China Maternity & Baby Prices Rose 6.5% Online in H1 2026

The average price of a maternity or baby product sold online in China rose 6.5% to CN¥ 91.0 in the first half of 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, while online sales of the category came to CN¥ 119.28 billion, 2.1% below the same period of 2025, so that the value of online sales now rests on what each purchase is worth rather than on how many purchases there are.

These figures come from the first chapter of the full report, which goes on to follow baby gear, child car safety seats and the supplies that expectant mothers buy before a birth, through their sales, their prices and what buyers say about them.

Key figures

• CN¥ 119.28 billion: observed online maternity and baby sales, H1 2026, −2.1% on H1 2025
• CN¥ 91.0: average price per unit, H1 2026, +6.5% on H1 2025
• More than 12%: growth of baby gear, maternity essentials and baby nutrition, H1 2026
• CN¥ 350.7 to CN¥ 462.2: the average price of nursery furniture, H1 2025 to H1 2026

Method and scope: observed online sales on mainstream e-commerce platforms in China, January to June 2026 against January to June 2025, from Moojing Market Intelligence; not the total market, since offline retail sits outside it.

How big was China's online maternity and baby market in H1 2026?#

Online maternity and baby sales in China reached CN¥ 119.28 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, a change of −2.1% on the first half of 2025, while the average price per unit rose 6.5% to CN¥ 91.0, which is the pattern of a mature category selling fewer items at higher prices.

The monthly figures show how the two movements offset each other, since the number of units sold each month in 2026 ran below the level of late 2025, with the lowest month in February, while the average price in every month from January to June stayed between CN¥ 84.3 and CN¥ 95.6, against a first half of 2025 in which it had dipped as low as CN¥ 73.8 in April.

Exhibit 1. Source: Moojing Market Intelligence, observed online sales on mainstream e-commerce platforms in China, January 2025 to June 2026: monthly sales, units sold and average price per unit. Not the total market.

Which maternity and baby categories grew, and which cooled?#

Baby gear, maternity essentials and baby nutrition each grew by more than 12% online in the first half of 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, while bath and skin care, nursery furniture, toys and prenatal nutrition rose more steadily and the two staples that still make up the largest part of the category, infant formula and diapers, both sold less than a year earlier.

Infant formula fell 2.2% and baby diapers 14.6% at category level, and baby food, baby clothing and mother-and-baby care also declined, while maternity and baby cosmetics, the most discretionary of the categories in the report, fell furthest, by 23.4%. The split is between everyday consumables that families already buy in quantity, where there is little room left to sell more, and the functional and durable products that they buy less often and are willing to trade up on, which is where the half-year's growth was found.

Are maternity and baby prices rising across the board?#

Average online prices rose in almost every maternity and baby category in the first half of 2026, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, and they rose most for big-ticket durables, so that the average price of nursery furniture went from CN¥ 350.7 to CN¥ 462.2 and that of infant formula from CN¥ 346.2 to CN¥ 368.4 within a single year.

Food and bath and skin care were among the few categories whose average price slipped, and in both cases only slightly, which suggests that families are paying more above all for the things they buy least often and expect to keep longest, and the same shift runs through the chapters that follow, since baby gear and maternity prep supplies both grew faster in value than in the number of items sold.

Where is growth coming from in China's maternity and baby market?#

Growth in China's online maternity and baby market in the first half of 2026 came from categories that solve a specific problem or last for years, according to Moojing Market Intelligence, with baby gear growing 12.7% to CN¥ 6.75 billion and maternity essentials, the maternity prep supplies of the report's fourth chapter, 12.7% to CN¥ 1.59 billion, both well ahead of the category as a whole.

Inside baby gear, strollers remain the largest segment by sales while car safety seats grew 23.2% and did most to lift the total, and inside maternity essentials the growth came from pregnancy pillows, hospital bags and a set of functional care items rather than from the disposables that families have always bought before a birth. Each of those is the subject of a later chapter of the report, and of the articles that follow this one.

For brands, the practical reading is that the categories which gave families a clear reason to buy, whether a more comfortable seat for the car or a better-made set of things to take to hospital, were rewarded with higher sales in the first half of the year, while the categories that compete mainly on the price of a pack of diapers or a tin of formula sold less than they had a year before.

How does this compare with last year's edition?#

Last year's edition of the report covered the whole of 2025 rather than a half-year, so its totals should not be set against the half-year figures here, and anyone comparing the two editions would do better to compare the direction in which prices and categories moved than the size of the market in each.

For the rest of the picture, including baby gear, the car-seat market and the maternity prep supplies that expectant mothers buy, the chapters of the full report take each question in turn, and our China maternal and baby market intelligence page sets out what else we cover in the category.