We believe that without new product innovation our industry will become stale and very ordinary and we are proud to have been behind so many successful products over the years.

This year once again we have not been disappointed with both the quantity and quality of entries and the final twelve contestants that made it through to the ‘Dragons Den' presentation last week were all of the highest calibre.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said that "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions" and I can tell you some of the ideas our five finalists will be exhibiting at BPA Baby & Child 09 in ExCel London on October 11th to 13th are potentially world beating. 

These are not products already in production and on sale that have been entered for an innovation award;  these are products that are all new inventions yet to be seen on the market and without the right support, maybe never will. They are products from some of the most innovative and creative minds and we are proud at the BPA to have been behind so many successful launches through this process. This is just part of what the BPA gives to the industry.

Make sure you come along to the BPA Concept & Innovation stand at ExCel, you will not be disappointed.

BPA synergy - on an international stage.

A key component of any trade association's work is to promote its members' business to the widest possible audience. We have stayed alongside many fledgling businesses as they have developed through the years and some of the industry's biggest names started out at BPA Baby & Child with a small shell scheme.

In the last five years, we have seen many of our newer member companies progress from the Launchpad shell scheme, in their inaugural exhibition, through to a bigger stand in the main exhibition area at BPA Baby & Child. Having established themselves in the UK market they then often look further afield for international development.

As part of this progressive support and for the first time this year, the BPA will be hosting a pavilion for UK members at Kind und Jugend in Cologne on 17th to 20th September. We are sure that members will benefit from being together in a great position on a much larger collective footprint than would be possible as an individual company. It is easy to get lost in such a big international show and visitors looking to see the ‘best of British' will be able to find many of them in one central location.

Consistent innovation is the key?

It's interesting to note that despite the recession, the nursery products market has proved more resilient than most. Obviously the present buoyant birth rate has a large part to do with this, but I also believe the nursery products market is different to some to which it might often be compared. Take the toy industry for example.

Here traditional products still claim a large slice of the market and of course there is an extreme seasonality to it.  Conversely, new innovation appears to be the only way to stay ahead in the nursery world and although there are seasons, new births tend to be all year round. 

New product development feeds the industry and differentiation is created both by innovation and continuous and effective marketing. Of course there is a place for ‘me-too' products at value prices but it is certainly a harder world to inhabit especially when costs of production and supply from the Far East over the last year have rocketed. Margins have been squeezed and businesses have struggled.

I suspect we can all cite businesses we know in the nursery market that we have seen slow down and start to fall behind. These companies may have enjoyed great success with iconic products, but have failed to deliver the next generation. Conversely, we have seen many long established companies who appeared to be going backwards and have completely re-invented themselves thanks to a new fashionable product range.

There is no doubt that despite a squeeze on spending, parents will always want the best and often the most fashionable products for their children, in many ways the key products are status symbols. With parenting websites continuing to grow in popularity and viral marketing techniques creating overnight demand, it's vitally important that nursery suppliers stay fresh and relevant.

Some of the better performing businesses in the sector have simply got the formula right. They continue to invest in the development of new products. They are not afraid to market them through multiple communication channels; they have strong branding and excellent PR. They exhibit at all three major shows, BPA Baby & Child, Harrogate and Kind und Jugend, and advertise in trade journals. They understand that the independent retail channel is vital to their mix and make sure it is properly serviced. These are the nursery suppliers that will produce continuous growth and be assured of their future.

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