Inside Feminine Hygiene Brand Soothe’s Reverse D2C Playbook

In India’s crowded D2C market, which demands a strong online presence and where innovation and product differentiation are pivotal to success, Delhi NCR-based women’s hygiene startup Soothe Healthcare has become an INR 100 Cr+ brand all while refuting the rules of the game. 

Instead of building a strong online presence first, the CEO and founder Sahil Dharia chose to take the road less travelled, and fortunes did favour the brave. 

“We aced the hard thing first, which was to build a strong offline business. But now, we are transitioning from offline to online, and we are witnessing everybody else struggling to move offline from online,” said Dharia.

Incorporated in 2013, Soothe Healthcare has a strong presence at offline retail stores. The startup, which largely caters to semi-urban and rural markets in the country, has now set its eyes on taking urban Indian households by storm with its online play.

In the offline space, Soothe claims to have positioned itself as one of the leading menstrual hygiene brands, with Paree sanitary pads as the jewel in its crown.

Locking horns with Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree Secure and Procter & Gamble’s Whisper, Soothe boasts a monthly traction of over 55 Lakh customers for its sanitary napkins Paree, which caters primarily to the women in low to middle-income groups.

Pertinent to mention that Whisper by P&G dominates the Indian sanitary pads market with more than 50% market share, followed by J&J’s Stayfree Secure. As per the founder, Paree claimed a mere 3% of the total market share in 2022, which was more than the rest of its peers like Kotex, Sofy, and others. Today, its market share stands at over 7%.

Now, with its zero-to-one growth already coming to fruition, Soothe embarked on its omnichannel journey in 2023. Per the founder, its online presence has only put the company into the speed lane.

For context — In FY23, Soothe clocked a revenue of INR 172 Cr, up 25% from INR 139 Cr a year ago when it had yet to transition online. 

Meanwhile, Dharia said that the company ended its FY24 with an INR 180 Cr top line. Going by Dharia’s claims, although the metric translated to a mere 4.5% year-on-year (YoY) gain, the founder said that the decision to grow less during this period was intentional, as the entire focus was on improving the bottom line. 

The founder’s strategy bore fruits, and in FY24, Soothe was able to chalk out its path to profitability. The founder claims the company was EBITDA profitable in Q3 and Q4 of the last fiscal. In FY23, Soothe’s net loss stood at INR 97.2 Cr, up almost 20% YoY. 

Now, with the omnichannel model in play and the company’s foray into more urban households with premium products, Soothe has set sail for first full year EBITDA profitability in FY25. It aims to report over INR 260 Cr in revenue, with online channels anticipated to add around INR 70 Cr-INR 80 Cr to its top line this fiscal. Dharia expects the startup to emerge net profitable by FY26.

Soothe Founder’s Reverse D2C Psychology 

Being in the FMCG market for more than a decade, Dharia believes that the businesses that are trying to build online first are faced with challenges like adhering to a list of tight or unfavourable terms and conditions and thin profit margins when working with ecommerce platforms. 

However, given that his business has already built trust in the market and has a strong customer recall, Soothe’s existing business has little dependency on online marketplaces.

“Unlike online platforms, general trade is a very secular channel for us, and we have built our business there. So, now when we go to ecommerce, quick commerce or even supermarkets, we have the power to walk away from the table. Our business model is far more resilient that way,” Dharia said.

Dharia gets this confidence on the back of the performance of the startup’s star product, Paree, which has a strong foothold in the northern and eastern parts of India. The founder claims that Paree takes the third spot after Whisper and Stayfree in the menstrual hygiene category.  

Besides its women’s hygiene products, which include sanitary pads, menstrual cups, panty liners, razors, and hair removal cream, the startup also manufactures baby diapers.

Its Super Cutes range of baby diapers gets a monthly traction of 10 Lakh customers, contributing around 30% to its total revenue. 

However, Paree sanitary pads have been the company’s core business with new product categories, including diapers and other personal care products, launched in the last three years. 

Moving on, the founder claims Soothe to be one of the few menstrual hygiene brands to have a manufacturing facility. Per Dharia, several top sanitary napkin companies selling in India buy products from China, which are often cheaper and inferior in quality.

He also questions the claims made by new-age menstrual hygiene brands about their products being 100% biodegradable.

“There are some startups with innovative claims that their sanitary pads are 100% biodegradable, but it’s absolutely false. When you are small, you can get away by lying but as a large company, we don’t have that luxury,” he said. 

Explaining this, Dharia pointed out that 100% biodegradable sanitary pads is a white lie, as 80% of these pads are made from hygiene-grade paper but the back sheet, comprising the remaining 20% of the product, is plastic to make them leakproof.

Soothe’s Major Milestones In Its Zero-To-One Stride

Even though the company was incorporated in 2013, it took Dharia quite a while to launch its first product, Paree, which came out in 2016. He spent nearly three years doing R&D and building a manufacturing capacity. 

Being an ex-banker, one thing was clear in Dharia’s mind — he wanted to build a profitable business soon, and he wished to do it by keeping customer acquisition costs at bare minimum. For this, he initially restricted his adventure only to Tier II and Tier III regions of the country, which also helped him save a fortune on the expense front. 

Not a big fan of cash burns, Dharia’s playbook also helped the company provide quality feminine hygiene products at an affordable price to women living in the rural parts of the nation.

As the startup was preparing to launch its Paree sanitary pads in 2016, it was time for it to give a face to the brand. So, in 2015, Dharia roped in Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal as its investor and brand ambassador. Though Nehwal’s association with the startup as its brand ambassador was short-lived, she continues to be an investor in Soothe. Later, in 2021, Paree roped in Janhvi Kapoor as its brand ambassador.

According to Dharia, he recognised early on that a top-down approach wouldn’t be effective for their target market, which already had top brands catering to urban households. Therefore, Soothe rather focussed on creating value for women in rural areas. 

Since its inception, Soothe has raised around INR 400 Cr ($48 Mn) through multiple funding rounds. It counts investors like A91 Partners, Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), Northern Arc, Sixth Sense Ventures, and the US International Development Finance Corporation on its cap table.

Its last funding round took place in 2022 when it raised INR 175 Cr ($21 Mn) to expand its distribution channels and deepen its reach across Tier II and Tier III markets. Notably, Soothe boasts an offline presence at 2.5 Lakh retail stores today. 

Moving on, now that Soothe plans to spread its wings online, it aspires to target premium customers with Paree Prima. 

Apart from this, Dharia said that the startup’s manufacturing setup gives it an edge and solidifies its position in the industry.

“We can produce 1 Bn pieces of sanitary pads per annum. Having our in-house manufacturing actually gives us the advantage of being able to do innovation and differentiation. I can create products at a good gross margin for Bharat, middle class, and premium via quick commerce and Kirana stores efficiently.”

Soothe’s manufacturing plant, which is registered with the US FDA and holds BIS (ISI) Mark & ISO certifications, has allowed Soothe to add a B2B aspect to its business, supplying products to other brands. Its B2B sales contribute approximately 8-9% to its revenue.

What’s Next On The Card?

A year ago, when Soothe began its online sales, 95% of its revenues came from offline sales and only 5% from online sales. Per Dharia, online channels account for about 15% of the company’s revenues today.

In addition to selling through various marketplaces and quick commerce platforms, Soothe is developing its own platform to sell directly to customers.

With its new business strategy, Soothe aims to reach INR 1,000 Cr in revenue over the next three years while maintaining profitability. The company plans to achieve this by increasing its presence in 5 Lakh stores, boosting online sales, and expanding into international markets. In the near term, the startup plans to grow its footprint in geographies like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Africa.

As of now, Soothe aspires to maintain its dominant position in the country’s feminine hygiene market, which is expected to reach $1.79 Bn by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 14.85% from 2024.

Even as Soothe has tall claims about its stronghold offline in Tier II regions and beyond, it could face extreme competition online from new-age D2C brands like Nua, Carmesi, Pee Safe, and Niine, and the list is far from over. 

Also, these brands have a strong social media connection with GenZ and millennials, which Soothe will have to replicate if it wants to strive and rule the proverbial online roost.