Children’s Eye Care Supplement Market Booms in Zoom-School Era
Supplements such as lutein or algal oil DHA might sound unfamiliar to most people, but for Chinese post-90s mothers, these words are frequently showing up in their lives. Why? With COVID lockdowns, their children are spending excessive time staring at screens to attend school and take extracurricular classes and mothers are worried about the long term effects it will have on their children’s eyes.
In an attempt to prevent children from developing shortsightedness, many parents are choosing to give children eye-protecting supplements such as lutein or algal oil DHA. And many of them are learning about these supplements from social media platforms such as Douyin, Weibo or Xiaohongshu.
According to an eye health report (中国眼健康白皮书) published by the National Health Commission in 2020, the percentage of shortsightedness among Chinese teenagers is 53.6%.
Among those with shortsightedness, those that have it by age 6 is 14.5%, by primary school it’s 36%, by junior high school it’s 71.6%, by senior high school it’s 81% and by university it’s 90%.
International Supplement Brands are Benefiting from the Trend
According to statistics from Tmall Global, in 2020, the trade volume of children’s supplements was 10 times higher than 2019, and the number of international brands in the market grew nearly 100%.
Take, for example, the Australian supplement brand Blackmores. In the past, it used to focus heavily on supplements for pregnant mothers. In 2020, based on Tmall’s analysis of consumers and related trends, the brand readjusted its product categories and started developing eye care supplements for children. Its children’s algal oil DHA became a viral product on Tmall International Super Brand Day (天猫国际超级进口日) in January 2021, with sales volumes 100 times higher than normal.
Another example comes from a German brand called Doppelherz. It entered Tmall Global at the end of December 2020. On January 15, it launched a children’s eye care brand and achieved over 500k RMB sales in a single day.
Post-90s Mothers Leading Consumption Upgrade Trend
Behind the lucrative children’s supplement market is the consumption upgrade trend among post-90s and post-95s mothers. For international brands that want to enter the market, it is important for them to target this group of consumers.
According to a mommy-baby report published by Tmall Global and CBNData (进口母婴消费趋势白皮书), the number of post-90s mothers is growing rapidly and they tend to spend more than other groups when buying child related products. This is because consumers in this group have a higher educational background and they tend to have more awareness about health products and supplements.
To reach this group, international brands such as Nature’s Way and Blackmores work with children’s educational companies such as Xueersi (学而思) and English learning agency EF (英孚英语) to launch children’s eye care boxes. When customers buy the gift box, their children will be given free English classes.
Future Growth
According to iimedia (艾媒咨询), the mommy-baby industry reached 3.49 trillion RMB in 2019 and it is expected to reach 7 trillion RMB in 2024. Consumer demand is becoming more niche.
Today mothers are looking for eye care supplements, but in the future they may be looking for supplements specifically for teeth or for lips.
Read more: “神兽”放假，90后宝妈们买出了一个蓝海市场
