The First Standard for Warm Menstrual Belt: Product Quality and Consumer Experience
Since the National Patent Office granted the patent for Xin Gui Mi Warm Menstrual Belt in June 2014, the product R&D team of Shanghai Runyi Technology Company has been fully engaged in product development, soliciting expert opinions and suggestions, listening to traditional Chinese medicine views, finding the best raw material suppliers, organizing experts to solve production technical problems, and convening marketing expert teams to discuss product positioning and marketing strategies. Finally, in October, the first batch of products came off the production line.
After the first batch of products was produced, the marketing team of Shanghai Runyi Company did not rush to launch the market. Instead, they considered how to further improve product quality and enhance consumer experience. After team research, they decided to collaborate online with a menstrual period assistant APP called "Dayima" for product testing. Starting from December 23, during the 3-day cooperation with Dayima, over 67,000 consumers eagerly applied for trial use, voluntarily acting as "guinea pigs." After the activity, more than 600 consumer experience reports were collected. Based on consumer feedback, the Warm Menstrual Belt product was further optimized and improved.
In the consumer testing feedback, some consumers mentioned that the fabric used on the skin was a bit rough, and walking while wearing it was uncomfortable. The R&D team quickly proposed replacing the fabric with another that would be more comfortable against the skin. Just for this change, nearly 300,000 yuan worth of initially ordered raw materials was shelved and still sits in the warehouse.
The effectiveness of the Warm Menstrual Belt was also refined. To achieve better results for the three-point heat therapy, the R&D personnel compared samples from nearly 20 domestic raw material suppliers. Based on test results, they finally selected materials of export grade to Japan and South Korea, increasing costs by nearly 1.5 times.
Since the Warm Menstrual Belt is an innovative category, there were almost no standards to reference in any aspect, from production equipment to raw materials to packaging. Innovation was the only way. The R&D and testing team technicians and engineers worked on-site to develop production equipment, overcoming 10 technical challenges. Raw materials needed to be customized; they traveled across industrial clusters in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian, but many manufacturers couldn't fulfill custom orders. Finally, they found one fabric manufacturer that could customize, and after many trials, achieved customized raw materials.
Costs increased, materials were wasted, but product quality and consumer experience improved. The Warm Menstrual Belt team always believed: creating an innovative product, establishing a new category, meticulously polishing product quality, and focusing on consumer experience already accounts for half the success.
Precise Positioning of Warm Menstrual Belt: Market Pain Points, Product Selling Points, Brand Highlights
According to a survey by the National Women's Menstrual Physiology Constants Collaboration Group: 80% of Chinese women suffer from varying degrees of premenstrual syndrome, 33.19% suffer from dysmenorrhea, and 75% of adolescent girls have primary dysmenorrhea. The incidence of dysmenorrhea in China is on the rise. China's female population is 601.89 million, of which 341.85 million are of childbearing age. Calculated at the minimum dysmenorrhea incidence rate of 33.19%, there are 113.46 million dysmenorrhea patients. According to a survey by Quark (China) Consulting Market Research Company on 17 large and medium-sized coastal cities, the Chinese market generates at least 20 billion yuan in dysmenorrhea care business opportunities annually.
As the saying goes: nine out of ten women are cold. According to a survey by the menstrual period assistant APP Meiyou, women experience varying degrees of menstrual symptoms such as dysmenorrhea, lower abdominal bloating, back pain, and limb soreness. Currently, there is no product on the market that effectively relieves various menstrual discomforts. Most women, when facing these problems, drink brown sugar water, apply a hot water bottle, or just endure it. The pain points for female menstrual care are clear.
The Warm Menstrual Belt is positioned as "China's first innovative product for womb warming and waist protection," specifically targeting the niche market of female menstrual discomfort for R&D, production, marketing, and promotion. The core selling point is "three-point heat therapy," which differs from traditional warm patches in five major ways, forming a differentiated positioning.
- The Warm Menstrual Belt achieves comprehensive womb warming and waist protection by applying heat to the Guanyuan acupoint on the abdomen and the Shenshu acupoint on the lower back, which other warm patches cannot achieve.
- The Warm Menstrual Belt combines acupoint heat therapy with herbal conditioning, designed entirely based on female menstrual characteristics and physiological features; this is also not found in other warm patches.
- The Warm Menstrual Belt is safe and convenient to use; it uses a magic tape closure to wrap around the waist, whereas ordinary warm patches are adhered to clothing with adhesive backing, which can release carcinogenic benzene when heated, making them unsafe.
- The Warm Menstrual Belt uses baby-grade fabric and precisely controls the heating temperature at 42-45 degrees Celsius, allowing direct skin contact, whereas warm patches cannot touch the skin and can cause burns if temperature is not controlled.
- The front patch design of the Warm Menstrual Belt is ergonomic, with a butterfly shape that fits the abdominal area comfortably when fastened; warm patches are typically rectangular and uncomfortable to wear.
During the testing phase, some consumers thought it was similar to traditional warm patches. Our sales staff suggested they try it, and after using it, no consumer called it a warm patch anymore. Many consumers told us: this is a completely new product, an innovative category.
Sanitary pads are the "old friend" for menstrual hygiene; the Warm Menstrual Belt is the "new confidante" for menstrual care. The Xin Gui Mi brand was born accordingly. Women's menstrual confusion and distress are often private topics shared with close friends. Every woman has at least one confidante, and various confidante stories, derived from the internet, movies, music, and books, have made confidante culture popular. Xin Gui Mi is a brand with many stories and great potential for expansion.
Category Innovation of Warm Menstrual Belt: Comparable to Sanitary Pads, Creating a New Category
After the Warm Menstrual Belt product was finalized, they did not rush to national promotion and agency recruitment. Instead, they cautiously selected some markets for trial sales, including Changzhou in Jiangsu, Chengdu in Sichuan, and Longnan in Gansu. In terms of retail terminal format and product display area, the Warm Menstrual Belt was placed in the sanitary pad section. Displaying and selling in the supermarket sanitary pad area solved the biggest problem: precise targeting of the audience.
The usage scenarios and timing of the Warm Menstrual Belt for target consumers are completely consistent with sanitary pads; the target consumer group is exactly the same as sanitary pad users. During trial sales in the model market, the recommendation purchase rate by sales staff in the sanitary pad area was 26.4%, proving the best placement for the product in retail terminals. Additionally, attempts in chain convenience stores, mother and baby specialty stores, and pharmaceutical channels also achieved good results.
After nearly half a year of exploration and practice, the Warm Menstrual Belt team decided to officially launch nationwide and start the agency recruitment model, covering product positioning, channels and display, price acceptance, target audience, and market activation sales model. They chose the 22nd consecutive edition of the Tissue Paper and Care Products Exhibition, held in Shenzhen on May 25.
The first national exhibition appearance of the Warm Menstrual Belt was particularly important. Whether it would be accepted and recognized by merchants was crucial. Agents are the most discerning group in the market; they may have the most say in whether a product can be accepted by the market. They invited a professional exhibition company for planning and booth setup; they repeatedly reviewed and rehearsed the on-site process, and the exhibition began.
Before the exhibition officially started, the Warm Menstrual Belt booth was already surrounded by merchants. The 8 on-site staff worked non-stop from the start until the exhibition closed that afternoon. Initially, one person received one group, but later each person received several groups simultaneously, explaining the product, market, and policies together. Overseas merchants also came, from Europe, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, etc., in waves to negotiate. Media also came; Shenzhen TV's golden program "First Scene" did a special report at the exhibition, which aired that evening, leading many Shenzhen citizens to come to the exhibition the next day specifically to find the Warm Menstrual Belt and request to buy it. After the exhibition closed that day, they started answering phone inquiries from interested customers and making quotations, working until 1 a.m. before resting. The exhibition got off to a good start, and the Warm Menstrual Belt became the highlight of the exhibition. The team felt reassured; being so recognized by the market made the hard work worthwhile.
The first successful national appearance yielded fruitful results over the 3-day exhibition: over 300 interested merchants; overseas merchants from 17 countries; nearly a thousand visitors visited the booth; and 5 agents confirmed cooperation on-site. As the market pace of the Warm Menstrual Belt accelerated, more and more friends paid attention to Xin Gui Mi Warm Menstrual Belt, including online e-commerce inquiries, offline traditional channel distributors interested in cooperation, sanitary pad manufacturers seeking OEM, and overseas companies wanting to outsource production.
Most importantly, there was continuous market feedback: the Warm Menstrual Belt is very effective during periods, significantly relieving dysmenorrhea and other menstrual discomforts. Even postpartum mothers started using it for recovery and womb warming. Agents also reported market information: retail terminals began to see natural sales, and many people started trying to buy it. The Warm Menstrual Belt, the innovative path of womb warming and waist protection category, has successfully set sail.
Xin Gui Mi: Pioneer of the Warm Menstrual Belt Category
Category: Sanitary Pads | Category: Warm Menstrual Belt Brands: Sofy, Whisper, ABC, etc. | Brand: Xin Gui Mi Positioning: Essential for women's menstrual periods | Positioning: Essential for womb warming and waist protection during periods Main function: Solve menstrual hygiene | Main function: Relieve menstrual discomfort Consumer group: Women aged 13-49 who menstruate | Consumer group: Women aged 18-35 with menstrual discomfort Usage scenario: Worn inside underwear during periods to solve personal hygiene, used day and night | Usage scenario: Worn around the waist before and during periods for heat therapy, aiding blood flow and relieving discomfort, used during the day Problems solved: Hygiene, worry-free sleep, no embarrassment | Problems solved: Dysmenorrhea, back pain, cold hands and feet Cost per period: 20-40 yuan | Cost per period: 40-60 yuan
Sincerely Recruiting Distributors for Blank Markets
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