While I was conceptualizing my next article, I initially struggled to find a compelling angle. However, as I am currently teaching a Consumer Behavior course, I realized that focusing on this shift in consumer behavior toward health and wellness would be a good topic. I believe it’s crucial to explore how this trend can be analyzed through the lens of consumer behavior. Theoretically and practically, consumer behavior is one of the most intricate and difficult aspect that every marketer should zero-in on. Without a clear visibility of consumers’ perception and preferences, businesses will go astray in creating products and services, marketing campaigns and strategies tailored to consumer needs, wants and preferences.
Over the years, the behavior of Filipino consumers have been evolving. One of the noticeable shifts is the growing demand for products that caters to their overall wellness and health, be it food products, fitness and lifestyle products, among others. We have been seeing supermarkets and other modern trade stores highlighting these products in their shelves.
One of the root causes that possibly triggered this significant shift could be the COVID-19 pandemic. When we spent more time at home, and saw massive death tolls not just from the Philippines but all over the world, we became more conscious of our health and we suddenly realized that “health is really a wealth”. More and more people began exercising, geared towards better nutrition and even prioritized mental care.
Up to this day, health conscious customers are rising in numbers. This is due to the continuous “lifestyle urbanization” and the influence of mass media more specially social media platforms highlighting and advocating health and wellness. Personally, social media platforms have become one of the greatest influences on consumers, driving them to shift from traditional product choices to healthier alternatives. For example, the concept of “self-diagnosis” has emerged, where individuals, instead of consulting a physician, identify and declare their own health conditions based on the experiences shared by content creators and the comments of followers. This phenomenon further fuels the growing demand for healthier product options, as consumers seek to align their choices with what they perceive to be beneficial, often influenced by online communities.
This behavioral shift reflects not only the consumer’s strive to live healthier and longer but it also presents a significant opportunity for businesses to tailor-fit their products and marketing efforts towards this rising consumer preferences.
Various industries can benefit from this shift of consumer behavior patterns. Businesses can capitalize and leverage opportunities on this trend by creating products which will suffice the ever-growing and evolving needs of customers. For instance, the most potent industry that can benefit from this shift is the food and beverage industry since customers demand for clean, organic, healthy and locally-sourced food and beverage products. Food hubs and food manufacturers are capitalizing on this rise by even declaring and showing the nutritional information on their packaging and menu boards so as to attract customers. Fitness gyms are also on the rise, so as fitness equipment, stress-relief app and electronic wearables to compliment the healthy lifestyle of these consumers.
However, as a consumer who is particularly drawn to these types of products, I must admit that I am a self-confessed inconsistent one. And these inconsistencies might have a repercussion to businesses and providers of these products and services, thus there is a need for them to continuously refine and improve their marketing strategy since inconsistency is one big problem of the behavior of consumers. Again, consumer behavior is a very intricate and difficult aspect of marketing.|
