Pursuing booming baby care market

Stimulated by China's "second child" policy, e-commerce platforms and baby-product companies are looking to tap the booming market, which particularly favors US and European brands.

"With the development of (the) maternal and baby market and the policy opportunities, such as the second-child policy, this market will become a blue ocean for e-commerce platforms," said Shi Jianjun, vice-president of Amazon China.

In an effort to improve population balance and address an aging society, in October 2015, the Chinese government allowed families to have two children, ending the one-child policy that had been in effect since1979.

China's Health and Family Planning Commission says 90 million couples qualify for a second child under the new rules, and experts predict around 2.5 million more babies will be born in China every year.

Shi said Amazon China has expanded its selection of baby products from formula and feeding items to diapering, cleaning, children's nutrition and seats, and maternity.

Maternity and baby products have been key markets for the company, said Shi. Last year, the sale of directly imported maternity and baby products at Amazon.cn increased 200 percent over the previous year, and the category ranked fourth in popularity among Chinese shoppers at the cross-border shopping site "Haiwaigou" ("shopping overseas") on Amazon.cn.

Haiwaigou, which was launched in 2014, allows Chinese consumers to buy products directly from international brands on Amazon's global sites.

"Compared with the older generation, the young Chinese parents have higher demand on quality, safety and function of maternity and baby products. They especially favor international brands," Shi said.

Among the top 10 popular baby brands, five are US companies, with Pampers, Huggies and Wyeth taking the first three places. Other US companies, like Ergobaby, Skip Hop and Diono, are among the fastest-growing brands in China, according to Shi.

The higher demand and increasing purchasing power of Chinese consumers have led to explosive sales growth at "Haiwaigou", and baby formula and diapers top the best-sellers, Shi said.

Last year, the market for maternity and baby products was estimated at 2.3 trillion yuan (about $346 billion), of which 360 billion yuan was in online transactions, a 98.4 percent increase over the previous year, according to a report on 2016 China's maternity and baby-product consumption by the 21st Century Institute of Economy, and JD.com, a major Chinese e-commerce company.

The baby boom is expected to boost the value of maternity and baby products purchased to more than 30 billion yuan every year, the report says.

"Though we haven't seen much growth by the policy change so far, we expect a real growth in two or three years," said William Huang, international sales director for Greater China with Munchkin Inc, a California-based infant and toddler company.

Munchkin officially entered the Chinese market via Amazon.cn in 2013 and is one of the most popular brands on the e-commerce platform.

The brand has experienced rapid growth in the last three years and set up an office in Shanghai this year, Huang said.

"We are expanding teams and warehousing in China to meet the future demands," Huang said. "We are doing very well at e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon.cn, JD.com and Tmall.com, but we will also expand presence at stores and supermarkets."

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com