The childrenswear market has seen slower growth than the adult clothing market as the dominance of supermarket chains and value retailers has kept prices low and held back value growth in the sector. The specialists have been struggling to compete in such a price sensitive market and the last year has seen the main baby and children specialists including Mothercare and Mamas & Papas all face serious problems.
While quality stands out as the most important factor when buying childrenswear, with over three fifths of consumers agreeing with this, low price remains very high up the priority list, particularly when buying clothes for 4-14-year-olds.
The babywear market has benefited from the strong gifting element, as well as parents and grandparents focusing on factors such as comfort over price, although the birth rate has slowed in recent years.
Definition
For the purpose of this report, the market size for childrenswear incorporates all clothing for children aged 0-14 years, including schoolwear. Baby and infantswear relates specifically to clothing for children up to the age of four and includes bibs, but excludes nappies and disposable nappies.
Footwear is not included in this report, unless otherwise stated. Some children reach full adult sizes before they reach the top of this age range, and will shop in outlets that cater for fully-grown men and women, rather than for children per se. The market sizes do not include this spending, as it is already included in data for womenswear and menswear. However, discussions of outlets used for shopping include outlets that sell adult sizes to children.
Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp) unless otherwise stated.
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