High-end baby market opportunities or fantasy?

The birth of the British Royal Baby allowed many big names to see business opportunities.

The “Petits Bonheurs” clothing collection designed by Dior for the royal little prince, Carl Lagerfeld’s “Royal Dummy” teat designed for the little prince, designed by Kristin Lacroix for the British Prince Baby Siamese, all luxury clothing brands are trying to carry the royal winds, to seize the opportunity of the high-end baby market.

Indeed, in recent years, the development potential of the baby market has continued to show. According to statistical data from the Baby and Child Industry Research Center, in the future, the baby's economy will grow at a rate of doubling in five years, and the scale is expected to reach 3 trillion yuan.

At the same time, with the continuous expansion of the "80s" young parent groups, higher demands have been placed on the mother-child market. Huge business opportunities also stimulate the sensitive commercial nerves of many brands. In particular, with the rapid growth of the mid- to high-end baby market, more and more clothing brands are trying to grasp business opportunities through the development of the children's wear line.

This is an extremely prominent performance in the Chinese home market.

From Jiangnan to Yi Shili, from clothing to Mets Bonwe, various brands have tried to dig up the baby market. At the same time, in the face of the accelerating pace of entry into the Chinese market for high-end luxury baby clothes, local apparel brands have also sought to defend their positions through various means. In response, Semir decided to start with an agent.

Although the children's wear brand Balabala's performance in the local market is remarkable, but for the high-end children's wear market that Semma valued, Semir chose a more secure way to enter - acting as the high-end luxury children's wear brand Sarabanda and Miniband.

Some people regard this move as a "sweeping force" to enrich children's clothing products and break through the bottleneck. But at the same time, some people think that, as a leader in the popular low-cost brand, does Semima have the operational ability and talent team to be involved in the high-end market?

Although the future of "Chinese and foreign marriages" is still in an uncertain state, the only thing that will make us clear and convinced is that the mid-to-high end baby market will continue to show its outstanding development potential.

In this regard, how should the local infant and baby enterprises be grasped?

Chen Xing, director of Yingshi Brand Planning Center, wants to find the “point of effort” at the high end

The baby industry in China is still relatively small and is still in its early stages of development.

According to the latest statistical data from the well-known children's wear fair CBME (Shanghai Children's Wear & Accessories Fair), in the current baby and baby market, companies with an annual turnover of 50 million yuan or less account for 77% of the total number of companies in the baby industry; annual turnover is 1,000. Enterprises with less than 10,000 yuan account for 50% of the total number of enterprises in the industry; those with annual sales of between 500 million yuan and 1 billion yuan account for about 5% of the total number of companies in the baby industry.

Although the number of enterprises in the baby industry is relatively large, it is still dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. This is mainly because the threshold for the industry is low, and the requirements for capital and technology are not high. At the same time, the industry is small and scattered. In this regard, the brand establishment of the baby industry still needs to be rebuilt.

At the same time, however, the baby industry also shows great potential for development.

According to reports from relevant institutions of the baby industry, the baby industry will continue to show an increase trend from 2012 to 2013. 68% of companies will achieve a 20% increase; 29% of companies will increase by more than 50%; companies expected to achieve 100% increase will also account for 19% of the total number of enterprises in the industry, of course, which also includes many new entry companies .

The upward trend in the development of the baby market has given the baby industry a high degree of attention in the apparel industry as a whole. With the population growth and the continuous advancement of China’s urbanization process, although the current development trend of the industry is in a healthy state, as more and more companies continue to enter this market, the market is increasingly fierce.

At present, in the baby and baby industry, the enterprises with the most potential have emerged as two types of development. One is a commercial complex with a more concentrated mid- to high-end baby brand, such as a shopping mall, and the other is a community mother-and-baby chain store, which mainly consists of one-stop themed shopping with children's products and clothing.

However, as a whole, in the high-end baby market, there are not many indigenous brands, and this market is mostly controlled by international brands. At the same time, consumers who purchase high-end baby products are more concerned with brand awareness, including product quality and brand reputation.

With regard to the development of local baby brands, the overall operating system of the industry is still relatively weak. Many small and medium-sized brands have not even entered the category management stage, and the degree of subdivision and refinement of products is far from enough.

At the same time, the demand for consumer upgrades in the local market continues to rise. Consumers in the first and second tier cities are increasingly pursuing rational shopping when purchasing baby products. They are increasingly concerned about brands, product quality, and product safety. Therefore, the current status of this industry provides tremendous opportunities for the development of the mid-to-high-end baby clothes market, and at the same time, it also intensifies the competition of various brands in this market.

For local brands, the future in the game with the international brand in the baby clothes market has advantages and disadvantages.

Compared with international brands, the industry of local baby clothing brands is concentrated and some industrial clusters are formed, such as Zhili and Foshan. This makes local brands have obvious advantages in production and processing. At the same time, the difference in the concept of parenting between the East and the West makes local brands more consistent with local consumption habits in product development.

For example, infants in China basically stay at home after they are born. Even if they go out in strollers, they are often used to cover quilts. Therefore, most of the baby clothes are mainly underwear. In contrast, foreign infants stay relatively long outside, and at the same time, they usually wear coats, shoes and other clothing when they go out. Therefore, they have considerable consumer demand for clothes.

In terms of relative advantages, the weaknesses of local brands in market competition are also more obvious. On the whole, local baby brands are still lacking in brand awareness, management level and management platform. Its managers are not clear about the concept of the brand, and they are not systematic in the shaping of the brand. At the same time, many management platforms for distribution agencies lack an effective management platform for agents.

In this regard, local brands must strengthen their self-improvement if they want to gain an advantage in the baby-to-child market in the future. First of all, from the customer's point of view, the method of researching the retail terminal is continuously studied. This is also an important method for the company to promote itself. Second, it continuously subdivides and deepens products and brands. To understand what is the focus of your brand, is to do brand or platform. Again, achieve effective communication with customers. This requires companies to focus on membership management, rather than just provide a single service, to understand the real needs of customers in the interaction with customers.

Water children's clothing market director Wang Lei The market of China's children's wear, where the market is changing, is the hottest market in the world. Various forces have entered or are about to enter. The entry of numerous international brands and retail predators has also injected new fashion consumption concepts and lifestyles into the local market.

As far as the domestic high-end children's wear market is concerned, 85% is still controlled by international first-line brands, and 10% to 15% of domestic high-end brands are complementary. With the further rapid development of domestic second-tier cities, the sinking of international brand channels is underway. However, due to the lack of a clear brand style and positioning, local middle-end and high-end children's wear brands are facing increasing market pressure.

In the face of a large local market for consumer groups, the needs of consumers at all levels are gradually clear, and they gradually return to rationality from hot weather. The original seller's market has quietly shifted to the buyer's market.

When buying high-end brands, consumers first think about which brand I like to look at, and whether they have the style they like, and finally consider the price. Unlike consumers of high-end baby products, mid-to-low-end brand consumers tend to value product prices and styles, and only focus on brands.

But whether it is high-end market or low-end market, consumers will increasingly clear their own needs, which requires brands to provide more clear products and services.

However, in the construction of high-end baby brands, the domestic luxury brand has had limited experience in the high-end operation of the local children's wear brands due to the short time for the formation of domestic luxury soils. Brand tonality is often not valued. After several years of development, many brands do not have a core asset. Therefore, it is very difficult for the segmented high-end people to have clear brand recognition, which will plagued the brand's development for a long time.

At the same time, domestic high-end children's wear will not mature within a certain period of time, because the high-end brand has two parts in essence: brand products and brand associations, the two are equally important. In other words, not only the top product development capabilities are needed, but also a large number of effective and relevant factual operations that support the brand image are needed. However, the high-end of domestic brands is only high prices, lack of brand-related construction and investment, it will take time to nurture and grow.

Of course, the precise grasp of consumer psychology and demand of the domestic population is the advantage of local brands.

For any brand, positioning is inevitable. Positioning is the result of market segmentation. You cannot take all the consumers. To find your consumers, you must first know their needs. Like product style, age range, main category, major market areas, etc., all need to be positioned. The positioning of the brand in the market is not static: China's economic development is fast, and the regional division of consumers becomes more obvious, and strategies should be adjusted as soon as the market changes.

Red Baby Product Planning Manager Dong Dong luxury baby brand focuses on "born"

The structure of the baby and baby market in China is not yet reasonable, and low-end brands still dominate the market.

Many low-end brands have grown up from the wholesale market, stalls, and online shopping platforms. The degree of product segmentation is not enough and homogeneity is more serious. Currently, it is still in the competitive stage of price competition.

However, this competitive pattern has gradually improved and adjusted in the appeal for consumption upgrade.

Baby clothing may be the most unique of all clothing categories because its buyers and users are completely different. Therefore, this requires that the products and services of children's wear brands must satisfy the preferences and requirements of both groups.

In terms of products, with the continuous improvement of their parents' consumption awareness in the 1980s and 1990s, their demand for children's wear products has become higher and higher. In addition to more detailed requirements on the quality of children's wear, they are more professional in their knowledge of fabrics, dyes, and washings, and understand the pros and cons of many fabrics and ingredients. In this regard, this requires the brand to work hard on the green environment of baby products. At the same time, the brand must also strengthen its control over the finishing of garments.

For children, what they like is something that can resonate with themselves. They currently do not have self-conscious aesthetic preferences. They think that the trends are mostly character characters of popular cartoons. In this regard, companies in research and development also try to move closer in this direction.

With regard to services, with the continuous improvement of the professional knowledge of new generations of parents, they often raise a lot of professional issues when purchasing baby clothes, which requires the brand to increase the training of shopping guide professional knowledge.

In terms of services for children, it is also very important to let children like branded products and services. This requires a storefront shopping guide to have affinity, like to communicate with children. At the same time, configure things that children like.

In terms of the positioning of baby products, although consumption upgrade is a major trend, there are indeed not many local brands that can achieve high-end brands.

At present, high-end brands of baby products are mostly concentrated in shopping centers and department stores in first and second-tier cities. Most of them are international premium baby brands.

These high-end baby wear brands themselves are niche and serve a niche crowd. As far as the consumption habits of the mainstream Chinese people are concerned, they will hardly invest too much in baby clothes. Therefore, in my opinion, the main force of future baby clothes consumption is the mid-range and mass brands.

However, it is undeniable that premium products for high-end baby clothes really envy people. However, I think that it is not easy for China’s baby companies to replicate the pattern of international luxury baby clothes.

In fact, the most important thing to become a luxury product is the brand accumulation and recognition created by the year. Judging from the current market of China's baby and children, these brands have at most a few decades or more than a decade of development history. Therefore, as far as the current situation is concerned, there is almost no possibility for the local baby brand to build high-end luxury brands.

At the same time, it is not easy to create an influential luxury brand in a single category. Looking at the international luxury baby clothes, it is not difficult to find that these big-name baby clothes are mostly affiliated brands of luxury brands, and special children's wear luxury brands are still relatively few.

In this regard, I believe that even if China can produce its own high-end baby clothing brand in the future, it should be born as a children's clothing brand line of well-known local clothing brands.

After all, although children are the main consumers of baby clothes, they do not have the right to control wealth. Therefore, it is very difficult to make a special high-end children's wear brand. For parents, they must spend a lot of money to buy baby clothes, it must be a considerable understanding of the brand and brand identity. In this regard, parents will be more inclined to purchase baby products that are familiar with the brand, because the design style and brand culture of these brands of baby products are highly regarded, so they are also willing to pay for the purchase.

BAM Brand Management Co., Ltd. General Manager Jiang Hairun's high-end brand "M" Future China's children's wear market can be said to be an era of blooming flowers. A report once pointed out that in China, a new brand is born every 6 seconds. The consumption upgrade and industrial upgrading promoted by rapid economic development have jointly promoted the rapid rise of China's children's industry.

However, in general, the development of China's children's clothing industry is still in its infancy, with low industrial concentration and few domestic enterprises. At the same time, as Xian Langping said, with the development of “M” consumption trends, Chinese people’s demand for high-end markets is increasing. Relevant data show that 14% of Chinese consumers only buy high-end products.

In this regard, the high-end children's wear market has also become a market for many brands interested in the Nuggets, but in my opinion, only by taking the road of Chinese-style brands can build their own high-end brands.

The introduction of luxury brands can leverage the original brand influence. But in the long run, it is to do wedding dress for others. China should have its own high-end brand. For companies that want to make a temporary profit or want a brand for a century, this road must be clear.

In 2013, a development report was issued in the Zhejiang textile and apparel industry. After 10 years of rapid development, the cost and price advantages of traditional enterprises face severe challenges. The birth of brand awareness is the cure for malnutrition.

At the same time, children's wear brands should also grasp the general trend of online shopping.

However, many online shopping young people currently do not have high-end spending power. At the same time, among the people living in the “M” type society, only 14% of consumers consume high-end brands, and 86% of the consumer market has more business opportunities.

In this regard, there will be a market for high-end and low-end price positioning, and the mid-range market will gradually shrink. Therefore, high-end brands should rely on their original brand influence to share their cake in the e-commerce market.

Mr. Yu Zongde, deputy general manager of Mamma Maka Operation Center, is not necessarily a market with strong middle-end and high-end baby wear. Therefore, at the beginning, we will enter the infant market with a medium-to-high end position.

Compared to clothing companies entering the baby clothes market, the brand focused on baby clothes also has its own advantages.

For example, clothing brands such as ZARA and H&M have their own children's wear collections, but their operation is mostly single-brand operation. The children's wear collections are just a product line that enriches their product categories. For brands focusing on the children's wear market, they can achieve multi-brand and multi-category operations in their operating methods. This is to some extent more in line with the consumption characteristics of baby products in the current local market.

Nowadays, when many people consume baby products, they are more used to buying everything they need. In response, in recent years, one-stop shopping malls have developed rapidly. Many baby brands have adopted this terminal operation to provide consumers with a better shopping experience.

This new change in consumer demand in the domestic market has provided baby and baby brands with more room for development. Focusing on the baby industry, it will make it easier for them to deepen their product segmentation, deepening and professionalism, and improve their product mix. For example, in many one-stop shopping experience stores, infants, children, children, and children's clothing will be available. At the same time, there are accessories such as accessories, shoes and hats. Each category may require a professional color team for color design.

Local brands also have their own localization advantages in the game with international brands in the high-end market. After all, local baby brands are more familiar with Chinese clothing habits, body types, and preferences.

At the same time, many people may feel that international brands have a clear advantage over the domestic baby brands in product fashion design. However, in the battle of the terminal market, this may not necessarily translate into the advantages of international brands. For many avant-garde, vanguard designs, acceptance in the end market is not high. Taishi is not necessarily an advantage. Chinese consumers have their own interpretation of fashion.