The Future of B2B Health and Wellness in Retail: Serving Professional Caregivers and Health Providers

As the boundaries between retail and healthcare continue to blur, a new frontier is emerging: the opportunity for grocers and retailers to serve not just individual consumers, but also the vast and growing B2B health and wellness market. This segment includes professional caregivers, home health aides, nutritionists, and non-professional caregivers—critical intermediaries who support millions of Americans in their health journeys. For retail leaders, the question is no longer if they should enter this space, but how to do so in a way that creates value, loyalty, and operational efficiency.

The Untapped B2B Health and Wellness Opportunity

The U.S. home healthcare services market is expanding rapidly, driven by an aging population, a rise in chronic conditions, and a growing preference for aging in place. This market, projected to reach $153 billion by 2029, encompasses a wide range of needs—from medical devices and supplies to nutrition and wellness products. Yet, the B2B medical supply segment remains highly fragmented, dominated by wholesalers and small players, with limited digital maturity and little brand loyalty.

Retailers, especially grocers with their frequent customer touchpoints and trusted community presence, are uniquely positioned to disrupt this space. By leveraging digital platforms, loyalty programs, and seamless supply solutions, they can offer professional and non-professional caregivers a more convenient, integrated, and personalized experience than traditional B2B suppliers.

Understanding the Distinct Needs of B2B Health Segments

Professional caregivers and health providers have fundamentally different needs and digital journeys compared to individual consumers. Their priorities include:

Bulk purchasing and inventory management for medical supplies, nutrition products, and wellness items.
Reliable, timely fulfillment to ensure continuity of care for patients at home or in community settings.
Personalized recommendations and targeted offers based on patient needs, care plans, and regulatory requirements.
Seamless integration with care management platforms and electronic health records (EHRs) for tracking, compliance, and reporting.
Loyalty programs and incentives that recognize the unique role of caregivers and encourage repeat business.

Non-professional caregivers—family members, friends, and neighbors who provide unpaid care—represent nearly a quarter of U.S. adults. They often face challenges navigating fragmented supply chains, understanding product options, and accessing affordable solutions. Retailers can play a pivotal role by offering curated product bundles, educational content, and digital tools that simplify the caregiving journey.

Digital Transformation: Creating Loyalty and Efficiency

The B2B medical supply market’s fragmentation is both a challenge and an opportunity. Traditional suppliers often lack the digital sophistication and customer-centricity that retailers have honed in the consumer space. By applying proven digital strategies, retailers can:

Build seamless, omnichannel B2B platforms that allow caregivers to order, track, and manage supplies across devices and locations.
Leverage data integration to personalize offers, anticipate needs, and streamline procurement—mirroring the best practices of leading B2C loyalty programs.
Automate fulfillment and inventory management to reduce manual work, minimize errors, and ensure timely delivery.
Enable self-service and support through chatbots, knowledge bases, and virtual assistants tailored to the needs of professional caregivers.
Integrate with care management and EHR systems to support compliance, reporting, and holistic patient care.

Retailers that invest in these capabilities can create a differentiated B2B experience—one that fosters loyalty, increases share of wallet, and drives operational efficiency for both the retailer and the caregiver.

Complementing Consumer-Facing Health Services

The most ambitious retailers are already building out omnichannel health and wellness offerings for consumers, from digital pharmacies to in-store clinics and personalized nutrition programs. Extending these capabilities to B2B segments creates powerful synergies:

Unified data strategies allow retailers to connect consumer and caregiver insights, enabling targeted cross-sell and upsell opportunities.
Integrated loyalty programs can reward both individual shoppers and professional caregivers, deepening engagement across segments.
Platform business models enable retailers to operate as a single ecosystem, putting wellness at the center for all customers—whether they’re shopping for themselves or those they care for.

Publicis Sapient: Your Partner in B2B Health and Wellness Transformation

Successfully serving the B2B health and wellness market requires more than just adding new products to the shelf. It demands a strategic approach to platform design, data integration, and experience innovation. Publicis Sapient brings deep expertise in:

Platform strategy and architecture: Designing and implementing modular, cloud-native platforms that support both B2C and B2B journeys.
Data integration and analytics: Breaking down silos to create unified customer and caregiver profiles, enabling personalization and predictive insights.
Experience design: Crafting intuitive, empathetic digital journeys that meet the unique needs of professional and non-professional caregivers.
Operational transformation: Streamlining supply chain, fulfillment, and support processes to deliver efficiency and scalability.

Our work with leading healthcare providers, pharmacy retailers, and grocers demonstrates the impact of digital transformation in health and wellness. From modernizing legacy systems to launching new B2B platforms, we help organizations unlock new revenue streams, build loyalty, and improve outcomes for all stakeholders.

The Road Ahead

As the home health and wellness market continues to grow, the retailers that succeed will be those who recognize the distinct needs of B2B segments and invest in the digital capabilities to serve them. By building seamless, data-driven platforms and loyalty programs for caregivers and health providers, retailers can capture a share of this expanding market—while complementing and enhancing their consumer-facing health services.

The future of B2B health and wellness in retail is connected, personalized, and powered by digital transformation. Publicis Sapient stands ready to help you seize this opportunity and lead the next wave of retail healthcare innovation.

Ready to transform your B2B health and wellness offering? Let’s connect and build the future of care together.