In January 2016, China’s single child policy lifted. The effects of this aren’t immediate, but they are encouraging for foreign businesses looking to export to China’s market.

Truthfully, it’ll take some time (perhaps years) for the change to be fully embraced by Chinese society. It’s not a single factor that can influence family planning and the industry needs time to adjust and benefit from the new normal. But estimates by China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission illustrate that the opportunity is there and the change to policy could drive the consumption growth by 13% year-on-year.

The size of the Maternity & Baby products industry is expected to exceed 3 trillion RMB in 2018, an increase from last year’s 2.59 trillion RMB. Adding to that, the industry is expected to see consumption growth of more than 30 billion RMB year on year, based on an average annual consumption of 12,000 RMB per newborn infant.

Maternity, Infant and Children products refer to a wide range of categories:

• formula,
• nutritional supplements,
• diapers and wet wipes,
• toiletries,
• feeding supplies,
• car seats,
• prams,
• toys and books,
• clothes,
• shoes,
• and bedding.

Currently, the 80’s and 90’s generations are the big spenders. With an increasing middle class and an improvement of living standards, young parents naturally want the best of the best for their children.

China’s recent announcement, the ambitious goal of aligning the product standards of their toys with international standards by the end of 2018, echoes the increasing demand for high quality and high safety requirements in children’s products in the Chinese market.

Low risk pathway

Cross border e-commerce, done right, is the low risk and effective way of entering and testing demand for some products in China.

China’s Baby & Mum industry presents immense opportunities for foreign brands.

The 80’s and 90’s generations are internet savvy, and they grew up in an e-commerce era – where shopping has become more of a social phenomenon. These young parents are heavily influenced by social media and other digital channels, and they enjoy sharing their experience online too.

Regarding the latest statistics, the trend of selling baby products through online platforms has risen from 6% to 23% between 2013 and 2018.

The e-commerce environment in China is extremely well developed. Key players, like Tmall and JD, act as types of all-you-can-buy department stores in online platforms. There is also a popular trend of vertical e-commerce platforms that focus on a specific industry, such as baby & mum industry.

We’ve gathered together 5 vertical platforms in maternity-infant-children care that we think are worth keeping an eye on in the next few years:

1. MIA 蜜芽

• Headquarters: Beijing
• Established in: Feb, 2014

MIA is the first cross-border baby & mum e-commerce platform with a ’brand flash-sale online’. Their focus is baby & mum products, and over 70% of what they offer are imported products.

2. Beibei 贝贝网

• Headquarters: Hangzhou
• Established in: April, 2014

BeiBei is a community focused e-commerce platform that provides genuine and safe products to younger mothers. Beibei is dedicated to sourcing the best domestic and foreign brands for their customers.

3. BaobeiGeZi 宝贝格子

• Headquarters: Beijing
• Established in: Oct, 2014

BaobeiGeZi is a cross border e-commerce platform that specialises in baby & mum products, with a specific focus on 0-3 years. It blends both direct posts from overseas models, and special limited sales model to provide the best selection of baby & mum products to Chinese consumers.

4. MuYingZhiJia 母婴之家

• Headquarters: Shanghai
• Established in: Oct, 2003

Muyingzhijia.com has been established for 11 years. And it’s one of the most popular and integrated online platforms for buying a diverse range of maternity & baby products focused on age group between 0 to 3 years.

5. Kidswant 孩子王

• Headquarters: Nanjing
• Established in: April, 2009

Kidswant specialise in baby & mum product, looking after the age group from 0-14 years. They have both online and offline channels, and since the end of 2017, they have more than 200 stores open across 18 different provinces, and 103 cities.