Wellness, in 2022, has advanced from a buzzword to a full-blown industry. The concept has paved the way to a global market worth more than $1.5 trillion USD (about £1.3 trillion). Interest in wellness has ballooned worldwide, carving room for products and services that cater to better health, sleep, and mental health.
Recently, the wellness space is being thought about far more critically — take, for instance, arguments that the wellness space must be decolonized; or the idea that emphasis on self-care has resulted in « robust individualism »; or even the notion that wellness places pressure on people to constantly strive for perfectionism.
The industry has is now inadvertently intertwined with ideals of capitalism and doesn’t often cater to marginalised people. Stephen Mai, CEO, and founder of ITV brand Woo, recognises that the wellness industry has some reckoning to undergo.
« The industry is generally targeted at middle class women and most things that have come out of the industry don’t reach the majority of people, » he tells Mashable. Mai and his team hope to « evolve and reframe the idea of wellness, » reaching the next generation by creating rituals and experiences that fall outside of the prescribed, often out-of-touch parameters of wellness.
And with that in mind, a new online marketplace is aiming to enhance state-of-mind and wellness — without imposing one-size-fits-all solutions.
The feel good marketplace, launched by Woo, is designed to be a « destination for emotional discovery » online, allowing shoppers to find purchases by mood: Reset, Chill, Horny, Main Character, and Trippy. Each mood filters into carefully selected products, most of which scream Gen-Z, across categories like homeware, beauty, tech, art, and fashion.
Each brand in the Woo ecosystem shares values of inclusivity and sustainability. Woo’s editorial ethos is to be « an antidote to the toxic news cycle » and these beliefs underscore their shopping platform, too. Many within the marketplace are minority-owned businesses or belonging to young entrepreneurs that exclusively create gender-neutral products. There are aesthetic vibrators from sexual wellness company Vush, crystals by She’s Lost Control that are sourced ethically and transparently, and sustainably-cultivated mushroom formulas from Wunder Workshop.
Woo aims to uplifting the ordinary shopping experiences, mostly through the inclusion of a range of therapeutic experiences, such as one-to-one psychic reading, one-to-one hypnotherapy, and one-to-one breathwork. Some of these will be available free-of-charge. The hub will also house a pre-loved designer store, featuring luxury brands and a host of resellers.
« We wanted to create a space where the idea of wellness is less defined. Wellness and self-care shouldn’t be rigid — it can be a lot of things — whether that be creative inspiration, enjoying an indulgent meal, dressing to express yourself, or deep sleep, » he says. Mai also points to Woo’s first campaign, « No Purchase Necessary », a series of content that is hoping to challenge embedded norms of retail, such as drop culture and fast fashion.
Robyn Chalet, the head of the marketplace, similarly stresses their concentration on accessibility and breaking down any barriers to wellness that have existed. Chalet notes the mixed price point — a range from £0 to a little under £2,000 ($2,288) — as an implementation of their ideology.
« Now is the time to democratise this space, » Chalet says. « The rigid idea of what wellness needs to be has evolved. »
