LOHAS Definition

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, a market segment focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice. It is considered to be one of the concepts reflecting the green market and its growth in the last couple of years.

LOHAS companies practice "responsible capitalism" by providing goods and services using economic and environmentally sustainable business practices. LOHAS business owners and industry leaders from around the world meet each year at the LOHAS Conference to discuss industry trends, share ideas and learn how to run a successful LOHAS business.

The LOHAS market is measured and evaluated by by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), which created the conpect. The LOHAS market in the U.S. was originally estimated in 2000 to be $228 billion. The last estimate of the market size from 2006 is $209 billion. This market size reduction is not due to a shrinking of the LOHAS market but rather because of a more specific classification of products and services catering to consumers and not business to business transactions (the initial study included business to business sales thus providing a larger market number).

The marketplace includes goods and services such as:

Sustainable Economy

• Green and sustainable building and industrial goods
• Renewable energy
• Resource-efficient products
• Socially responsible investing
• Alternative transportation
• Environmental management

Alternative Healthcare

• Natural and preventive medicine (Naturopathic, Chinese medicine, etc.)
• Health and wellness solutions
• Acupuncture, homeopathy, etc.
• Holistic disease prevention
• Complementary medicine

Healthy Lifestyles

• Organic and natural food
• Hybrid and electric cars
• Nutritional products
• Dietary supplements
• Organic and natural personal care products

Personal Development

• Mind, body and spirit products
• Yoga, fitness, weight loss
• Spiritual products and services

Ecological Lifestyles

• Energy efficient electronics/appliances
• Ecological home and office products
• Organic products
• Recycled fiber products
• Environmentally friendly appliances
• Eco-tourism and travel
• Natural household products (paper goods and cleaning products)

 Our recommendation:

 Want to stay updated and receive all the LOHAS news – subscribe to the free LOHAS Journal Weekly Newsletter - http://www.lohas.com/weekly/subscribe.html

 More sources: 

1. LOHAS - http://www.lohas.com/
2. LOHAS 10 session videos (2006) - http://www.lohas.com/forum/video.html
3. Joel Makower on The Many Shades of the Eco-LOHAS-Sustainable-Green Consumer - http://makower.typepad.com/joel_makower/2007/05/the_many_shades.html
4. Europeans are Better Environmental Citizens than Americans, New Research Study Reveals (news release, October 29, 2007) - http://www.porternovelli.com/site/pressrelease.aspx?pressrelease_id=171&pgname=news
5. The Natural Marketing Institute - http://www.nmisolutions.com/

 Relevant concepts : green marketing, sustainability

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