Baby Einstein toddles around in local market
By Jiang Jingjing (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-09-15 10:36

Baby Einstein, the world's leading infant development products provider, launched its range of videos and books in 16 major Chinese cities last week.

The company hopes that its collection will compete for the market for babies from birth to the age of 3.

The subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, which has no office in China, will work with two local publishers on publishing and distribution work: CAV Thakral Home Entertainment Co Ltd for videos and the Children's Fun Publishing Co Ltd for books.

"We have unique products that meet the demands of both babies and parents," said Russell Hampton, senior vice-president and general manager of Baby Einstein. The company's products have achieved 90 per cent of the market share in the United States, and that he believes that Chinese customers will accept the products soon.

Japan is the firm's first Asian market.

Baby Einstein is different from other products in the infant developmental market, Hampton said. They are created from a baby's point-of-view.

He said the books and videos, instead of telling stories to babies, use real world objects -- music, art, language, science, poetry and nature -- to stimulate a baby's instinctive sense of curiosity and encourage parent-child interaction.

Although the prices of the products have been adjusted to meet Chinese living standards, Baby Einstein will still be a high-end brand in China.

A DVD in the series costs 80 yuan (US$9.66) each, while a 20-page board book is around 20 yuan (US$2.42). A similar book in the market costs only half of the price.

Hampton does not agree that the price is too high for Chinese customers: " I believe parents always want to bring the best to their children."

His opinion is echoed by a publishing insider, Shi Yongqiang, marketing director of Children's Fun Publishing Co Ltd.

He said there is a huge market potential for Baby Einstein.

Shi said: "Couples with the women pregnant usually consume in an unreasonable way. They intend to spend a fortune for their babies, while tightening their own belts."

Parents agree, too. Sha Xiaoyan, whose son is six months old, is interested in the products, saying she started buying such books and videos since their baby was two months old. "I even asked my friend in Taiwan to buy some for me," she said.

Her family spend at least 5,000 yuan (US$241.55) each month on the baby, which equals two-thirds of the family's total income.

"Compared with an imported spoon which costs 30 yuan (US$3.62), it is absolutely worthwhile to try Baby Einstein," she said.

Currently there are various books and videos for infants from birth to 3 years old, but most of them, especially the domestic publications, are not sold under a unified brand or series. They are published in a scattered way, Shi said.

Teletubbies, a publication of the British Broadcasting Corporation is the only competitive product on the market.

Without other competitors, Teletubbies books and videos have achieved huge success in China. The circulation of the book has hit 3 million nationwide, Shi said.

"Baby Einstein's entry will bring competition, which will stimulate the development of the sector,"he said.

The two publications, however, are different: Baby Einstein aims at high-end market, while the Teletubbies is for mass consumption, says Shi.

He said that it would take time to cultivate the market, since consumption power and consumers' educational backgrounds need to improve before rapid growth in the sales volume.

Baby Einstein plans to gradually introduce its products to China, since "we need to know the market little by little. It will take a couple of years before seeing rapid growth here," Hampton said.

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