Marco Salerno, client insight manager for leading market research company GfK, takes a look back at the last 12 months in nursery as well as the current state of the feeding market.
“The total babycare market in Great Britain is down by 6% in the 12 months to September 2019 amid economic uncertainty, with consumer confidence remaining low at -12%.
Online transactions have outperformed in-store across all categories and product sectors and now account for 40% of the total value of the babycare market, compared to 35% last year. This increase in online sales amounts to £20m, while in-store sales have declined by £56m in the same period – a harsh sign of a struggling retail landscape.
Fortunately though, it isn’t all doom and gloom. The combined soothers and teethers market is fairly stable year-on-year, while the breastfeeding market and the bottle warmers and sterilisers markets both show a strong growth of 3% and 8% respectively.
The average price of the whole bottle warmers and sterilisers market has increased from £28 to £31, with warmers particularly increasing, from £39 to £43 – showing that many consumers are willing to either trade up, or to buy once and buy well.
The 3% uplift seen across the breastfeeding sector has been led primarily by breast pumps, which make up 56% of the total category value and have increased in sales by 10%. Manual pumps have declined by 4% in value over the last year, while electric pumps have increased by 14%, with average prices rising by £19 from £75 to £94 – once again, a sign that consumers are willing to spend more if the product is right.
The babycare market is expected to continue to struggle over the next year as economic uncertainty and financial pressures continue. Retailers and manufacturers need to focus on their online offering while providing good retailer showrooms to give consumers an all round omni-channel presence where the potential to trade up to the larger ticket items is greater.”
