The end of China’s one-child policy could have implications for the beauty market, according to market analyst Euromonitor, with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) being chief beneficiary in the personal care market.
The value of China’s baby and child-specific category has doubled over the last five years to around US$1.6bn, making it the third biggest in the world after the US and Brazil, said analyst Rob Walker.
“Spending could be about to grow much faster, as a result of a partial relaxation of family planning laws,” he said. “Furthermore, the country’s gender imbalance could start to stabilise, triggering potentially huge increases in sales of women’s make-up, hair care and fragrances over the long term.”
Since the 1970s, Chinese couples have only been permitted to have one child, which has resulted in many abortions of female children and a male/female ratio in under 14s of 119 million/96 million. Parents who want a second child will now be able to apply for permission, said Walker. “China’s current population of babies and toddlers (aged 0-4) is 67 million, of which around half live in urban areas,” he added. “It is easy to see why 10, 20 or even 30 million additional babies could have a major bearing on market dynamics over the next five years. In terms of baby and child-specific product sales, we could be talking about a potential windfall of over $1bn a year.”