China’s maternal and baby store operations remain stable in the short term, with nutritional supplements, mother and baby products, and infant formula currently the categories with the highest growth in sales and profit share.
The 2024 China Maternity, Children and Baby Retail Market Report said children’s clothing and footwear rank fourth among the fastest-growing categories in terms of profit and third among the categories businesses hope to strengthen.
“Greater attention should be given to the management of this category,” it said.
The report said 65 percent of stores aim to enhance products for older children and families, while 70 percent of consumers are willing to purchase at mother and baby stores.
“The core foundation is still strengthening the sales of mother and baby products as well as enhancing user stickiness,” it said. “The key is to keep the core category while strengthening the distinctive second category and extending more categories.”
The report said consumption downgrade is manifested in the maternal and child channels, with 44 percent of the stores seeing a year-on-year decline in the prices of popular products.
In addition to maternal and children stores, the average price of products in online channels during January to June in 2024 also declined to varying degrees compared to the same period in 2023, it said.
“The main countermeasures for stores are to increase exclusive products and omni-channel services,” it said. “Offline stores still face the challenge of (the) number of consumers but their onmi-channel capabilities are rapidly strengthening with more room for growth.”
