Childrenswear Retailing - UK

Childrenswear Retailing - UK

The market has been living under the shadow of unfavorable demographic trends for some time now but it does not appear to be denting consumers’ ability to spend. There is more choice and fashionability in the market ensuring it remains highly competitive in pricing terms.

The main feature of the market is price and in some sense it lacks excitement aside from this. The question is therefore, whether value retailing has stripped away the ability and capacity to innovate. There is a premium end to the market but it tends to be small and exclusive with the bulk of consumers buying cheaply and conveniently with little brand loyalty. Will there be a reaction against value pricing with consumers looking for more in terms of style or shopping experience

For the purpose of this report, childrenswear incorporates all clothing for children aged 0-14 years (including schoolwear). Baby and infantswear relate specifically to clothing for children up to age 4, but excludes nappies, disposable nappies, bibs, etc. Footwear is not included in this report, unless otherwise stated. Some children reach full adult sizes before they reach the top of this age range, and will shop in outlets that cater for fully-grown men and women, rather than for children per se. The market sizes do not include this spending, as it is already included in data for womenswear and menswear. However, discussions of outlets used for shopping include outlets that sell adult sizes to children.

Issues in the Market

Main themes:

Definitions

Abbreviations

Market in Brief

Market volume growth

Tough trading conditions

Demographics unsupportive

Price versus value

Value retailers stealing share

Growth and expansion of the supermarkets

From birth and Barbie to brands

Fashion queens

It’s a gift

What’s the difference

Does size matter

Future prospects

Industry Insight

Key points:

Solid sales despite bad weather

Prices may stay low but not everywhere

A place for quality

Innovation is a challenge

Kids increasingly make decisions

Kids’ opinions matter

Online is on its way

Declining birth-rates, what declining birth-rates

Brands for boys

Getting more ethical

Saving the environment at a price

The future’s bright…

…but there are challenges

Internal Market Environment

Changing distribution structure

Price wars

The cost of cheap prices

Figure 1: Consumers’ environmental and ethical issues, October 2006

Children’s choices

Figure 2: Shopping habits - boys aged 7-10, 2003-07

Figure 3: Shopping habits - girls aged 7-10, 2003-07

Figure 4: Shopping habits - boys aged 11-14, 2003-07

Figure 5: Shopping habits - girls aged 11-14, 2003-07

The trend for ‘Kidults’

Fashion influences

Brands matter

Figure 6: Top ten bestselling kidswear brands, by age groups, September 2007

Premium options

Self-treating

Figure 7: How they spend their money - 7-10-year-olds, by gender, 2007

Figure 8: Expenditure on clothes per week - 11-14-year-olds, by gender, 2007

Figure 9: Source of income and amount received per week - 7-10-year-olds, by gender, 2007

Figure 10: Source of income and amount received per week - 11-14-year-olds, by gender, 2007

Lack of differentiation

Lack of choice for some age groups

The size issue

Broader Market Environment

Child numbers in decline

Figure 11: Trends in the number of children, by age breaks, 2002-12

The family - relatively less important

Figure 12: Forecast adult population trends, by lifestage, 2002-12

Smaller families

One-parent families

Figure 13: Dependent children, by family type, 1997-2006

The more affluent families

Figure 14: Adult population trends, by socio-economic group, 2002-12

All work...makes for a guilty parent

Figure 15: UK workforce and employment, by gender, 2002-12

Consumer expenditure and PDI

Figure 16: PDI and consumer expenditure, at constant 2002 prices, 2002-12

Prices - going down

Figure 17: CPI changes, all goods and clothing and footwear, UK, 2001-06

Environmental issues

Figure 18: Attitudes towards the environment, 2002-06

Figure 19: ‘I would be prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly products’, by lifestage and gender, 2006

Market in Context

Key points:

Clothing versus other areas of expenditure

Figure 20: UK: consumer spending on selected categories, incl sales tax, at current prices, 2002-06

Childrenswear keeping pace in clothing market

Figure 21: UK total clothing sales vs. childrenswear sales, percentage share, 2002-07

Children’s footwear

Figure 22: UK retail sales of childrenswear vs children’s footwear, 2002-07

School uniform boosting market

Figure 23: UK retail sales of childrenswear (aged 0-15) and schoolwear, 2002-07

Clothes are the new toys

Figure 24: UK consumer expenditure on toys and childrenswear, at current prices, 2002-07

Market Size and Forecast

Key points:

Market growth

Figure 25: UK consumer expenditure on childrenswear, at current and constant 2002 prices, 2002-07

Figure 26: Structure of the childrenswear market, at current prices, 2002-07

The future of the market

Forecast

Continued growth, but will it sustain

Figure 27: Forecast of UK consumer expenditure on childrenswear, at current and constant 2007 prices, 2002-12

Segment forecast

Infantswear remains strongest performer

Figure 28: Forecast of segments within the childrenswear market, at current and 2007 prices, 2007-12

Factors used in the forecast

Strengths and Weaknesses in the Market

Where They Buy

Key points:

Figure 29: Positioning of retailers, compared by age and affluence, October 2007

Figure 30: Where they buy childrenswear, October 2007

Figure 31: Where they buy childrenswear, 2005 and 2007

Where they buy childrenswear

Figure 32: Where they buy childrenswear, by gender, age and socio-economic group, October 2007

Figure 33: Where they buy childrenswear, by gender, age and socio-economic group, October 2007

Figure 34: Where they buy childrenswear, by gender, age and socio-economic group, October 2007

Further analysis into customers and their loyalty

Loyalty rating

Figure 35: Loyalty to retailers, October 2007

Figure 36: Number of children’s clothing retailers visited, by number of customers, October 2007

Figure 37: Number of children’s clothing retailers visited, by gender, age and socio-economic group, October 2007

Figure 38: Number of stores visited, by retailer, October 2007

Where They Buy - Detailed Consumer Demographics

Figure 39: Where they buy childrenswear, by Mintel’s Special Groups, region, ACORN category, media usage, commercial TV viewing and supermarket used, October 2007

Figure 40: Where they buy childrenswear, by Mintel’s Special Groups, region, ACORN category, media usage, commercial TV viewing and supermarket used, October 2007

Figure 41: Where they buy childrenswear, by Mintel’s Special Groups, region, ACORN category, media usage, commercial TV viewing and supermarket used, October 2007

Figure 42: Number of children’s clothing retailers visited, by ACORN category, commercial TV viewing, region, daily newspaper readership and supermarket used, October 2007

Retail Competitor Analysis

Key points:

Market share

Figure 57: Market shares of childrenswear, by value and type of outlet, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 and-2007.

Figure 58: Childrenswear market, shares of named retailers, 2000-07

Key players

Figure 59: UK: leading childrenswear retailers, November 2007

Leaders and challengers

Figure 60: Children’s clothing retailers’ evaluation, 2006/07

Channels of Distribution

Key points:

Figure 61: Market shares of childrenswear, by value, by type of outlet, 2007

Market share

Figure 62: Market shares of childrenswear, by value, by type of outlet, 2002-07

Specialists

Clothing multiples

Department stores/variety stores

Value retailers

Supermarkets

Mail order/Internet

Retailer Profiles

Specialists

Mothercare

Figure 63: Outlet data, 2002/03-2006/07

Figure 64: Foreign store network, by region, March 2007

Figure 65: Mothercare Group, financial performance, 2002/03-2006/07

Myriad (Adams Childrenswear)

Figure 66: Adams Childrenswear Ltd, financial performance, 2000-05

Daisy & Tom

Mamas & Papas Retail Ltd

Figure 67: Mamas & Papas, financial performance, 2003/04-2005/06

Debenhams

John Lewis

House of Fraser

Selfridges

TJ Hughes

Boots

Bhs

M&S

Woolworths

Gap

H&M

New Look

Next

Monsoon

Jigsaw

Mackays

Matalan

Primark

Peacocks

Ethel Austin

Asda (George)

Tesco

Sainsbury's

Retail Advertising and Promotion

Key points:

Advertising spend vs. sales

Figure 68: Main media advertising spend on childrenswear, 2003-07*

Adspend by advertiser

Figure 69: Advertising expenditure, by leading childrenswear retailers, 2003-07*

Appendix

Consumer research

ACORN

Advertising data

Figure 70: Household size, UK, 2003-12