Preschool parent-child consumption new market driver

Preschool parent-child consumption has become a new growth area as more young parents pursue scientific parenting, driving the preschool parent-child market expansion, the People's Daily reported on Wednesday.

"Having a child has put a lot of strain on the family budget," said Ma Xin, who has a 4-year-old daughter and lives in Dongcheng district of Beijing. Expenditures on the daughter account for nearly half of the couple's monthly salary.

"Besides the basic expenses such as food and clothing, the spending also includes buying cartoon books and toys, watching cartoons and early education courses," Ma said.

The investment in preschool parent-child consumption is increasing year by year from new parents born after 1995, with annual compound growth of per capita consumption on Tmall reaching 61 percent in the past three years, according to the People's Daily, citing the online shopping platform Tmall.

The structure of preschool parent-child consumption is moving from daily supplies to education and entertainment areas. The Tmall report showed that parental investment in early education is coming at an earlier time, and the sales of toy books and educational toys are growing rapidly.

The preschool parent-child consumption market features high user stickiness, different buying and consuming groups, and a strong sense of science and technology, said Cai Liuyang, a professor of psychology at Tsinghua University.

The key for preschool parent-child consumption is edutainment, where children can learn as well as can play, and parents also can participate, said the People's Daily, citing a mother in Shanghai.

Children's audio and video products that combine education and entertainment saw a good performance in recent years. Some domestic video platforms including iQiyi, Tencent and Youku have released products for children.

As more and more audio programs are preferred by parents, the sales of intelligent speakers with children's mood and voice control have risen to jump 121 percent during the past three years, according to Tmall.

Data from market consultancy iiMedia Research showed the number of 0-6 year-old children reached 100 million in 2018, and the number of applicants to early education institutions has been increasing.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, some early education institutions have offered online courses via livestreaming and short video in response. In the long run, the online and offline channels of preschool parent-child consumption will be further integrated, said the People's Daily, citing an industry insider.

Preschool parent-child consumption has great market potential, and practitioners should innovate content to enrich the market.

As the preschool parent-child consumption market has its particular characteristics, regulators should strengthen supervision, as well as complete qualification training to practitioners and standardize market access qualifications. Practitioners also need to do self-examination and self-correction, Cai said.

Besides, the parents should enhance their understanding of parenting information, and learn to screen products, said People's Daily, citing experts.