What future will digital healthcare × D2C Inc. models pioneer? Toward an era of predicting and preparing for future health based on individual data.

Digital healthcare leverages cutting-edge digital technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, and wearable devices to create solutions for the medical and healthcare fields. In 2022, it was prominently featured at global events and is gaining attention as a consumer business trend. Within this rapidly growing field, the D2C Inc. business model for health data and lifelog collection services is currently expected to see the most growth.As technology continues to evolve, the scope of services will likely expand further, potentially including personalized disease prediction.

This time, we pose the question: "How will the Digital Healthcare × D2C Inc. model transform the future of healthcare business?" We explore future business opportunities by examining leading examples. By examining the "present" and "future" of digital healthcare through D2C Inc., we explore the potential for BX (Business Transformation) indicated by the digitalization of the health sector. This is recommended not only for those wondering "What is digital health?" but also for those seeking hints to revitalize their own business from marketing trends.

Digital healthcare is the most promising category for future growth.

At CES 2022, the digital trade show held in Las Vegas in January 2022, digital healthcare garnered significant attention alongside mobility and sustainability.Digital healthcare involves applying technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, robotics, and virtual reality (VR) to the medical and healthcare fields. At CES, digital healthcare services for diabetes patients that measure blood sugar without needles generated buzz, while remote monitoring systems for hypertension patients and ECG recording apps also drew significant interest.

Digital transformation (DX) in healthcare is accelerating globally. Did you know that "Medical Care and Nursing Care" is included among the challenges of "Society 5.0," a concept the Japanese government has been promoting since 2016? As we enter an era of 100-year lifespans, extending individuals' healthy life expectancy is a major challenge.Therefore, Society 5.0 aims to analyze big data—including health metrics like blood pressure and heart rate, medical institution data, healthcare and infection information, and environmental data—using AI. This approach seeks to enable early disease detection, optimize treatment, and improve patient quality of life (QOL). Furthermore, the spread of COVID-19 has heightened public health awareness and increased demand for online medical consultations. This backdrop is also driving the advancement of digital healthcare.

The most accessible aspect of digital healthcare is wearable devices that collect health data. Many people use smartwatches worn on the wrist to monitor heart rate, sleep patterns, and overall health, or to receive notifications that heighten health awareness. Digital healthcare services that collect daily health data have already become integrated into our lives.

Health data collection-based digital healthcare is well-suited for D2C Inc. business

Digital healthcare services focused on health data collection extend beyond wearable devices like smartwatches. Various digital healthcare services based on lifelog and health data exist around us. Examples include health promotion apps, online medical consultation and diagnostic support services, and disease-specific services aimed at managing the prognosis of conditions like diabetes and respiratory diseases. Recent technological advancements have enabled the collection of more detailed health data at home, allowing for the provision of higher-precision services.

Amidst this, the D2C Inc. (Direct-to-Consumer Inc.) business model, where manufacturers and users transact directly, is showing particularly vigorous growth in digital healthcare services. The D2C model, bypassing distributors, allows manufacturers to collect and accumulate customer data, enabling the provision of personalized services tailored to each individual. For this reason, digital healthcare services handling highly personal data like health information are well-suited to the D2C model.The benefits for both users and providers can be summarized as follows:

Benefits for Users

• Receive product and service recommendations based on expert diagnoses, including those from physicians, tailored to their specific concerns.
• Through analysis of accumulated personal data, users can continuously receive recommendations for the most suitable products and services at any given time.
• Complex products that are difficult to purchase in physical stores can be bought online without hesitation.

Benefits for Businesses

• By meticulously providing products and services tailored to each individual customer, businesses can build strong customer relationships and secure long-term sales.
• While stocking a wide range of personalized products is challenging in space-constrained physical stores, online sales eliminate this concern.

Subscription services that regularly deliver products tailored to one's physical condition fully leverage these advantages of the digital healthcare × D2C Inc. model.One supplement brand offers customized supplement combinations based on diagnostic results from website assessments. Receiving supplements tailored to their current health status has earned high praise from health-conscious users who previously struggled to find supplements that truly suited them. For businesses, this leads to recurring purchases, ensuring steady sales.

Additionally, in the US, online consultations for hair loss and ED, along with services delivering prescription medications to homes, are thriving. Furthermore, the market for digital healthcare services is expanding significantly, with increasing specialization such as high-value services for business leaders and services that supplement deficient nutrients based on urine test results.

This digital healthcare × D2C Inc. model is groundbreaking because it allows users to obtain personalized health products and services from home, often through simple diagnostics or tests. Moreover, many of these products and services leverage cutting-edge technology and big data to propose the perfect fit for each individual from tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of possible combinations. This strong sense of customization makes it an inherently appealing model for customers.

Technology's evolution makes society and people healthier. The future expanded by Digital Healthcare × D2C Inc.

So far, we've examined the Digital Healthcare × D2C Inc. model from the perspective of personalization. Now, let's explore the potential developments that lie ahead as technology continues to advance.

Consider, for example, "proactive disease prevention" powered by AI. What about a business that analyzes health data collected via apps or wearable devices using AI to predict signs of lifestyle-related diseases or health risks, then provides products and services based on those results? If we can identify the specific nutrients an individual needs before they experience physical discomfort, it becomes possible to offer a service delivering relevant supplements or health foods. Combined with remote consultations with specialists or online advice, this could become a highly satisfying service for health-conscious customers.

In the near future, as health data-collecting wearables become commoditized and home-use measurement devices become commonplace, an era may arrive where managing one's health is possible with just a smartphone.Providing and taking personalized supplements tailored to individuals could become commonplace, and counseling or online consultations based on collected health data might also become standard. In fact, systems and services that proactively detect changes like blood sugar levels before individuals take action themselves, then encourage behavioral changes through exercise and dietary guidance, are already starting overseas.

When digital healthcare becomes so seamlessly integrated into daily life, the breadth and quality of services will undoubtedly expand, fueling the continued growth of D2C Inc. businesses. This could lead to a future where healthcare costs decrease, healthy life expectancy increases, and the preventive healthcare industry thrives, bringing significant benefits to society as a whole.

Digital healthcare is a business with high expectations not only in Japan, where aging is accelerating, but also overseas. Furthermore, combining this field with the D2C Inc. model, which can provide personalized products and services, promises even greater development. Those involved in healthcare businesses or D2C Inc. ventures, or those exploring BX for their own companies, might consider envisioning the possibilities of the D2C Inc. model, expanded by technological evolution, with free-thinking creativity.