In hot pursuit of Yoga Mamas

Like any fashion-focused industry, the new-baby business requires near-constant reinvention. Fast-growing Tiny Love, an Israeli maker of preschool playthings, launches new versions of its Gymini play mats, which feature dangling toys suspended mobile-like above the infant, flashing lights, and Mozart tunes, almost every 12 months. The latest Gymini Total Playground retails for $70, a 75 percent jump from the 1993 original. Oded Ben-Ezer, CEO of Tiny Love importer Maya Group Inc., expected higher-end versions to be just 20 percent of sales. But to his surprise, each pricier Gymini displaces the lower-priced ones. "Mothers are saying, 'I want the best for my baby.' This is a competitive world," he says.

Established industry players are scrambling to adapt. Research by Atlanta-based Carter's Inc., long the leader in baby clothes sold at department stores, showed moms want a more exclusive and convenient boutique shopping experience. So Carter's has been rolling out stores in shopping centers next to retailers like Barnes & Noble and Bed Bath & Beyond, where Yoga Mamas hang out. Carter's plans to have 250 such stores open within a few years, up from 30 now.

Even businesses that attract a much broader base of consumers are looking to Yoga Mamas as a source of growth. Booming natural foods retailer Whole Foods Markets is trying to enlarge its take of the family budget by appealing to mothers with more organic baby foods and even children's clothing made from pesticide-free hemp. Stores have held healthy eating seminars for mothers called Whole Baby. And some have added a baby registry. "A lot of women become interested in healthier living when they get pregnant," says company spokeswoman Kate Lowery.

Word of megaphone
Yoga moms' impact goes beyond consumerism. Joe Trippi, campaign manager for Howard Dean's unsuccessful 2004 Presidential bid, says Yoga Mamas are in many ways a more desirable target for politicians than NASCAR Dads or Soccer Moms because they are so heavily networked — socially and technologically. When a campaign gets one as an advocate, says Trippi, it's really getting a message to dozens more. "The Yoga mom is the center of the megaphone today."

But Yoga Mamas are not easy to reach through traditional media. Whether working outside the home or not, shuttling their little ones from doctors' appointments to play dates gives them little leisure time. Web sites such as Babycenter.com and parent magazines like Brain, Child have climbing site traffic and circulation. But shopping, e-mail, and chatting online are often done late in the evening. A survey of 1,800 mothers done by babycenter.com on BusinessWeek's behalf found that 40 percent considered other moms among their best sources of consumer information, well ahead of family and the media. Recognizing that time is of the essence to these shoppers, e-tailer babystyle.com offers a tightly edited product menu of just four or five items per category.

Still, there's a fine line between hyper-conscientious shopping and outright materialism. The babycenter.com survey showed 54 percent of those with household income between $50,000 and $200,000 said they have been splurging on high-end baby clothing and gear even when bargain brands are also available. Too much of that could backfire on their kids. David Bredehoft, chairman of the department of social and behavioral sciences at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., has studied adults overindulged as children. Those showered with toys, gear, and clothes later developed low self-esteem that manifested itself in overeating.

"There's a treadmill of dissatisfaction that acquisition doesn't solve," says Juliet B. Schor, a Boston College sociology professor and author of “Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture”. Consider the Yoga mom who shells out $129 for a pair of shoes for her toddler. A really sound child would have more fun with the box they came in.

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