E-commerce platforms have seen young women become the main force in the consumption of health supplements; in traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, "national trend health products" such as lily red date eight-treasure rice and turmeric cinnamon milk tea are widely welcomed by young people; in daily life, various supplements have become the "fourth meal" for many young people...
Relevant research reports show that in 2023, the proportion of health food consumers aged 25 to 40 in our country reached 39%, surpassing the 31% share of the group over 51 years old.
Why are young people flocking to the health and wellness market?
What new vitality in health consumption will the "new force" of health preservation stimulate?
The reporter conducted an investigation.
Young people have set off a "health craze" with a promising market outlook.
Inside a transparent plastic bag, seven tablets are neatly arranged.
"The purple tablets are blueberry extracts, which can supplement eye nutrition; the soft capsules contain emulsified DHA and hydroxytyrosol, activating the brain and improving work efficiency..." Li Tong, a 31-year-old female employee from Tianjin, counts them like treasures, "These are all matched, one bag a day with meals, not easy to forget, and very convenient."
With the rise of the health economy and the beauty economy, more and more young people, especially female consumers, have become loyal consumers of health and wellness products.
The "2024 Women's Nutrition and Health Food 618 Consumer Insight Report" shows that in the past five years, the average annual compound growth rate of the online market for female nutrition and health food on platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com has reached 15.5%, with the main customer group being "post-85s" married and childbearing users.
With the widespread dissemination of traditional Chinese medicine culture, "national trend health" has become a new choice for young people's daily health care.
This summer, not only has sunbathing and the three-summer heat patches become "hot" among young people, but "TCM clinics beating milk tea shops" also topped the Weibo hot search.
In response to the preferences of young people, many traditional Chinese medicine shops have launched specially formulated milk tea and sour plum soup, some even with medicinal meals.
The Shandong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine's "TCM substitute for tea" prescription, with an average price of 2 yuan per dose, has more than 3,000 prescriptions issued online and offline every day; the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine's "1 yuan sour plum soup" online orders were too many, causing the server to crash, and they had to "beg for mercy" online through Weibo.
Chengdu First People's Hospital has developed and launched characteristic Chinese medicine medicinal meals for different solar terms.
"One of them, turmeric cinnamon milk tea, is very popular," said Liu Yan, deputy director of the Clinical Nutrition Department of the hospital.
"Characteristic Chinese medicine medicinal meals are very popular, and young people also like them."
The trend of young people in health and wellness consumption is driving the health supplement industry to develop upwards.
The report from market agency iMedia Consulting points out that China's health supplement market has maintained steady growth over the past five years, and it is expected to reach 423.7 billion yuan by 2027.
Demand upgrades and supply quality improvements stimulate young people's health consumption vitality.
In traditional concepts, the term "health care" seems to be exclusive to "middle-aged and elderly people".
Why are young people joining the "health preservation group" in large numbers?
"Series of policies such as the 'Healthy China 2030' Planning Outline have promoted the improvement of the health awareness of the whole people, and young people have more and more scientific attention to their own physical condition."
Zhang Yongjian, director of the Research Center for the Development and Supervision of Food and Drug Industry at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the improvement of education and living standards, more convenient access to scientific health information, and the warning of the low-age case of chronic diseases have made more and more young people pay more attention to their own health management.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2023, China's per capita medical and health care consumption was 2460 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16%.
The "2023 China New Consumption Trend White Paper" shows that more than 40% of "post-00s" have purchased functional health food or health instruments, and one-third of "post-00s" and "post-95s" have purchased nutritional supplements.
As young people's health consumption continues to upgrade, leading brands and emerging enterprises in the health industry are increasing product research and development, working hard on consumer services, and providing young people with diversified and high-quality products and services from the supply side.
Wan Yanjing, Vice President of Bayer Health Care Co., Ltd. for Asia Pacific Cross-Border E-Commerce and E-Commerce within China, introduced that young people's busy lives make "snackization" and "lightweight" important directions for young people to choose health and wellness products.
In response to this, brands such as Angel Nutritech and Tomson Bi-Jian are accelerating their layout.
The functional food brand "Mei Na You" has launched products such as iron-enriched soft candy and lutein ester soft candy, which are widely welcomed by young people.
Effective interaction between supply and demand stimulates young people's health consumption, and the widespread dissemination of health topics on various social media and short videos also promotes the trend of young people's health consumption.
Regulate industry development to promote "industry prosperity" with high quality.
At present, young people's health consumption demand is strong, and the market is booming, but the industry-related standards still need to be further improved, and supervision needs to be continuously strengthened.
The "Health Industry Consumption Trend Development Report" released not long ago by the China Consumer Association pointed out that there are still some "termites" in the health industry that pursue short-term benefits, adopt unfair competition means, infringe on consumers' legitimate rights and interests, disrupt market order, and damage consumer confidence.
The report suggests establishing and improving the quality management system, strictly guarding the bottom line of product quality safety.
From the procurement of raw materials to the finished product, it should go through strict inspection and quarantine procedures.
Continuously improve production processes with modern scientific and technological means, improve product quality, ensure consumer safety, and continuously provide consumers with high-quality products and high-quality services.
In Wan Yanjing's view, the increasing number of young "professional consumers" and "ingredient parties" has put forward higher requirements for the industry.
"Many young people will not only obtain health food ingredient information from social media, but also check authoritative journal papers, and pay great attention to the improvement of physical indicators after taking health food."
Wan Yanjing said, "This requires companies to produce more competitive products."
