Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/09/2014 -- In spite of the ongoing severe economic recession in Ireland, many consumers have remained stubbornly resistant to trading down on purchases intended for their babies and this has ensured that demand for nappies/diapers/pants has remained relatively strong even as volume sales have decreased. During 2012 and 2013, however, volume sales declined only marginally in spite of another year of government austerity measures and recession in the Irish economy and a decline in Ireland?s birth rate. There is increasing evidence that for the first time Irish consumers are beginning to trade down to economy products as it is no longer sustainable for the majority of Irish people to continue spending money on high-frequency and relatively expensive purchases such as nappies/diapers.

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Competitive Landscape

Procter & Gamble continued to dominate nappies/diapers/pants in 2013 with a retail value share of 64%. This very strong position can be attributed to the strength of the company?s very well-trusted Pampers brand, under which a very wide variety of products are offered. In recent years, the company has seen its value share in nappies/diapers/pants decline due to the acceleration of the consumer migration towards private label as many Irish consumers have sought to cut costs. During 2013, somewhat unusually, however, Pampers gained considerable value share owing to the withdrawal of rival brand Huggies, which is owned by Kimberly-Clark. This does not mean, however, that Pampers has necessarily bucked the prevailing trends over the review period which saw consumers ditching their preferred brands in favour of cheaper brands.

Industry Prospects

Only slight improvements are expected in the performance of nappies/diapers/pants during the forecast period, with volume and constant value sales set to increase at a CAGR of 1%. The recovery of demand in the category is set to be very slow, although Ireland is about to enter another five-year programme of spending cuts and various other austerity measures which are set to continue to exert a heavy toll on levels of consumer confidence, especially the aforementioned cut to child benefit which will particularly affect demand for nappies/diapers/pants. Irish people are expected to remain extremely price-conscious and this is likely to mean that the majority of them will continue reducing spending wherever possible. Spending is set to remain low, although demand for nappies/diapers/pants is to some extent inelastic given the fairly essential nature of nappies/diapers/pants and the fact that Ireland continues to register the highest birth rate in Western Europe.

Report Overview

Discover the latest market trends and uncover sources of future market growth for the Nappies/Diapers/Pants industry in Ireland with research from Euromonitor's team of in-country analysts.

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