McKinsey splits the $2.7 trillion wellness consumer into five archetypes

McKinsey & Company now values the global wellness industry at $2.7 trillion, and a survey of 10,000 consumers across the U.S., China, Germany and the U.K. explains who is actually spending it. The report, released Tuesday, splits the once-monolithic "wellness-forward consumer" into five archetypes — and one of them nearly doubled in a year.

The headline attitude shift: 38% of U.S. consumers now say health and wellness is a core part of their identity, Anna Pione, McKinsey partner and report co-author, told Glossy. Across every generation, wellness ranked No. 2 in life priorities, behind only friends and family.

Who is spending the $2.7 trillion?

Two top-spending groups drive half of the market, and they behave very differently:

• Maximalist optimizers — 25% of wellness consumers, 40% of market spend. "They are spending the most on wellness," Pione said. "They prioritize it really highly, but they're not as confident in their routine, and they don't have a set routine."
• Confident enthusiasts — 10% of consumers, 15% of spend. Less experimental, more loyal to routines that work.

The strategic question for brands, per Pione: cutting-edge offerings reach the optimizer easily, but "Can you make it into the routines and the habits of the loyal 'confident enthusiast?'"

The fastest-growing archetype is the health struggler — 30% of consumers, 25% of spend, nearly doubling year over year. "We think the combination of GLP-1s and generative AI [search] has just really changed the game in terms of them feeling empowered," Pione said. This group historically disengaged; Pione noted that segmentation shifts of this size rarely happen in a single year. For suppliers and formulators, it is arguably the largest untapped sales opportunity in the data.

The remaining two archetypes are harder targets. Health traditionalists (15% of consumers) want proven, simple basics; wellness shirkers (20%) have deprioritized health and buy only budget essentials. Each accounts for 10% of global wellness spend. Both are skeptical, minimal and price-conscious.

What does identity signaling mean for product strategy?

Pione compared wellness signaling to luxury fashion — but without cannibalization. "It's 'and' not 'or,'" she said. Wearables, athleisure and public affiliation with run clubs or boutique studios now function as identity markers. "Most people want to identify with something, and wellness is becoming that thing."

Her forward read favors brands that blend wellness values into traditional health and lifestyle categories, with rising consumer demands on efficacy, clean formulation and scientific backing. "The brands that can bring that to consumers, and explain the story in a way that brings that credibility, will be huge," she said.

Retail and M&A: the week's transactions

Ulta Beauty will sell Whoop wearable devices online and in select stores starting in March, placing the beauty retailer in direct competition with Whoop's existing retail partners Best Buy, Target and Dick's. The move extends Ulta's lead in the wellness-retail crossover.

Kimberly-Clark completed its acquisition of Kenvue — parent of Tylenol and Listerine — for approximately $48 billion on November 2. The combined portfolio spans Kleenex, Kotex and Thinx alongside consumer health staples.

At the NYC marathon on Sunday, New Balance, Nike, Hoka and On Running hosted pre-race "shake out" runs, while Celsius, Salt & Stone and Maybelline activated through a Brooklyn pop-up with gear customization, an exclusive merch shop and a Rendezvous Sports sunglasses collaboration, respectively. Coaching app Runna's survey data shows a third of consumers — and 52% of Gen Z respondents — aspire to run a marathon.

Executive moves and the pilates number

Stephanie Knepp is the new COO of RockSalt Pilates, the studio chain operating in California, Arizona and the U.A.E.; her CV includes Simply Dynamic and American Leisure. Solv Wellness, the 16-year-old maker of perimenopause and menopause products, appointed Dr. Christine Vaccaro as its first chief medical officer.

Per fitness booking platform Mariana Tek, 75% of new boutique fitness studios opened in the past year offer some form of pilates, while 22% of studios surveyed added at least one new modality over 24 months. Watch McKinsey's archetype shares next year — the health struggler's trajectory after its near-doubling is the next data point worth tracking.