Is the Era of Huge Profits in Diaper Agency Coming to an End?

At 11 o'clock at night, Ms. Li's mobile phone screen was still on. She was repeatedly comparing the breathability and prices of two Japanese diapers on a certain overseas shopping platform. Three hours ago, Mr. Zhang had just signed an import agency contract, and the target was the same product that Ms. Li was searching for. This seemingly ordinary mother and baby product hides a billion-level market with an annual growth rate of over 20% behind it. Today, let's dissect the business logic of the import agency of diapers.

According to industry data, the import volume of high-end diapers in China has maintained double-digit growth for five consecutive years. Three core driving forces cannot be ignored:

• Consumption Upgrade: Parents born in the 1990s are willing to pay for imported products that cost more than 8 yuan per piece. Brands such as Japan's Unicharm and Sweden's Libero have become regular hot searches.
• Safety Anxiety: A survey on an e-commerce platform shows that 73% of users believe that imported diapers have "more stringent quality control".
• Channel Sinking: The number of imported mother and baby stores in third- and fourth-tier cities has doubled in two years, generating agency demands.

The person in charge of Zhongshitong Supply Chain revealed that the seemingly simple diaper trade actually has invisible barriers:

• Certification Maze: The EU CE certification, the US FDA standard, and the Japanese JIS specification are all different, and the cost of a single test report can reach 20,000 yuan.
• Inventory Trap: An agent misestimated the sales volume of size S, resulting in products worth 2 million yuan approaching their expiration dates and finally being cleared at a 50% discount.
• Logistics Minefield: Sea-transported diapers need to be kept at a constant temperature and humidity. In a certain batch, the surface PE film stuck together due to the excessive temperature in the container.

After interviewing many industry veterans, we have extracted a replicable operational model:

• Product Selection Formula: Brand Awareness × Monthly Sales on E-commerce Platforms × Inquiry Volume from Offline Stores = Agency Priority.
• Capital Leverage: Adopting letter of credit payment, compress the turnover period of the 30% deposit to 45 days.
• Dynamic Sales Combination: Bundle wet wipes for buy-one-get-one-free activities, and the trial usage amount in stores should reach 15% of the average daily customer flow.

With the deepening of the RCEP agreement, the tariffs on diapers produced in ASEAN have been reduced to 5.3%. An agent has reduced the purchase cost of a certain Thai brand by 18% through entrepot trade. Meanwhile, New Opportunities are Emerging in Niche Tracks:

• Hydrolyzed Protein Surface Products for Allergic Constitutions
• Intelligent Diapers that Can Monitor Excreta
• Carbon Neutral Concept Series Using Corn Fiber