Nua wants to make the conversation around menstruation open and easy

The FemTech brand is telling women to put their health and wellness needs first, minus the stigma

It’s quite likely that you’ve been buying an old pack of sanitary pads at the drugstore when you think you’re going to get your period. They’re usually purchased last-minute, have bright green packaging and feel just a little bit itchy. But they work, and they have been working for years. Why would a brand try to reinvent the wheel of a consumer product that’s largely been the same for years?

This is because Ravi Ramachandran thought there was an audience. “Women’s health is finally having its moment in the industry, and it's safe to say that currently, the spotlight is on stigmatised, yet most important health needs such as menstrual health, sexual health, maternal health and menopause,” he says. His D2C brainchild—Nua—has a product line that includes sanitary pads, cramp comfort pads, intimate washes, panty liners and now even a range of acne-control products.

The brand’s mission is to make the conversation about menstruation as open and easy as possible—neither does it have to be spoken about in whispers, and nor does it have to be looked at with rose-tinted glasses anymore. ​​Here’s an excerpt from our conversation with Ramachandran.

What is the point of differentiation between the Nua experience and buying any other sanitary pad from a pharmacy?

Our basic aim is to provide uncomplicated, clean and holistic care through products based on personalised experiences. The main point of differentiation is our customisation. Our sanitary pads are made for every woman at any point in her menstrual cycle—Heavy Flow Pads (XL) come with wider backs and are best suited for the first two days of your period. Medium Flow Pads (L) also have wider backs and are meant for days when your flow begins to reduce. Finally, Light Flow Pads (R) can be used on the last few days of your period, when the flow is minimal. These pads are available as part of an auto-repeat plan, and are delivered right to your doorstep, ensuring that you never run out [of them]. Over 50 per cent of our customers remain with us beyond 12 months, which reinforces the need for a subscription model in this category and customer satisfaction levels with Nua sanitary pads.

What do you think is the future of FemTech in India?

The future for FemTech is promising; it is speculated to grow exponentially within the next few years. It is empowering to utilise technology to realise new solutions to the problems that have been associated with women’s health for a long time. The FemTech industry has a much larger future that extends to the rural sectors too, alongside the urban sector. Wealth disparity along with a lack of education and backwardness on taboo topics has definitely affected the progress companies continue to make to improve women’s health requirements in the less affluent parts of our country.

More investment from healthcare venture capitalists is anticipated and it will shape the FemTech industry. Within a forecast period of ten years and with the help of affordable and accessible technology, the service segment is speculated to expand. Emerging global economies will also enhance. The development of more apps and products due to an increase in research and funding for general women’s health is speculated.

How do you build trust with your community and create an environment where they feel comfortable to speak and discuss what is on their minds?

Many of our products are made by us and are based on the need of a community of over four lakh women who wanted to start a new and improved wellness journey. Nua engages with its audience one on one via Instagram and offers advice on their health issues. It wanted to provide a platform where menstruators feel they are heard without being put in a box and provide solutions in return, specific to their individual needs. When you start following Nua on Instagram, the page sends you a message and customers respond to their questions. In 24 hours, Nua gets even up to 25,000 responses on Instagram and the team responds to each query personally.

Our ability to co-create solutions with our community of over four lakh women is, what we believe, is the main reason to build trust with our community. We are always listening to what our community has to say, especially things that bother them, and this translates into new product development. With menstrual cramps being a big pain point, we created India’s first revolutionary self-heating patch for menstrual cramps known as Cramp Comfort. Recently, we launched a period nutrition drink mix called Uplift, which is a result of insights gathered from the Nua community and worked upon through extensive research in labs to address the issue of period fatigue.

Your modern advertisements—with Deepika Padukone as the star—portrays a real-life view of what one’s period is like. It isn’t easy, but Nua can make it easier. Do you feel like this has connected with users?

Pain, cramps, a hot water bag and curling up in a ball to find comfort—that’s how periods go for most women in real life. It’s not about climbing mountains, winning bicycle races and gliding across rainbows. The way that periods have been depicted in Indian advertising until now is quite false. Women are not all sprightly and upbeat during their periods, and Nua’s brand campaign wishes to abolish stereotypes attached to menstrual health, and portray a realistic depiction of what it actually is.

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