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Product cover image for Eco Femme Cloth Pads: Reaching Rural Women

Eco Femme Cloth Pads: Reaching Rural Women

Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan; Subhasis Ray; Paromita Goswami

Product #:9B20A084
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Marketing, Sustainability
Setting:India, 2016
Details:Case (PDF) • 13 pages • 2020-11-23

Subjects:

Social enterpriseSociety and business relationsSales and marketingLeadership and managing peopleMarketingManagement

Industries:

Goods, trade, and consumer servicesPublic administration and nonprofits

Geography:

AsiaIndia
Your Price:$10.54

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Eco Femme (EF) was a social enterprise founded in 2010. It developed re-usable cloth sanitary napkins and marketed towards those looking for sustainable products to manage their menstrual hygiene. The enterprise faced several challenges in reaching their target market of poor women in rural India. There was a taboo attached to menstruation and it was thus a difficult topic to discuss. Also, there were popular, commonly used, and easily available substitutes in the market, which were heavily marketed and distributed. EF had narrowed its options down to three broad distribution options—community groups, small convenience stores, and apparel retailers; the team needed to choose and develop a plan.

Learning Objectives

The case describes issues pertaining to a go-to-market strategy of a social enterprise. It is suitable for both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on product adoption, social entrepreneurship, sales management, and marketing channels. The social enterprise setting may make this case suitable for an introductory marketing course. After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be able to
  • understand the marketing of a product that presents myriad challenges in terms of acceptance;
  • understand the motivations of a social enterprise and differentiate them from those of a for-profit organization;
  • systematically draw up elements of channel strategy from sales goals, which are, in turn, based on organizational goals; and
  • develop a go-to-market strategy for a new product offered by a social enterprise.
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Case Study: Eco Femme Cloth Pads: Reaching Rural Women (English version) | Ivey Publishing