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Attract Loyal Shoppers with Baby Feeding

The baby feeding category can be easily neglected by wholesalers and retailers, but to do so would be a missed opportunity to grow sales and build a loyal customer base.

Matt Stanton - Head of Insight

2 Minutes

/ 21st September 2022
  • Sales & Distribution
  • Category Insight

Baby feeding makes up half of the total baby care category, worth £575m in the total UK market, and £15.7m in the independent convenience channel.1 Baby care shoppers are valuable, spending thirty-eight per cent more than the average shopper2, and they are very specific about what they’re looking for, with sixty-two per cent preferring to switch to a different store if they can’t find their usual product on shelf.3

Baby milk shoppers are particularly brand loyal. The top three brands are Aptamil, Cow & Gate and SMA, and together these make up 92% of the total market.1 Many shoppers are looking for specialist milk to help with their baby’s health needs, and ‘immunity’ is increasing in importance too. With access to health care professionals still strained following the pandemic, parents are looking for ways to minimise their risk of needing to make an appointment with a doctor, and trusting the big brand milk to help take care of their little one. 40% of UK parents consider health-promoting ingredients to be a factor that influences their choice of infant milk.

The organic food and drink market are worth more than £1.3bn in the UK4, and organic baby milk is an important option to remember when selecting your product range. It’s less than 10% of the total milk category, but a good option for larger or specialist stores. HiPP Organic products perform, and the other big brands have their own offerings too.

In baby food, the age stage is the most important purchase driver, and you need to cover a range of formats – snacks, jars, pouches and baby porridge. Ella’s kitchen is the leading brand, followed by Organix, Heinz and Kiddylicious.

86% of baby care shoppers plan their shopping trips in advance5, so given their brand loyalty, they will plan to visit a store that they know stocks the products they want. That shows how important it is to stock the right range – if you don’t, they’ll go somewhere else and take their whole 38%-bigger basket with them.

 

Sources:

1: IRI – Total Market/Impulse – Value Sales – MAT: 18.09.2021

2: Kantar Worldpanel Data – Based on Average Weekly Usage over a 12w Period

3: MSL Regional Study (via Danone)

4: IRI 52 week data to 25th Jan 2022

5: Shopper Centric Research (via Danone)