What is self-care?
While there are general definitions of self-care, ultimately, individuals define it for themselves. Several years ago, pre-pandemic, HRG built a Self-care Roadmap with the former trade organization GMDC (Global Market Development Center), to provide retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers insight into shopper behaviors in self-care, depending on whether they were treating a certain condition or on a journey of preventing, maintaining, recovering, or caregiving. Data from consumer research was analyzed against POS market basket data to develop shopper behavior profiles.
Earlier in 2024, Persuadable Research conducted a series of studies to understand how consumers define self-care today. Over 1,000 adults were interviewed online from April 22, 2024 – April 24, 2024. The demographic breakdown can be found here. When asked, “What does self-care mean to you?,” the top three responses included:
- Take care of yourself 38%
- Mentions the word physical or physical needs 24%
- Mentions the word mental or mental health 19%
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When presented with a list of activities to choose from that are part of individual self-care, “focusing on personal care” ranked in the top three most popular responses. Personal care activities were more popular with females than males, and included focusing on hair, bath & body, (71%), with shopping following (39%).
For men, “getting proper rest/sleep” slightly edged out “taking time for myself/putting myself first.” In fact, when asked about areas of personal self-care a given activity supports, “getting proper rest/sleep” was indicated the most by all respondents across all three aspects of self-care: physical, mental, and emotional. Additionally, “getting proper rest/sleep” was selected as the most important self-care activity. “One of the biggest surprises to us across these studies was the importance of, and the struggle to get proper rest,” commented Charles Miller, president and CEO at Persuadable Research. “While insomnia is not the most common condition (~16%), it was rated as having the highest negative impact on people’s mental health by sufferers, putting it right up there with stress, obesity, pain, and depression.
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, published select findings from its 2024 Consumer Survey. Per their research, melatonin is still up from 2020 levels with 16% of supplement users now taking the sleep aid, making it one of the top specialty supplements. Responses also revealed that women, particularly younger ones, are more likely than men to say they take supplements to enhance skin, hair, and nail health, reinforcing beauty-related trends within the industry.
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As beauty brands and retailers have shifted their definition and product assortments to serve this consumer focus on self-care, the beauty segment has expanded to include some personal care and wellness categories. For instance, supplements to promote better sleep have made their way to the beauty section and on beauty-focused retailers’ shelves. During a recent visit to Ulta Beauty’s online Wellness Shop, featured near the top of the page were “beauty-sleep boosters.” A pillowcase, sleep mask, and Olly Sleep supplements were pictured. Likewise, traditional skin care has been focused on topical moisturizers and creams, but supplements have been introduced to purportedly treat skin from the inside out. A search on Sephora for collagen supplements brings up collagen “booster” gummies, a vitamin C supplement for glowing skin and immunity support, and a blemish and brightening supplement.
Manufacturers and retailers that want to meet the needs of self-care-focused consumers can take cues from the Persuadable Research study. Respondents were asked to imagine assembling a “mental self-care” gift basket for a family member, loved one, or friend and had six categories with a variety of gifts and products to choose from:
- Bath & body
- Food & beverage
- Experiences/gift cards
- Home accents/gifts
- Hobbies
- Vitamins/supplements
The results point to some key products consumers identify as part of self-care rituals and can be marketed as such. Manufacturers may be able to bundle several items from their product lines together and retailers can create endcaps and displays that assemble products from across the categories. (The results pertaining to physical self-care are not shared in this article but can be found here. The next research results to be published by Persuadable Research regarding self-care covers consumer attitudes and relationships with food, including how food supports self-care, health areas of focus, and more. A copy of this report can be requested via the company’s LinkedIn page.)
Self-care is not a fad and it isn’t seasonal. Keeping up with current consumer sentiments regarding self-care and curating and updating a product set to meet those needs is a smart strategy to revisit regularly.
Attribution copy: Megan Moyer is a 20-year retail industry veteran and HRG’s corporate marketing manager. HRG is in the details of retail, working with product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, technology partners, and other industry organizations to provide data & analysis, shopper experience, brand development, fixture coordination, and retail communications solutions. HRG reviews new health, beauty, and wellness (HBW) items every month and assesses their potential for longevity in the monthly Products to Watch feature in Drug Store News as well as the annual Future 50 list.
