D2C Wellness: Opportunities and Monetization
Learn to build the future: Analysis, Deep-Dive & Strategy
👋 I’m Zoe: builder, advisor, curious about innovation & built multiple apps using the rapid MVP method: sneaker app, meal kit app, virtual event app, SaaS tracker, food delivery, content app +more
I’m on a quest to understand the future of the Internet. At Venturescale, I unpack new insights about profitable markets—and how you can monetize & win. Today’s post is about D2C Wellness. Read below if you’re interested in…
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) wellness
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) wellness space is exploding. Companies are changing healthcare by building, marketing, and selling wellness products directly to end consumers, without intermediaries. Consumers can access diagnosis, self-testing kits, clinical consultation, prescription, and medication online.
Today, we’ll examine companies that provide D2C wellness offerings for the body, mind, emotion, and social aspects of well-being. And reveal exciting whitespace where new players can capitalize and monetize.
Key trends
(1) Personalization of health:
Companies are catering to product needs at an individual level, rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.
Found prescribes weight-loss medication based on the assessment of your biology such as genetics, microbes & metabolism.
ZOE offers at-home test kits to analyze blood fat and blood sugar responses, and recommend diet plans.
(2) Rise of holistic wellness:
New companies are using a “whole-body” solution to optimize health.
Parsley Health offers holistic medicine healing.
Noom leverages psychology treatment for long-lasting weight loss.
(3) Science-based treatment:
Companies are leveraging science-based and research-backed wellness solutions to deliver long-term results.
Rise fixes sleep issues by studying sleep debt and circadian rhythm.
Care/of assesses your biology to find the right vitamin and protein powder that works.
more…
(🔒 Full version) +4 key trends in the wellness space. These insights will help you capture specific customer needs:
🔑 (4/7) How should new startups respond to D2C marketing especially when you’re creating landing pages for idea testing & validation? (including 2 company examples)
🔑 (5/7) This new model can help wellness startups expand their revenue streams. (including 2 company examples)
🔑 (6/7) What type of value propositions most new D2C healthcare startups are focusing on? (including 2 company examples)
🔑 (7/7) Consumers are responding to wellness products differently today and how companies are spotting this trend as an opportunity to introduce new offerings in the market? (including 2 company examples)
Players by categories & niches
(1) Weight care:
Noom (weight-loss program designed by psychologists)
Found (prescription and coaching)
Oviva (personalized support from an expert)
Calibrate (digital metabolic health)
(2) Beauty care:
(3) Personalized nutrition:
(4) Sleep care:
more…
(🔒 Full version) Discover profitable niches in the wellness space and how to differentiate your offerings:
🔑 Total 79 company examples across different segments
🔑 Total 10 business categories in the D2C personal health space
🔑 Specific sub-categories within each segment, i.e. the one you see at (1) Weight care
What problems do they solve?
A business only becomes profitable when they solve real problems (need) faced by a large group of people (demand). This section unlocks the valid problems in the wellness space, and how you can use them as market validation to build something people want:
(1) Address targeted needs at an individual level.
It’s hard to figure out the right supplements and doses without the right lab work.
Most personalized nutrition solutions like Gini, ZOE, Gutxy solve this problem.
They provide online assessment, self-testing kits, micronutrient testing, and personalized recommendations on vitamin products or dietary programs.
(🔒 Full version) +3 more problems existing players are solving. Understanding these problem statements will help you build something people want. You’ll also learn:
🔑 (2/4) 90% of diets fail and how companies are solving this problem?
🔑 (3/4) How to monetize by solving psychological fears among consumers?
🔑 (4/4) How to monetize a wellness business by reducing frictions?
Business models
The majority of D2C health companies are layering different business models to create multiple revenue streams:
(1) B2C eCommerce:
Many players in this space have established an online store, sold physical products, and delivered prescription, skincare, mattress, or multivitamin-in-a-box to customers’ doorstep.
(2) Subscription:
Deliver monthly subscription boxes or a bundle of products plus services to customers.
Noom costs $66.35/month or $199/year which includes comprehensive wellness plans.
(🔒 Full version):
🔑 +8 more pricing examples on how companies monetize wellness products for consumers
🔑 How to create additional revenue streams as a wellness startup?
🔑 What kinds of businesses charge $1,600+ for an online virtual program?
Why now?
This section explores: where is the market demand, where the future of health is heading, and answers the “why now” questions (most important slide in your pitch deck!) for your investors:
(1) Prominent signal boosts will raise investors’ interest in the D2C health space.
In 2019, Amazon acquired PillPack for $753 million and entered the online pharmacy space.
Roman raised $500 million at $5 billion valuations in 2021.
(2) Consumers’ behaviors are changing.
They want healthcare solutions that deliver on-demand experiences, provide self-diagnose tools; are transparent, authentic, accessible (price and convenience factor).
Therefore, D2C healthcare is well-positioned for this shifting user's needs.
(🔒 Full version) +4 more market evidence to prove the demand for D2C wellness businesses. You’ll unlock:
🔑 (3/6) Key driver that will give rise to D2C wellness startups
🔑 (4/6) How to capture the growing millennial wellness market in 2021 and beyond?
🔑 (5/6) What do consumers prefer and expect in the future of health tech?
🔑 (6/6) What features will become more common in D2C wellness solutions?
Business opportunities
(🔒 Full version) 3 specific product ideas and business opportunities that are solving problems. You’ll unlock:
🔑 (1/3) Creator economy meets Healthcare tech
🔑 (2/3) D2C healthcare niche opportunity
🔑 (3/3) B2B solution in the healthcare industry