Baby is one of the biggest categories on eBay in terms of number listings. Baby includes a diverse set of categories, ranging from feeding, nappies/changing and bath and grooming through to toys, car seats, nursery décor/bedding, clothing, safety, prams/strollers and carriers, and toilet training.
In this article we will start at the overall categories level and then funnel down to specific grocery related categories.
Differences by country
When we compare baby category sales across the Australian, UK and US eBay marketplaces we see that the top five categories have some significant differences. The top five baby categories in order:
Australia: feeding, car seats, changing/nappies, baby clothing and nursery décor.
UK: feeding (and over-indexes), safety (with a significant over-index versus the other two markets), followed by nursery bedding, toys and changing/nappies.
US: toys, clothing, safety, feeding, and changing/nappies.
Feeding and changing/nappies, traditional grocery related categories, are consistently in the top five in all three countries.
Shoppers turn to eBay for non-supermarket products and generics.
There are marked differences by country in the top brands eBay is selling, albeit that niche and unbranded products are often in top spot in all three markets.
In feeding:
Australia’s top selling brand is reusable Sinchies pouches, but unbranded products make up 44 percent of top ranked listings.
In the UK, Tommy Tippee is number one, with unbranded at 35 percent.
In the US Holle is the top selling brand with unbranded products 49 percent of top listings.
If we look at food specifically, then in Australia the top seller is Holle Organic Infant Goat Milk formula, in the UK it is Hipp Organic Fennel Teabags for Babies, and in the US Holle Organic Rolled Oatmeal porridge.
Within changing/nappies:
In Australia 43 percent of top listings are unbranded, with Land, a backpack-style nappy bag, being the best-selling brand.
In the UK, Little & Blooms, a brand of reusable nappies, is the best-selling brand whilst unbranded products make up 50 percent of top listings.
In the US only 18 percent of top listings are unbranded, with the top four brands including Sigzagor at number one, Little & Blooms, and the better-known Pampers and Huggies.
In nappies specifically, in Australia Huggies dominates disposable nappy eBay sales, but cloth nappies are primarily generics. In the UK, Littles & Blooms dominate with cloth nappies, and in the US cloth nappies outsell disposables on eBay at a ratio of nearly three to one, with Sigzagor number one in cloth and Pampers number one in disposables.
Major GROCERY retailers on eBay stick with the basics
Two of Australia’s largest grocery and drugstore/chemist retailers sell on eBay Australia: Coles & Chemist Warehouse.
Despite the vast range and eager baby category buyers on eBay, Coles and Chemist Warehouse stay with their traditional inventory range within: nappies/changing, feeding and, bath and grooming.
Coles has over 150 listings in the baby category of which, 38% are in nappies/changing, 45% are in feeding, and 17% are in bath and grooming.
Chemist Warehouse is much larger at more than 600 listings in the baby category with 92 percent of listings in the three core categories of which 13% are in nappies/changing, 63% are in feeding and 24% are in bath and grooming.
Chemist Warehouse’s top selling baby product on eBay is Curash Water Wipes, whereas Coles it is Rafferty’s Baby Food.
eBay is a massive online shopping destination for baby category buyers, many for second hand baby goods, but as seen in this article, also for new branded baby necessities as an alternative to full retail prices. For example, nappies and food are two categories traditionally associated with a visit to the local grocery retailer, but eBay is now becoming an acceptable place to find known branded products at potentially less than retail-prices.
As large retailers, such as Coles and Chemist Warehouse build their multi-channel online strategies, they are faced with the obvious - replicate the listings of their existing range. However, this does not really take advantage of the breadth and scale of eBay. It will require further evolution of their category strategies and their distribution to take advantage of the scope and opportunity truly ahead of them.
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ShelfTrend data is eBay specific, not total online sales. Data is as at 30/7/2019. Sales are based on the last 30 days of the top 100 search ranked listings for that category and marketplace.
This article first appeared in the September 2019 issue of Retail World Magazine - a leading Australian grocery industry magazine. It has been modified for a more general audience on ShelfTrend.