Port Washington, N.Y., February 24, 2023 – Retail sales for the U.S. juvenile products industry declined by 2% in 2022 to $8.4B, although sales remain 19.5% above 2019 levels, according to The NPD Group. Unit sales decreased on the year, down 8% compared to the high-water mark of 2021. The average selling price increased 6.7% to $20.09. All but two of the seven categories tracked by NPD saw sales decline on the year. The best performing category was travel, followed by Feeding.

2022 U.S. Juvenile Products Industry Performance

“Consumers this past year returned to more pre pandemic behavior even with increased economic uncertainties as we moved into the back half of the year. We continue to see growth opportunities in feeding, and travel categories,” said Stephen Hinz, juvenile products industry analyst at The NPD Group. “The industry saw many challenges for the consumer with baby formula shortages, inflation, and the end of the expanded child tax credit program, but consumers remained resilient when it comes to growing and providing for their families.”

The top three subcategories were car seats, strollers, and bedding. The largest contributor to dollar growth was strollers, up 7% year-over-year, followed by breast feeding systems, which increased by 9%. Fridababy and Baby Trend were the two top performing brands in terms of absolute dollar increases, with annual increases of 38% and 16% respectively.