One of India’s biggest multinational conglomerates, Mahindra’s announcement of merging their baby care retail division ‘mom n me’ with the online baby product retailer, BabyOye is probably one of the most important events of 2015 in business. The acquisition highlights the huge potential of the Indian baby care and children’s products sector which could be worth billions of dollars by 2022.
Indians are consistently spending more on baby and child products than ever before, largely because of the increasing middle class income. Online sales are expected to drive further growth with customers wanting to purchase the best products for their children despite higher costs. Having an online presence with BabyOye will allow Mahindra to provide higher variety of brands and products than what would be usually be possible offline.
As the online retail industry shows no signs of slowing down, the baby care industry also consistently records unprecedented growth. More Indian customers want to buy diapers online and that, along with toys might fuel growth further. With Mahindra making BabyOye coupons widely available for discounts on everything from feeding bottles and nursing essentials to toys and apparel, the industry may be at the cusp of a major breakthrough.
Exclusive Baby
Exclusive baby and child care stores like BabyOye hold significant advantage over other all-category stores as customers looking for purchasing children’s products online are much more likely to prefer online stores dedicated to baby products. With all baby and child related products under one store, the online and offline chain will be able to cater to customers as a one-stop shop for parents.
Major Players
In addition to vertical competitors like FirstCry, BabyOye also has some serious potential competition from horizontal retailers including Flipkart, Snapdeal and especially Amazon, known to have been rapidly expanding into every possible sector in online retail. There is every reason for all-category retailers to aggressively aim to get a share of the pie, as it may eventually be worth billions of dollars not too long from now.
Kids Apparel
Barring categories like electronics and mobiles, the growth in online fashion retail has been the highest selling category and probably even the most profitable one. With Indians warming up to the idea of purchasing clothes online, the trend might influence a similar increase in the purchase of kids clothing in the near future. The opportunity lies in bringing in higher variety of products and brands online.
