Wellness Trend! Hong Kong’s Market seeking for “Healing”
kanriMost may feel that Hong Kongers usually live with a speedy pace and highly stressed living environment.
The COVID-19 situation lasting for over 2 years is no doubt one of the reasons why it has been more stressful in recent years. According to the survey of 24/7 Tempo conducted in 2020, Hong Kong was the top stressful city in the world.
On the other hand, Hong Kongers nowadays, especially the young adult segments, are becoming more conscious of both physical health and mental health. Hong Kong’s way of “Healing Trend” is now happening, and some brands are making use of this chance to further build up their business. The “Healing Trend” is expected to have its continuous growth in the future.
In this blog, we are going to introduce some examples of business related to this trend and the reasons why Hong Kongers are seeking “healing” from these services and products.
“Wellness” market’s continuous growth in the world
Facing the COVID-19 situation is just like being forced to run a marathon without goal. It brings much stress to people and people from all over the world are becoming more valuing “wellness” in their life.
“Wellness” does not only mean physical health. McKinsey & Co. has conducted a survey in 2021 on how the consumers feel about wellness. The survey concluded the opinions of 7,500 interviewees from 6 countries, and the result shows that 79% of them see wellness, which include physical health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep and mindfulness, as important to their life. 42% even answered that wellness is the most important element in their daily life. Looking from the economic aspect, the wellness market in the world is as huge as 1.5 trillion USD, and would be growing at a 5%-10% growth rate in the future as estimated.
Business under Hong Kong’s “Healing Trend”
In order to face the stress in daily life, consumers used to get their living pace down on holidays and day offs. Maybe because of this reason, there are some shops in Hong Kong able to keep their sales up to 5-6 digits of HKD each month stably, and even expecting a growth rate of 20% in the future, despite starting their business in these 2 years deeply affected by COVID-19.
HKET interviewed a Japanese tea ceremony themed restaurant and a shop selling Taiwanese incense in 2021, and pointed out a few reasons of “Healing Trend’s” growth in Hong Kong:
・As wellness is being valued in the entire world now, not only industries related to physical health, but also the ones related to mental health are growing continuously.
・The COVID-19 has brought the world a new task, making people forced to face stress and anxiety. As the result, people started to be more conscious of mental health.
・Popularization of social media: traditional cultures such as singing bowls and Japanese tea ceremonies were difficult to reach consumers’ sight in the past. However in recent years, taking photos and selfies during workshops and uploading to social media is becoming a routine among people. The posts become a kind of advertisement for the business and lead more people to be interested in the services and products, which eventually expand the consumer base.
・Although the COVID-19 situation is now more stable, Hong Kongers who love to enjoy overseas trips are not able to travel around for a long period of time, which makes them more longing for overseas culture experiences.
In view of these shops’ business strategies, both of them are running physical stores and online shops at the same time. Despite having their social media such as Facebook frequently updated, they also regularly open Japanese tea ceremonies and incense workshops which are related to their products.
For many Hong Kongers, taking care of mental health is still a very new concept. Some of them may blindly run into expensive products without getting enough understanding of a new concept. This would in fact make it more difficult to take root in the services and products. It is better to deliver the brand concept through workshops as an introduction to the consumers. Letting them to feel the advantages of your products would help them build up their own experience, and eventually make them take root in your brand in the future.
MAY Planning provides support on your expansion and promotions to the Hong Kong market. Support for advertising on social media such as Facebook and Instagram, arrangement of workshops are available. Feel free to contact us anytime.
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