Cao Rui,Zhang Xiaojun

Beijing Dalangtaosha Information Technology Company,China

“This product is rich in fine foams which could be easily washed.” “Sunflower and grape seeds are the main ingredients which are suitable for sensitive skin.” “This brand may be not that popular but is well-known in North America”……These wash and care products used by babies and kids are not recommended by female cosmetics but favoured by young mothers.

The new-generation consumers represented by young people born in the 1990s,mainly after 1990 or 1995,have gradually became the major group of mothers.The children’s washing and care market would embrace the upgrading consumption:those mothers consumption demands for children’s wash and care products have been increasingly unique.They are more willing to try out overseas brands with new concepts.Children’s washing and care products have also turned out to be a fixed expenditure for family childcare.

According to the data from iMedia Research,the domestic maternal and child market size is expected to reach 4.77 trillion yuan in 2021 and 7.63 trillion yuan in 2024.In the post-epidemic era,the market continues expanding and the online operation of the sector steps up.

However,due to the late start of domestic brands of children’s wash and care products,the market is mainly dominated by overseas brands.With the development and maturity of cross-border e-commerce,overseas children’s wash and care brands find an easier and more efficient way into the Chinese market.

According to an overseas brand manager,“crossborder e-commerce has offered huge convenience for the brand growth in China,which shortens the selling period of products in Chinese markets.Comparing with the traditional overseas shopping,it has greatly improved the purchasing experience for consumers and has reduced the duration of waiting.Besides,it is quite convenient to open the Chinese market”.

Overseas children’s wash and care brands are embracing a golden period of development in China’s market again by way of the cross-border e-commerce platform.Actually,it has occupied the market from “0 to 1” to “1 to 100”.

Children’s wash and care becoming the next consumption goldfield

While younger generation parents are competing for their kids’ education,they are also consuming children’s wash and care products:the era of extensive skin care has become history.French organic wash-free hair-care spray,American baby sunscreen,South Korean post-sun baby facial repair mask……Different kinds of professional brands from all over the world have been sold.

Children’s exclusive wash and care experience has received unprecedented attention,forming a rapidly rising market segment.According to 2021 Tmall International Maternal and Baby Market Trend Report,a new generation parents are more particular about the efficacy of hair shampoo and bath products.The products combining “two functions into one or multiple functions into one” during the infancy period fail to meet their demands.Instead,the soothing and moisturizing efficacy,together with the function of containing no silicone soil and moderate experience are more favoured by these shoppers;meanwhile,the wash and care products targeting at babies with different genders and skin qualities enjoy rapid growth.

Just like the analysis of cosmetic ingredients,fashionable mothers also began to seriously analyze all kinds of ingredients and effects of baby wash and care products,changing into a “enthusiast of components”.As described in the 2021 Insights into China’s Maternal and Baby Consumption Market Trend,“consumers are more willing to recognize and believe in the components and efficacy of cosmetics in the infant and children’s functional care market,compared with the effect of star demonstration after use.”

Appearance and package are also important consumption standards.“No consumption without fashion” is held as the golden rule of consumption by younger mothers.Nowadays,this consumption habit also extends to children’s washing and care products.Children’s washing and care products,together with children’s clothes and toys,constitute the “beauty economic ecology” for kids.

In short,infant and children’s wash and care products have transitioned from the era of pure function in the past to the era of multiple demands.Consumption upgradation drives strong demand with high re-purchase rate.Over the past five years,the average annual growth rate of the child care market has been over 30%.

Children’s wash and care market may become the golden field like the adult’s beauty market.

Emerging overseas brands speed up the entry into China’s market on the eve of the industrial outbreak

In the face of such a gold mine to be excavated,brand owners are naturally flocking to it.Viewed from the current market pattern,the share of domestic children’s wash and care brands is low in general due to late start.However,most of the market,especially the middle and high-end market,is occupied by overseas brands.More importantly,children’s wash and care business is prone to produce problems with high threshold.And consumers care safety most.For example,many products add colorant,essence and tearless formula,but they can not reach the true tearless test standard.It is the simplest case.Just like infant milk powder market,imported brands are more able to win consumers’ hearts in terms of quality and safety.However,along with this wave of emerging overseas brands entering the Chinese market,it is more likely to find the upgrading of the demand for child care market.

“Chinese consumers have gradually raised their awareness and knowledge of skin care safety,and their demand for skin care “ingredients” and “refined care” is gradually shifting from adult personal care to maternal and infant skin care.” There is a shortage of product innovation in the maternal and infant care industry in Chinese market,and frequent safety problems in the industry have offered opportunities for the development of new brands,mentioned by the person in charge of China Region of Evereden,an American mid-and-high end maternal and child wash and care brand.

Evereden entered many channels in international market since 2018.Apart from official selling,it joined in the e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Lookfantastic,also including many overseas offline channels.In January 2019,the brand entered China in cooperation with Tmall with an annual growth exceeding 500% in 2020 and an expected sales revenue over 200 million yuan in 2021.

The French brand of Enfance entered China at the beginning of 2020 and opened the international overseas flagship store in Tmall.With the help of the platform including category layout,brand operation and research and development of new products,its sales revenue in H1 in 2021 increased by 300% yearon-year.

For these overseas brands,if they intend to gain a foothold under the commercial rules of the Chinese market,the first thing they need to face is the problem of route selection.In other words,they need a stable and mature cooperation channel,and they all choose Tmall International invariably.

Over the past one year,more than 40 children’s wash and care new brands entered Chinese market by joining in Tmall International.They gained a foothold in Chinese market by rapid expansion.

What is the key to achieving progress from 0 to 1 facing the target groups?

As a great nation with the largest population in the world,China enjoys the huge potential in terms of consumption market,thus becoming the “sweet pastry” in the eyes of overseas brands.However,it is uneasy for overseas brands to gain a firm foothold in the Chinese market.Acclimatization often occurs.Especially,in recent years,many overseas consumer brands have withdrawn from the Chinese market due to poor management,such as Old Navy,a wellknown American costume retail brand,New Look,a British clothes brand and FOREVER21,a fast and fashion brand from America.

In the field of children’s wash and care,new imported brands are in need of systematic methods and strategies to quickly open the Chinese market.The first step is to find targeted consumer groups as quickly as possible.Compared with the local or large group sub-brands that have been deeply cultivated in the Chinese market for many years,the overseas emerging brands are far from enough in terms of the basic brand influence.Therefore,how to quickly find a breakthrough in the Chinese market and locate the most accurate target group,remains the primary problem for them in expanding the Chinese market.

“As a Korean brand with overseas popularity,if it aims to enter the Chinese market and improve its brand awareness,it is difficult to reach consumers quickly through offline and ordinary cross-border e-commerce.” According to the manager in charge of China region from Milk Baobab,a popular maternal and baby wash and care brand in Korea,this brand entered Chinese market by cooperation with Tmall International in last September.The young mothers,especially those born in the 1990s,preferred imported new brands with a higher acceptance.

After finding the target consumer group,it is also key to establish brand power in the hearts of consumers.The manager in charge of Greater China region from Enfance,a French children’s wash and care brand,said the popularity was limited in Chinese market despite their efforts for years.Besides,due to the different consumption habits at home and abroad,especially the unique characteristics of products such as “nonplastic sealing,non-twoin-one formula,no flavor,water ripening texture and no foaming agent” are in need of long-term communication with customers.In the preparatory stage of brand settlement,Tmall International began to assist us in formulating marketing plans,and enabled brands and products to gain rapid exposure opportunities with the support new product on the platform.

Establishing “trust” with consumers as soon as possible was also a compulsory course for overseas brands.According to the survey by Evereden in choosing the proper channel,consumers had a relatively high threshold of trust towards new brands.When buying overseas brands,they often questioned whether they are genuine,which increased the difficulty of conversion.So,they chose Tmall International and reduced the question by consumers of “quality goods”.It also increased consumers’ “trust” in new brands and helped improve sales conversion by a large degree.Reducing supply chain costs provides an important support for overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.Comparing with domestic brands,overseas brands have a natural disadvantage in the import tariff cost of international logistics and warehousing,with higher cost and higher premium of “import cost”,which reduces the pricing space.Facing the current explosion of domestic goods,there exist doubts about “l(fā)ow cost performance”,which will reduce the competitiveness of the brand in the Chinese market.However,Tmall International offered perfect logistics and warehousing support and minimized the cost of this supply chain.In so doing,it provided pricing space for the brand in the Chinese market,and improved the profit support.

Keep in line with the Chinese trend and “release tailored products” for Chinese babies

The above three aspects are the key to opening the Chinese market from 0 to 1.

Continuous insight into the consumption trend of the Chinese market,rapid upgrading of products will be the crux to gain a foothold in the market from 1 to 100.

An increasing number of overseas brands begin to “develop tailored products” for Chinese babies in terms of the research and development of new products.Over the six months after entering Chinese market,Milk Baobab and Tmall International jointly dug out the industrial trend and consumer insight.Currently,it is developing new products aiming at Chinese market.Its product efficacy,product flavor and appearance will better meet the needs of Chinese babies.

It is indeed a front-and-center path for overseas brands to continuously innovate in Chinese market to quickly obtain market feedback through crossborder e-commerce and accelerate the guidance of new product research and development.

Evereden will prioritizes “the unsatisfied demands of consumers” in terms of products.Compared with overseas consumers,Chinese consumers pay more attention to “experience” and have a stronger demand for gift boxes.They have customized many products packaged inside gift boxes for Tmall International consumers.

In July 2021,Enfance launched a new product of“organic wash-free hair conditioner for kids” targeting at Chinese consumers.This is a joint achievement under the recommendation of Tmall International team to coordinate with the French laboratory.

Teaming up with Tmall International to develop new products for China’s new consumer groups is becoming a trend for overseas emerging brands.It is also the best choice for overseas brands to keep in line with the Chinese consumer boom.

The consumption upgrade of the young generation of parents has brought about the explosion of the children’s wash and care market,and also created great opportunities for overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.But it remains a far cry from the situation in the 1980s and 1990s when overseas wash and care brands for kids entered Chinese market.

Obviously,the era that simply shipping goods into China can sell well has long gone.Amid the wave of consumption upgrading in Chinese market,it will become a compulsory course for these overseas brands to gain a firm foothold in Chinese market to learn to seek a continuous dialogue with Chinese consumers and timely meet their personalized needs.