The Baby Market Boom

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Like many expecting parents, Atara and Jeff Douglas are registering for baby stuff: bedding, bath toys, infant swings. The Riverdale, New York couple arrive at BuyBuy Baby's midtown Manhattan location one fall morning, ready to take on the daunting task of determining what their future child might need.

Atara, who is eight months pregnant, visited the store a few weeks ago with her mother to start the registry process and do some extra research on big purchases like her baby's stroller and crib. But it's Jeff's first time here, and judging by the queasy look on his face as he's handed a registry gun and a list of over 300 items, it's clear this isn't quite the shopping experience he anticipated.

"You know, originally I thought, ‘Oh, what's the big deal, it's just a baby, we probably won't need that much stuff,'" he says, eyeing a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit stuffed with hundreds of swaddle blankets. "But then I got here. And it's just crazy."

The pair begins to navigate the maze of aisles brimming with product. An hour later, after examining baby tubs, breast pumps, diaper bags, bouncers, and humidifiers, the Douglases aren't even halfway through the list of suggested items to register for. Then they stop at a section that's dedicated entirely to bottles and nipples.

"Um, how do we know which one to get?" Atara whispers, exchanging a puzzled glance with Jeff.

The scene at Big City Moms' "Biggest Baby Shower Ever."

Eventually they settle on a bottle brand recommended by a floor associate nearby and move on to the bigger ticket items on the store's lower level, where rows and rows of strollers and car seats call to mind an actual car dealership. Atara speaks with an employee about the stroller and car seat she's chosen, based on internet reviews, but is dismayed to learn that after dropping almost $800 between the two, she'll still have to pay more to get additional accessories — some of which, like a rain tarp, are extraneous, while others, like the adapter that connects the two items, are not.

"I guess it's just another way they get you," Atara says, trying to shrug it off.

By the time Atara and Jeff are done at BuyBuy Baby, they've registered for nearly 100 items. There are necessary, certainly even crucial, items. But there are also items the Douglases aren't totally sure they'll use; they've simply registered for them after scanning friends' registries and taking recommendations from salespeople and family members. One thing is for certain, though: a large sum of cash will be dropped before Atara and Jeff's baby is even born.

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Shopping for a baby isn't what it used to be.

"There were never this many products," says Dr. Susan Linn, a psychologist and expert on child consumerism.

It's estimated that American parents spend some $12,000 on their babies in the first year alone; in 2013, this resulted in $23 billion spent on baby products in the US. By 2017, the global baby care market is presumed to hit $66.8 billion in sales, according to Statista, even though there's an overall shrinking birthrate.

Some of the market's most dominant companies have hit record-breaking numbers over the last few years, further signaling that parents are indeed spending more money than ever before. In 2013, Graco, a popular supplier of strollers, car seats, and high chairs, pulled in $119 million in sales. But that's nothing compared to Pampers, Proctor & Gamble's diaper brand which also happens to be its largest; it brought in $10.7 billion this past year. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has seen its sales double since it acquired BuyBuy Baby in 2007. Babies "R" Us has expanded its footprint to 224 stores, and currently carries more than 20,000 products; it brought in $654 million as of August.

Given these figures, it's no surprise that many believe the industry has gotten bloated.

"This stuff just keeps getting bigger and bigger," says Dana Wood, an analyst with the Robin Report. "A decade ago, there was one baby carrier. Now, there are dozens of them. Whenever someone in the market has something new, you can be sure there will be 10 more coming down the pipeline."

"The baby market is essentially a commodity market," Adam Davidson wrote in the New York Times Magazine after attending the Brooklyn Baby Expo in 2013. "Much of the baby market is devoted to figuring out which preferences people will pay more for. And it seems as if the market now offers endless choices. Now, for the first time in human history, having a child in the United States is a net financial cost for a parent. This, of course, has been a huge boon to child-product manufacturers. Companies profit from our sentiment with extraneous features."

Baby products first saw an explosion after advertisers started marketing explicitly to children in the 1980s, according to Linn. She points to Star Wars as patient zero. The franchise brought in an unprecedented amount of revenue from toys and paraphernalia, teaching Sesame Street and Nickelodeon that there was real money to be made through licensing.

"Once the brand licensing phenomenon began to escalate, there were tons of products being sold that were heavily marketed to children and the whole industry expanded," says Linn. "Babies thrive on familiarity. When they are surrounded by a familiar character, they want it on their wallpaper, their clothing, their crib mobile, so parents were driven to buy more and more products."

"Advertisers understand that getting brands and characters in front of babies creates attachment that is then leveraged later on when children request certain products with these images," adds Josh Golin, the executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a non-profit started by Linn in 2000. "These days, it's hard to find products like diapers, bottles, and sippy cups that don't have these media characters targeting children."

Dan Cook, a sociologist and professor of childhood studies at Rutgers University and author of The Commodification of Childhood, says this rise in child marketing dovetailed with more and more mothers returning to the workforce instead of staying at home — and their associated guilt.

"What drove a lot of these products was the uncertainty of what it meant to be a good mother and how that balanced with being a professional woman," Cook says. "From a sociological aspect, companies picked up on this idea that baby products are, in a way, an emotional investment. Companies realized parents, and mothers in particular, would take advantage of the very best goods out there."

This guilt manifested itself in, among other things, feel-good products, which includes luxury baby products (think fancy strollers, designer diaper bags, Restoration Hardware's thriving baby furniture business). The luxury baby market brought in as much as $10.6 billion in sales in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

"Part of this explosion of kid's goods has to do with the change in market research," says Cook. "Motherhood stopped being a singular thing and has instead folded into everyday life, so marketing has become increasingly sophisticated in terms of knowing what moms are interested in. For a lot of moms, these products have a badge element. These price points are about income and other implicit implications, like who their peer groups are and what schools their kids will go to."

Leah Goddard, an analyst with IBISWorld, believes that "demographic and social trends" are another reason why parenthood has become one big shopping spree these days.

"Over the past few decades, the rising median age of couples having their first child has aided the industry," she says, "because older couples typically have a higher earning capacity and greater disposable income to spend on their children."

And so parents buy, buy, buy.

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"The Biggest Baby Shower Ever" is an event organized by the mommy blog and events group Big City Moms. What is marketed as a shower is really a giant trade show for baby products, and before it came to New York City last month, it hit Boston and D.C. It's here that 1,500 would-be parents pay as much as $350 per ticket to attend seminars, score freebies, enter raffles, and listen to a seriously out-of-place boys' a cappella group perform, but the real draw is the chance to see the latest, and supposedly greatest, products the baby industry has to offer.

The usual suspects you'd expect at such an event are here. There are strollers brands like Bugaboo and UppaBaby alongside baby carrier purveyors, many of which have brought dolls for demonstrations, except for Beco, which has real, live, breastfeeding babies inside its wraps. Food processor company Beaba has baby-specific machines on display, as does humidifier brand Crane.

But then you also have expensive stroller wheel protectors from CityStork, a buttwashing gadget from FridaBaby that does not explain why simple wipes won't do, and a formula-bottle machine from Gerber called the BabyNes, which essentially functions like a Keurig.

"This is a great way to learn about what we want to register for," says Jonathan Freund, a 23-year-old soon-to-be-dad. "This is much better than an in-store experience because you can see the products, in action, up close."

Many in the baby product sphere argue the category has evolved for the better over time, with the amount of products on the market merely indicating just how specialized the industry has become.

"In today's world, vendors and manufacturers are trying to solve for the challenges facing new parents today," says Beth Guastella, CEO of baby boutique chain Giggle. "Someone living in an urban market may not have the same needs as someone living in a suburban market. It isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. Products that one parent doesn't need, another parent does."

This sentiment is shared by Maria Montano, Bugaboo's North America general manager. She agrees that parents want products tailored to their particular lifestyles.

"Parents want options and every child is different," she explains. "For each unique item in the market, there's a parent that will be thankful to have found it. We see it as our purpose to design specific products that meet the needs of each and every parent. We want them to know that we've thought of everything their child could need before they've realized it."

And in some areas of the market, technology has progressed to the point that upgrades feel non-negotiable.

"There's a ton of research that comes out and technology is utilized to make everything perform more efficiently," says Brady Loomis, who works on Crane's marketing and sustainability team. "We have humidifiers on the market now that are whisper-quiet, so they are out of sight and out of mind and don't require filters, which helps to eliminate bacteria. This just didn't exist a few years ago."

Then there's that previously non-present customer in the space that now needs to be accounted for: fathers.

"A huge advancement in baby products is the consideration of dads as more involved caretakers," says Liz Gumbinner, co-publisher of the parenting tech site Cool Mom Tech. "That's why you now see larger-sized or adjustable baby carriers, unisex baby bags, strollers with features like telescoping handles. It's so great that manufacturers are acknowledging that a baby bag doesn't have to be a ‘mommy bag.'"

But for every thrilled parent, there's another who can't shake the feeling they're getting taken advantage of.

"Most of the stuff here is probably not necessary," expectant mother Victoria Marcus notes at the Biggest Baby Shower Ever. "People have survived for hundreds of years with a lot less shit," her husband, Joshua, chimes in. The two attempt to list off products they both find absurd before they realize they can't agree on any — they've drank the Kool-Aid, albeit for different items.

"A lot of the new products are very futuristic," echoes Shimon Zafrani, a Brooklyn father who's attending with his wife, Mariyah. "I think it can be good, but they are mostly bad. How did our parents raise us? With a lot of trial and error. In this generation, we're told we need to buy everything."

So are brands helping parents, or exploiting them? It's difficult to believe there isn't at least some level of opportunism when companies like Dreft come out with detergents for different stages of baby development.

"There are so many things these stores say you'll need, even though your common sense assures you that you don't!" exclaims Elizabeth Usry Delirod, mom to a 14-month-old named Harper. "It's overwhelming and gets even a person like me, who considers herself no-nonsense, second-guessing."

"Families who are pregnant are particularly vulnerable and the marketing industry knows this," adds Linn. "From peer pressure to the anxiety of being a good parent, parents are vulnerable in so many ways. Really, the most important things a newborn baby needs is to be safe, loved, fed, cuddled, and played with. But the messages given to new parents today are that if you don't have the latest, most updated products, your baby won't be safe and you won't be a good parent."

Many of the products arriving to the baby market today feed on parental fear, says Lenore Skenazy, the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement, which aims to curb overprotective parenting.

"I feel like I'm constantly being told, ‘If you don't buy this product, your baby is doing to die!'" Victoria Marcus half-jokes at the Baby Shower event. "Even though I'm perfectly capable of making my baby's food without your fancy machine."

"So many of these new items try to create danger when the danger is actually slim to nonexistent," says Skenazy. "This is part of what I call the ‘baby safety-industrial complex.' The easiest dollar to extract from a wallet is the dollar of a nervous parent, and the best way to do that is to create fear."

Pointing to items like baby knee pads, helmets, and bathtubs with thermometers (for when sticking your finger in the water is no longer enough), Skenazy says "these products are telling parents their child isn't safe unless they buy all these things. And while I see nothing wrong with capitalism, this totally underestimates humanity. It makes you think there is no surface soft enough, no child will ever chew well enough, and no parent can ever watch their baby close enough. And unless you spend all your money on the most luxurious stroller out there, you are going to regret it."

Plus, many new products promise to be good for child development. But more often than not, Golin says, the science behind these items is frustratingly murky.

"While there are so many products being marketed as educational, the research shows that the simplest of toys are better because they give children an opportunity to explore using all their senses," Golin explains. "So the idea that they need this specific toy or app for proper development is really feeding off of parents' insecurities. Much of the research from the ‘90s has been completely misrepresented and turned into a way to prey on parents. It's very important to read those kinds of claims with a grain of salt. The more specific the claims are, the more I would be wary of them."

"On our site, we stay away from so-called educational apps for babies and infants," says Gumbinner. "As a parent, you can decide whether you want your 18 month old playing on a tablet or watching a video or not. But I don't like when companies claim that an app can make your baby smarter, especially when all the research points to the contrary."

Despite ongoing efforts to slow down the commercialization of the industry — the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood frequently reaches out to the Federal Trade Commission to look into products with dubious claims — Cook believes the baby market will not stop growing any time soon.

"There's tremendous purchasing power," he says, "so we will continue to see additional items, and certainly items that are labeled as safer, cheaper, and more fashionable."

With an increasingly crowded market, how exactly can expecting parents figure out what they truly need to buy? Usry Delirod has a simple solution: "Just take a parent or grandparents with you to the store. If they didn't use it, odds are, you don't need it!"

Editor: Julia Rubin