The acceleration of China’s aging promotes the rapid rise of the silver hair industry, and the adult incontinence market is becoming a hot track for Chinese and foreign investors.
On March 17, German medical leader borhmann entered China’s adult incontinence market. The main product of adult incontinence market is adult diapers. As a matter of fact, before borhmann, there were foreign capital such as Vader group, Kao, domestic capital such as Zhou Da Ren and Laolaifu. With the deepening of aging, it can be predicted that more brands will enter the market.
Aging, adult incontinence market entering “blue ocean”
The global aging crisis is becoming more and more serious. According to the statistics of the world bank, at present, more than 100 countries in the world have entered the aging society, and the aging of Japan, Germany, France, the United States and other western developed countries is more serious. Among them, Japan is the country with the highest proportion of aging in the world, reaching about 27% in 2018.
China’s aging population is accelerating. According to the statistics of the world bank, by the end of 2018, the number of elderly people aged 65 and above in China has reached 155.9 million, accounting for more than 11% of the total, which is the only country in the world with more than 100 million elderly people. The “China Development Report 2020: the development trend and policies of China’s aging population” issued by China Development Foundation predicts that by 2025, the number of elderly people aged 65 and above in China will exceed 210 million, accounting for about 15% of the total population.
Along with aging is the problem of incontinence that many people are ashamed to mention. It is accompanied by the aging of human body function and the emergence of a variety of diseases. According to the National Health Department, 8% of men and 15% of women over the age of 60 need to use incontinence products. This huge base, together with paralyzed and semi paralyzed patients under the age of 65 and incontinence patients for other reasons, makes the total number of people in China who need to use adult incontinence products nearly 70 million.
The penetration rate of adult incontinence products in Europe and America is high
Compared with China, the penetration rate of adult incontinence products in Europe and America is higher
The penetration rate of adult incontinence products varies greatly in the world. According to the survey report of PHC, a well-known research company, the penetration rate of adult incontinence products in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific is 60%, 43% and 38%, respectively, while the average in China is only 6%. That is to say, only 6% of incontinent people, about 4.2 million people, use adult incontinence products. According to the data of China Business Industry Research Institute, the domestic adult incontinence market will reach 9.390 billion yuan in 2019. From the perspective of market capacity and growth potential, the adult incontinence market can be called a broad “blue ocean”.
Different from the growing concentration of infant diaper brands, the brand of head adult incontinence has not yet formed. At present, there is no adult incontinence brand in China which has obvious advantages in market share and brand awareness. Under the situation of many brands’ scuffle, domestic brands occupy a certain advantage in the middle and low-end market, while in the middle and high-end market, foreign brands with more mature brands and technical strength are dominant. This also further promotes the distribution of brands such as borhmann in the Chinese market. It is reported that baoherman is a multinational company mainly engaged in wound dressings, adult incontinence products and infection control products. At present, it has established 25 production bases around the world. Bauchmann has been in the field of adult incontinence since the 1970s. In 2019, the adult incontinence product business will reach 703 million euros, and it has been in a leading position in the market share of European hospitals, nursing homes and elderly care institutions. Baoherman said that in order to better layout the Chinese market, it will serve 70 million domestic users of mild, moderate, severe and very severe adult incontinence through hospitals, nursing homes, e-commerce platforms, pharmacies and other channels.
Although adult diapers are still in the blue ocean market, the market competition has already started quietly. As a latecomer, differentiation is particularly important.
“The crimp fiber pretreated with citric acid in adult diapers is an important differentiation aspect of our products,” bauchman said. Crimp fiber is a kind of spiral cellulose, which can quickly guide urine and effectively keep the skin contact layer of urine pants dry and clean. At the same time, the citric acid crystal attached to the curly fiber is released slowly, which can effectively neutralize the alkaline urine and create a skin friendly weak acid environment, which is very effective for the prevention of incontinence dermatitis. At present, the vast majority of adult incontinence products in the domestic market do not have such functions. “
It is reported that for patients with incontinence who are bedridden for a long time, long-term contact with moist alkaline environment can easily lead to incontinence dermatitis (commonly known as red buttocks) and pressure sores (commonly known as pressure sores), which not only increases the treatment cost of patients, but also increases the difficulty of follow-up care. According to the Australian heath review, the average cost of treating mild to moderate incontinence dermatitis in Australia is $169; Once suffering from pressure ulcer, the treatment time ranges from 18 days to 255 days, and the treatment cost ranges from 2746 to 22446 dollars. For patients, it not only directly increases the personal economic burden, but also may endanger the lives of patients. The clinical test report showed that the pH value of adult diapers with crimped fiber pretreated with citric acid remained weak acid within 5 hours after absorbing urine.
Of course, the development of adult diaper market still has one of the biggest problems is the formation of consumer consumption habits or the rise of consumer awareness, and even many potential consumer groups resist to use adult diapers because of “face”. Therefore, the current market education needs to be strengthened in order to promote the rapid development of the industry.
Post time: May-17-2021