At Nua, innovation is at the heart of everything and not just at a product level. Here is a brand that is transforming the women’s wellness space in India through informative and trusted content by its in-house team and panel of experts, an ever-expanding community that is a safe space for real women, and products (such as ultra-thin, rash-free and highly customisable sanitary pads) that are backed by science.
New Delhi: Nua is a D2C wellness brand that came into existence in 2017 to give the women’s wellness category a new beginning. “Having spent the last 18 years in the consumer and retail space, I realised that a massive gap exists in the relationships that brands have with their customers. There are very few direct two-way conversations happening between them and fewer honest conversations around subjects that matter. When I started speaking to women around me—friends, family and colleagues—I realised that this is especially true in women’s wellness, where several important topics are still considered taboo in our country. Consequently, a brand’s ability to understand these real issues gets diminished and, in turn, leads to a gap in the experience delivered to customers,” shares Ravi Ramachandran, Founder and CEO, Nua. There was scope, he continues, for a differentiated approach. “At Nua, our initial focus was on periods, given that it is a sizeable market. After a lot of listening to other women, we realised that every woman has a different need. No two periods are the same. And yet, women are used to buying sanitary pads off the shelf without realising whether that particular pack of pads caters to their needs or not,” conveys Ramachandran. And so Nua came out with its first product: sanitary pads. “Ours was the first brand in the country to allow customers to customise our sanitary pads
in three sizes in one pack, give disposal covers
for each sanitary pad, and offer an auto-repeat plan so that customers could get the sanitary pads automatically on time, every time,” conveys Ramachandran.
Innovation at the core
Ramachandran soon realised that the need for safe and effective solutions in women’s wellness goes beyond just sanitary pads. “So, we asked the women in our community to tell us what they were looking for and based on their inputs, launched ‘Cramp Comfort’ (a self-heating patch for period pain and cramps), foaming intimate wash, 1mm everyday panty liners, and ‘Uplift’ (a nutritional drink mix for periods),” says Ramachandran. Recently, Nua launched a brand new skin care range comprising a pore cleansing face wash, oil-free gel moisturiser, detoxifying clay mask, and acne healing patch. “While the products and solutions are manufactured by us, they are actually created by our community of women who want to start a new and improved wellness journey. In fact, our ability to co-create solutions with this community is what sets us apart,” shares Ramachandran.
Being customer ready
Nua’s approach to wellness has three pillars: content, community and commerce. “This has brought about much-needed disruption in a space where not just innovation was lacking but information too,” shares Ramachandran. Today, Nua has a strong community of over half a million women and the brand’s approach has, and will always be, to keep them at the heart of everything it does. “We focus on holistic content based on our conversations with them. We also have sessions with experts and provide a platform for women to engage and learn more about a wide range of wellness aspects. Moreover, we are always listening to what women have to say, especially their concerns and the issues that bother them, and this in turn translates into new product development,” says Ramachandran.
Ramachandran has succeeded in establishing a very strong brand in the menstrual wellness space, and his endeavour now is to take that forward. “We are exploring categories across a woman’s life stages, right from puberty to menopause. The market for women’s wellness is massive, as several huge problems remain unsolved,” explains Ramachandran. Over the next two years, Nua is poised to grow 4x to 5x on the back of new products and tech-enabled solutions. “We also plan to build an online community platform within the Nua ecosystem itself where women can feel safer than ever to share, learn and buy our products after fully understanding their purpose,” concludes Ramachandran.
BROWNIE POINTS
- Nua is a D2C wellness brand that came into existence in 2017. Over the years, it has built a community of over half a million women.
- The brand was born to give the women’s wellness category a new beginning, as the name ‘Nua’ suggests.
- While Nua’s story began with the humble sanitary pad, the brand’s founder and CEO, Ravi Ramachandran, soon realised that the need for safe and effective solutions in women’s wellness goes beyond just sanitary pads.
- After that, the brand launched other products including ‘Cramp Comfort’ (a self-heating patch for period pain and cramps), foaming intimate wash, 1mm everyday panty liners, and ‘Uplift’ (a nutritional drink mix for periods).
