Diapers: Origin from the "baby boom"

Recently, when Kimberly of the United States held a postmodern concept fashion show in Beijing, it used real babies wearing diapers; Japan's Unika held an on-site competition to change diapers for baby models at the Shanghai World Expo. In order to promote diaper products in the Chinese market, manufacturers have their own tricks.

The China Consumers Association also conducted a random comparison test on 12 mainstream brands of baby diapers in the Beijing market at the right time.

In China, baby diapers are becoming a large-scale and wide-ranging daily consumer product, favored and valued by manufacturers, business circles, and customers.

With the continuous and rapid growth of the domestic economy, the further improvement of people's material living standards, and the general recognition of the convenience, speed and care effect of diapers, the baby diaper market, especially the high-end product market, continues to show a rapid growth trend. The increase in economic income and the cultivation of the diaper (including diapers) market have promoted the change in the consumption concept of the new generation of young parents. In addition, in the past two years, it has been in another peak period of fertility, which has promoted a significant increase in domestic consumer demand for diapers (including diapers), and the market has entered a period of rapid growth.

According to statistics, in 2008, there were 345 diaper (pads or sheets) manufacturers, and the output of diapers (pads or tablets) reached 10.49 billion pieces, including 7.28 billion baby diapers and 3.21 billion baby diapers; the total sales volume (including exports) was 10.28 billion pieces, including 7.24 billion baby diapers and 3.04 billion baby diapers; the total consumption was about 9.57 billion pieces, including about 6.59 billion baby diapers and about 2.98 billion baby diapers. The total factory sales of baby diapers are about 77.0 billion yuan, the market size has reached 117.8 billion yuan, and the market penetration rate is 21.1%.

The domestic diaper market consists of several manufacturers, but the number of national brands is small and the brand concentration is high. According to data, the sales volume of the top 10 diaper manufacturers accounts for about 73.5% of the total sales, and the sales account for about 87.0% of the total sales.

From the perspective of consumption characteristics, the baby diaper market has high requirements for residents' disposable income, and its buyers are mainly concentrated in large cities with high family income and small and medium-sized cities in coastal open areas. Families in these places are relatively wealthy, have certain economic strength, and are easily receptive to new consumption concepts, making them the main group to buy baby diapers. In small and medium-sized towns, and even relatively wealthy rural areas, the market for affordable diapers is also in a stage of gradual expansion.

This year, Kimberly's global conference in the United States chose to be held in China for the first time, although the Chinese market still accounts for a relatively small proportion of Kimberly's global market. Shao Qingfeng, President of Kimberley (China) Co., Ltd., explained: "More and more Chinese consumers have global quality consumer demand. Especially in the past two years, the consumption grade of China's second- and third-tier cities, and even fourth- and fifth-tier cities, has increased rapidly, and even we are surprised." Of course, this is also confirmed by hard indicators: Kimberly China's sales growth and gross profit growth are the fastest in the world. As China's "post-80s" begin to enter the period of organizing families and having children, the third "baby boom" will strike in the next few years, making Kimberly's "China strategy" more and more firm.

In fact, Kimberly is not the only company attracted by China's "baby boom". At present, in the Chinese market, in addition to Kimberly's Curiosity, other national brands include Procter & Gamble's Pampers, Unijia's Mommy Baby, Heng'an's Anerle, Quanil Midmy's Shoo Shuo, and Red's Phoebe......

And even more than that, there are manufacturers of related products and raw materials. Diapers seem simple, but in fact there are even more than a dozen patents in a product, technology is the main aspect of corporate competition, and the threshold for competition is also very high. At a domestic exhibition last year, Boss Gum launched a new product, that is, on the basis of the original colorable urine glue, developed a new product that can be gradiently colored. Using this product can gradually change the cartoon pattern printed on the diaper from yellow to green to blue according to the amount of urine absorbed. This innovation reminds young mothers who are busy with work or inexperienced that it is easy and convenient to change diapers for their babies in a timely manner.

Many nonwovens raw material manufacturers are also constantly improving product quality and grade. Shandong Junfu Nonwovens Materials Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Guangdong Junfu Group, has introduced the world's advanced spun and melt nonwovens production line, and the high-quality nonwovens coils produced can be used as the inner surface of diapers and the protective edges on both sides, which are soft and breathable, and the quality is high-end. The material has been provided to brands such as Mommy Baby. The company has only been established for 3 years, but has purchased the second phase of the production line to expand capacity and increase production.

The industry generally believes that in the next five years, baby diapers will become the engine driving the second round of growth in China's tissue industry. On the one hand, because the penetration rate of baby diapers in China is still relatively low, on the other hand, because China has a huge potential consumer market. And this will undoubtedly better promote the development of nonwovens and other industries.