Euromonitor International Health and Nutrition Survey 2020 reported the top five factors of making Chinese consumers to invest more in diapers.
According to report, 3 of the 5 factors are: natural ingredients, sustainable procurement/production, and biodegradability.
However, most of the plant-derived diapers produced in China, such as bamboo diapers, are actually exported abroad.
Manufacturers claim that the Chinese market now only has little demand for these products.
There is clearly a disconnect between what consumers desire and their actual living habits.
In the United States, we found that the requirements for the safety and environmental protection of diaper brands have increased.
Have these changed diaper design and marketing requirements been conveyed to the consumers?
What do parents really care about?
In order to better understand what factors can resonate with consumers,
we conducted a data capture from Amazon and dug deeply into the consumer reviews of two diaper brands.
Eventually, we analyzed more than 7,000 verified reviews.
In terms of consumer complaints, 46% of all the contents mentioned are related to the performance of diapers: leakage, rash, absorbency, etc.
Other complaints include structural defects, quality approval, product consistency, fit, printed patterns, price and smell.
Complaints related to natural ingredients or sustainability (or lack of sustainability) accounted for less than 1% of all complaints.
On the other hand, when evaluating the impact of natural or non-toxic claims on consumers,
we found that the impact of safety and "chemical-free" marketing far exceeds sustainability.
Words that express interest in natural and safe include:
fragrance, toxic, plant-based, hypoallergenic, irritant, harmful, chlorine, phthalates, safe, bleached, chemical-free, natural and organic .
In conclusion, most reviews of all brands of diapers focus on leakage, fit and performance.
What is the future trend?
The consumer demand will include natural ingredients and functionality,
including performance-related functional enhancements, fun or customized patterns and other appearance effects.
Although a small percentage of parents will continue to strive for greener diapers (and willing to pay more for it),
most sustainability efforts will continue to come from NGOs and large retailers that have set ESG goals Business, not consumer.
Unless the internet-related rules can truly change the way diapers are handled and recycled-
for example, the recycling of diapers becomes a field of circular economy,
or re-transform the supply chain and logistics into compostable diapers manufacturing process which is suitable for industrial level,
the concerns and claims for the sustainability of diapers will not shake most consumers.
In short, the reduction on carbon dioxide emissions still has a long way to go;
selling points with plant-based, non-toxic ingredients and functionality is a more valuable endeavor to gain consumer support.