Financially-empowered mums have become the driving force behind India’s $12 billion baby care industry. Specialist retailers have now set up shop promising to better serve this segment with improved prices and convenience. But will this be enough to win the hearts and minds of these shoppers?

New mums are older than they’ve ever been. They’re also better off. With the 2.4 kids standard fading, are today’s babies being born into a lap of luxury where only the best will do? If so, how can brands align with this quality-not-quantity approach to family life?

Mums are getting excited about flash sales site Zulily, and it’s not hard to see why. Constant discounts, 9,000 new items posted daily and ‘buy-it-now’ emails are selling them everything from yoga pants to fridge organisers, attracting four and a half million customers in five years. Will this success last?

More mums are choosing to become their own boss and look after their children at the same time. But does ‘motherism’ – the prejudice that paints ‘non-working’ mums as unsexy slobs – really motivate women to go back to work just to remove the ‘stay-at-home’ label?