Recently, Magic Mirror Insight released the “New Consumption Potential White Paper for Q2 2024,” which includes a quarterly review and summary of the mother and baby sector for Q2 2024. Key points are summarized as follows:
01. Industry Overview: Offline channels still have scale advantages, and the mother and baby care track shows high growth
Offline channels still have scale advantages, online channel share is continuously expanding
In Q2 2024, online sales for the mother and baby sector reached 61.55 billion yuan, with close to 700 million units sold, marking a solid market growth. Sales increased by 12.0% year-on-year. In terms of average price, the market average price for mother and baby products has rebounded, rising by 1.4% compared to the previous quarter, mainly due to market segmentation towards high-end products, increasing the added value of the products.
Looking at different channels, offline channels still have the advantage in scale, but online channels continue to expand. Since 2016, the growth rate of online channels has consistently been higher than that of offline channels.
For children aged 0-5 in China, the average annual consumption amount has been growing, indicating that the attention and spending power for child consumption are gradually increasing.
The essential baby products market remains stable, mother and baby care track is exhibiting a high-growth trend
Looking at the subsectors, the infant milk formula market is largest, with Q2 2024 sales reaching 13.3 billion yuan, an increase of 13.1% year-on-year.
Following is the significant volume of the infant diaper market, with sales surpassing 9.6 billion yuan, an increase of 12.2%. This growth was mainly influenced by the spike in births during the Year of the Dragon, as well as major promotional events like June 18 and celebrity endorsements.
Notably, the mother and baby care market, which grew rapidly, saw online market size reaching 4.85 billion yuan in Q2 2024, a year-on-year growth of 41.6%.
02. Subcategories: Liquid milk and camel milk became hot products; Adult care outperforms infant and child care
Dairy Products: Infant formula dominates, with high focus on DHA
In Q2 2024, the overall sales volume of the dairy products market increased by 9.2% year-on-year, indicating steady market growth. From a category distribution perspective, infant formula occupies a leading position at a 41.0% share. Meanwhile, sales of chilled dairy products grew rapidly within the quarter, increasing by 35.6% year-on-year, while the specialized formula milk market cooled down with a -35.2% increase in sales volume.
In Q2 2024, among the best-selling products, the addition of health components such as HMO, probiotics, and casein became highlights, focusing on core functions like promoting children’s growth, enhancing immunity, and supplementing calcium, fulfilling high consumer demands for healthy quality. Additionally, concepts like low-fat and original flavor also reflect modern preferences and pursuits for a healthy diet. This quarter’s explosive products mainly centered on liquid milk, camel milk, and infant milk powder, each with a market share exceeding 10%, showing strong growth momentum.
Top products of brands with high growth are evenly distributed across three major platforms, consolidating the traditional strongholds of milk and milk powder by leveraging JD.com’s supply chain advantages, while taking advantage of Douyin’s traffic boom to rapidly popularize innovative products such as camel milk powder and plum yogurt. Subtle differences between the platforms further promote market diversification and inclusiveness, achieving balanced cross-platform development.
When it comes to consumer purchase decisions, consumers pay the most attention to the product’s peculiar smell/scent, taste, and texture, which are directly related to the drinking experience, while paying relatively less attention to the product’s appearance and mixing effects. Compared to the same period in 2023, consumer focus on the drinking effect and ingredients of the products in this quarter is significantly higher than last year, mainly due to heightened consumer health awareness and increased transparency of product information, better fulfilling their consumption needs.
In the consumer group for dairy products, children lead as the main consumers, being in the developmental stage and requiring dairy products to supplement their nutritional needs. Additionally, compared to the same period last year, this year has seen a slight increase in the proportion of student consumers, mainly due to the continued promotion of DHA milk. DHA, known as “brain gold,” helps promote intellectual development, protects eyesight, and enhances learning efficiency.
Regarding efficacy, “brain nourishing” became a focal point for consumers this quarter. Combining milk powder with DHA and other nootropic components resulted in a 589.8% increase in voice growth rate year-on-year, drawing strong consumer attention.
Mother and Baby Care: Steady market growth, quality and cost-effectiveness are the main purchasing drivers.
Looking at the purchase drivers for maternity and baby wash and care products, quality health, and price-to-value are the main current considerations, with meeting national standards and healthy components becoming the consumers’ primary decision-making criteria.
In the mother and baby care market, facial care products, moisturizers, children’s sunscreen, and facial cleansers are the main daily products, with a Q2 total sales of 3.23 billion yuan, primarily dominated by basic needs.
Looking at the growth rate, postpartum oral care products and maternity hair care products performed well, with sales growth rates of 669.0% and 506.6% respectively, satisfying the dual needs of oral health and beauty image for women during and after pregnancy; child lip care/moisturizer and lotions slightly declined, while face creams and facial cleansers saw steady growth.
On social media platforms, discussions about maternal and childcare are expanding, especially among high-tier cities and young women. Overall, the mainstream consumer groups in this sector are more focused on basic moisturizing needs. For products, they place significant importance on whether the ingredients are safe. Products and brands that feature natural and safe ingredients not only have a high degree of trust but also are purchased in complete sets, reflecting increased consumer loyalty to ingredients and brands in the mother and baby care sector.
Moreover, among the consumer group of skincare products for pregnant mothers, some are ordinary non-pregnant consumers attracted by product ingredient safety. This not only represents a shift in demographics but also signifies the future trend in the skincare sector, that is, the importance of ingredients.
On social media, discussions on the efficacy of infant and child sunscreen products frequently mention the moisturizing, refreshing, and easy-to-spread effects, owing to the summer season’s hot climate. Sunscreen brands for babies and children commonly highlight these refreshing and easy-to-spread product qualities in social media promotions to meet consumer needs.
In terms of consumer decision-making, quantity and scent account for 33% and 24% respectively, suggesting that consumers prioritize cost-effectiveness and sensory experience when making decisions, favoring non-irritating, mildly scented products to protect babies’ delicate skin.
Health Foods: Markets for weight management, sports nutrition, and women’s health are growing.
The health supplement market has seen strong growth trends in specific functional areas such as weight management, sports nutrition, women’s health, and digestive and gut health, becoming new points of market growth. The rapid rise of these sectors not only reflects the deepening pursuit of a healthy lifestyle by consumers but also indicates societal demand for customized and detailed health management is continuously rising.
In Q2 2024, the weight management market reached a sales volume of 3.37 billion yuan, an increase of 16.2% year-on-year, with a sales volume increase of 22.6%. With the fusion of meal replacements and health needs, the snacking of health products has been further strengthened, fulfilling daily routines and convenience, signaling a new phase in the weight management market.
Under the weight management market, capsules are still the main dosage form, occupying a 33.0% market share. Additionally, snack-like forms such as jelly show significant potential, with Duanxian Duet Blueberry Collagen Enzyme Jelly achieving sales of 30.51 million yuan in Q2 2024, holding a 60.0% market share.
In terms of product ingredients, core constituents such as enzymes, dietary fiber, L-carnitine, and white kidney bean extracts continue to be core selling points. Furthermore, ingredients with traditional Chinese characteristics like Alisma, tea polyphenols, and Cassia seeds have seen rapid sales growth rates and have considerable prospects for future development.
Moreover, compared to Q2 2023, the online women’s health market in Q2 2024 rose by 11.1%, reaching a market size of 680 million yuan, with Top brands having a higher average price, the highest exceeding 1800 yuan, and mainly featuring probiotics and oral capsules as product types.
In the female health topic, consumers focus more on categories, ingredients, application scenes, and functional benefits. Social media posts related to health in Q2 accounted for 19.8%, 18.6%, 15.7%, and 15.4% of the volume share, respectively, with discussions mainly concentrating on health conditioning dimensions.
Among the health products commonly discussed by consumers, vitamins, proteins, isoflavones, amino acids, and collagen are the most focused nutrition and health components by the female consumer group, addressing various female health needs such as immune enhancement, recovery from gynecological diseases, menstrual care, and beauty maintenance.
