Where is the next round of crazy growth of the mother and baby industry?

Under the nurturing of the "demographic dividend", the Chinese mother and baby industry started from germination in just more than thirty years and grew up to mature industries with a scale of 4782 billion yuan. However, in the past two years, it has faced repeated epidemics, continuous lower birth rates, unlimited inner rolls of "three big mountains", and finding new ways and growth cards, becoming a top priority for all mother and infant enterprises.

At this time, the sinking market of the three to five lines is like a mines that need to be mined urgently. The relatively large population base and stable birth population appear, attracting the sinking of the mother and baby industry. In addition to the traditional domestic brands that are entangled in the low line early, the imported big names have also carried the banner of "sinking" and pushed into the low -line market ...

Maternal and baby brand sinks

The domestic milk powder brand Feihe can be said to be the "Pinduoduo" of the mother and infant world. The typical players in the market are different from the brand that penetrate from high -line to low -line cities. Essence

Picture source: Feihe official website

According to statistics, in 2019, Feihe's market share in third -tier cities was 18.2%, and the market share of fourth -tier cities was 22.7%, an increase of 3.9%and 3.5%year -on -year; by the fourth quarter of 2020, Feihe accounted for the overall market of the milk powder industry in the milk powder industry. The rate climbed to the first, reaching 17.2%, and won the title of "Milk Powder Brother" in China.

However, in the face of the dilemma of the demographic dividend and its own product structure, Feihe seemed to be gradually flying. According to the data of Feihe's annual report, its performance growth rate has slowed a lot compared to the past few years, and the net interest rate has emerged for the first time in recent years. In 2021, Feihe's total revenue was 22.78 billion yuan, an increase of 22.5%year -on -year; net profit of home mother was 6.87 billion yuan, a year -on -year decrease of 7.6%. The growth rate of its net profit of home for the first time was for the first time since 2016, and it dropped from 89.0%in 2020 to -7.6%.

It is easy to fight rivers and mountains. If you want to keep the status of the domestic "milk powder brother", the pressure of Feihe is not small, not only does it need to overcome the difficulty of product structure, but also need to stand up to the fierce competition pressure brought by the domestic and foreign brands to sink the market.

The major brands of the supermarkets are full of milk powder, and the competition is fierce

The foreign mother and baby brand was originally a leader in the Chinese maternal and infant market. In recent years, with the rise of domestic brands such as Feihe, Junlebao, Miao Kelan Duo, the first and second -tier market share of foreign brands is gradually being eaten. Essence Whether it is ahead or the market forced or the market is forced. In terms of overweighting the third- and fourth -tier market, emphasizing channel sinking and the localization of the market, traditional foreign -funded maternal and infant brands such as Nestlé and Mead Johnson have already taken action.

As early as June 2017, the president of Mead Johnson Greater China revealed that Mead Johnson China will sink to the three to five line markets, and exactly the full channels such as super, mother and baby shops, and the Internet.

Unexpectedly, Nestlé revealed in May 2019 that it is necessary to sink to the western market and the third and fourth -tier markets, and plan to settle in 10,000 mother and baby stores in the next 18 months. The development of business.

In November 2019, the Royal Netherlands publicly stated that its "mother -in -law" brand milk powder continued to deploy township and county -level markets.

Photo source: Children's official website

In addition to maternal and infant product companies, the channel platform is also seizing sinking. Wang Wang, a well -known maternal and infant retail platform, proposed a plan in 2021. It is intended to invest 1.5 billion yuan to raise funds for omni -channel retail terminal construction, 200 million yuan for the construction of a full -channel digital platform, and 210 million yuan for the construction of the omni -channel logistics center. In the next three years, 300 digital stores will be built in 22 provinces and cities. This means that in the next few years, the number of children next to the king of children will increase greatly, and its coverage area will continue to sink.

So, what exactly drove domestic and foreign mother and baby companies to sank markets? Can major brands find a good time in the maternal and infant market of low -line cities in China?

Why sink one after another?

First of all, when the "demographic dividend" fades, sinking is an imperative.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the birth rate of my country's population has continued to decline, and in 2020 has fallen below 10 ‰. In 2021, the birth population was 10.62 million, a decrease of 1.38 million compared with the previous year. This is the fifth consecutive year since 2017, since 2017. Although the comprehensive open two -child policy implemented in 2016 slowed down to a certain extent, it slowed down the decline in the birth rate of population, but it could not fundamentally reverse the trend.

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics

The decrease in the scale of the population of the newborn means that the increase in maternal and infant users in the future will become less and less. The growth of the maternal and infant market driven by the "demographic dividend" for a long time will be unsustainable.

On May 31, 2021, the country fully liberalized the three -child fertility policy. For the mother and baby industry, it is like a brilliant candle in the cold winter. It's. It can be seen from the comparison of the number of one -child and two -child population in our country.

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics, National Health and Health Commission

However, first- and second -tier cities do not have the conditions to popularize three children. To sum up, the three children and their parents and five mouths and the elderly who helped take care of their children. 6 or 7 people live together and need at least 140 square meters of large houses. In large cities, people who can buy such large houses and can support large families are undoubtedly a wealthy group of pyramid tip. Such high raising costs are not what ordinary residents in first- and second -tier cities can bear at all. Essence Low -tier cities are completely another scene: there are self -built houses and land in rural areas, and all kinds of grains and vegetables can still be self -sufficient, and they can hardly spend much money when eating and drinking. Even if there is a loan, with the low housing prices and low consumption of small cities, there is no need to bear too much pressure. It is naturally easier to give birth to baby. According to the data of the "2019 Sinking Market User Report", 41.04%of users have no house, 58.23%of users have passenger cars, and nearly half of people have houses and cars. Mobilization: Small cities are easy to give birth to baby, and big cities are desperately alive.

As a result, 77.26%of the sinking market users have become children and children, and the total number of users with two or more children accounts for 41.94%. From the proportion of newborn population in different line -level cities, it can be seen that the sinking market has carried the banner of fertility rates, and almost 70%of freshmen have contributed almost every year.

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics, Municipal Statistics Bureau

Behind such a huge proportion, not only the residents of low -line cities have more baby and have a high willingness to have a baby, but also because they are early. When a large number of young people graduated from Bensho Expo, they were not young, and then they went to work and enjoyment in first and second -tier cities, and their marriage age became later. Low -line cities are very different. More than 90%of the sinking market user education is under college and below. The proportion of junior high school education is the highest, reaching 38.12%. Young people in small cities have graduated early, and their families have been established. Most of them are in their early twenties. Wedding to have a baby.

With the liberalization of the third -child policy, residents of low -line cities with less economic pressures in various aspects such as supporting the elderly, raising children, buying a house and buying a house will be more willing to choose to have children and enjoy the joy of God. The proportion of urban newborn population will further increase. In other words, the proportion of maternal and infant crowds in the sinking market will be higher. The maternal and infant people with a base of 700 million have great market potential in low -line cities.

Sinking the market for the market

More importantly, the transformation of consumer concepts is trying to promote the changes in the sinking market of maternal and infants. In the 1980s, China's parenting concept is more traditional, mainly to meet the basic material foundation of children, and the education methods are more severe. With the improvement of material foundation, the improvement of parental education level, and the gradual wide range of knowledge acquisition channels, China's mainstream parenting concepts have been developed and upgraded step by step. Around 2018, scientific parenting and refined parenting concepts prevail. More parents are willing to pass science and science, and Exquisite and positive ways to comprehensively improve children's physical and mental education and quality of life.

Statistics show that the post -90s generation has become the main force of the mother and baby crowd, accounting for 60.6%, and nearly eight has become a bachelor's degree or above. The consumption concept of this type of population is ahead of time, focusing on refined and professional parenting.

Thanks to the difference in the information between the big town of the city, the consumption awareness of residents in low -line cities is moving closer to the first and second lines. In the maternal and infant consumer market, there is no concept of a different ring to the fifth ring in the traditional sense, because the channels for obtaining information are consistent, and the concept of consumption is consistent. Therefore, there is no different consumption. The consumption of high -level cities is flat.

At the same time, the Internet penetration rate has increased, infrastructure construction such as logistics and supply chains has accelerated, and the business format is becoming more mature. Internet companies such as Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, etc. activation. Channel sinking and deep cultivation have become a new round of competition in the mother and baby industry.

According to statistics, there are nearly 120,000 maternal and infant shops across the country in 2018, of which more than 60%are distributed in third- and fourth -tier cities. Until 2020, more than 60%of the sinking maternal and infant stores still felt that the surrounding stores were increasing. 76%of the sinking mother and baby stores have more than once a month, frequent promotions, and fierce competition in the industry.

Source: The survival status of Shen's mother and baby store in 2020

As a high potential market for maternal and infant categories, low -level cities have gradually become a must -have for brand.

Sinking the characteristics of consumption of maternal and infant markets

Sinking the market, it is indeed "a large gold mine can be digged." However, if major brands are anxious to march and move the play of first -tier and second -tier cities, the money spent can only be drifted. The consumption characteristics of the sinking market are different from the first and second -tier markets. Thousands of cities and thousands of faces, one city and one strategy, and adapting to local conditions can become the teacher of Changsheng.

Based on the observation of our sinking market for many years, we will give the maternal and infant brands some universal play and suggestions for the mother and baby brands.

Sinking market consumption characteristics 1: Offline is still the main sales channels for maternal and infants, and the proportion of online accounts is gradually increasing.

With the development of the mobile Internet and the changes in consumer consumption habits, and affected by the new crown epidemic, the consumption of the mother and baby people has shifted to online. In 2021, the online consumption of maternal infant online continued to grow, accounting for 33.8%. However, offline maternal and infant shops and commercial supermarkets are still the main sales channels for maternal and infants. During the four years of 2016-2019, offline consumption accounted for more than 70%.

Data source: Public information and financial reports in each enterprise are in third- and fourth -tier cities and township -level markets. The number of maternal and infant shops is large and distributed widely. It is also the main shopping channel for Baoma. It can be seen that the sinking of major maternal and infant brands needs to focus on offline channels.

Most of the maternal and infant shops that sink the market are concentrated in the core business districts of about 1 kilometer radius of the center of the city (town). Whether they go to work, go home or go shopping, the living radius is concentrated near the business district. Therefore, it is one of the effective marketing paths for sinking the market on the road of consumer life, and even "hand -to -hand".

65%of residents of low -line cities will consult the mother and baby shop shopping guide

Sinking market consumption characteristics 2: typical "acquaintance circle", human market.

When sinking market users buying and selling products, they attach great importance to the aesthetic preferences and behavior of acquaintances and opinion leaders. Doctors, infant education experts, and KOL always have a strong right to speak in driving the consumption decision of maternal and infant users in the market. The results of the "2022 Research Report of China Mother and Child Industry" show that the mother and infant users are most willing to believe in the products recommended by the mother and baby platform experts, friends, and community group friends. Consider factors; more than half of users have a high degree of recommendation to the product recommendation of maternal and infants (celebrities/bloggers/kols).

The social cracking attributes of the local mother and baby vertical media in the city are half successful. While covering online media transmission, the topic discussions of local KOCs such as "hot mom" and "mother and baby shop owner", "parent -child camping", "parenting experience group" and other maternal and infant communities are launched. , Attract users' attention, so as to produce purchase, recommendation and other behaviors.

Huizhou local media matrix

Sinking market consumption characteristics three: Consumption preferences are refined and personalized, and "high -end demand" gradually appears.

Research data show that the post -90s have become the mainstream consumer groups of maternal and infant supplies. High education and high -income levels are important features of such groups, which affects their judgment and consumption of maternal and infant supplies.

Source: "Research Report on China Mother and Infant Industry in 2022"

It can be seen from the comparison chart that compared with the past, the low -line cities Baoma's attention to price and cost -effectiveness has decreased, and consumer preferences are refined and personalized. Specifically, in terms of refinement, Baoma in low -line cities will measure the quality, materials, ingredients, comfort and other indicators of maternal and infant products. Among them, good quality and component safety are the two most important functional demands; in terms of personalization, the product value, production rate, and shopping experience also received great attention from the Bao Ma group in low -level cities.

Confinement center with complete facilities and excellent environment

If the sinking mother and baby brand wants to quickly reach high -end consumer groups, it is a good choice to join forces with the confinement centers in various places. The confinement center, as a mother and infant institution, has its own accurate fans, and cooperates with them with the mother and baby products. It can realize user linkage through the differentiation of offline institutional customer group resources. In the accurate scenario, the two parties will reach more high -end user groups, get the opportunity to "follow the face" with the target customer group, better match the "crowd, products, scenes", increase consumer stickiness, and achieve efficient connection with consumers. A larger brand sound volume to increase the value of the brand, which is also an important opportunity to gain channel integration and increase in share.

At present, the sinking trend of maternal and infant brands has been very clear. In the future, low -line cities may also copy the competitive state of the Red Sea in high -level cities. Do not regard the sinking market as a life -saving straw after the sinking market cannot be sold in the first or second -tier market. Only by understanding the sinking market, we can find new increments in low -line cities.

There is a saying that where this world is torn, where will it usher in a round of crazy growth. For the mother and baby industry, the demographic dividend in first -tier and second -tier cities has been torn and sinking in time. It is not too late for the time. There is still a lot of room for maternal and infant markets.

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