Children’s eye care is pressing in China.
With the penetration of the Internet and electronic products, myopia in children has become a severe issue, and the younger age trend is picking up steam each year.
According to the "China Eye Health White Paper" issued by the National Health Commission in 20201, the overall myopia rate among Chinese children and adolescents is 53.6%. Among them, 6-year-old children and primary school students accounted for over a half.
"Online classes" during the COVID-19 epidemic and an increase in electronic entertainment time during winter holidays take a toll on children’s eyesight.
The youth vision survey data2 released by the Ministry of Education shows that during the epidemic in 2020, the myopia rate among primary and middle school students in China has increased by 11.7% compared with 2019, with the rate of myopia among primary school students rising by 15.2%, due to increased screen time and decreased outdoor exercise time.
The harm of electronic screens to children has triggering social concerns. This month, the Ministry of Education issued a notice that primary and middle school students should not bring personal mobile phones to campus in principle. Parents have also taken action to prevent their children from wearing glasses by pinning their hope on nutrition supplements that highlight eye-protecting ingredients such as DHA and lutein.
The children’s eye supplement market expects to go through leaps and bounds from 33 billion yuan in 2020 to more than 100 billion yuan by 2024.3
Opportunities for overseas brands
For overseas brands, eye care, a niche children's nutrition segment, means a new opportunity in the Chinese market under the epidemic situation.
Affected by the epidemic, imported consumption has shifted from offline to online due to ceased outbound travel. Cross-border e-commerce platforms led by Tmall Global have become increasingly relevant in consumer’s lives.
On cross-border e-commerce platforms, the demand for imported eye nutrition products has bumped up. Data from Tmall Global shows that the turnover of children's eye nutrition products has increased by ten times in the past year, and the number of imported brands has increased by nearly 100%.4
Tmall Global also launched a Super Import Day marketing campaign last month focusing on the theme of "Children's Eye Care in Winter Holiday."
Tmall Global promoted children’s eye-care products during Super Import Day campaign. Photo source: iwangshang
With the continuous growth of the market demand for eye care and the platform’s savvy marketing, many overseas brands seized the opportunity to rush into this segment and delivered brilliant performance.
Take the Australian health product brand Blackmores as an example. The brand used to focus on maternal and adult nutrition. In 2020, the brand accelerated building the children’s eye-care product line. Its algal oil DHA capsules for kids became a hit on Tmall Global Super Import Day in January, with sales increasing 100 times from a year earlier.
German health care products brand Doppelherz opened its overseas flagship store on Tmall Global in December 2020 and rolled out an eye protection product for kids in January 2021. The single product turnover reached RMB 500,000 on Tmall Global Super Import Day.
Besides, international well-known health care brands such as Nature’s Way, Moller’s, Swisse, and Childlife have entered the children's eye care nutrition market, with a total turnover of over RMB 100 million on Tmall Global Super Import Day.4
Tmall Global plans to nurture five children's nutrition brands with sales over RMB 100 million and five children’s eye-care nutrition brands with sales over RMB 10 million within one year.
Marketing strategies
In the race to compete for the children’s eye-care nutrition market, overseas brands also need to engage in marketing campaigns to capture the hearts of mothers and young mothers born in the 1990s and 1995s.
The "White Paper on Imported Maternal and Infant Consumption Trends" released by CBNData and Tmall Global shows that women are the leading force in maternal and infant consumption. The proportion of young women born in the 1990s and 1995s has expanded rapidly. Young mothers have higher education levels and more avant-garde parenting and consumption concepts, so they are more willing to pay for supplemental nutrition.
They are also keen on following the latest trends and learn from parenting experience on social media platforms, including Weibo, Little Red Book, and Tik Tok. KOLs' endorsement on these platforms shaped their purchasing decisions to a large extent.
There are more than 20,000 notes on the keyword "children's eye care", including product reviews and recommendations on Little Red Book. On Weibo, the topic “eye-care partner for children” has generated more than 19.78 million viewership.
In January, web celebrity Xueli (@雪梨Cherie, 11 million followers) has collaborated with famous author Fu Shouer (@傅妈, 3.8 million followers) to recommend and sell children’s eye-care nutrition supplements during a Taobao live-streaming. Two celebrities themselves are also mothers, so their recommendations would easily strike a chord with consumers. The live-streaming has attracted over 5 million viewers.
Web celebrity Xueli and Fu Shouer’s live-streaming. Photo source: iwangshang
Brands that aim to kick off the China business should be prepared as early as possible. If you have any questions about the Tmall Global entry process or need help in harnessing social media and KOL forces to promote your products in the Chinese market, you can consult with ChemLinked.
