In the category of nutritional products, in 2022, Zhongyi Maternity & Baby encountered a substantial decline in performance. It was at this juncture that Zhongyi Maternity & Baby began the reconstruction of the nutritional product category. As a veteran in the mother and baby industry with 23 years of experience and over 2000 stores, how does Zhongyi Maternity & Baby find a breakthrough in the nutritional product category to aid store growth?
Recently, at the CBME “Family Nutrition Development Conference,” the director of Zhongyi Maternity & Baby’s product center, Jin Yun, gave us an impressive share. The following is shared by Jin Yun, organized by CBME Insight:
When standing at the point of reconstruction of nutritional products in 2022, we asked ourselves three questions:
First, whether there has been a change in consumer awareness of nutritional product needs, and if there is a problem with this perception.
Second, as a store that has been rooted in the mother and baby industry for 23 years, can we sell this category well?
Third, how should we arrange the layout to excel in this category?
Zhongyi Maternity & Baby’s actions to rebuild nutritional products were based on these three questions.
Core of the reconstruction action — Rolling increase in the depth of single items to expand the depth of categories
The “2024 China Children’s Nutrition Trends Insight Report” indicates that 99.6% of parents supplement their children’s diet with nutritional products, among which 50.5% of parents consider additional nutritional supplements indispensable.
Specifically, for child nutrition supplementation by parents, 60.6% chose to give their children nutritional products with specific ingredients and effects.
Moreover, the “2023 China Maternity & Baby Nutritional Products Market Insight Report” also pointed out that in 2023, the size of the maternity and baby nutrition product market reached 94.4 billion yuan, maintaining double-digit growth each year within the past five years.
Clearly, consumer demand is strong, and the market size is particularly promising.
Returning to the second question, do we have the ability to sell well in the category of nutritional products? We believe that maternity and baby stores naturally have the right foundation for the development of nutritional products.
There are three reasons behind this: First, having been deeply involved in the mother and baby industry for 23 years, Zhongyi Maternity & Baby has become a professional retailer; second, over these 23 years, we have trained a group of mother and baby consultants with professional nutritional knowledge; third, all Zhongyi Maternity & Baby stores are located around communities, close to consumers.
So where is the problem? We believe the biggest issue is with the category layout, and thus we began the path of reconstruction.
How to rebuild the category layout? We chose a complete functional product arrangement and a break-through with best-selling items rather than a brand-based layout.
The reasons behind this are: firstly, whether online or offline, the nutritional product brand concentration is extremely low, and in such a low concentration situation, the cross-brand consistency online and offline is basically zero.
From the category perspective, we discover that the store categories are concentrated in four major categories: probiotics, DHA, food with health claims, and lactoferrin.
Our clear reconstruction path is to roll out deeper single-item depth to broaden the category depth.
Three actions are at the heart of rolling & lifting
How to roll & lift the depth of a single item? In January 2023, we added DHA and calcium; in April, lactoferrin; in September, probiotics; in November, we added drops (probiotics + calcium iron zinc); in December, we introduced the soft candy series; in April 2024, we will add food with health claims, vitamin A and D; and in May 2024, we will add a DHA series.
Rolling out new single products and our own product layout has expanded our entire category depth.
From the results, the share and sales of six main products are growing, simultaneously bringing the nutritional product category from a decline to a year-on-year increase of 17.6% in 2023, and an 18% increase in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period.
We summarize three key points to our improvement: simplify the complex, focus on the products themselves, and return to basic actions in terminal operations.
To elaborate further:
The first basic task is to rebuild by choosing products with functionality and cost-effectiveness.
How exactly do we select products? Taking our own lactoferrin product as an example, we focused on three aspects at the initial product development stage: first, enhancing the body’s resistance; second, improving intestinal function; third, promoting iron absorption.
With such targeted functionality, we made a compounding choice. Besides lactoferrin, we added other elements like immunoglobulin, elderberry, milk fat globule membrane, and bird’s nest acid.
After comparing with other lactoferrin products on the market and ensuring our formula has a competitive advantage, we adjusted the pricing, setting it at 218 yuan.
The second basic work is digital advertising + store image layout.
For our advertising, we conducted monthly, weekly rolling all-area and all-channel promotion, using content promotion; and product recommendations with science/popular topics introduction.
In terms of store image layout, we arranged special nutritional product sections and health food sections in stores and deeply tied them to all new member activities in the stores. For example, in this May’s newborn formula promotion, vitamin AD was included in the new customer gift package.
Apart from laying out basic store images, we also cherished the opportunities for deep communication with consumers in external collaborations. For example, in our starry sky camping activities, we would display our own products.
The third basic task is training & battle.
In 2024, we separated a nutrition product training camp from the original mother and baby consultant system. We insist on combining basic nutrition knowledge training for all stores with practical application.
The nutrition product training camp focuses on three points: building nutrition product sales elites; enhancing the promotion force of our own nutrition products; and boosting end-term sales of our own nutrition products.
The trainees are sales elites from various provinces, totaling 30 people. After nutritional product case sharing, experience exchanges, and professional empowerment, in 100 minutes of practical blasting, we achieved a 247% increase.
In the second half of the year, we will continue to focus on nutrition product training & battle.
Lastly, we hope that by specializing in professional nutrition, we can jointly work towards the smiles of mothers and the health of babies in the future.
(Note: Due to the length of the text, this is a concise translation where non-essential repetitive phrases have been omitted for clarity.)
