Pampers or Huggies? Which one do you use?
Any parent knows: you can read the books, take the classes and plan everything to the nines. But what every parent tends to underestimate is the amount of diapers that your baby burns through every single day.
Did you know that, on average, a baby’s diaper will need a change every two hours? That’s 12 diapers a day! That’s 84 diapers every week.
It’s no wonder the Global Diaper Market is so competitive. And it’s that high level of competition that is propelling market growth at a CAGR of 4.36 percent for the 2013-2018 period.
The Global Diaper market is witnessing intense competition among the existing vendors and new entrants. This high level of competition is a major risk factor to vendors in the market. To keep up, vendors are constantly innovating and redesigning to increase the efficiency of their products. To survive and succeed, it is becoming more and more imperative for vendors in the market to distinguish their products through a clear and unique value proposition.
This is exactly what Procter and Gamble (P&G) are doing by attempting to identify specific “pee points” in both boys and girls diapers to improve absorbency.
“We’re trying to build a diaper that is zero leakage, ultimate dryness, ultimate comfort, with an underwear-like fit,” said Al Maingot, who oversees baby-care research from Singapore in a recent Bloomberg article.
P&G’s Pampers brand is the current market leader, but fierce competitors like Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s Huggies brand are also constantly improving their products.
One of the major trends in the market is the increased R&D investments by the vendors. The investments are aimed to enhance the bio-degradability of the product and its safety for usage. The designing of diapers as well as the usage of improved and beltless technology are the focus of the R&D investments. Also, investments are made by the vendors for protection of their brands and to prevent infringement of copyright by other low-cost producers.
So what can we expect out of this increased R&D spending?
There are currently two huge up-and-coming trends that aim to revolutionize the everyday diaper by throwing technology into the mix.
- Diaper Alert with Smartphone Application
Kimberly-Clark Corp. has developed an application that alerts parents when their baby wets the diaper. When the sensor incorporated in the diaper senses humidity, it notifies the parent through a smartphone application. This in turn is expected to propel the growth of the market during the forecast period.
- Smart Diapers to Track Child Health
A smart diaper to track child health is a new technology developed by Pixie Scientific LLC. The diaper would notify the parent through the phone application and cloud services if it detects the possibility of the wearer catching a disease. The smart diaper would be 30 percent more expensive than the normal diaper. However, this technology would be incorporated in the future diapers, which in turn could reduce the high cost of these innovative diapers over the next few years.
For more information about how these upcoming trends are expected to influence market growth, view our 2014-2018 Global Diaper Market report.
You might also be interested in:
- Global Wipes Market 2014-2018
- Global Children’s Wear Market 2014-2018
- Baby Food and Formula Market in the US 2014-2018
