For the last decade, WSL Strategic Retail has watched and predicted how people think about their health and the implications it has for retail, brands, and technology.

As we built out our April 2026 “How America Shops®: The Wellness Breakdown” report, we noticed that several key audiences were being left behind and remained particularly vulnerable in the changing health and wellness space.

As part of our June 2026 “Women’s Wellness: The Next Revolution” symposium conducted in partnership with retailmediaIQ, we decided to dive even deeper into women’s health and wellness lives today to show what it looks like, where they’re falling behind, and how brands, retailers, and experts can fit in.

Highlights:

• The health and wellness space has grown exponentially over the last decade. And women in particular are feeling overwhelmed and are struggling to navigate this space. They want to find a path forward, but are unsure how.
• This is particularly pressing because women are rating their overall health and wellness worse than men – around 3 in 10 women say their health is “Excellent / Very Good” vs. around 4 in ten for men.
• Women are more likely than men to have a holistic view of health and wellness, factoring physical and mental health alongside emotional, financial, and spiritual well-being. Which means they have more to worry about!
• Women want to try to take that control back – and this can mean anything from doing their own research to trying to control their weight. Any sense of control is meaningful to them today!

Today, women in particular are refocusing on all aspects of their health and well-being and are trying regain a sense of control in the wellness space. This report shows how retailers, brands, and technology can help fill in the gaps for this key audience to move forward now and for the future!

About this report: This report is part of the How America Shops® shopper insight series. The sample is a national online survey of 1509 household shoppers. The survey was completed in Feb. and March 2026.

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If you are not a subscriber or would like to purchase this individual report, reach out to our Director of Insights, Rich Kaminski, through the form below!