If you missed my last post, I discussed my trip to Maine and about connecting with the eco-traveler. I also mentioned I’d discuss the healthy lifestyle part of the equation for the green and LOHAS consumer.
Before I go further, for those of you who are just starting to read my blog, LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, a consumer who balances their personal health with their environmental concerns and concerns for society as a whole. You’ll often see me write about the LOHAS consumer in my posts so that you understand this is the consumer driving the green trends—green movement.
In this $200 billion plus LOHAS marketplace (predicted to be $420 billion in just 3 years!), there is one sector called “Healthy Lifestyles,” it encompassed organic food among other things.
This $27+ billion marketplace is the one aspect of green that companies often overlook; the second aspect is one of the other ones, “personal growth.” Personal growth is the mind, body, spirit connection for the LOHAS consumer—think yoga, fitness and weight loss.
The reason I am drawing attention to these segments of the LOHAS marketplace is because they are overlooked because when companies think green, they think energy conservation, reducing their carbon footprint, windmills, and so forth. They don’t realize that this consumer also is concerned about their personal health and not willing to compromise one for the other.
This means that if you are a hotel, B&B, inn or even a facility that serves food, you need to offer some food and/or beverages that meet their lifestyle needs—they’re organic, local (if possible), and you have healthy foods on the menu as opposed to just hearty or full-fat offerings. Plus, if you offer mints or such in your establishment, from where are they sourced? Are they full of preservatives and dyes, etc.? Again, by simply understanding this consumer and their lifestyle, you can be more successful than others in attracting and retaining them.
In my next post, I’ll talk about one of the more important issues—sourcing foods grown locally that have pesticides and hormones versus sourcing nationally grown food that is organic and hormone-free.
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
Colette Chandler
