Reaching expectant moms early is key

While a slight uptick in the birth rate in 2014 gave hope to marketers of baby care products, recent data showed that the trend was short-lived.

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According to a report released earlier this year by the National Center for Health Statistics, there was an unexpected drop in the number of babies born in the United States in 2015. Demographers had anticipated that the number of births would rise in 2015, as it had in 2014, but concluded that the lingering impacts of the recession and housing collapse are keeping many women from choosing to have children.



While the unexpected decline in the number of babies born across the country has raised concerns among marketers of everything from pregnancy test kits to baby formula, most are heartened by demographers optimism for the near future. History, they note, is likely to repeat itself.



After slumping for nearly a decade in the late 1960s and early 1970s, births picked up in the 1980s and 1990s — those babies are now the generation known as millennials and are about to hit the years that people are most likely to become parents.



And, they noted, with women waiting until late in life to have children, they are often in better financial shape to afford the products they need to raise that child, making them more likely to become loyal baby care shoppers.



“It is important to start educating and building relationships early with expecting moms as they are actively educating themselves and planning for the care of their baby,” said Jeff Vernimb, general manager at Moberg Pharma North America, which recently relaunched its line of Balmex diaper rash creams and healing ointment with new packaging, a revamped website and a multifaceted promotional campaign. “New moms also tend to be loyal to the first brand they try because they are hesitant to risk a change once they are comfortable with a routine.”