Disclaimer: The following article was originally published by iiMedia Report Center, Author iiMedia Jun
As post-90s and post-95s step into childbearing age, these platforms begin to welcome a new generation of expecting mothers. This demographic has a greater demand for one-stop service platforms- Baby products e-commerce platforms in China. Integrated maternal and child platforms combining information, knowledge, communication, e-commerce and other services are developing in an ecological model, becoming the main direction of growth in the mobile mother and baby industry.
Core Viewpoints
With those born in the 90s/95s becoming the new main force of the mother and baby user base, and the demand for integrated maternal and child platforms is expanding. The size of mobile mother and baby platform users is expected to reach 204 million in 2019. As those born in the 90s and post-95s enter childbearing age, the main user demographic of mother and baby users begins to change. The new generation of expecting mothers has demands for information, knowledge, forum communication, and e-commerce consumption, promoting integrated mother and baby platforms to become the mainstream of the industry.
The demand for the quality of maternal and child consumer goods is on the rise, and brand reputation has become the primary factor for mothers in choosing brands for mother and child products. 55.6% of the surveyed users on comprehensive platforms during pregnancy consider the brand’s reputation as the primary factor in their choice of mother and child product brands. As people’s standards of living continue to improve, the new generation of expecting mothers tend to provide a better environment for their infants, and the importance of building brand reputation is increasing.
Eight out of ten expecting mothers enjoy being “seeded” with recommendations, and socialized marketing on mother and baby platforms holds tremendous potential. With the development of China’s e-commerce system maturing, the consumption channels and varieties of consumer goods available to expectant mothers are increasingly abundant. Therefore, personalized recommendation behaviors such as “grass-planting” are more easily accepted.
Selected Content From the Report
Macro Environment Is Favorable, Mobile Mother and Baby Platform Users to Exceed 200 Million in 2019
iiMedia Research data shows that in 2019, the scale of users on China’s mobile mother and baby platforms is expected to reach 204 million, a growth of over 30% from 2018, with 2020 expected to reach 239 million users.
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that the current Chinese government is encouraging childbirth, coupled with the continuous improvement of living environments and health conditions, as well as the rapid development of the mobile internet, the outlook for the development of the mobile mother and baby industry is optimistic, with high growth expected to continue.
Mother and Baby Users Are Changing, Demand for Comprehensive Platforms Increases
Mother and Baby Platforms Strengthen Ecological Layout, Developing Toward Comprehensive Communities
The vast market space of the mother and baby industry is attracting many enterprises to the field, and in the fierce market competition, mother and baby platforms are strengthening their ecological layout to enhance comprehensive competitiveness, starting to develop toward comprehensive communities. Developing integrated maternal and child platforms can effectively accumulate users and enrich profit models through business expansion. The accumulation of data on mother and baby users also helps enterprises better meet the needs of this demographic.
The Development of Integrated Mother and Baby Platforms Faces Resistance; The Importance of Platform Reputation Is Highlighted
The development of integrated mother and baby platforms is also facing various disadvantages. Data from iiMedia Research reveals, the number of births in China is trending downward, with the number of newborns and the birth rate both declining from 2017 to 2018. The declining fertility intentions of the younger generation are hindering the expansion of the user base for integrated mother and baby platforms. On the other hand, the cyclical nature of mother and baby users determines that the user base of integrated mother and baby platforms will continue to change. Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that with the change of mother and baby cycles, the development of integrated mother and baby platforms needs to establish a good brand reputation in order to attract new mother and baby demographics, thus maintaining platform development.
Pregnant Users Account for Nearly Forty Percent; Post-90s/95s Become the Main Force
Data from iiMedia Research shows that users of integrated mother and baby platforms are mainly composed of the post-90s and post-95s demographic, accounting for 39.6% and 32.0%, respectively. Pregnant users account for 38.1% and are the main force using integrated mother and baby platforms. Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that as the post-90s and post-95s gradually enter childbearing age, the user base of integrated mother and baby platforms begins to change. This demographic is highly reliant on the internet, with a high demand for a one-stop shop for obtaining information and services for pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and parenting periods. This is leading more and more pregnant users to start using integrated mother and baby platforms.
Users of Integrated Mother and Baby Platforms Have Diverse Information Needs
iiMedia Research data reveals that users on integrated mother and baby platforms prefer to access parenting knowledge, with 52.1% favoring this type of information. Users also show significant interest in pre-pregnancy knowledge, physiological health, and pregnancy care information, with more than thirty percent of users interested in each category, showing the diversity of information acquisition needs.
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that a large portion of the mother and baby users are new to pregnancy and parenting issues and lack understanding of such knowledge, hence they have a wide range of needs for various information regarding pregnancy and parenting. Driven by user demand, various mother and baby platforms are also strengthening their transition to comprehensive ecological platforms.
Mama.com Leads in User Experience Satisfaction Among Integrated Mother and Baby Platforms
Data from iiMedia Research indicates that among the various integrated mother and baby platforms, Mama.com and Baby Tree lead the industry in user experience satisfaction, scoring 7.84 and 7.81, respectively.
Analysts from iiMedia Research consider that Mama.com and Baby Tree belong to the leading companies in the integrated mother and baby industry, with the most completely developed platform business ecology, covering information, tools, communities, e-commerce, and other areas, which are more favored by the mother and baby population with a high demand for one-stop services.
Pregnant Users Open the Comprehensive Mother and Baby APP Almost 3 Times Daily
iiMedia Research data shows that pregnant users of the surveyed integrated mother and baby platforms open the APP an average of 2.91 times per day.
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that the integrated mother and baby platforms are gradually being built as mother and baby ecological communities. The platform combines various functions, and pregnant users prefer to obtain information, forum exchanges, and use relevant tools through the platform, beginning to form the habit of using the APP frequently every day.
On Integrated Mother and Baby Platforms, Eighty Percent of Pregnant Mothers Like Being “Seeded”
Data from iiMedia Research reveals that 83.2% of surveyed pregnant users on integrated mother and baby platforms like to be “seeded” with recommendations.
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that with the maturation of China’s e-commerce system, the channels and types of consumer goods available to expectant mothers are increasingly abundant. Therefore, personalized recommendation behaviors such as “grass-planting” are more accepted. Currently, integrated mother and baby platforms have also begun introducing community discussions and recommended channels and have become the main channel for pregnant users to be “seeded,” able to effectively utilize their preferences to realize socialized operations.
Brand Reputation Becomes the Primary Consideration for Users Choosing Mother and Baby Brands
Data from iiMedia Research shows that pregnant users on integrated mother and baby platforms prioritize the brand reputation when choosing mother and baby product brands, with a proportion of 55.6%.
Analysts from iiMedia Research consider that users of childbearing age among the post-90s/95s, having grown up in relatively good environments, have higher safety demands for mother and baby products. Thus, brand reputation construction becomes particularly important.
Mama.com: Creating a mother and Baby Ecological Loop
Mama.com is a professional internet service provider serving the mother demographic, aimed at creating a multi-faceted internet mother and baby service platform centered on mothers and extending through the family market to establish a new generation of “Mother Ecological Circles.”
Mama.com: Capturing First Place in Expectant Mothers’ Hearts, Leading Patterned Innovation and Marketing
Mama.com has been diligently operating in the mother and baby industry, following user development trends and leading innovation in marketing. In 2019, Mama.com officially announced Xie Na as its new brand spokesperson and realized high-intensity brand exposure through various channels, gaining mindshare among users and harvesting the new generation of expectant mothers, achieving first in monthly active user growth rate in the first half of the year with a 58.1% active user ratio during pregnancy leading the market.
Baby Tree: Internet Mother and Baby Community Platform
Baby Tree is continually iterating and updating its products through extensive R&D, adding new features such as social interaction to gain product competitive edge; on the other hand, it integrates industry resources, actively lays out overseas markets, conducts horizontal and vertical business expansion, horizontally arranges AI education, AI robots, and vertically works closely with traffic entry points, further raising industry barriers. At present, “social + e-commerce” is a common model on internet mother and baby platforms, and Baby Tree’s layout in AI technology will be more advantageous in gaining competitive edge.
Qinbaobao: A Tool-Based Mobile Mother and Baby Platform for Families
Analysis of Development Trends of China’s Comprehensive Mother and Baby Platforms
Macro Environment Favors Continued Release of Mother and Baby Industry Development Potential
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that the country is actively promoting childbirth and optimal birth policies, comprehensively advancing the implementation of the two-child policy; on the other hand, the internet environment is mature, and network penetration and infrastructure construction are constantly being improved. The Chinese internet mother and baby market is a typical demand-based market, with policy improvements and living environment enhancements promoting the demand for internet mother and baby products. Integrated mother and baby platforms are continuously unlocking market potential. At the same time, the vast prospects of the mother and baby market are also attracting internet giants into the field. E-commerce companies like Alibaba and JD.com have joined the competition in the mother and baby market through investment or business layouts. Intense competition among the platforms fosters higher-quality services, benefiting the user experience.
As Mother and Baby Users Become More Professional, Platform Reputation Becomes Key to Customer Acquisition
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that the post-90s and post-95s have become the main force among mother and baby users at this stage. The new generation of pregnant mothers grown in a nurturing environment have higher expectations for the safety, sophistication, and trendiness of mother and baby products, while also demanding more mother and baby information and knowledge. The professionalism of integrated mother and baby platforms has become the focus of user choice. Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that in response to changes in user demand, integrated mother and baby platforms need to strengthen the product and service experience and establish brand reputation. As the influence of brand reputation on user acquisition for platforms increases, the competitive advantage of leading integrated mother and baby platforms will become more pronounced in the future.
The Ecological Development Trend Becomes More Apparent on Mother and Baby Platforms, Extending User Lifecycles
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that the competitiveness of mother and baby platforms operating on a single model is diminishing. Mother and baby users have different product and service needs during various stages of pregnancy, and the new generation is living in a faster-paced environment, with a higher demand for a one-stop mother and baby platform. In addition, the cyclical nature of mother-baby users is unchangeable. Mother and baby platforms need to extend their products and services to cover the user lifecycle, such as arranging postnatal caregivers, second-hand toy trading and other downstream products and services for the pregnancy stage, continuously expanding the platform’s ecology. Overall, ecologically developed integrated mother and baby platforms will increasingly strengthen their advantages in future market competition.
Strengthening Offline Development, Integrated Mother and Baby Platforms Continue to Lay Out New Retail Formats
Analysts from iiMedia Research believe that users of integrated mother and baby platforms have a high level of concern for the quality of mother and baby products and a strong demand for parenting knowledge and experience exchanges. Therefore, the trend of integrated mother and baby platforms combining offline development and laying out new retail formats for mother and baby products will become increasingly evident. Currently, platforms like Mama.com have begun to lay out offline physical stores, establishing reputation and brand recognition through online operations, then reinforcing consumer confidence through offline product experiences, quickly gaining users. In the future, more integrated mother and baby platforms will lay out new retail formats, continuously optimizing logistics delivery, channel management and so on. New retail will become an important direction for the development of integrated mother and baby platforms.
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