Pamper Hamper aims to add fun to pregnancy with “sweet somethings”
Co-founded by Saloni Daga Parekh, Pamper Hamper is an online portal that offers exclusive gifts for expectant women and newborns.
In between all the morning sickness, mood swings, weight gain, and a load of expectations, mums-to-be need all the pampering they can get.
And therein lies a cute story of how an expectant father wanted to express love and care for his pregnant wife through little surprises, which were planned and put together by his cousin. These “sweet somethings” turned into an idea for a startup and, thus, Pamper Hamper was born.
Tushar and Mahek Laddha were leading busy lives in the corporate sector in Mumbai when Mahek became pregnant. Like every other woman in this stage of her life, it wasn’t an easy time for her.
Tushar realised he needed to keep her happy, and help her sail past this period without holding onto symptoms like mood swings and the urge to do something fun that is associated with the mundane leave period. Tushar was away from home for most of the day, and so he decided to call up his cousin, Saloni Daga Parekh, who helped him plan different ways to keep Mahek happy throughout her pregnancy.
“This experience motivated us to start Pamper Hamper to offer the kind of happiness every expectant couple deserves during this stage of their life. Tushar and I decided that Pamper Hamper would be a one-stop destination that offers exclusive gifts for pregnant women and newborns. We help every mum-to-be to be happy throughout pregnancy,” says Saloni.
She believes that in the present scenario, where small families are the norm, and with many changes in lifestyle and work stress, couples don’t have the time to make the pregnancy period enjoyable even though they have a disposable income
“The husband, in a lot of cases, finds it difficult to understand different situations during this period. The woman wants her man to help, support, understand and pamper her too. The changing lifestyle makes simplest things more stressful and demanding. There is no single platform that provides products/services that would pamper pregnant women, cater to her various moods, or help her cope with bed rest, make her feel special and keep her productively engrossed. There are a variety of options available in cosmetics like creams etc., but nothing that caters to a mum-to-be to make her feel special and happy. Hence we saw the opportunity and immediately started working on our idea,” she explains.
Once they sensed the opportunity, the duo decided to find out what expectant couples expect. They met a number of them to understand their needs, lifestyles, mood swings, what makes them happy, what they miss in their lives etc. They also met a number of gynecologists from metros, Tier II and III cities to understand the same. After identifying the need, they started to do research on products that would be quirky, useful, and affordable.
What does Pamper Hamper do?
“We offer products and hampers to pamper the expectant couple and also educate them in a fun way. We also have a subscription-based model where the pregnant woman will keep receiving hampers during each trimester and also after her delivery for the newborn. These include quirky gifts like engraved spoons, a cushion with a pregnancy doodle, mommy-logy puzzle and activity book, Baby Bump Ahead – a pregnancy board game, or products that are useful after birth like the compact and portable diaper-changing station, Capture Happiness cards etc.,” Saloni explains.
These hampers can be ordered online and delivered to any city in India where postal services are available. The hampers are designed and customised according to individual requirements and are shipped within a week from a centrally located warehouse. Additionally, Pamper Hamper has also tied up with various gynecologists, nurseries of private and corporate hospitals for displaying and promoting their products.
They have had around 5,000 customers so far from across India, but most orders come from metros like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.
“Initially bootstrapped, we have been able to reach the stage were we are not only able to sustain our operations and marketing but also have been able to build efficient processes for further scaling. Moving forward, we will be raising money for ramping up our branding and marketing initiatives to reach global markets,” Saloni says.
The duo claim their biggest success has been endorsements from celebrities like Soha Ali Khan and Esha Deol.
The founders are also associated with various entrepreneurial platforms like TIE Global and a few others that help with mentoring, acceleration and connections.
“We want to have offline presence in all the brick-and-mortar mother and baby-related stores across India. We also plan to expand the scope of our website to those people who make pregnancy and newborn-related products but don’t want to go through the hassle of creating their own brands and channels. This will facilitate Pamper Hamper to be an aggregator and allow others to use our brand licence for adding their products on our platform,” Saloni signs off .