to 50 days of schooling in a year due to inadequate menstrual care
ü 23 per cent( aged 12-18 years) discontinued studies due to inadequate sanitary facilities in schools
CONSUMER SURVEY
SACRED conducted a survey in Bhokardan and Nagbid talukas. The sample size for both locations was 120. These females were aged between 14-45 years. With the help of Field coordinators, a questionnaire was prepared in the local Marathi language and women from different villages were surveyed to get an overview of the village mindset. The questionnaire attempted to gauge the financial situation, awareness, hygienic condition, mindset and the openness to use sanitary napkins. An analysis of the data revealed that 79 % of the women were not aware of the causes of Menstruation. Cloth users felt that price for a sanitary napkin packet should not exceed Rs. 20 and should be in the range of Rs. 15-18. Sanitary Napkin users did not have an issue with price but quality was a significant criterion since matching brands like Whisper or Stayfree was a tedious task for“ Nirmal”. [ Refer to Exhibit 6 for charts ]
POSITIONING OF NIRMAL SANITARY NAPKINS
“ For Menstruating women“ Nirmal” Brand was looked upon an affordable and quality Sanitary Napkin that was easily available in every village through the Deepshikhas because every woman had the right to maintain her hygiene.” [ Refer to Exhibit 7 and Exhibit 8 for Perceptual Map and Laddering ].
Mr. Jayant felt, making sanitary napkins available to village women through their own member of village( Deepshikha) was their USP( Unique Selling Point) for Nirmal Sanitary Napkins. The personalized selling would take care of efficient distribution of the sanitary napkins. Maximum reach to village women could be achieved. This would be also be very helpful in imparting knowledge of self sanitation to those women and could be achieved in line with the main motto of UNICEF.
IN THE FACE OF COMPETITION
A variety of brands were available in the market. Apart from the branded ones manufactured by reputed companies, there were a number of local brands too. These were made locally by women through self run enterprises. Thus it could be said that the industry comprised a few organized players and a few unorganized players. Since the focus market for study was rural India, there were a few players that competed on price as the major parameter. [ Refer to Exhibit 9 for List of brands available in the rural market ]
DEMAND
Market Mapping was a way in which the locations and individuals to whom the packets could be sold was identified. They could be sold to Public Health Centers( PHCs), Hospitals, Medical Shops. They could also be sold through Anganwadi workers, Self Help Groups etc. Anganwadi workers provided care for newborn babies as well as ensure that all children below the age of 6 are immunized. They were also expected to provide antenatal care for pregnant women and post natal care to nursing mothers. But Anganwadi women were involved in several other empowerment activities which could be a source of distribution. The Deepshikhas would anyway be a strong unique channel that was not currently used by any other brand for selling.
In general, the rural women between the age group of 15- 44 years in the chosen blocks were the target customers. [ Refer to Exhibit 10 for Female Population in the blocks ]
DISTRIBUTION The local NGO would work as a depot from where the packets would be distributed to the Deepshikhas. Money collected after selling of the packets was to be deposited in the bank once every month by each Deepshikha. Initially, 100 packets would be provided for each village. Based on the demand and sale, 50 additional packets would be further supplied to the Deepshikhas. The commission from the sales would go into the common pool and could not be claimed for a certain period of time decided upon by each Deepshikha. The Deepshikhas could give innovative or inexpensive methods to give update on sales. The time for replenishment would be when the sales hit 50 %. UNICEF would draw up a MOU with the two host NGOs. [ Refer to Exhibit 11 for figure ]
PRODUCT COST BIFURCATION
! UNICEF would purchase the sanitary napkins at Rs. 19 per packet of 8 pads + transportation as per actual
! A fixed price had been chosen for the selling cost instead of a price band to help monitoring and avoid confusion in the market for the particular brand that is going to be sold. That was decided to be Rs. 22 per packet of sanitary napkin.
! The Deepshikha would get commission from the sales which would be Rs. 2 per packet.
! The local NGO would receive Rs. 1 per packet for warehousing, stock keeping, accounting and reporting back to UNICEF
! Bulk Selling: In case of selling a customer 50 packets or more at one time, the packets could be sold at the rate of Rs. 21
If the Deepshikha sold 150 at the end of two months, each Deepshikha group at the village level would have:
60