Online Baby Care Products: Gaining Consumer Interests Offering Convenience While Shopping Daily Use Products
Online baby care products market is predicted to boom during the forecast period, 2020-2025 due to gaining popularity of online shopping along with providing safe payment options. Additionally, young parents are highly influenced by the online mode of purchasing and seek for best baby products.
It has been noticed at the global level that with the rising digital era, companies manufacturing baby care products are coming up with new business models that are internet-based and hence are moving away from only shop-centric or those projects that are limited to only a particular location or have limited geographical outreach. Thus, with the rising adoption of a customer-centric approach, manufacturers are moving online that is virtually borderless and will help in gaining wider customer traction across wide geographic boundaries, such initiatives are contributing to augmenting the market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, the market is propelled to grow at a significant pace with the evolving consumer lifestyle along with the growing urbanization. With increasing urbanization, the urban population of the world is also increasing and this is predicted to grow from a population size of 3.877 billion in 2014 to attain a population size of 4.274 billion in 2019 (source: The World Bank). The individuals are well-educated and earn a good salary, hence, they have an increased spending ability for premium baby care products online.
Source: The World Bank (Global Urban Population, in billion)
Additionally, with the increasing internet penetration and adoption of portable smart devices like a smartphone at the international level, the consumers, especially, the millennials are quite convenient while purchasing products through an online mode. Hence, they look out for innovative baby care products without compromise in product quality, further fueling the growth of the global online baby care products market in the forecast period.
Source: ITU, United Nations Specialized Agency (Internet users, in million)
The adoption of baby care products in the current novel coronavirus pandemic is quite uneven. This is due to the fact that on one side, it is being observed that people are preferring online mode of purchase due to the self-quarantine, social distancing, work-from-home, and lockdown measures. The sales of essential products are growing in the present COVID-19 pandemic scenario, expediting the sales of packaged baby food products enriched with nutrients. Also, the sales of baby diapers are experiencing good growth. While for other products, like baby safety and convenience products including prams and strollers, the market is projected to experience a decline in 2020 due to a shift in demand towards high-priority products. Also, in some parts of the world, it has been noticed that people are preferring to feed their little ones with home-based prepared food so as to avoid infection to their newborn.
Talking in terms of geography, the Asia Pacific region is accounted to hold a substantial market share in the global total. This is due to the high birth rate and increasing family income. Additionally, with the growing consumer awareness regarding the convenience of purchasing baby care products online, the market is projected to witness a steady growth over the next five years. The lifting of one-child policy in China has further raised the growth prospects of online baby care products market during the forecast period. China imposed strict restrictions on couples to have only one child as the country was ranked as the most populous country in the world. However, this did not work long due to the growing concerns regarding population aging and decreasing workforce. The restrictions were put to an end and this allowed the couples to have more than one child. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, new births in China grew by 1.31 million after the relaxation. This further contributed to surging the market growth with the rise in sales of baby care products like baby infant formulas in the food and beverage segment among other baby care products including body care and safety and convenience via online mode. The online mode of shopping behaviour is highly preferred among the younger generation. Furthermore, the fertility rate (births per woman) in China grew from 1.656 in 2014 to 1.690 in 2018 (source: The World Bank). Hence, with the increasing fertility rate, the market is projected to hold substantial growth prospects during the forecast period.
Source: The World Bank (China Fertility Rate, births per woman)
With the growing number of working women around the globe, there has been an increase in awareness regarding the health of the babies, hence, these women are keen to purchase innovative and safe baby products widely available in the market. Due to a busy schedule, women prefer online mode of sales channels for purchasing baby care products. In response, manufacturers are continuing to enhance their product portfolio with a variety of organic baby care products to satiate the needs of their customers, further providing an impetus in soaring the market growth.
Furthermore, with the growing e-commerce industry, key companies like Johnson and Johnson, The Himalaya Drug Company among others have a provision of online purchase of their baby care products, in addition, to the offline distribution channel. These companies have moved towards the adoption of virtual platforms as well for their product sales, in order to keep pace with the rising consumer demand for online purchases. The baby care products are also widely available on regular e-commerce platforms like Amazon, further promoting the online baby care products market growth during the course of the forecast period.
The market growth for baby care products like prams, strollers, and car seats is further supported by the presence of stringent laws for child safety while travelling. These regulations have further contributed to boosting the sales of baby care products such as car seats for maintaining child safety while onboard. As per the Japanese law, for children under 6 years of age, car seats are necessary. The guidelines recommend utilizing a rear-facing car seat for children below 2 years of age. For a child aged below 4 years of age, a forward-facing car seat is required. However, under some circumstances, for example at the time of an injury to a child when he/she is not able to use the car seat, this law is not applicable.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Vibha Saklani is a Market Research Analyst at KSI, working on the estimates and global reports on multiple industries spanning from IoT to food and beverages, with a special knack for healthcare, medical devices, and related markets. With the addition of her formal education in Biotechnology and having a research background, she is able to shed more light on the detailed analysis of the story. To read more articles by her, and for more information regarding multiple global markets, visit https://www.knowledge-sourcing.com.
