Feminine hygiene products need better marketing in India

The market of feminine hygiene products is booming. It is projected to grow from $38.18 billion in 2021 to $54.52 billion in 2028 globally, corresponding to an annual growth rate of 5.22%, according to a study by the consulting firm Fortune Business Insight, published in July 2022. But the state of menstrual hygiene, which is defined in relation to the use of hygiene products, is shockingly poor in India.

In an interview given to Business Insider last year, Chetna Soni, Category Leader - Feminine Care at Procter & Gamble for the Indian sub-continent, declared “out of a total of 40 crore menstruating women in India, less than 20% use sanitary pads. In urban areas, this number only goes up to 52%.” She added “Adoption of sanitary napkins is less than 20% in the country whereas adoption of cosmetics like lipstick is significantly higher at 65%.”

Lack of menstrual literacy

 How to explain such a low performance? The reasons behind this could be multifaceted such as poverty, lack of cultural acceptance of hygienic products, lack of infrastructure for regular use of such products, marketing mix factors (such as product, price, promotion and place) and/or a combination of all these above mentioned factors.

Studies from India and other developing countries link lower sales and use of feminine hygiene products to the lack of menstrual literacy and several misconceptions regarding menstruation. However, even considering those factors, the penetration of feminine hygiene products in India remains too low compared to the overall population of women (in the age of menstruation), the penetration of other less essential women-oriented products such as cosmetics, and the situation in other developing countries. 

The importance of the marketing mix

From the marketing literature, we know that customer perception of elements of the marketing mix impacts positively sale, use and repurchase. While considering the importance of the previously mentioned reasons for lower sales and use of feminine hygiene products in India, we think that there must be something amiss in the relationship between the variable “purchase and use” and its antecedent “perception of marketing mix elements of feminine hygiene products”.

Therefore, we started a research to examine the marketing mix strategies used by brands in India. Very few studies focus on individual elements of the marketing mix like characteristics of the product (Achuthan et al., 2021) or public health messaging (Sommer et al., 2015). We want to understand what features of the products the purchasers are aware about and prefer, which brands do they like, what are their price constraints, how easy or difficult it is to access the feminine hygiene products, and finally how well designed are promotion campaigns.

Traditional customers vs urban Indians

In this ongoing research, one thing that is evident for us is that we will have to get more data from interviewees from different segments of the Indian market because there are many kinds of Indians. Traditional Indian customers, with their understanding of old practices and knowledge, might not be keen to purchase and use feminine hygiene products.

On the opposite extreme of this would be the segment of urban Indians. They are educated differently and have all the infrastructural facilities to embrace their lifestyle, consider purchasing and using different hygiene products because they consider them as essential goods. However, the majority of the Indian customers would fall in between these two extreme segments and this is where marketing mix decisions can probably have a stronger impact on the purchase and use of hygiene products.

From classic pads to cups

But the type of products also matters as they are differently used and accepted among the Indian population. We are looking at how different products (classic pads, cloth pads, biodegradable pads, tampons, cups etc), their characteristics, their branding, packaging etc., impact the desire to purchase and use.

What messages and information do Indian purchasers and end-customers get from the advertisement campaigns? Do the ads impress upon the need to reduce taboo around the topic of menstruation, enlist facts and scientific advice and encourage people to openly talk about the issues and needs of young girls and women? Is the purchase of hygiene products perceived as luxury or essential to an average Indian middle-class family? Where are such products sold? Is the action of purchasing mostly done by women and that of selling mostly done by men? We need to answer all these questions to effectively design better marketing mix strategies to increase the use of feminine hygiene products in India.

Dr Poonam Oberoi is Professor of Marketing at Excelia Business School, France. She is currently conducting a study on feminine hygiene products in India with Dr Latha Lavanya, Associate Professor, MEASI Institute of Management, India.