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12th March
12th March
The journey of entrepreneurship as a group as been a rollercoaster full of emotions. Starting from October 2021, when we formed our groups and began to finalise on a venture, to March 2022, when we had to do a presentation to the rest of the MiE batch, we had undergone several key events that has shaped our journey today. It goes without saying that while we might have experienced disagreements, we have stood together and come so far. Now is the final lap and we are left with presenting our progress, milestones and achievement over the past few months.
As the draw closer, we had one final meeting as a group to delegate our task and collective integrate all of our parts together seamlessly. Aruna was tasked with the marketing strategies that we have employed thus far, which includes our online store, Instagram channel and the SEO optimization. In addition, she was tasked with explaining our upcoming Atome mode of payment, the collaborations we had in NTU with abetterflow and also the strategies we propose to implement moving forward. Rama was tasked with explaining the choice of menstrual cup and vendor we have sourced from and the different types of photoshoots we had and the financial segment of the venture. Ferozdeen was assigned the task of explaining the timeline development from Oct 2021 to March 2022, the influencer marketing and the distribution of flyers as part of marketing campaigns for Saraca store and the sales and operational workflow. Lastly, Nila was assigned with the task of introducing Dawn Cups, explaining the procurement of the pouches, the collaborations with Saraca Store and a portion of the future expansion.
Alas, it was Wednesday, 9 March 2022. Today marks the day of several important events. Not only did we had to do a presentation to the batch of 57 and 58 students on our progress, achievement and milestones, it also marks the end of our venture with NTC. Commencing from 6pm, upon the arrival of all our group members, we started rehearsing together, set up our booth and waited for our chance to showcase Dawn Cups. Our presentation was schedulued to begin at 7.50pm and we were assigned to be the third group for presentation. As we waited, we were lined behind our booths, and we were given the opportunity for a mini presentation and demonstration to our juniors. At least one of the ladies was passionate and believe strongly in the message we embody: simple, safe, secure.
Soon after, we were directed into the NTC presentation room, and as we waited for our turn, we listened to the presentation of our peers. Towards the end of the presentation, there was a Q&A session and Aruna took the opportunity of briefly asking the marketing strategy and was replied accordingly. Following which, LittleDipper was supposed to present but due to technical issues, we were allowed to present first, and we started feeling slightly jittery but we are confident that we can present well as we are well-versed with our content and we have practiced.
After the presentation, we felt a sense of joy as we realised that despite having a much smaller team, we were able to achieve similar or even more than what the other teams could achieve. This shows how much effort we’ve put into this business. A few more thing that’s left for us to do before we finally end the journey with NTC: peer review, individual report submission and 6 hours of entrepreneurial-related workshop.
8th March
8th March
Marketing & Promotion
Influencer
Another influencer replied back to us but the budget was too high for our business hence, we had to kindly decline the collaboration.
Tik Tok
We had filmed a few videos for the tik tok in NTU. We brainstormed and decided on a few trending songs and videos that we later worked on together as a team.
The ideas included the following:
How to insert the cup
How to wash the cup in a public bathroom
Various names that the menstrual cup goes by (used a popular tik tok song called "they call me...")
Buddy Campaign
Aruna came up with the buddy campaign and suggested planning a giveaway around the buddy campaign. The buddy campaign is a promotional effort in order for friends to buy the menstrual cup together. Nila suggested a few trending items for the giveaway and the content required for the campaign was discussed.
Nila included some stories, content relating to the Saraca store and created a highlight for our collaborations with both Saraca store and the better flow.
Google Ads
Aruna designed the google ads that we had run for a few days and we managed to get one sale successfully!
Rama later proceeded to pause the campaign as it didn't give the return on investment. The ad was paused to investigate the effectiveness of the ad, it was planned to be continued once the ad is optimized.
Flyers
Aruna designed the flyers for hall distribution. We had met together and placed flyers under the doors of the female floors in Tamarind, Saraca, Hall 7, Tanjong and Binjai halls. This helped with getting our brand out to the NTU population as well as promoting the Saraca store.
Atome
Aruna initiated the atome purchase options in order for us to make our product more affordable. After some negotiation and emails, we were officially accepted as a merchant.
Logistics
Deen's customer service experience with the ninja van was very poor hence we decided to stick with Singpost poly mailer as it was cheaper and convenient could just drop off the package ourselves. If we had gone with ninja van, we would have to expect delays in the customer service if the delivery wasn't made in time. However, we are still looking for more options for the delivery as J&T express delivery..
Financials
Rama came up with the various financial charts for the business.
Profit and Loss statement
Profit and Loss statement
Cash Flow Statement
Cash Flow Statement
Opportunity
Una Brands had contacted both our LinkedIn and email address to discuss business activities. Una brand is APAC's first e-commerce aggregator and we as a team were quite excited about this opportunity and had scheduled a call with them.
Module
We worked as a team to create the slides and created a script for the last one week.
17 February
17 February
Social Media
Content
Since our soft launch on Instagram, we have gained 106 followers organically. For the first week, we posted every 2 days or so, but from 31st Jan, we maintained at least 1 post per day because we decided that it's important to grow a sizeable Instagram grid for micro-influencers to be motivated to collaborate with us. We officially opened for sales on 13th Feb (before which we only had a 'pre-order' function). We wanted to continuously engage our followers with tips on menstrual health and cup usage, or relatable tweets and memes, to repeatedly expose them to benefits of switching to a menstrual cup.
Sales
Though sales have been slow, we have began receiving genuine purchases from distant acquaintances that happen to chance upon what we have shared without any need for persuasion. This was encouraging, and gives us hope that we are on the way to finding the correct brand voice.
Ads + Campaign
We have ran two very simple ads on Instagram (posts and stories) so far, which has gotten us a healthy number of clicks to our website. We are looking to do a bigger campaign from the last week of Februrary to mid March, and are in the midst of preparing the ad groups.
Influencers
So far, two nano-influencers have agreed to collaborate with us so we are looking forward to observe the outcome and reach. We have sent them a complimentary Dawn Cup (U.P. $33.50 with delivery) and offered to top that up with another $25-50 after they have put up 2 posts (in collaboration with @dawncups.sg) and some stories of their journey. They were also presented with a deck of slides with our message, ideas on the content direction and the type of aesthetics they can go for.
Technical difficulties
We compiled a list of nano and micro-influencers we wanted to reach out to and collaborate with, and started sending out messages to them. However, after sending about 20 direct messages via Instagram, we were flagged by IG as a security measure. We have been trying to rectify this but it has been proving difficult, and thus our attempt to contact influencers has been stemmed to purely emails. However, influencers who tend to share their email addresses on their bio are usually more established and thus more expensive to collaborate with. It is also not in tune with the direction we wish to take as we would like to work with influencers with a closer connection with their smaller (yet more intimate) following.
Saraca Store + NTU Outreach
Our product has a temporary physical placement at NTU Saraca Store, an endeavour by Saraca Hall, to support tiny student-led businesses, especially during the festive reason (Valentine's Day). We are offering an exclusive $5 off for NTU students & staff, who can purchase it directly at the store via PayNow or via Saraca Store's website – after which they are to collect it in-person at the store. To promote this mini sale, we have distributed about 400 flyers (by slipping them under female rooms' doors) in a few neighbouring halls to entice them to come to the store and enjoy the discount. We are also putting up longer-term posters at some of the halls' noticeboards (without the discount information).
So far, we have not received any sales through this store yet. However, we are confident that more people of our desired target demographic are aware of our brand.
Shop at Saraca Store: https://www.ntusaracahall.com/saracastore/p/dawn-cups
Logistic roadblocks
We had four hiccups with logistics. First, we purchased poly M polymailers from Singapore Post and according to the website, the dimensions should have been sufficient for our box packaging. However, they were significantly smaller, and as a result, we couldn't fit the boxes in them. As a result, we had to repurchase another set – one sizer bigger. Second, we purchased prepaid polymailers without tracking and that gave us quite a bit of anxiety. Third, the address had to be either handwritten by us (but as an alternative, we printed the addresses and pasted them onto the polymailers). Fourth, as 3 of us are currently doing our internships, we can't visit a convenient post office during our working hours, and Rama had to do most of the dropping off of parcels. Additionally, the deliveries were made to the letterbox, instead of directly to the doors.
Therefore, we decided to switch our courier service provider from SingPost to Ninja Van as for only 20 cents more, we get tracking, access to closer and more drop-off points outside working hours, and addresses are managed electronically. We also equally split the packaging and materials between Rama, Deen and Aruna, who will each take turns to drop off parcels at their respective nearest Ninja points.
Product photoshoot
On 6th February, Sunday, we did a product photoshoot at Aruna's house with lighting equipment and a Canon camera we rented and borrowed respectively. Though we thought it went decently, in hindsight, we realised that the photos didn't turn out as well as we had expected to. We learnt that for future photoshoots, it's best to hire someone who is technically proficient and experienced in photography to produce pictures that don't look amateurish. However, some shots were moderately useful; which we incorporated in our website and designing the upcoming ads. Our website was been worked on with improvments in the home page, how to use page, benefits page and product page.
TikTok
We also shot 3 videos to be posted on TikTok, and are looking to begin publishing from this weekend. All of us are not very familiar with creating TikTok content, so it has been a learning experience for all of us. We hope that this humble inception to a new platform could improve with time, exposure and experience.
23 January
23 January
The last two weeks were focused on creating content for Instagram (follow us at www.instagram.com/dawncups.sg) and scheduling them with appropriate captions, so that we could do a soft launch of our brand on social media. Using an excel sheet, we have created a marketing calendar to plan the staggered release of posts in such a way that it would create buzz and slowly introduce Dawn Cups (and the idea of menstrual cups) to our first few followers.
Till date, 3 posts have been uploaded and we have begun sharing it on our personal channels to invite our followers to follow the page. Uptake has been slow, as expected, and we are planning to boost this by putting up 2-3 Instagram ads (on IG stories and posts). From the following week, we shall be posting at least 4 posts on Instagram per week. We have also started curating a list of potential micro-influencers we can approach in February when we have officially launched.
We managed to use this month to make some progress on packaging as well, and have purchased kraft boxes and printed stickers, thank you cards and instruction booklets at a relatively cheap local vendor from Sunshine Plaza. Though we had purchased 100 units of menstrual cups, we only prepared 50 units of these packaging items as we would like to collect some feedback and make improvements for the next 50.
Other things we're working on:
Refining the refund & replacement policy (in the event of any product defects were to be found by our customers)
Delivery operational process
SEO and SEM
Other non-digital marketing avenues: Being featured on a booth by an NTU team "A Better Flow", small flyers to be distributed in halls (by slipping them under female residents' doors), the doors of female bathroom cubicles, distributing female empowerment enamel pins or bookmarks, reaching out to Student Councils of JCs and girls' schools. We're exploring each strategy's feasibility, and are hoping to try at least 2 of them.
On the 6th of February, we shall be having our indoor product photoshoot (and we have just secured all the lighting, camera equipment, backdrops and other accessories). We shall be using this opportunity to not only take product photos but creating videos that could be made into instructional gifs, IG reels or TikTok videos. We are currently brainstorming ideas on creating easily digestible but insightful videos.
3 January
3 January
After a successful photoshoot, we have our first version of website published. It is still rather empty, as we are yet to complete our product photoshoot and gather reviews from few young women we've sponsored our cups for free. Also, we have not officially launched our brand yet, which we are looking to do it in late January.
Visit us at www.dawncups.com!
The pouches have turned out beautifully as well, as shown below. They are made of satin, which is different from other brands' pouches. This is friendlier than the usual cotton, which sometimes has a colour run-off after multiple washes.
2 December
2 December
On the last day of our finals, we had a team meeting to address some issues pertaining to packaging and the purchase of sterilisers.
It was first suggested to develop a bigger, more premium packaging to accommodate the inclusion of the sterilisers but after several considerations, we were still undecided on the inclusion of steam steriliser due to safety concerns such as electrical compatibility. Sterilisers aren't cheap as well, as they aren't widely produced or used. We also had to consider a smaller packaging size for customers who do not wish to purchase a steriliser. As a result, we also started exploring the idea of offering a small boiling pot to our customers that could be used for the conventional method of sterilisation – using boiling water to sterilise the cup. Another suggestion was to get multiple packaging for the cup, the pouch and the steriliser but due to the minimum order quantities, we are not able to do so, and it may be better to focus on a single packaging. To accommodate properly to the spacing of the packaging, we also considered to compartmentalise the packaging.
The plan for now for the group is to develop a basic plan by December for the marketing calendar, such as creating some buzz and raising awareness before the official commencement of sales in mid-January. Awareness can be in the form of scheduled posts through social media such as Instagram, and some digital marketing.
We managed to collaborate with another group of NTU students that is currently doing their FYP in menstrual cup awareness in the NTU community. This will be a good collaboration as we can leverage on their strengths through their outreach programmes. Through their research, it was found that arts students are more influenced by KOLs whereas science students are more receptive towards perspective from medical experts.
As for now, Rama is tasked with financial statements such as P&L while Nila is tasked with procurements with vendors. Deen is tasked with operational flow and Aruna is tasked with website development and pouch designs.
15 November
15 November
After about 4-5 weekly zoom meetings, contacting over 10 manufacturers with FDA registered menstrual cups (from China, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Italy, etc.) and getting few samples (see image above), we have finally landed on a US manufacturer, which is extremely reliable but had caused a serious dent in our wallets.
We are purchasing 100 units of their smallest size - which are meant for pre-birth bodies with relatively lower cervixes. It is dye-free, latex-free and BPA-free.
With regards to packaging/sterilisation/pouch options, we're still quite undecided on where exactly we should cut costs. The hardest decision would be the pouch. Most pouches that are made of cotton, linen or a cotton-polyester bland require a MOQ of 500, though as per unit, they're cheap. Also, we are considering a waterproof material for the pouch so that it can be used to hold water temporarily. This is for the purpose of washing cups in public toilets as most cubicles in public toilets do not have a water inlet to wash. Changing their cups in public toilets would thus be inconvenient. With a pouch that can hold a bit of water temporarily, they can fill it up in the sink outside and use that to wash their cup in the cubicle. However, such a pouch would require a unique design, which again will need a higher MOQ. If we spend too much on pouches, we will have to forgo the sterilisers.
Due to these complications, we shall look deeper into these 3 things after our exams. By the end of our exams, the cups would have arrived and at least our main product would be settled.
Other than the products, we do have our logos and website design drafts done. We also have a concept for the pouch print design (if it were to be cotton-polyester). Additionally, we started on a bit of copy writing for our website and packaging.
Last week, we sent out a simple survey to collect some information on our consumers' biggest concerns in adopting the use of menstrual cup based on their age group, their level of awareness of this product, their pricing expectations and preferable methods of sterilisation.
We shall not be doing much during this crunch examination period, but we believe we've made some decent progress in terms of getting our main product sorted.
Do our survey! (Only if you're a woman)
22 October
22 October
Over zoom meetings, various topics such as the brand vision for our brand, the potential locations for manufacturers, the various product offering options, delegations of the admin duties for the blog and meetings were discussed.
We managed to purchase the plans for the website domain address with GoDaddy and the customised email from Google.
We also started the process of the Limited Partnership Liability registration for our business and it is planned to be done by this week.
Our main discussion was centered around offering a steam steriliser instead of a microwavable pouch as the design and sampling of a unique pouch would take too long, based on the comments from Roderick and our own research.
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