Mintel 2027 Predictions: Wellness Brands Will Compete on Proof, Not Promises

Wellness consumers have more products, data and advice than ever, but that growth is making it harder to determine what is driving their results. As people increasingly combine supplements, services, technologies and behaviours around outcomes such as better sleep or healthier skin, Mintel predicts that winning wellness brands will increasingly compete on their ability to prove the contribution they make.

One in twenty launches across consumer categories now carries a wellness claim, according to Mintel Global New Products Database (Mintel GNPD). As similar benefits spread across products and formats, making a claim is becoming easier; establishing a credible connection to an outcome is the key to proving value to shoppers.

Consumers feel pressure to optimise every aspect of their wellbeing, from protein and fibre intake to sleep quality. Chasing each new product or trend, however, offers no clear route to better results.

Real results come when consumers assemble products, services, technologies and behaviours to drive outcomes. In these systems, a sleep supplement may compete for relevance with a pillow, wearable, app or change in evening behaviour.

Novelty may earn a trial, but measurable progress will determine what remains as part of consumers’ routines. As products become components within wider wellness systems, brands must demonstrate the specific role they play.

As tracking becomes more accessible, consumers will be better able to judge whether their wellness system is working. Currently, measurement shows that something changed without explaining what produced the result or what to do next.

For brands, this creates an attribution problem. A supplement may appear effective because diet, exercise or sleep improved alongside it. The commercial challenge is to establish how a brand’s product contributed to the outcome, and why it deserves to remain. Consumers will increasingly judge credibility using a combination of personal data, experience and machine-generated recommendations.

Consumers are already showing an appetite for consolidation: 63% of UK consumers would rather use a single app for all their health needs. This creates an opportunity for platforms that can bring data together and translate it into actionable guidance.

Over the next five years, as consumers bring more wellness data into connected platforms, influence will shift toward the systems that interpret the evidence and recommend what to do next. Brands will increasingly compete not only for consumer attention, but for inclusion in the routines and recommendations those systems create.

Combined with agentic AI, measurement will move beyond tracking progress to helping consumers decide what to do next and adapt their routines as their needs change. Retailers have an opportunity to serve as hubs for monitoring, testing and guidance.

Claire Tassin, Mintel Wellness Research Principal Strategist, said:

“Wellness has asked consumers to keep adding products, steps and data, but more inputs do not automatically lead to better outcomes. As people build wider systems around goals such as sleep, energy or healthier skin, individual brands will need to show the role they play and the difference they make.

“Measurement will make progress more visible, but it will also raise harder questions about what produced the result. Brands that provide credible evidence and help consumers translate it into a clear next step will be better positioned to earn a lasting place in the routine.”

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