Menopause has become big business. Once whispered about, it is now the subject of podcasts, celebrity wellness products and even large-scale trade shows.
For Ela Veresiu (BBA ’09), a marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, the sudden surge in visibility raised an intriguing question: what happens when a long-taboo life stage becomes a marketplace?
“We want to understand what gives menopausal women – a demographic that’s traditionally been ignored in society – a genuine sense of belonging in the consumer marketplace,” she says.
To answer that question, Veresiu launched a multi-year study on what she calls “the menopause economy,” examining how products, services and marketing shape women’s experiences of inclusion and belonging.
Backed by a 2024 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant, her research builds on her previous work studying age-inclusive marketing and products for older women. The $92,763 grant funds four years of research on the project titled “Championing Belonging and Inclusion of Ageing Menopausal Consumers in Canada's Marketplace.”
Her interest in the topic emerged at a time when menopause remained largely absent from public conversation. A 2022 report published by the Menopause Foundation of Canada found that more than half of women still viewed the biological transition as a taboo topic, while 72 per cent said the information and advice available to them was unhelpful.
Yet within just a few years, the conversation shifted. Menopause moved from the margins into mainstream media, creating new opportunities for businesses eager to reach an underserved demographic.
Veresiu observed that transformation firsthand at the inaugural National Menopause Show in 2024, where thousands of attendees gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, during her fieldwork.
What she found was a sprawling: rows of booths offering medical consultations and online platforms promising personalized care plans. There were vendors selling cooling pillows and night-sweat clothing, and displays on hormone replacement therapy alongside vitamin stands.
And then there were the tables laid out with crystals, handbags and jewelry – lifestyle products with only the faintest connection to menopause.
The experience highlighted how quickly the menopause economy is expanding and prompted new questions about who benefits from it.
Veresiu is collaborating with co-author Marie-Agnès Parmentier, a marketing professor at HEC Montréal, to map how this emerging industry is taking shape and how to educate women to be informed consumers.
Together, they’ve attended two menopause-themed shows to observe and document the events from their perspectives as attendees – a method called ethnography – and spoke to nearly 60 exhibitors about what they were offering menopausal consumers.
These exhibitors included virtual health providers, consulting companies, brand managers, small businesses and non-profits.
Based on their initial data, Veresiu and Parmentier identified three main risks in the expanding new market, which experts predict will grow to at least $24 billion by 2030.
The first is that businesses will put a “pink tax” on menopause-related products and services. “It’s a long-established tradition of charging more for women’s beauty and grooming products than men’s counterpart,” Veresiu says.
This leads to the second risk: that the menopause market will exclude female consumers who can’t afford to engage in it.
The third risk is that menopausal women may lack the consumer education to know which products are safe and effective. “Are they truly tested and data-driven or are they just snake oil?” Veresiu says. “Trade shows are sometimes used to legitimize a new market, but there’s a feeling of information overload as an attendee. You don’t know what to believe.”
Veresiu’s broader aim is for older women – menopausal and beyond – to feel they belong in the marketplace because it represents their needs and experiences.
In an aging society where the older generation may have substantial purchasing power, she says, there’s a strong business case for embracing this demographic.
To see how these risks are developing among consumers, Veresiu and Parmentier will recruit attendees at the 2026 National Menopause Show for in-depth interviews.
“We’re interested in how they view the new menopause market,” Veresiu says. “Do they feel that companies are truly catering to their needs and providing valuable products? Has the market contributed to opening up conversations about menopause? Or do those we'll interview just feel inundated and overwhelmed?”
She sees answers to those questions as crucial for what happens next in the market.
“Companies are now jumping on the menopause bandwagon, but are they going to stay on it?” she asks. “We hope this study will offer them a blueprint for authentic inclusion while also determining the best ways for non-profits and government organizations to guide menopausal consumers through the current chaos of products and information.”
Contributed by Megan Easton