online discussion forums for likeminded people. This same approach was replicated by similar brands like Foodspring, Soylent, and yfood (which has its own branded in-person summer fest).
Care/of has been one of the first to tap into supplement personalisation
While personalisation is increasingly often pronounced in wellness trend reports, Care/of has been working on it since 2016. The brand’s customer experience begins with a quiz, asking for demographic input, health goals, preferences, and even values (i.e., beliefs on natural medicine). As a result, the customer gets a personalised supplement bundle, with detailed explanations on the purpose of each product. This method may not be founded on advanced, A.I.-based tech, but it does a pretty good job and brings product transparency. Care/of was acquired by Bayer in 2020 and today has more competitors offering supplement personalisation not only through the quiz but also input from wearables (Elo Health), apps (Cuure), or at-home health tests (Vitl).
3. Learnings to apply for other DTC brands
The wellness industry currently holds the highest digital experience score among all previous Brand Radar editions. We ranked the brands with the highest traffic volumes and the majority of them either had good or excellent digital experience scores.
What does it mean?
Success cases in the wellness sector may be standard practice today, yet prove disruptive and fiercely competitive in other industries.
Some ideas brought by AG1, Huel or others can significantly improve the purchasing experience in less developed DTC and digital retail categories like home goods or hardware.
Additionally, we found that most of the disruptive wellness brands are based in the US, whereas the European wellness market is less active. It means there is still space for growth and building loyal relationships.
Interested in a DXP Gameplan for your own brand?
Feel free to contact Daan Spangenberg if you want to do a digital experience audit for your brand and build your 'DXP Gameplan' to increase conversion, NPS, and retention.
