According to Jan Stewart of Jan Stewart Pram & Nursery it’s white. "Baths are usually bought before the baby is born and at this stage they don’t know what sex the baby is so they want a neutral colour. White is favourite, followed by cream. Lemon, lime, lavender, none of these have sold well for us. We find the Neonato bath is our best seller. A lot of thought has gone into the design and the bath stand is perfect for it. Mums who have had a Caesarean don’t want to bend! We find that out of ten demonstrations we do on this bath, at least seven will buy, even though it’s a wee bit more expensive."

Baby & Co have an extensive range of baths and accessories. As Clare Mills explains: We have these displayed over some 25 feet of shelving. It’s very close to where we display the prams and pushchairs, and it s interesting just how naturally the conversation goes from wheeled goods to bathtime – and we often end up selling the bath at the same time as the pushchair. After all, they’re not expensive! Our main brands are Batheasy, Mamas & Papas, Safety First, Strata, and Tomy and we have everything from baths through potties, bath seats and even inflatable baths (great when travelling!). We shall be looking more closely at toiletries at Harrogate. We tried one a few years ago and displayed near the till; it sold as an impulse buy. It’s not just how good these products are, it’s how they are displayed and how you promote them. Customers buy with their eyes; it has to look good so presentation is important. Ideally, I’d like a range where we can have some small samples that we can give away. Many of our customers leave with a pile of brochures and it would be nice to be able to add a little something to the bag. Then they will know what the product is really like."