Research: Mom's Loyal to Store Brands but Pressured to Buy Up

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February 7, 2012

Mother’s fall prey to advertising pressure to buy expensive brands for their babies, despite economic worries and interest in purchasing private label products, according to a new study from Kelton Research.

More than half (52 percent) of moms are willing to buy store brands for the household, yet just three in ten (30 percent) will buy store brands for their babies, according to the study. There’s an even more striking disparity when the purchase is infant formula; less than a quarter (23 percent) are open to buying a store brand for that product category.

The "Brand" New Mom study of more than 1,900 mothers, found that today's new mom often makes decisions based on guilt rather than practicality, even when it is clearly proven that a high-profile brand offers no clear benefits over other far less expensive options. More than half of expectant first-time moms (58 percent) admit they are consumed by thoughts about what products they need to buy their babies every day, and nearly four in ten (37 percent) of moms express overall guilt about not being able to afford a specific baby product.

Even in a down economy moms feel overwhelming pressure to overspend on products for their babies even as they significantly cut back in nearly every other area of their lives.

Message Innundation
Adding to the "guilt" equation, 59 percent of moms said they are stressed about their personal financial situation or the economy, while more than half (53 percent) confess that thoughts about their baby-product budgets plague them on a daily basis. Yet most don't do as much about it as they could. In fact, three-quarters of moms surveyed have recently cut back on dining out, clothing for themselves, and entertainment. Only 13 percent have taken the same savings measures for their impending or new baby.

A major reason for this is what the study identifies as an overwhelming, often confusing, and anxiety-producing array of advertising and promotional messages hitting moms from seemingly every direction, inspiring a complicated array of emotions. According to Nielsen data, more than $688 million was spent on advertising baby formula and other baby products from September 2010 to August 2011.

This study found that 85 percent of moms are far more tuned into ads related to babies or pregnancy than those with any other subject matter, and this increased attention to advertising can produce emotional stress. A growing segment of moms surveyed tend to feel overwhelmed (23 percent), anxious (20 percent) and confused (20 percent). As a result, more than a third (35 percent) of experienced moms admit that because of advertising they spent more than they had originally planned when their first child was a baby.

Baby formula is a particularly compelling touch point for maternal guilt. According to the study, almost half (43 percent) of new first-time moms feel guilty about using formula instead of breastfeeding, which may be why they're willing to overspend on formula. Additionally the study found that misperceptions about the benefits of the more expensive infant formulas are pervasive:

• 68 percent of moms believe a heftier price tag for formula means that it's a better quality product; and
• 49 percent of new first-time moms believe name brand formulas offer more nutritional value than their significantly less expensive store brand counterparts.

The study suggests there’s an opportunity for retailers to educate shoppers and counteract CPG advertising, helping moms to feel confident with a store brand purchase for their babies.

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