Health to wellness — a shifting consumer paradigm

DRIVING to office last month, a colourful advertisement by the roadside caught my attention. “Learn Yoga: The New Age Fitness Mantra”, screamed the hoarding. What intrigued me was not the liberal use of colours or the exquisitely executed asana, but the unlikely juxtaposition - Yoga and New Age! So what’s making a multi-thousand year tradition today’s beat? And it isn’t only Yoga that is on the consumer’s menu. Pilates, Ayurveda, gyms, meditation are in. Running is the new road rage – over 30,000 people ran the 2007 Mumbai marathon up from around 20,000 in 2004, its first year. Nip and tuck, snip and scrape — people will pay Rs 70,000-Rs 150,000 to get the Aishwarya look. The Mediterranean food tradition has landed on Indian shores bringing with it reservatol rich red wine and polyphenol packed olive oil. I believe, we are witnessing a fundamental change in consumer behaviour all around the world and in India too. A trend which is reshaping several industries. Decades ago, if you asked people about their health & wellness quotient, the response would have centred around how often did one fall sick. Today, freedom from disease is important but not enough. The sense of vitality, feeling good and energetic, and, as important, looking young are the drivers of health and wellness. Effect and counter effect. Indian society has seen a high level of change over the last two decades. Rapid urbanisation, the breakdown of traditional family and social structures, loss of confidence in long respected sources of authority, the arrival of India on the flat world, information flow sans boundaries and hierarchy. On the one hand, many of these changes have been welcome to the modern consumer, on the other, they have consequences which need to be managed. There is a feeling of being rootless, of a sense of loss for what was, a fear for our future generations. India is the diabetes capital of the world, not to speak of the Indian gene’s proclivity to heart attacks and strokes. Stress is upon us, we are money-rich but time-poor. Science gives us greater control over our bodies, yet we fear the unknown consequences of the chemical world. Technology advances make the past a liability and upends hierarchies- we become youth worshippers. The world and India are looking for compensators, which will keep us healthy, help us look young and make us feel good. Holistic compensators like yoga and Ayurveda are therefore, very interesting to consumers. There is a clear preference for natural or herbal solutions to the loss of harmony, of the feeling of imbalance. Ayurvedic spas are springing up across the country offering detox packages which will knock the kinks off your spine and the lines off your face. Millions practice the Sudarshan Kriya taught by The Art of Living to calm their minds and de-stress and vast audiences tune into Baba Ramdev’s yoga lessons on TV. What’s interesting is also how tradition morphs for a better connect with today’s consumer. The therapeutic properties of yoga and Ayurveda are now being scientifically tested because today’s consumer wants proof of efficacy. While consumers have generally known that yoga and Ayurveda do help in keeping many an ailment at bay, these beliefs are now being increasingly endorsed by science, helping reaffirm consumer belief in Ayurvedic products and services. Science is also helping improve the sensorial delivery of many of these products to help consumers make the change with less pain. People now recognise what our past generations knew — that food is not only about taste and sustenance, but it is about your health and your sense of well being. We are far more involved with the food we eat, what it contains, how it is made, its nutritional value. We continue to indulge, but we care to compensate. Indian marketers are fast responding to this changing consumer behaviour and the shelves are today flooded with a variety of low-calorie or ‘Lite’ products, fortified foods, organic foods and sugar-free items. People are replacing sugar in their diet with honey, paranthas with cereals, colas with fruit juices. Transfats are out, monounsaturated is in. Now the market is moving on from Good for You to Better for You foods. Probiotic ice cream has now hit the freezers, more is on the way. But it is not only about food. Adventure holidays are in. Gyms are heaving and sales of sports goods are rocketing. You can replace lost hair, lose weight without dieting, change the shape of your nose, Botox away the wrinkles. Welcome to the world of wellness! The writer is executive director (consumer care division), Dabur India

Courtesy: EconomicTimes