Disposable Baby Products - US - April 2014
Scope and Themes
 
What you need to know 
Total US retail sales for the disposable baby products market are $7.5 billion. Sales have predominantly been flat since 2008 with some slight fluctuations. Many of the products in this market enjoy high household penetration in households with babies and toddlers as parents need these products to care for their children on a daily basis. However, category sales have been stagnant in the past few years due to a struggling disposable diapers/training pants segment, declining birth and fertility rates, and parents’ economizing mindsets when shopping for frequent use products like diapers and wipes. Mintel expects that sales will decline slightly in the coming years, totaling $7.3 billion in 2018.

Economic recovery along with positive upticks in birth and fertility rates will be important for this market to resume growing, especially since disposable diaper usage is driven by the current population of babies and toddlers in the US. However, in absence of these external factors, market players should consider pursuing product opportunities that will allow them to expand the current market and add to parents’ current baby care product repertoires. Parents indicate that they have an interest in new disposable baby products that make it easier for them to care for their babies on the go, such as disposable changing table liners, sleep sacks, bibs, and placemats. Developing and launching these types of products could result in new revenue streams and a category that is less impacted by the performance of the disposable diapers/training pants segment.

The key topics of focus for the 2014 report include understanding which disposable baby products parents are buying, their decision between name brands versus private label, and what product attributes and claims they take into consideration when making both diaper and baby personal care purchases. This report also puts a strong emphasis on determining what new types of disposable baby products parents are the most interested in and willing to pay more for, to give market players guidelines as to what product opportunities they can pursue to expand the market.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Disposable Baby Products—US, April 2013 and previous reports with this same title in March 2012, March 2011, February 2010, October 2007, November 2005, and September 2002. It also builds on Mintel’s Oh Baby—US, February 2009 report. 

Definition 
Mintel defines the US disposable baby products market as consisting of the following product categories:

Diapers and training pants

●	Disposable diapers
●	Disposable training pants

Wipes and moist towelettes

●	Disposable baby wipes
●	Moist towelettes

Baby care needs

●	Baby soaps
●	Baby ointments/creams
●	Baby powder
●	Baby lotions
●	Baby shampoo
●	Baby oil
●	Petroleum jelly

Value figures throughout this report are at rsp (retail selling prices) excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated. 

Data sources
Sales data
Market Size and Forecast and Segment Performance—Total retail sales based on SymphonyIRI Group InfoScan® Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census; Progressive Grocer, Consumer Expenditures Study

Retail Channels—Based on SymphonyIRI Group InfoScan® Reviews; US Census Bureau, Economic Census; except supermarket and drug store sales, which are based on SymphonyIRI Group InfoScan® Reviews

Leading Companies and Brand Share sections—Based on MULO sales data from SymphonyIRI Group InfoScan® Reviews. MULO is defined as Multi Outlet, representative of the following channels: total US Grocery, Mass, total US Drug, total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club.

Consumer survey data
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumer consumption of/attitudes and behaviors toward disposable baby products. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in January 2014 among a sample of 895 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet and who have at least one child in the household aged 3 and younger.

Mintel selects survey respondents by gender, age, household income, and region so that they are proportionally representative of the US adult population using the internet. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results and to allow for more precise parameter estimates from our reported findings. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons NCS (National Consumer Study) and the Simmons NHCS (National Hispanic Consumer Study). The NHCS was carried out during July 2012-September 2013 and the results are based on the sample of 2,763 adults aged 18+ with children aged 3 and younger in the household, with results weighted to represent the US adult population. 

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

Abbreviations and terms
Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report. 

CPI 	Consumer Price Index	
GNPD 	Global New Products Database	
MULO 	Multi Outlet, representative of following channels: total US Grocery, Mass, total US Drug, total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club	
NHCS 	National Consumer Study/National Hispanic Consumer Study (Experian Marketing Services)	
P&G 	Procter & Gamble	
rsp 	Retail selling price	

Terms
For the purposes of this report, Mintel uses the following definitions of specific baby lifestages:

●	Newborn: Refers to babies younger than 1 month of age
●	Infant: Babies up to 12 months (1 year) old
●	Toddler: from 13 months to 36 months (1-3 years) old 
●	Preschooler: 3-5 years old 

World War II/Swing Generations 	Members of the WWII generation were born in 1932 or before and are aged 82 or older in 2014. Members of the Swing Generation were born from 1933-45 and are aged 69-81 in 2014.	
Baby Boomers 	The generation born between 1946 and 1964. In 2014, Baby Boomers are between the ages of 50 and 68.	
Generation X 	The generation born between 1965 and 1976. In 2014, Gen Xers are between the ages of 38 and 49.	
Millennials* 	Born between 1977 and 1994, Millennials are aged 20-37 in 2014.	
iGeneration 	Born between 1995 and 2007, members of iGen are aged 7-19 in 2014.	
Emerging Generation 	The newest generation began in 2008 as the annual number of births declined sharply with the recession. In 2014 members of this as-yet-unnamed generation are younger than 7.	

* also known as Generation Y

In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows: 

CPI 	The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.

The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer’s dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates. 

The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today’s prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars.

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition.