Original: Maternity and Baby Observers.
Sources: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3ouR4A3lzsE2Rs3qiwxkFQ
In recent years, with the industry undergoing rapid changes and a trend of “intensified competition,” an unwritten rule emerged: “those who survive come out on top.” Numerous brand updates and business rises and falls tell us that once you leave the playing field, it becomes much harder to return.
Comparing two surveys conducted by the Maternity and Baby Observers, the proportion of respondents who think that 2025 will be more difficult has not decreased significantly. Indeed, some non-industry respondents remarked that in 2024, a lot of effort might only yield a meager return, which is considered relatively good; by 2025, the entire mother and baby industry may face even greater pressures. Hence, the theme of “holding on” naturally emerged.
Why “hold on”? Delving into the current state of practitioners across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry, everyone has their own set of anxieties and confusion:
At the distributor level, cries to cut out middlemen grow louder. Traditional supply-based agents are falling out of favor, and a shift to specialized meticulous cultivation isn’t achieved overnight. There is a sentiment among practitioners that “in the next two years, half of the current distributors will disappear, and another half will follow.” Focusing on end stores – from systemized, traditional, boutique to therapeutic-type stores – the competition spanning from products to services, from emotional satisfaction to professional experience, becomes more generalized, and whether the 80,000 outlets will be the final number is still uncertain.
Meanwhile, most brand operators are also not having as easy a time as in the past two years. On one hand, the competition for market share has become fiercer, with emerging brands continually arising and quickly seizing opportunities among niche demographics and scenarios; for brands, maintaining their market share is no small feat. On the other hand, the internal competition is escalating, from early price and marketing wars to now fierce battles over value and channel strategies. Managing to survive and achieve modest growth is already admirable, and aiming for long-term leadership further tests brand resilience.
In the new cycle of industry development, although “holding on” isn’t the only solution, it may be the best one, because to survive means everything. If one can withstand this phase, the market will once again converge and concentrate towards the leading businesses – but the prerequisite is staying in the game.
On a deeper level, “holding on” doesn’t imply inaction but rather maneuvers to find opportunities and anticipate the industry’s evolutionary direction.
1. Strategically overviewing the whole picture: Maternity and Baby Observers joins forces with nearly a hundred heavyweight guests to unveil category opportunities and industry outlets.
Let’s first review some past trend sharing by Maternity and Baby Observers, such as functional concepts supporting high-end product premiums, the clear trend of polarization in the diaper market, the burgeoning demand for older children’s care products, professional subdivision holding up new growth in baby goods, toys going overseas as a new trend, and trendy toys becoming the second growth curve for mother and baby stores, which have now all become reality.
In any industry, first movers always have the advantage. Once strategic mistakes occur, it’s difficult to turn the tide. Based on nearly a year of offline market visits, targeted interviews with practitioners, and in-depth research by the entire team, the “Maternity and Baby Observers Annual Report 2024” will be released at the Future Mother and Baby Congress, offering an incisive dissection of the channel business status, thorough exploration of category opportunities, and profound interpretations of future trends.
It’s not just the Maternity and Baby Observers team; we’ve also invited nearly a hundred heavyweight guests to initiate brainstorming sessions, providing firsthand insights, professional predictions, and trend insights to guide practitioners towards the next year’s growth directions.
2. Tactically winning over long-distance: A one-stop-shop precision docking of the whole industry chain to enhance business efficiency.
For a long time, the first and foremost problem troubling practitioners isn’t “what can be done” but “how it can be done.” From the perspective of channels, selecting the right products has always been a core determinant of life and death, especially in the current context of intensifying homogeneous competition. Finding a highly potential and profitable blockbuster product or trendy new item is key to creating a differentiated advantage. For brands, it’s essential that good products get noticed. Marketing to end-users is indispensable, but at the same time, meticulous layout on the channel level is crucial.
The two major issues before them are how to reach out to good products and achieve cooperation, and how excellent channels can embrace and realize long-term win-win scenarios. To this end, many practitioners are specially invited to participate as exhibitors at the Future Mother and Baby Congress and establish communication booths, covering leading brands, dark horses in the race, quality online and offline channels, as well as supply chains, factories, influencers, MCN agencies, service providers, and many other forces from the mother and baby industry chain. The face-to-face interactions allow for a one-stop session from expressing needs to resource docking and achieving cooperation, laying a solid foundation for business growth in the coming year.
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1. CBME 2024 baby industry networking events
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