dunnhumby’s Global Partner Summit: five things we learned about holistic health and the modern shopper

Last October, the dunnhumby Global Partner Summit 2024 saw industry leaders, innovators and experts gather in sunny Miami to share insights on the latest trends in AI, data science, and personalised marketing. Over three days, we covered a range of topics critical to the future of retail, presented by our team of global experts.

If you weren’t able to attend in person, you can still soak up the insights with our new series bringing you the key takeaways from some of the stand-out presentations. In this post, we’re looking back at what dunnhumby’s Head of Consumer and Competitive Insights, Americas—Erich Kahner—had to say about ‘Holistic Health and the Modern Shopper: Aspiration to Reality’.

1. Global wellness is exploding
2. Latin American customers lead the way
3. Wellbeing is more than just healthy eating
4. Shoppers expect retailer support
5. There’s a generational difference in values

#1 Global wellness is exploding
"The opportunity is sizeable. There is clearly a growing demand. Not just in one region, but in all regions," Erich explained. "Health and wellness is a topic that really matters to our customers, and the market is growing quickly," he added.

The global wellness market is worth almost $7 trillion today, projected to increase at an annual rate of 8.6% until 2027. This growth is driven by increased consumer spending on health products and a developing awareness of holistic well-being.

#2 Latin American customers lead the way
Erich observed that in LATAM, "growth rates are strongest, as of late. And this is on top of a region that’s already capturing more than its fair share of the health and wellness market."

Mexican and Brazilian shoppers are leading the way with healthy behaviours like choosing healthy foods when shopping (63% Mexico, 64% Brazil). They’re also more likely to be reading labels about nutrition and sustainability information.

#3 Wellbeing is more than just healthy eating
"We’ve combined secondary research with analysis of our Consumer Trends Tracker and our RPI studies from several markets, to uncover nine different dimensions of health," Erich noted, before exploring them in more detail.

When we think about health and wellness, it’s more holistic than just food and nutrition. Those nine dimensions—Physical, Financial, Emotional, Appearance, Social Cultural, Spiritual, Intellectual, Occupational and Environmental—are deeply personal, and can combine very differently depending on who you’re talking to.

Of those nine, though, one in particular stands out: Financial. Just as accessibility and motivation (or lack thereof) can, financial barriers often stand in the way of the other eight dimensions. Affordability is key if consumers are to make their health wellness goals become a reality.

#4 Shoppers expect retailer support
"Customers don’t necessarily expect retailers to support them strongly or equally in every one of these nine dimensions," continued Erich. Most shoppers expect retailers to assist them in their physical health, personal appearance and financial health. These are areas where customers take personal responsibility but want help from retailers.

In other areas, they expect retailers to lead. In areas such as environmental health—things like bringing sustainable products to the shelf and working to reduce waste in grocery operations and the supply chain, they’re looking for retailers to lead the way.

#5 There’s a generational difference in values
"Holistic health looks different depending on who you’re talking to. At a segment level, just one example we see of this is the relative importance of physical and mental health," Erich pointed out. Millennials and Gen Zs are much more likely to want to strike a balance between their mental health and physical health. But when you talk to Gen X and Boomers, there’s clearly more of a tilt towards taking care of their physical health.

If you think about the shopper of the future, the needs and values that we see expressed in Millennials and Gen Z are going to become representative of the entire population as generations after them come into the grocery market.

Looking for more insights from the Global Partner Summit? We’ll be back with more highlights soon.