Feminine Care Products Case Study

The client is in the feminine care industry. They aimed to launch white labeled products that are medically compliant.

1. Find a supplier that can produce medical-grade silicone products: The client needs to find manufacturers capable of producing feminine care products using medical-grade materials. The European markets require strict compliance certificates to meet health and safety regulations and so the manufacturers would also have to have necessary certifications (Biocompatibility Certificate, FDA certificate, GMPC certificate, ROHS reports, EU Declaration of Conformity ). The client was at a loss on how to navigate the complex regulatory processes with the manufacturers and European regulators.
2. Better Pricing: (product cost, quantity discount). When the client initially launched their brand in the European market, the pricing wasn’t optimal. They needed help negotiating with the supplier for better pricing.
3. Customer complaints After the main product launch, the client reported customer complaints about product scent. This was concerning because it had the potential to destroy the brand reputation online.
4. Improve Lead Times to free up cash flow: Long production lead times tied up a significant amount of capital for several weeks to months, and forced the client to make larger purchases in order to keep up with fast-growing demand for their products.
5. Develop New Products: (For upselling, increase Average Order Value [AOV]). The client wanted to expand into new products; however, due to the need of his products to be medical grade, thorough research is needed for each additional product launch.

Each of these problems requires strategic planning, resources, and expertise to navigate effectively. Overcoming these challenges is crucial for the client to ensure product safety, regulatory compliance, and scaling more profitably, thereby securing a sustainable position in the competitive market.

Here are the outcomes after taking the specified actions:

1. Found a quality supplier to produce medical-grade silicone products: We found a supplier for our client that has all necessary licenses and certificates by the time of production (Biocompatibility Certificate, FDA certificate, GMPC certificate, ROHS reports, EU Declaration of Conformity).  Furthermore, we negotiated with the supplier to add our client’s brand to their FDA registration ($9,500 borne by the factory). This not only adds legitimacy to the client’s brand, but also allows the client to explicitly advertise themselves as “FDA compliant.”
2. 35% savings on product cost over time: From the frequent meetings and relationship building, we successfully reduced our client's cost per unit by 35%, leading to savings of over $200,000 annually.
3. Reduced customer complaints by 70%: After instructing the manufacturer to add humidity and odor control packs inside the packaging, our client saw a 70% reduction in customer complaints.
4. Reduced lead time by 32% for core product: After placing advanced orders with the packaging supplier, overall lead times were reduced by 32%, resulting in freed up cash flow and allowing the client to order products in smaller batches, while still maintaining a competitive price.
5. Launched 6 new products for upsells: We successfully launched 6 new ancillary products, amounting to additional revenue of 27%.  

Overall, we helped the client find a quality supplier, reduce their cost (by ~35%), and reduce lead time.

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