Two grandmothers push the pram of their only grandchild. (Photo : Getty Images)
After an announcement from the Chinese government that it may start allowing couples to have two children, Internet traffic relating to pregnancy-related products surged considerably.
Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao indicated that the search index for "preparation for pregnancy" rose by 148 percent just in the previous week. The index's average rating for a product popularity clocks at around 100.
Late on Oct. 29, the index began to rise and peaked on Nov. 2 at 360. Before the Oct. 29 announcement about the country relaxing its one-child policy, the "preparation for pregnancy" search index was by and large isolated within the 50-150 rating.
Statistical analysis of the search data from Taobao and Tmall pegged that most of the people showing interest in having another child are from Northern and Central China.
Prime cities like Beijing and Shanghai did not even make it to the top 20 cities that have a population that searched for the term.
Alibaba statistics indicated that products like oral folic acid and ovulation prediction packs under the websites' medicine and health categories began to trend.
"Neither my husband nor I is a single child in our family. And we really hope to have two children as our parents did. But we didn't meet the standard to have a second child until the new policy was announced a few days ago," said Yuan Ku of Yunnan Province and mother to a 4-year-old daughter.
"The living cost is lower in small cities like where we are now living, and it's affordable for us to have two children," Yuan added. "We are so glad and now are planning for having a second child."
Shares of companies specialized in child-bearing and rearing and other related businesses are rising in the Chinese and overseas markets.
The revised family planning policy is still awaiting approval on the desks of top legislature.
