The following article was originally published by Cross-Border One-Stop Service at the Chang-Zhu-Tan Cross-Border E-commerce Comprehensive Service Center. Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/c24_NjvUkUkZRIX2anevUg
With the acceleration of globalization and the booming development of e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce has become the preferred option for an increasing number of entrepreneurs. The maternity and baby products industry, with its massive market size and continuously growing demand, has become one of the most attractive entrepreneurial fields. Especially with the advancement of the Belt and Road initiative, the cross-border e-commerce market for maternity and baby products is presented with even more opportunities!
01 / Market Overview
In recent years, the global maternity and baby products market has continued to expand, with China’s market showing particularly outstanding performance. According to statistics, the scale of the Chinese maternity and baby market exceeded 2 trillion yuan in 2023, with an annual growth rate maintained above 10%. Main foreign trade sales in maternity and baby products include the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Canada, and others. Among them, in the cross-border export e-commerce market, the United States and Brazil are key national markets for maternity and baby clothing and toys. Consumers born in the 1980s and 1990s have become the main force in maternity and baby product consumption, with an increasing demand for high-quality, personalized products.
It is predicted that the global maternity and baby industry will grow at an annual compound growth rate of over 5%, and by 2027, the global market size for maternity and baby products may approach 1.4 trillion USD.
02 / Product Selection Reference
Infant food and nutritional products: Including imported milk powder, complementary foods, vitamins, DHA supplements, etc. Such products are the basic demand in the maternity and baby market but must ensure that all goods meet the food safety standards of the importing country.
Infant care products: Items like diapers, wet wipes, bath products, bottles, pacifiers, etc. Demand for these products is stable and they have a high repurchase rate; consider choosing high-quality products from internationally renowned brands.
Child safety products: Such as baby beds, safety seats, corner protectors, baby monitors, etc. Focus on the quality and safety of products to meet parents’ demands for a secure living environment for their babies.
Maternity products: Including maternity clothing, skincare products for pregnant women, breastfeeding supplies (like breast pumps), and prenatal health products, also emphasizing brand and quality.
Educational and intelligent toys: Such as cloth books, puzzles, building blocks, story machines, etc., which help with early childhood education and have high added value.
Fashionable children’s clothing and accessories: Can introduce some international trendy brands of children’s clothing, along with shoes, hats, scarves, etc., to meet the demand of young parents pursuing individuality and fashion.
Smart health-monitoring devices: For example, children’s thermometers and smart bands. With the development of technology, more and more families are starting to focus on smart health management.
03 / Strategic Suggestions
- Integrate and shorten the supply chain
Many maternity and baby enterprises enter the cross-border blue ocean market with standard products, but it is difficult to form differentiation in highly competitive markets and find their customers.
The first step is to select the right category for oneself. Secondly, the true core competitiveness of the maternity and baby cross-border e-commerce platform lies in supply chain control. Building a comprehensive or vertical online e-commerce platform can shorten the stages of the cross-border supply chain, fully enhancing the control over the supply chain. At the same time, realize brand direct supply, reduce procurement costs and supply costs, lower the cross-border consumption costs for consumers, and obtain brand authorization whenever possible to enhance consumer trust in the brand.
- Focus on services and logistics
Most cross-border issues and risks are centered around after-sales, with problems like slow shipping, delayed logistics information, lost items, damaged packages, and risks of customs detention deterring consumers. High communication costs for issues with goods have a significant negative impact on consumers.
For this reason, particular attention needs to be paid to logistics and after-sales service. Moreover, services that domestic e-commerce examples provide, such as 24/7 customer service lines, real-time logistics tracking, online real-time response to customer service, etc., can all meet the needs.
- Pay attention to offline experiences
Maternity and baby cross-border e-commerce platforms should focus on consumer experience, linking online data and operational approaches to offline development, combining online and offline perfectly.
Achieve data interoperability and complementarity of advantages. This not only adapts to the differentiated specific consumption scenarios of consumers, increases their trust but also realizes two-way traffic guiding between online and offline, reducing operating costs.
All in all, as a current hot industry, maternity and baby cross-border e-commerce has vast development prospects and opportunities for the future. Under the incentive of the Belt and Road economic strategy policy, the future of China’s maternity and baby cross-border e-commerce remains a highly sought-after project.
