January Demand Stays High as Cash Flow Tightens for Health and Wellness Brands

Demand for health and wellness brands does not slow after the holidays. January brings a surge of repeat purchasing as New Year’s resolutions take hold, often before cash flow has recovered from Q4.

By this point, holiday revenue has already been deployed and funding cycles are resetting. Returns, gift cards, and fulfillment costs delay cash inflows just as demand accelerates. Customers reorder. Marketing needs to stay active. Inventory requirements increase. Growth continues, but capital has not caught up yet.

Without flexible access to capital, brands are forced to make tradeoffs at the exact moment that demand remains elevated and growth should be compounding. Brands like The Plug Drink illustrate how quickly demand can scale in this category. The health beverage brand achieved 2,380% growth over three years, ranking #147 on the Inc. 5000 list. When demand compounds at that speed, capital timing becomes just as important as product-market fit.

January Demand Accelerates Before Capital Rebounds 

January is one of the strongest demand windows for health and wellness ecommerce. Resolution driven behavior turns first-time buyers into repeat customers quickly, driving sustained momentum into the new year. In KPMG’s Consumer Pulse Summer 2025 report 49% of consumers say their focus on health and wellness has increased at least somewhat since the pandemic.

To keep pace, brands must reorder inventory faster and maintain visibility through paid marketing. These costs hit just as post-holiday budgets are still strained. Capital that supported Q4 growth has not yet been replenished, and new funding has not fully landed.

Returns and gift card redemptions compound the issue. With 91% of consumers reporting they have returned items in the past year, revenue recognition slows even as operating needs expand. Demand rises, but available cash lags behind.

This is where growth often stalls. As Bala Bangles co-founder Natalie Holloway shared after scaling an inventory-heavy wellness brand,

“We didn’t know we shouldn’t be spending $100,000 on inventory. If I had known about funding like Clearco, I would’ve used it for inventory and marketing instead of draining our own cash.”

The challenge is not overspending. It is funding demand at the right moment.

The Capital Gap Hits Health and Wellness Ecommerce Brands Harder

Health and wellness ecommerce is built on repeat behavior. Consumable products like supplements and wellness essentials drive frequent reorders once habits form, making consistency essential to long-term growth.

Health and wellness products outperform most ecommerce categories on repeat purchases, with consumables reaching repeat rates as high as 29%. That repeat dynamic increases capital pressure quickly. Inventory must stay ahead of reorders. Marketing must remain active to reinforce routines. Any interruption carries outsized risk.

Temporary stockouts or short pauses in advertising can quietly derail momentum at a pivotal stage. Stockouts alone are estimated to cost brands up to $1.77T annually, and regaining lost marketing momentum can require $1.85T to recover the same impact for every dollar cut.

Clearco’s Rolling Funding Capacity Keeps Growth Moving 

Rolling access to capital gives health and wellness brands the flexibility to stay stocked, stay visible, and keep momentum moving through the early months of the year.

As serial entrepreneur Don Mastrangelo, Founder and CEO of Jacked Up Fitness, explains,

“Our need for capital was driven by demand for inventory. No matter how much product we made, we sold out of it.”

That experience reflects a common reality for fast growing health and wellness brands. When demand compounds quickly, success itself creates pressure on inventory and cash flow if capital timing is misaligned.

Cleaco’s Rolling Funding Capacity supports sustained growth by replenishing access to capital as demand repeats, keeping inventory ready and marketing active when customers are forming habits. See how Clearco helps brands keep pace with demand instead of pausing for capital.