How brands can connect with health and wellness shoppers today – article

Health and wellness priorities continue to be a mainstay for today’s shoppers. Think about your own wellness habits over the past few years; maybe you’ve added a new vitamin supplement to your family’s routine, or double checked the nutritional value on your favorite mid-day snack. If you can relate, you're not alone. According to a September 2022 McKinsey report 42% of respondents consider wellness is a top priority, contributing to the continued demand for health and wellness products. Analysts estimate that the worldwide market for health and wellness products, including nutritious foods, will surpass an estimated $6.8 trillion by 2024, an increase of about +19% compared to 2021, according to a 2021 study by Adweek.

To better understand what is driving purchase decisions, and how brands can optimize for this accelerated category growth, Amazon Ads conducted a 2022 first-party analysis. With these insights, brands can dive deeper into the key interests and shopping patterns that can connect them with health and wellness audiences in ways that may help encourage new-to-brand conversion, cross-purchase, and loyalty.

Connect with new shoppers

When it comes to deciding on a new brand to purchase, health and wellness consumers intend to make informed purchase decisions at the start of their shopping journeys. In fact, 44% of vitamin respondents, and 53% of herbal and mineral supplement respondents reported conducting research online, according to a Kantar Health and Wellness Path to Purchase study from 2022.

“When we dove a little bit deeper to analyze generic shopping queries, we discovered an increase in queries that have natural sources including ashwagandha, probiotics, and creatine,” said Danielle Rollo, Head of Nutrition and Wellness Sales at Amazon Ads, citing 2022 Amazon internal data. “Brands may engage new-to-category shoppers at the beginning of their shopping journey as they conduct ingredient-led research with the help of Amazon Sponsored ads solutions,” Rollo explained.

Furthermore, shoppers may also begin to connect with a brand after viewing their Streaming TV ads. Insights from a 2022 internal Amazon analysis about the long-term impact of advertising, revealed that when a few CPG brands invested in Streaming TV ads, they observed 65% Streaming TV’s effect on their product’s direct page views at week four. Brands may be able to connect with new-to-brand shoppers by reaching in-market audiences where they engage in their downtime.

Encourage cross product purchases

What does this mean for brands looking to help shoppers find additional products geared toward meeting their health and wellness needs? First, it presents brands with an opportunity to help illustrate their product's value and how it might fit into shoppers' routines with Sponsored Brands. Through this solution, advertisers can reach high-intent shoppers while offering sufficient real-estate to explain a product’s unique value. Second, brands can connect with shoppers based on what's in their shopping carts, and offer contextually relevant placements. For example, multivitamin purchases substantially overlap with herbal mineral supplements according to 2022 Amazon internal data. Multivitamin brands can then re-market to these audiences to encourage relevant brand discovery with the help of Amazon DSP.

Drive customer loyalty

With more health and wellness products to choose from than ever before, it is paramount for brands to re-engage audiences and continually earn shoppers’ trust after the first purchase to help drive loyalty. In fact, 81% of health and wellness shoppers come back to Amazon to make a repeat purchase within the same product types, according to 2022 internal Amazon data.

“The good news for brands,” Rollo continues, “is that they can sculpt marketing strategies to help build loyalty among shoppers. For example, with Amazon DSP re-marketing, brands can continue to connect with the 81% of consumers who return to the Amazon store to make a repeat purchase within the same category, thereby helping to increase the likelihood of loyalty. Not only that, brands that leveraged four Amazon Ads solutions saw on average, a 24% increase in repeat customer growth, compared to brands that did not use any solutions,” citing the same internal Amazon analysis.

Health and wellness shoppers have dynamic journeys across multiple Amazon touchpoints throughout their path to purchase. Identifying related categories and shopping patterns could help brands reach new audiences, teach shoppers about additional products in their portfolio, and connect with them beyond the first purchase. Ultimately, a multi-objective strategy can help inspire and service shoppers in health and wellness aisles.

To learn more, visit Amazon Ads