Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness

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Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
CONSUMERLAB

Living longer:
Wellness and
the internet
The impact of the internet on consumer
attitudes to health and fitness

An Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report
March 2015
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
contents
The socially constructed body                                 3

                                                                  Key
wellness is relative	                                         4
Fitter people want better health                              5
The body is an improvement project                            6   findings
Wellness and society                                          9

                                                                  Globally, half of the people surveyed are
                                                                  satisfied with their wellness
                                                                  > However, there are large cultural differences

                                                                  Internet use and technology needs closely
                                                                  relate to wellness
                                                                  > More than any other group, those who are
                                                                    completely satisfied with their wellness think
                                                                    that cloud services are essential for personal
                                                                    information, yet they find it more important
                                                                    to manage that information than others.
                                                                    Although 55 percent of them say design is
                                                                    very important, 59 percent also say that they
                                                                    buy technology to fulfill specific functions

                                                                  The body becomes an improvement project
                                                                  > 71 percent of consumers are equally as
                                                                     interested in quantifying their behavior as they
the voice of                                                         are in wearables. This implies that consumers
                                                                     see an opportunity to improve their wellness
the consumer                                                         using connected technology

                                                                  > Technology adoption will start with the fittest:
Ericsson ConsumerLab has 20 years’ experience of                    those satisfied with their wellness say they are
studying people’s behaviors and values, including the               the first to try new beauty and care products/
way they act and think about ICT products and services.             services, as well as new health approaches
Ericsson ConsumerLab provides unique insights on                  By using wearables and other cloud-based
market and consumer trends. Ericsson ConsumerLab                  services, consumers expect to live longer
gains its knowledge through a global consumer                     > Connected wearables, cups, plates,
research program based on interviews with 100,000                   pillows, sheets and medicine bottles are
individuals each year, in more than 40 countries and                expected to prolong our lives by up to two
15 megacities – statistically representing the views of             years per service
1.1 billion people.
                                                                  Personal wellness includes avoiding
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used,               environmental hazards, and there is high
and hundreds of hours are spent with consumers                    consumer interest in societally oriented
from different cultures. To be close to the market and            health services
consumers, Ericsson ConsumerLab has analysts in
all regions where Ericsson is present, developing a               > As a result, consumers see many players
thorough global understanding of the ICT market                     delivering health services. This will have
and business models.                                                many implications for personal data integrity

All reports can be found at:
www.ericsson.com/consumerlab

2 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
THE SOCIALLY
CONSTRUCTED BODY
                                                      Defining wellness: a combination                    When asked to judge both aspects
                                                      of looks and health                                 on a 5-point scale ranging from
                                                      Do you look at yourself in the                      completely satisfied to not satisfied,
                                                      mirror and think about how you                      10 percent selected ‘completely
                                                      look and whether you are in good                    satisfied’ with both health and
                                                      shape? Do you approve, or are                       looks. Another 40 percent were
                                                      there areas you wish to improve?                    at least ‘satisfied’ with both
                                                      Drawing on data from several                        aspects – adding up to 50 percent
                                                      recent consumer surveys,                            of consumers being satisfied
                                                      this Ericsson ConsumerLab                           with their overall wellness.
                                                      report examines how satisfied                       Figure 1a shows that there were
                                                      consumers are with their overall                    only small differences in the
                                                      wellness and how it relates                         views between men and women
                                                      to their use of the internet for                    on a global level. Differences
                                                      health and fitness purposes.                        were only slightly bigger when
                                                                                                          looking at country variations.
                                                      In this report we represent
                                                      consumers’ views on their own                       There are also surprisingly small
                                                      wellness by combining two related                   demographic differences, as
                                                      aspects: satisfaction with their                    seen in Figure 1b. While older
                                                      looks as well as with their health.                 age groups may suffer more
                                                                                                          from ailments, overall levels of
                                                      In a broad 23 country sample, we
                                                                                                          satisfaction with their wellness
                                                      see that satisfaction with looks
                                                                                                          remain on par with other groups.
                                                      and health are indeed related.

Figure 1a: Attitudes to wellness by gender            Figure 1b: Attitudes to wellness by lifestage

50%                                                   50%

40%                                                   40%

30%                                                   30%

20%                                                   20%

10%                                                   10%

 0%                                                    0%
            Women                    Men                      Age 16-24             Age 25-59          Age 25-59       Age 25-59          Age 60+
                                                             and full-time           working            working     unemployed and       and retired
                                                               students              full time         part time     homemakers

                 Completely satisfied with wellness                  Satisfied with looks only                         Neutral

                 Satisfied with wellness                             Satisfied with health only                        Not satisfied

Source:                                               Source:
Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014        Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
Base: 28,643 respondents in 23 countries              Base: 28,643 respondents in 23 countries

                                                                                    ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet 3
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
wellness
is relative
  THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
  Some people perceive the body to be a purely
  biological entity, whereas others – most notably
  the famous French philosopher and social theorist
  Michel Foucault – think of the body as an entirely
  social construction. Professor Chris Shilling writes in
  his book The Body and Social Theory (1993) that the
  body is not only a result of both biological and social
  processes, it is to some extent transformed by social
  factors and relationships.

While only 25 percent of consumers are not satisfied                  Figure 2b shows that there are extremely large regional
with their looks or with their health, attitudes to wellness          differences in overall wellness satisfaction. Does this
vary widely. On a country level, Figure 2a shows                      mean that the Japanese, the South Koreans and others
that only 1 percent of Japanese and South Korean                      with low satisfaction like the Swedes, Russians and
consumers are completely satisfied with their wellness,               Australians are unfit, whereas Mexicans, South Africans,
however as many as 29 percent of Indians and                          Indonesians and Indians are extremely fit? No, it just
36 percent of South Africans are completely satisfied.                means that people’s perception of their wellness is
                                                                      relative to where they live.
Figure 2a: Attitudes to wellness by country

       Japan                                                              Completely satisfied with wellness
 South Korea
                                                                          Satisfied with wellness
     Sweden
       Russia
                                                                          Satisfied with looks only
     Australia
       Poland                                                             Satisfied with health only
          UK
        China                                                             Neutral
    Germany
                                                                          Not satisfied
       France
         Italy
      Ukraine                                                         Figure 2b: Regional attitudes to wellness
     Belgium
                                                                       Developed Asia
      Canada                                                               & Oceania
         USA
                                                                               Europe
        Spain
    Argentina                                                           North America
        Brazil
       Turkey                                                            Latin America

      Mexico
                                                                                 Africa
 South Africa
    Indonesia
                                                                             Emerging
         India                                                                   Asia

                 0%         20%        40%        60%    80%   100%                       0%          20%      40%      60%    80%   100%

Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014                Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
Base: 28,643 respondents in 23 countries                              Base: 28,643 respondents in 23 countries

4 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
Fitter people want
better health
How we view wellness changes with cultural trends.           Figure 3: How satisfaction with wellness impacts attitudes to technology
In this report, we focus on the impact that the online
culture in general, and the recent increase in the               Completely satisfied with wellness

use of smartphones and apps, has on wellness.                    Satisfied with wellness

Wellness may not be a typical focus for early
                                                                 Satisfied with looks only                    Neutral
adopters of technology. For example, among the
different wellness groups we are looking at in this              Satisfied with health only                   Not satisfied
report, smartphone ownership is on the same level
across all of them – from those unsatisfied with
their wellness to those completely satisfied.
                                                                       Essential
However, those satisfied with their wellness have very               to access/
specific views on information and communications                  store photos,
                                                                   documents,
technology. Figure 3 shows that among those who                etc. in the cloud
are completely satisfied, 47 percent see the cloud
as being essential for storing personal information,
while 60 percent say it is important to manage online
information. 55 percent also think a product’s look and            Important to
                                                               actively manage
style is important, while 59 percent buy technology                   online ID,
products to fulfill certain needs and not just for fun.             information

This implies that cloud, privacy, design and functionality
needs have to be fulfilled simultaneously in order for
connected wellness services to become successful.
Fulfilling one or two of these requirements may not               Look/style of
be enough.                                                          technology
                                                                   products is
                                                                      important

                                                               Buy technology
                          Fitter people will be              products for need
                          early adopters of                     rather than fun

                          connected wellness
                          technology

                                                                Among the first
                                                              to try new beauty
                                                                   and personal
                                                                 care products/
                                                                        services
Those who are completely satisfied with their
wellness also say they are the first to try new beauty
and care products and services, as well as new
health approaches. For this reason, we believe that            Among the first
fitter people will be early adopters of connected             to try new health
                                                                    approaches
wellness technology, not those with health issues.

                                                                                   0%         20%          40%           60%    80%

                                                             Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
                                                             Base: 28,643 respondents in 23 countries

                                                               ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet 5
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
THE BODY IS AN
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
The idea of the quantified self has been in the
public eye a lot recently. A typical example of
self-quantification is to keep track of how many
calories are eaten during the day, for example
by using a diary or taking photographs to
document meals. A more recent example is to
use a wearable device to automatically monitor
behaviors such as various kinds of movement,
and analyze the results using a cloud service.

Our global consumer data, surveying more than
54,000 mobile phone owners across 49 countries,
shows that more than half of those who quantify their                     71%
behavior also use wearables. Two-thirds of those who
use wearables also quantify their behavior. In fact,
71 percent of consumers are equally as interested
in quantifying themselves as they are in wearables.
                                                                      of consumers are
This implies that in the consumer’s mind, quantification of        equally as interested in
behavior today starts with wearables. It also means that          quantifying themselves as
consumers see an opportunity to improve their health                they are in wearables
and fitness using various kinds of connected technology.

6 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
Wearables around the world                                 Figure 4: Percentage of consumers who quantify their behavior
When looking at self-quantification activity and use
of wearables on a global scale, two things stand out       50%            Do so at least weekly
very clearly.                                                             Interested in doing so
                                                           40%
Firstly, there are considerable regional differences,
highlighting how cultural considerations have a
                                                           30%
strong impact on the use of wearables.

Secondly, interest levels are still much higher than       20%
actual use. Consumers may be delaying purchase,
thinking that as smartphones already perform similar       10%
tasks, wearables may not yet have found the right
level of design and functionality. Figure 4 shows the       0%
regional variations in interest levels and use. Although
                                                                 Europe         North        Latin     Africa       Developed   Emerging
on average 15 percent of consumers already quantify                            America      America                   Asia &      Asia
their activities, on average an additional 23 percent                                                                Oceania
are interested in doing so. Figure 5 shows consumer        Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
interest levels in wearables. While an average of          Base: 54,775 mobile phone owners in 49 countries

12 percent use wearables today, twice as many want to,
making the current adoption potential reach beyond a       Figure 5: Percentage of consumers who use wearables
third of global consumer markets.
                                                           50%            Use at least weekly
Indications in South Korea, the home market of many                       Interested in using
new wearable products, reinforce the idea that
                                                           40%
adopters of wellness technology are still waiting for
these devices to improve both on functionality and
                                                           30%
design. 16 percent of South Koreans use wearables
today, but as many as another 35 percent are
interested in doing so in the future, which adds up        20%

to more than half of all South Koreans.
                                                           10%

                                                            0%

                      Interest levels in                         Europe       North         Latin      Africa       Developed   Emerging
                                                                             America       America                    Asia &      Asia
                      wearables are much                                                                             Oceania
                      higher than actual use               Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
                                                           Base: 54,775 mobile phone owners in 49 countries

                                                            ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet 7
Living longer: Wellness and the internet - CONSUMERLAB - The impact of the internet on consumer attitudes to health and fitness
Figure 6: Expected increase in lifespan (years)

     Wearables that
        monitor and
     regulate stress
                                                                     2.0
              levels

     Wearables that
        monitor and
   regulate physical
                                                                   1.9
             activity

   Cups and plates
that measure intake
of calories, salt and
                                                               1.8
 harmful ingredients

    Cups and plates
        that identify                            1.3
      food allergens

  Pillows and sheets
    that monitor and                       1.1
   regulate my sleep

Medicine bottles that
monitor and regulate                       1.1
    medicine intake

    Self-driving cars
       and internet-        0.5
    regulated traffic                                                                                Consumers believe that
                                                                                                     monitoring and regulating
                        0                      1                           2
                                                                                                     their stress levels could
                                                                                                     increase life expectancy by
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
Base: 5,024 iPhone/Android smartphone users in Johannesburg,
London, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, São Paulo,
                                                                                                     2 YEARS
Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo

Longer life                                                                    Our research shows that smartphone owners see
With 12 percent of consumers around the world                                  cloud-based services of various kinds giving them the
already using wearables, they are no longer just a                             potential to live healthier and longer lives – whether the
novelty. Instead, consumers are clearly starting to                            technology can be worn or not.
use these devices as part of a project to improve their
wellness, when it comes to both looks and health.                              Consequently, monitoring methods go beyond
                                                                               smartphones and wearables. Cups and plates that
In fact, consumers expect that wearables will make                             measure the intake of calories, salt and unhealthy
it possible to monitor and correspondingly adjust                              ingredients are believed to increase life expectancy by
behaviors, and as a result, will let them live healthier                       1.8 years and those that identify food allergies could give
and potentially longer lives. However, people are                              an extra 1.3 years on average. Pillows and sheets that
at least as interested in using wearables to handle                            monitor sleep patterns and medicine bottles that regulate
stress as they are in improving their physical fitness.                        medicine intake would potentially add 1.1 years each.
Consumers believe that monitoring and regulating their
stress levels could increase life expectancy by 2 years                        Most importantly, hopes for increased life expectancy
on average, as seen in Figure 6. Traditional jogging                           go beyond personal devices and services. By indicating
apps and other technologies monitoring physical                                that self-driving cars and internet-regulated traffic
activity are still sought after, with consumers believing                      will play a part, consumers are highlighting that their
they will increase their life expectancies by 1.9 years.                       individual wellness is also a societal concern.

8 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet
WELLNESS
AND SOCIETY
Enhancing personal wellness does not only mean                               Uptake of services like these may be initially driven
improved monitoring and understanding of the                                 by the individual’s need for protection from health
body. It also entails having better knowledge                                hazards. However, these services could create more
about, and ultimately increased control over, the                            explicit demands on a societal level when consumers
environments that we expose ourselves to.                                    use measurements to pressure authorities into
                                                                             action. As an example, 55 percent of consumers
We asked consumers about society-related health                              already want a wearable ecometer to select the
concepts and found high levels of interest. 66 percent                       most environmentally friendly commuting choice.
said a smartphone that checks the water quality of public
facilities and compares it with similar facilities nearby                    As seen in Figure 7, consumers in Delhi, Beijing and
would be useful. 62 percent would like a city microclimate                   São Paulo, who are facing bigger environmental
monitor on their smartphone that locates cool areas                          challenges, show higher interest and could potentially
on hot days, and less polluted areas in times of smog.                       drive change at a faster pace than in cities like New York,
Wearing a bracelet to continuously monitor air quality and                   London or Stockholm. Thus, interest in wellness on a
pollution levels appealed to 60 percent of those asked.                      personal level may inspire change on a societal level.

Figure 7: How useful do consumers see these concepts?

                            Delhi          Beijing        São Paulo   Rome       Tokyo        Paris       New York     London      Stockholm

                            92%             86%             81%       68%         55%         64%          61%          51%          41%
Water quality checker

                            87%             81%             72%       72%         61%         59%          49%          42%          36%
  City microclimate
       monitor

                            86%             83%             63%       65%         51%         54%          50%          48%          41%
      Wearable
  clean air bracelet

                            81%             77%             63%       56%         42%         52%          42%          37%          46%
Wearable commuting
     ecometer

                                                                                                           High                         Low
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
Base: 9,030 iPhone/Android smartphone users in 9 cities

                                                                              ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet 9
Figure 8a: Predicted daily use of wellness services

                                                           42%                                33%                                                     48%
                                                         Heart rate                        Digital health                                             Posture
                                                       monitoring ring                       network                                                  sensor

                                              Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014.
                                              Base: 9,030 iPhone/Android smartphone users in 9 cities

Change will start in cities                   But more importantly, Figure 8b                        Figure 8b: Interest in health services
When, and if, wellness-driven change          shows that interest in all of these
on a societal level happens, it is likely     concepts is significantly higher in
to occur in city centers first and then       city centers than in suburbs.
spread to other geographical areas.           On its own, this highlights that                                                             City                 Suburb
                                              the pace of lifestyle change is
As Figure 8a shows, 42 percent of             higher among city center dwellers.
consumers would use a heart rate              If we factor in projected use                                               High             75%                   66%
monitoring ring that syncs with their
                                                                                                     Usefulness rating

                                              frequency, these results become
phone and alerts them when their              even more interesting.
heart rate reaches a dangerous level
every day. 33 percent want their              Whereas wellness may easily be
                                                                                                                          Medium           72%                   61%
smartphones to collect medical                written off as a private concern, it
stats in a digital health network             is of broad popular interest. It will
that physicians can access, and               spur technological development
48 percent say they would use a               with high usage that will have the
posture sensor that gives cues                potential to transform society at a                                         Low              69%                   58%
about body movements and future               quicker pace than any other area
injury risks on a daily basis.                that we have studied.

Between one-third and half of                                                                                            Heart rate monitoring ring
consumers predicted that they
would use health services at                                                                                             Digital health network

least daily – which is much higher                                                                                       Posture sensor
than concepts we tested in other                                         Interest in
areas, such as communication                                             wellness                    Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical
                                                                                                     Platform, 2014
with authorities or traffic-related
concepts. For example, while
                                                                         concepts is                 Base: 9,030 iPhone/Android smartphone
                                                                                                     users in 9 cities
as many as 74 percent were                                               higher in
interested in car or bike sharing,                                       city centers
less than one-quarter said they
would use this service every day.

10 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet
A new ecosystem                                                                           Finally, our research shows that although an ecosystem
Although there is potential for wellness to cause                                         entails cooperation between several parties, consumers
fast-paced consumer-driven societal change, what                                          want some control over the flow of their personal
may hold it back is the complexity of the ecosystems                                      information. Figure 11 shows that authorities were seen
that need to develop for this to happen. When we                                          by consumers as the second largest wellness service
asked people who they believe would be the main                                           provider, but in the Ericsson ConsumerLab Smart
supplier for wellness-related services, they saw the                                      Citizens report, only 19 percent thought that authorities
need for different players to take the lead, depending                                    should be able to forward their personal information to
on the nature of the service.                                                             approved companies. Likewise, as many as 66 percent
                                                                                          of consumers want full control over the dissemination of
While three out of the seven concepts tested were                                         their information by authorities.
seen to be driven by medical service providers, two
of the concepts were seen as the responsibility of city                                   Although many players will try to deliver wellness
authorities, and the remaining two concepts should be                                     services that meet the demand for function and
provided by technology companies and environmental                                        design, the question of who consumers will trust
protection organizations respectively.                                                    to handle the transfer of their information between
                                                                                          services remains open.
Given that the main service providers are expected
to differ widely, the ecosystem to join this will be
complex. Our research indicates that the platform
to make all of this happen will come from the player
most experienced in handling personal information
in accordance with consumer expectations. In a                                                                                    66%
previous Ericsson ConsumerLab report − The Personal                                                                               want full control over
Information Economy − we saw that people think                                                                                    the dissemination of
medical information is highly sensitive. Figure 3 also                                                                            their information
showed that those who are likely to adopt wellness
services early on not only view using the cloud for
                                                                                                                                  by authorities
personal information as essential, but they also value
the integrity of that information more than others.

Figure 11: Who is expected to be the main service provider?

60%
                                                                                                                                     51%                     50%
                     48%
50%                                                               46%                                         46%
                                            44%                                         45%

40%

30%

20%

10%

 0%
                  Water quality             City                Wearable           Wearable clean        Posture sensor          Digital health           Heart rate
                   checker              microclimate           commuting            air bracelet                                   network               monitoring ring
                                          monitor               ecometer

             City authorities             Technology companies                   Environment protection organizations                   Medical service providers

Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Analytical Platform, 2014
Base: Those who predicted that the concepts will be available within 5 years, out of a total base of 9,030 iPhone/Android smartphone users in 9 cities

                                                                                           ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB Living longer: Wellness and the internet 11
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and create a more sustainable future.

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our solutions – and our customers – stay in front.

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The content of this document is subject to revision without
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Telephone +46 10 719 00 00                                                                    EAB-15:011986 Uen Rev B
www.ericsson.com                                                                                   © Ericsson AB 2015
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