The baby clothing market - United Kingdom

1.1 Definition and presentation

Baby clothing is clothing worn by babies aged 0-36 months. They usually include bodysuits and T-shirts, pyjamas and slippers, shoes and socks, etc.

The baby clothing market is particularly dependent on the sales of supermarkets and clothing retailers, rather than children's clothing specialists, Mintel reports. In addition, Primark is the most popular retailer (by volume) for baby clothing. [ Mintel ]

In the United Kingdom, the number of women with at least one child at the age of 30 has increased from 82% in 1976 to 52% in 2016. In addition, the number of babies born in 2018 was down 9.9% from the last peak in 2012 according to the ONS. This effectively means that maintaining and growing market share is of the utmost importance for the survival of UK businesses.

Among the latest trends, sustainable development considerations are becoming more widespread and the ability of producers to meet this new demand will prove decisive for the survival of brands operating in a market that is declining in volume. A survey conducted by Environmentalleader points out that 78% of Millennials and 84% of Generation X expect retailers to include these concerns in their business model.

In addition, due to increased consumer demand on topics such as wellness, comfort, organic but also style, product innovation has become a key success for baby clothing manufacturers. For example, a new style trend is emerging, that of unisex and non-sexist collections. This means that the incumbent market players must constantly adapt to these new requirements, but also that new players with a differentiated positioning on one of the above-mentioned topics can conquer new consumer segments more quickly