From leading the race to defining the track: Swisse reconstructs the growth logic of the big health industry based on consumers' mindset.

In March, at the press conference of the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress in 2025, Lei Haichao, the director of the National Health Commission, announced the continuous promotion of the three - year "Weight Management Year" campaign and called on the whole society to jointly participate in weight management. Subsequently, the topic of "The country calls on you to lose weight" quickly topped the hot search lists on various platforms. The core purpose is obviously to improve the health level of the whole nation and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

This appeal also coincides with the trend that the scale of the domestic health product market has been steadily growing in the past five years, even creating a trillion - yuan market segment. At this time, the public values inner naturalness and health more than external appearance.

With the improvement of the public's health awareness and the growth of disposable income, the scale of the health product industry has been expanding. Meanwhile, the public has shown more diverse and specific demands for health products, leading to continuous functional segmentation of health product categories and a trend towards high - end and refined products.

Swisse, a leading brand in the nutritional health product industry, has observed in recent years' changing social trends that the public has begun to pursue more natural physical health and inner calmness. Only in this way can everyone maintain the best state in an increasingly complex situation.

So, almost at the same time when the country called on the whole nation to lose weight, Swisse refreshed its brand proposition and upgraded it to "With inner confidence, naturally Swisse". Inner confidence is supported by a naturally healthy body, and Swisse will accompany consumers at all times to support them in becoming the best version of themselves. 36Kr had an exclusive interview with Ding Wen, the Executive President of the ANC China region of H&H Group, to discuss where Swisse gets the confidence for its brand upgrade.

01 Consumers Pursue Physical and Mental Stability, and Swisse Targets "Confidence"

Currently, society is in a period of rapid transformation and change. The adjustment of the economic structure, the improvement of social systems, and the renewal of cultural concepts have brought many uncertainties to people. This uncertainty has directly intensified the competition in the workplace environment and accelerated the pace of people's lives. People are putting in more time and energy to gain more certainty.

This will undoubtedly bring about great changes in the lifestyles of office workers. In addition to pursuing career stability, they also focus more on their physical health and inner stability. Thus, an obvious change has occurred - consumers' definition and pursuit of health have gradually shifted from simply "optimizing physical functions" to "a sense of stability in physical and mental balance". This is particularly evident among the growing young office - worker consumer group in the field of health and nutritional products.

Besides the large - scale elderly population in the field of health and nutritional products, the proportion of female consumers over 30 years old is increasing significantly. Due to the more severe workplace environment they face and their irreplaceable roles in family life, and because this group of women with a relatively high level of education has strong self - will, they inevitably face more physical challenges and mental pressure in today's society.

Broadening the perspective, this is almost a microcosm of the lives of the current domestic middle - aged and young generations. Especially those in the age group of 25 to 40, who are in a life stage where they have to take care of the elderly, raise children, and focus on their careers. "Some may have reached middle - management positions. They need to serve their superiors well and lead their teams at the same time. So, it's a multi - tasking life state." Ding Wen, the Executive President of the ANC China region of H&H Group, who is in this state, deeply understands this.

While consumers are seeking physical and mental harmony, the health product market is also accelerating its segmentation. The demand for products targeting different scenarios such as milk thistle, anti - aging, and skin care, as well as for different groups such as office workers or the elderly, is surging.

In addition, when contemporary consumers choose health products, they not only focus on the product's efficacy but also value the emotional resonance and value - alignment with the brand.

Therefore, many health product companies have made corresponding changes.

For example, Swisse, a nutritional health product brand under H&H Group, a company committed to building its brand, after accurately identifying the urgent needs of modern consumers for a "stable core" and comprehensive health management in a fast - paced and high - pressure society, and after nearly a year of preparation and in - depth thinking, decided to upgrade its brand proposition to "With inner confidence, naturally Swisse". It hopes that consumers can have a more "stable core" when facing more life challenges.

This kind of inner stability means a kind of "confidence" from the inside out, the ability to accept and calmly deal with all possibilities in life. It is not a compromise but a more natural and positive attitude towards life by facing life realistically.

Swisse also associated a healthy body with "the confidence to face life challenges" through the image of Zheng Qinwen in its relevant promotional TVC, echoing consumers' deep - seated desire for "inner strength". It can be seen that Swisse's brand proposition upgrade this time is a profound response to the current trends in the health product industry and the changing needs of consumers. It also elevates the product from a functional supplement to an expression of a lifestyle, stimulating users' emotional dependence on the brand.

While most brands are still focusing on youthful packaging or single - function promotion, Swisse occupies the mental gap of "mental health" through the output of the value of "inner confidence", distinguishing itself significantly from its competitors.

In addition, while the entire health and nutritional product industry is competing in innovation and using technology to boost marketing, Swisse still firmly stands with consumers, clarifying their real needs. It truly understands that a naturally healthy body is the real long - term strategy and the greatest confidence for consumers. This kind of confidence does not point to a specific direction - it is neither just confidence nor just peace. It means that consumers can be the best version of themselves at any time and have a stable core to deal with everything.

02 Understand Consumption Trends, and Industry Leaders Should Dare to Reform Themselves

Since entering the Chinese market in 2016, Swisse has upgraded its brand three times so far.

The first time was in 2017. To differentiate itself from the basic nutrition categories such as calcium and multivitamins that dominated the public's minds at that time, Swisse, which had just entered the domestic market, took the popular oral beauty products overseas as its main brand products, quickly establishing its brand image in consumers' minds. At that time, it was also a period when domestic consumers' demand for beauty products was increasing sharply. Therefore, Swisse filled the gap in the market for oral beauty products and quickly occupied a high position in the nutritional product market.

Four years later, in 2021, Swisse proposed that natural health should be the new fashion for young people, focusing on comprehensive nutrition. At that time, after the "Quanjian Incident" and the COVID - 19 pandemic, with the resurgence of the national demand for nutritional health, the entire health product market was facing the dual challenges of transformation and recovery. Meanwhile, according to a report from the Forward - looking Industry Research Institute, the penetration rate of health products in China will gradually evolve from first - and second - tier cities to third - and fourth - tier cities, from the elderly to the middle - aged and young, and from tonic - function health care to dietary nutrition supplementation. To meet the increasing attention of the younger generation to health preservation, the form of health products has also begun to become more like snacks and ready - to - eat foods.

Now, the health product industry is showing a steady and explosive growth trend. Consumers' awareness of health preservation and health care has been greatly improved. They are no longer satisfied with single - element supplementation but hope to achieve comprehensive inner improvement. They have higher requirements for the quality - price ratio of products. Therefore, Swisse made its third brand upgrade, providing consumers with more comprehensive protection with products that can meet multiple needs, and becoming the confidence to support consumers to go all out in society.

This frequency of brand upgrading every 3 - 4 years is also in line with the development law of China's social economy. On the other hand, as an industry leader for a long time, Swisse inevitably needs to make reforms according to consumption trends and market observations to maintain its sensitivity, vitality, and indispensable innovation.

Similarly, in the increasingly competitive environment of the health product industry in recent years, the number of enterprises upgrading their brands is gradually increasing. With the consumption upgrade and the continuous growth of consumers' demand for high - quality health products, many enterprises have started to enhance their market competitiveness through brand upgrading. In addition, due to the stricter industry supervision, enterprises also need to enhance consumers' trust and brand influence through brand upgrading.

Although Swisse upgrades its brand acutely and promptly according to consumers' needs, it never blindly follows the trend of some popular ingredients or products in the market in the short term. As an enterprise committed to building its own brand, Swisse takes a very cautious attitude towards products that suddenly become popular in the market.

Someone once asked Ding Wen if there was a product with a certain very popular ingredient at that time. Ding Wen replied, "I can't quickly produce a product with this ingredient." It takes at least one year of research and development in Swisse to truly study the quality of an ingredient, find the best dosage, and combine it with other ingredients. By the time the product is launched, the once - pursued trend may have passed.

But Swisse and Ding Wen don't care about these. "There may be some short - term benefits, but you may know them but can't or shouldn't take them." Sufficient safety and quality are the bottom lines that Swisse adheres to. This is also the perseverance required for building a brand and practicing long - termism. Otherwise, it's difficult for any enterprise to become a century - old brand.

The trust crisis in the health product industry has always been a long - standing problem. If enterprises chase trends while ignoring product quality and consumer experience, it may further intensify this trust crisis and damage the long - term development of the brand.

Swisse has enough confidence in this regard because it has a loyal consumer base accumulated from the very beginning. The underlying logic is that Swisse can truly meet consumers' real needs.

For this reason, Swisse has ranked at the top of the domestic health and nutritional product market for several consecutive years. As an industry leader, how can it not lose its sense of purpose? The only way is to reform itself. Therefore, once there is a change in social and economic development, Swisse will quickly keep up with the situation and redefine its brand proposition. No matter how brilliant the previous sales and promotion results were, it will move forward firmly. Only by growing with consumers and getting closer to users can it accompany them in the long run instead of being left behind by consumers.

03 Understand Consumers to Build a Good Brand

Swisse takes the brand as its foundation, while Ding Wen regards understanding consumers as the foundation of a brand. It is also her definition of a good brand: "Really understand what your consumers are thinking and what they want."

According to Ding Wen, most of Swisse's energy is spent in two areas - consumer research, insight, and communication, as well as product R & D. These two areas account for more than 70% of Swisse's time and resources. They use different channels to observe consumers and the market, spending a lot of time thinking, summarizing, and researching.

Even during the brand - upgrading process, Swisse continuously explores new communication and marketing models. For example, with the "1 + 3" brand strategy matrix as the core, it transforms each communication touchpoint into an opportunity for in - depth dialogue with consumers, building a trust bridge between the brand and users.

Through observing consumption trends in the past two years, they also found that the previously strong demand for luxury goods among the public has shown an obvious decline since last year. Consumers' consumption concept has changed from buying the most expensive to buying the best in terms of quality - price ratio. Similarly, the public's pursuit of external appearance has gradually weakened, and they are paying more attention to inner stability. Therefore, Swisse concluded that "the external value proposition is no longer suitable for today's consumers and the competitive environment."

The post - 90s and post - 00s generations, who have become the core consumer group in the health and nutritional product market - once known as the "life - cherishing generation" - want to solve health problems without completely abandoning their past living habits. So, they place greater expectations and spend more money on health and nutritional products.