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Contact: Nancy White
The Natural Marketing Institute
215.513.7300 ext. 225
Nancy.White@NMIsolutions.com

Consumer Segmentation Offers Wellness Market Insights
As the market for wellness products matures, manufacturers find opportunities to tailor their offerings to targeted consumer segments

Harleysville, Pa. (August 17, 2004) – The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), the leading provider of strategic consulting and market research services within the health, wellness, and sustainability industries, today expanded on one of the trends it has identified as having a significant effect on the health and wellness marketplace. This trend is the seventh in the series of "NMI's Top 10 Trends of 2004."

Trend #7: Demographic Fragmentation Creates Wellness Opportunities
According to trends culled from NMI's most recent data, marketers of wellness products have the opportunity to capitalize on a number of demographic trends by customizing their products to more closely meet the needs of specific consumer groups. Demographic factors ranging from gender, to age and ethnicity have begun to play a larger role in how consumers choose the wellness products relevant to their lifestyles. Knowing this information can help manufacturers in all aspects of product development and packaging, as well as inform their marketing communications.

"As the wellness market matures, consumers are looking to manage any number of specific health concerns," said Steve French, managing partner for NMI. "Savvy manufacturers will take advantage of these trends by examining the attitudes and behaviors of various demographic groups to help inform their competitive strategies." For example, French pointed to the growing Hispanic population. "Hispanic consumers were 53% more likely to indicate that the use of alternative healthcare practitioners was extremely important in how they maintained a healthy, balanced lifestyle than were the general population. Given the continued rise in the Hispanic population in the U.S., these trends are important for wellness-oriented companies to take into consideration," French said.

According to NMI, gender plays a key role in attitudes about health and wellness. For example, almost half (49%) of women stated that they prefer vitamins/minerals and herbal supplements that are from natural sources, while only 38 percent of men prefer natural supplements. Age, lifestyle and household composition are also among the critical demographic factors in influencing attitudes that relate to health and wellness decisions across foods, beverages, supplements and healthcare.

NMI's Top Trends of 2004 are the result of the company's annual Health and Wellness Trends Database™ and LOHAS Consumer Trends Database™ research projects, based on research studies from over 15,000 U.S. consumer households. The databases are nationally projectable to the general population and statistically valid to +/-2%.

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NMI is a strategic consulting, market research, and business development company specializing in the health, wellness, and sustainable marketplace.  This release is the third in a series of eleven articulating NMI's Top 10 Trends of 2004.  For more information visit us on-line at www.NMIsolutions.com/news.html.

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