HelloFlo Launches a Tampon Subscription Service

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/04/helloflo-launches-to-be-a-little-fish-in-the-big-pond-of-tampon-subscription-services/

by jeffepp • 13 years ago

25 50 13 years ago

techcrunch.com

mkoble11• 13 years ago

I'd bet that men would also purchase this for their girlfriends/wives, so they don't ever have to go to the store :)

File this under ideas I wished I would have thought of....

liddybird3• 13 years ago

you CAN buy this for your gf/wife if you use Juniper — Just go to http://www.getjuniper.com/gift !

GhotiFish• 13 years ago

This has a male equivalent as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

thomseddon• 13 years ago

Best advert i've seen this year, literally laughed out loud

ajtaylor• 13 years ago

How has that not gone viral?! I had to stifle several laughs so my boss didn't look at me funny. Plus, how can you go wrong with a dollar a month? That won't even buy you a cup of coffee in Sydney.

petercooper2• 13 years ago

My wife's mind boggles that so much money is spent on this stuff when you can buy a menstrual cup every year or two and face almost none of the cons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cup .. I wonder if this is one of those "the industry doesn't want this to happen" dealies. (Disclaimer: I do not have a vagina so don't have direct experience, but she raves about it.)

Swizec• 13 years ago

My initial reaction as a person without a vagina is "Ew, isn't that a bit like installing a catheter so you don't have to go pee?"

I mean, I prefer paper handkerchiefs so I can throw them away after use, rather than carrying around a piece of cloth that gets all messy.

petercooper2• 13 years ago

Though that first reaction would also be true of a tampon. You're inserting something that collects liquid in both cases: just one absorbs it and the other doesn't.

Indeed, with the cup, the liquid is retained in the cup. With the tampon, it's absorbed and still touching organic matter (which is why they need to be changed more often).

mediacrisis• 13 years ago

They're cost effective and environmentally friendly, however dropping one on the floor of a public restroom is quite the faux pas.

obviouslygreen4• 13 years ago

This gave me a truly awful, slow-motion, Quentin Tarantino mental replay.

lifeisstillgood• 13 years ago

I am used to traditional disclaimers such as "I work for the company ..." But I don't have a vagina has to be the strangest and best disclaimer all year :-). Have some karma

Someday I shall have to write a book to go with a title that popped into my head over the weekend:

   "Men; turns out we are all crap, who knew?"

papsosouid• 13 years ago

>can buy a menstrual cup every year or two

What? They last way longer than that. The companies making them recommend buying a new one every 10 years.

leeoniya2• 13 years ago

the wiki says they are more environmentally friendly? aren't tampons cotton and biodegrade quite easily.

mapleoin• 13 years ago

Buying one of something will be more environmentally friendly than buying 100 of something most of the time.

citricsquid• 13 years ago

From what I've read about menstrual cups (which is strange because I also don't have a vagina...) they are not usable with some contraceptive implants.

faet• 13 years ago

Due to the suction they can cause problems with IUD.

jbrooksuk4• 13 years ago

Definitely need this in the UK. I can't understand why, but my partner HATES buying tampons in the supermarket, the amount of times I've had to pick them up on my way home is countless. It's a normal part of being a woman, there is no prejudice women.

Any women here who don't mind sharing why this is so embarrassing for the alike?

joezydeco3• 13 years ago

Male here. Your partner just needs to grow up. I've been purchasing feminine hygiene products for my girlfriend-now-wife for the last 15 years and have been happy to help her, not embarrassed.

If this is a problem for him now, childbirth is really going to be an experience. =)

calopetreep• 13 years ago

Actually I think the parent poster is male- I certainly read it the same way you did at first!

joezydeco3• 13 years ago

That being said, I would like to see the tampon/pad manufacturers try something that would help a lot of men out.

The tampons and pads themselves are very simple. But, like toothpastes, deodorants, or soaps, there are a TON of options that get piled on by marketers. Wings/No Wings, Light/Heavy/Overnight/OMG, scented/unscented, Thong, etc. I must spend 5-10 minutes just trying to make sure I have the right ones that she likes. Is "Heavy" the same as "Overnight"? What did she tell me again?

It would be great if even ONE company tried to classify their items with a simple code number. If wifey just said "Hey, pick me up a pack of C-2s", I'd be a customer of that brand for life.

philwelch• 13 years ago

I find that self-checkouts are helpful for people who feel sheepish about buying certain products, or certain combinations of products. I bet there's a measurable uptick in sales of feminine hygiene products, condoms, constipation and diarrhea medicine, and other "embarrassing" products in stores that add self-checkouts.

I used to feel sheepish buying things for my girlfriend but I realized it's not bad for people to think you're a good partner. So instead of sullenly buying the hygiene products, I say go all out. Throw in some generic Midol and dark chocolate. No one will criticize you.

alexkus• 13 years ago

I used to work as a pot-washer in the kitchen of a restaurant and therefore I was the person who used to go to the petrol station next door to buy things for the other staff (waiters/waitresses, chefs, etc) as they weren't able to get away for enough time.

It wasn't unusual for me (16 y/o at the time) to go in and buy:-

    cans of coke
    multiple packs of cigarettes (all different brands)
    tampons/sanitary pads
    condoms
    2 gallons of milk, and  5 or 6 loaves of bread (when the restuarant ran out)
    confectionary
    toothpaste
    etc

I got some very very odd looks from other customers but the petrol station staff soon got used to my bizarre purchases.

It certainly helped me get over any fear of buying these kinds of items.

jbrooksuk4• 13 years ago

No, I am a male.

nicholassmith• 13 years ago

I'd imagine it's why some guys get embarrassed buying condoms, the "oh no! Everyone now knows I have bodily functions!".

jbrooksuk4• 13 years ago

That's never bothered me, I see it as a token of mature thinking, not ready for kids, taking precaution. Now I don't bother though since they're cheaper to purchase online direct from Durex etc.

gadders2• 13 years ago

I've bought tampons for my wife before. Apparently though they "..don't count as a proper present."

PS Yes I know this is not Reddit.

wsc981• 13 years ago

The following is a bit personal, but perhaps your wife has experienced something similar.

Personally -as a male- I always feel a bit embarrassed when buying toilet paper. I know it's just a normal body function, but I still don't like it. I think it has to something with my early youth.

When I was a child my parents had a hard time to learning me to become potty-trained. At some point my mother got sick of it and from what I remember she pushed my face into my own feces. From that moment on I was potty-trained.

I believe a side effect of this experience was that I'm annoyed by defecating myself and I also am really annoyed by for example people farting. It's probably 1 reason why I don't want to have kids (would hate the baby phase), though I would not mind adopting a kid that's potty-trained.

Perhaps your wife has had some traumatic experience related to her menstruation causing this annoyance.

rvkennedy• 13 years ago

And a big HN welcome to the Pets.com of the second internet bubble!

niggler• 13 years ago

I can think of at least 10 other companies with many external investors that better deserve the dubious title of "Pets.com of the second internet bubble"

stinos• 13 years ago

I just showed this to my girlfriend and she was like "wtf would I need that for?". Seeing that in our basement we have like a pallet of tampons and pads I understand her. Buying this stuff in mass just seems cheaper and smarter.

untog• 13 years ago

You could say the same of any subscription service. Despite being a male, I can tell you that in NYC at least, having a pallet of tampons in the basement is not practical, given that no-one has a basement or any spare room for a pallet.

ecubed• 13 years ago

Why would you use this service instead of subscribing on Amazon?

rhplus• 13 years ago

I'm skeptical about the real usefulness of this service, simply because I just don't think it could match the timeliness or efficiency of the current distributions model. Right now you can buy these products in literally every convenience store, gas-station, drug store, supermarket and warehouse store in the country (ordered roughly by decreasing unit cost & decreasing convenience).

With a 'tailored' delivery service, you're always going to end up with too many at the end a month - in which case you might as well have bought a big box from a supermarket or Costco/Amazon at a fraction of the unit cost, or you'll end up with too few - in which case you will have to urgently overpay at the convenience store or gas station anyway.

acgourley• 13 years ago

Small shout-out to my friends at Juniper [1] who run the same business and did not get techcrunched. As the article says, a little competition probably isn't bad in a large market like this.

[1] http://www.getjuniper.com/

MBee• 13 years ago

They were covered on Techcrunch in October. http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/07/juniper-monthly-subscriptio...

jgrahamc• 13 years ago

The margin on this business must be very thin. I assume they are just buying the tampons wholesale and then reselling them on a subscription basis. At the same time the barrier to entry for this type of business seems very small which ultimately means that the margin gets squeezed even more.

It would be interesting to know what value added services they can provide to increase their margin.

jcampbell1• 13 years ago

If it has a UPC, Amazon will beat you. Amazon is already in the business with "Subscribe and Save".

The dollar shave club may be sustainable because they have managed to make no-name blades appealing through a viral video.

liddybird3• 13 years ago

the barriers to entry are not as you may think. Yes, anyone can set up an etsy/ebay store, with some paypayl express check out thrown in. But if you'd notice, it's not often that women complain about the price of tampons (though they are getting more and more expensive), it's really the entire experience that is dreadful.

To actually bring forth a useful subscription product that's delightful, and always delivered on time requires thoughtful design and implementation. Every woman is different, they require different numbers of tampons each cycle, of different absorbencies, and in their preferred brand. They don't want a backlog of products in their own bathroom that takes up room for months at a time, only to run out unexpectedly when they most need it.

This may seem like a laughable or even trivial issue to tackle, but half of the population has periods and everyone complains about them, why not do something to improve that situation?

gadders2• 13 years ago

I thought of doing something similar in the UK. I was also looking at the use of Jersey as they let you send (or used to) packages under £15 vat free.

I think the only way you could make money would be to create your own brand, but I'm guessing (as a man) that this would be an area susceptible to brand loyalty, or at least to not using unknown brands.

dmor• 13 years ago

It can only be a matter of time until tons of these subscription services are consolidated in a single place. You can already subscribe to products on Amazon, although often the minimum quantity is still so high that a quarterly rather than monthly subscription makes sense. I'm kind of waiting for a subscription-box-as-a-service company to come along, tell you that you can create the custom subscription box of your choice and one you hit X number of subscribers they'll fulfill it for you and you'll get a cut.

The other way I could see this going is towards a content play, where they start out with a tampons subscription but really it is a play to gain mindshare from women about feminine issues and create a media/brand company. Given the interview with the founder I don't think this is her vision right now, but it is definitely a direction she could go.

I have a vagina, but as a West Coast woman surrounded by liberal-minded people and no period in over 5 years (tell your wives and girlfriends about Mirena) I might just be too disconnected from the "pain" of the customer in this case.

liddybird3• 13 years ago

Lynn Tao, here, CEO of Juniper (www.getjuniper.com). I figure I’ll chime in and address some of the questions and comments here:

1. Yes, the majority of the women I’ve talked to have thought that we have a brilliant idea.

2. Why not just buy from Amazon subscribe and save? Of the women we talked to, many have little insight into how much they use. This is not because they’re dumb — if I were to ask you how many bottles of shampoo you use in any given month or year, you can probably estimate, but you may be off. That’s something you use on a daily basis. A box of tampons is something you use every 28 days — estimating how and when to tell Amazon to deliver that seems trivial, but in practice, one ends up with either a shortage or more likely, backlog. Inconvenient.

3. This leads me to my next point: why is this a tech culture vs a culture culture issue? Because tampons are needed by different women on different cycles. You can use paypal or shopify or maybe even an esty store to deliver this type of thing once a box. To actually get it to the set-it-and-forget-it state, and scale it up, you’d need to invest in infrastructure that’s a bit more involved than an internal wiki. Tampon delivery and Late should never be in the same sentence together. We comp all the Juniper boxes that are delivered even one day late.

4. Why not just buy a huge box? Like someone already said – there’s a space issue. Some women, my self included, like to switch between different products during the course of a period, which means they have to buy different bulky boxes that has to take up a lot of space. Again, inconvenient. Juniper eliminates that need.

5. While some women are embarrassed to buy it, that’s not the biggest pain point. My customers are not timid girls, they’re women. However, being busy women, it’s inconvenient to not have them when you need them the most, and convenient stores only carry a limited number of brands, Walgreens and big-box stores will carry more brands but consumer still have to go to them. In Manhattan, there’s a drug store on every corner, in other cities and towns it’s not the case.

6. re: Gourmet snacks and Tampons being a weird combination to ship: Our customers love that they get to savor high quality treats around the time of the month when it feels extra stressful. Our treats rotate every month to feature something new, so there’s a surprise element to it as well. A good surprise.

7. Washable tampons? Unlike pads, tampons go into a sensitive ph-balanced body cavity. Washing it and reinserting it may introduce bacteria into that cavity and cause infections and even TSS. Diva cups are wash-and-reuseable, and some women love them. However, other women are used to pads or tampons and simply do not prefer them, even if they like the concept.

Bottom line: Yes, chuckle worthy subject. But this is far from trivial. Half of the population has to deal with a monthly period, and everyone complains about it. If we can have pizza and books delivered to us, why not tampons? I could go into a fem-empowerment rant on why we didn’t have this service earlier, but it’s 9am on the west coast and I have to go run a company now.

HelloFlo Launches a Tampon Subscription Service

Related Stories