Health-conscious Britain: The UK’s Health & Wellness boom revealed
This article is provided by by BRC Associate Member, Experian.
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Are consumers following through on their New Year health and wellness resolutions, or is spending telling a different story?
- Consumer spend analysis in January shows Brits embracing healthier lifestyles, driving a surge in nutrition and fitness spending.
- Gym and fitness spending is rising, led by 18-34-year-olds, with 8% of growth coming from this cohort as they prioritise health over nightlife.
The "New Year, New Me" mindset is resonating with consumers more than ever, with health-conscious Brits swapping late nights for the gym and wellness in 2025.
New insights from Experian and Reward – analysing consumer spending over six weeks to 20th January including the Christmas period – reveals that nutrition and fitness spending[1] rose by 6%.
Gym membership spending rose by 11% over the Christmas period, with a 4% increase in January, indicating a proactive approach to fitness even before 2025 begun. Looking at demographics, 18-34 year olds saw the largest increase in growth (+8% year-on-year) as younger generations opt for active lifestyles over late nights and social drinks. Those aged 35-44 also increased fitness-related spending by 7%, as they prioritise their well-being too.
Spending on specialist grocery products[2] rose 6% in early January, while Home Meal Services[3] saw an 11% uplift, reinforcing the trend toward health-conscious choices. This growth is driven by older generations, with 65+ consumers increasing spend by 9%, reflecting their growing engagement with online shopping.
Over-65s driving ecommerce growth
Examining preferred spending channels, e-commerce remains dominant, with online spending up 7% YoY. While 18-24-year-olds drove much of this growth (+8%), the same increase was observed among 65+ consumers, reflecting a shift toward digital adoption among older shoppers as well.
Colin Grieves, Managing Director of Experian Marketing Services, Experian UK&I said:
The sustained growth in health and wellness spending reflects evolving consumer priorities and it’s crucial that retailers understand what trends are emerging in the market.
Businesses that align with these trends and deliver high-quality, convenient solutions via the right channels will be well-positioned. For example, digital adoption amongst older shoppers reveals that brands catering for that audience must have their online services fit for purpose.
Want to know more? To download the latest report from Experian and Reward visit https://www.experian.co.uk/blogs/latest-thinking/marketing-solutions/health-conscious-britain-report/
Get touch to explore our Spend Insights solutions offering in-depth, custom insights from Experian underpinned by:
- 3+ years of transaction history
- 4 million debit and credit accounts
- £8 billion in monthly spend
- 180 million transactions monthly
- Data across 3,000 consumer-facing brands and 60 retailer categories
You can also visit our website for more information or contact us at businessk@experian.com
Methodology
Analysis is based on insights generated by Reward from transactional and merchant data derived from its Customer Engagement programmes.
Using insights from over 1.4 billion card transactions from 10% of UK households across 4,000+ retail brands, Reward analysed spending patterns in the Nutrition and Fitness market and Wider Retail sectors for December and January (01/12/23-20-01-24 vs 01/12/24-20-01-25). The data has been scaled to estimate nationwide trends.
This approach provides an indicative view of consumer behaviour, highlighting key shifts in spending across gyms, fitness, grocery, and wellness-related categories.
1 Nutrition and fitness spending: gym memberships, home meal services and organic grocery products
2 Specialist grocery brands: premium organic brands
3 Home meal services: Recipe kits and meal prep delivery boxes.
