Domestic online demand for mom and babycare-related products is predicted to see a double digit growth by 2025 amid the ongoing internet-shopping craze and expected baby boom following the pandemic.
A recent study by management consulting firm Redseer projects that online channels will contribute up to 10 percent of total mom and babycare sales by 2025, adding more than US$1 billion in value. Last year, the segment was worth $10 billion with online channels accounting for about 4 percent of sales.
The firm attributed such growth to Indonesia’s rising number of online shoppers, increasingly tech-savvy mothers and the expected baby boom due to lower contraceptive use during the pandemic.
“These unexpected births translate into an opportunity for the mom and babycare segment to grow,” the study noted.
Indonesia is home to more than 270 million people and annually welcomes 4.8 million births. However, the country is expected to see around 400,000 more births than usual this year as families struggled to access birth control in March last year, according to the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN).
Read also: With limited access to birth control, Indonesia set to see a COVID-19 baby boom
At the same time, the number of online shoppers grew from 75 million in 2019 to 85 million in 2020 as social restrictions prevented them from visiting brick-and-mortar shops, according to a 2020 Redseer report.
“We believe that the online players are well-positioned to capture this opportunity as they have wide product offerings and ensure consumer convenience,” the Redseer report stated.
Based on the firm’s survey, consumers said they lived far from offline babycare stores, which also had a limited selection of products — two problems that can be addressed by the online marketplaces.
Horizontal online platforms such as Tokopedia, Shopee and Blibli.com scored better in terms of price and variety. They also enjoyed higher top-of-mind awareness (96 percent) for online childcare products. Meanwhile, online verticals among mom and babycare brands such as Mothercare and Orami were perceived to have better quality products.
“Massive potential remains to be unlocked in the online mom and babycare market. While horizontals will continue to command a strong market share, verticals, too, are well placed to capture a sizable chunk of the opportunity. We could see some strong winners emerge here over the next two to three years,” the report added.
Online parenting community and marketplace Orami, which was recently acquired by Sirclo, said its transaction value had grown two-and-a-half times in 2020 from the previous year.
The company said that having an online community helped boost platform engagement and offered a way for brands to market their products and get personal insights from consumers.
“Even after the pandemic, we think that the online shopping trend will continue to grow. The pandemic has become a trigger that accelerates parents’ adaptation to online shopping,” Sirclo chief financial officer Hendrawan Kartika told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“I buy all of my babycare products, including strollers and shoes, online, except for clothes because I like to see the size and feel the fabric,” said Andi Nahla, a 24-year-old Jakarta-based bank employee.
She said she preferred to buy products for her 11-month-old baby online because everything she needed was in one place, they were cheaper and she could avoid public places amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In catering to parents' needs, Tokopedia launched Tokopedia Parents in March, a one-stop platform for families that also offers home living products.
Tokopedia had seen its sales of mom and baby items double year-on-year in 2020. Sales of baby oil and pregnancy milk increased four- and three-fold, respectively, over the same time period.
“To help consumers get the right product, we encourage them to read the product description carefully and chat with merchants for product details,” Najunda Jusuf, Tokopedia Mom and Baby category development head, said in a statement on Thursday.
Similarly, beauty technology company Social Bella tapped into the market in June by launching e-commerce platform Lilla, which focuses on mothers. The platform offers personal care, treatment and hygiene products for prenatal and postnatal care.
