BUYING INTENSION OF MENSTRUAL CUPS AMONG WOMEN IN INDIA - sersc
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International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. 29, No. 02, (2020), pp. 13-24
BUYING INTENSION OF MENSTRUAL CUPS AMONG WOMEN IN
INDIA
Riya C Regie, Silpa Mariyam Sajan, Dr Vinnarasi B
MCom, Department of Commerce, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore-560029
Associate Professor, Department of Commerce, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore-
560029
Abstract
Background: In this era of globalization, Menstrual Hygiene Management is to be concerned.
However due to increasing menstrual health hygiene practices adopted by women are rapidly
changing and are shifting towards healthier and sustainable products in the Indian market.
Objectives: This study aims to identify and evaluate the factors effecting the buying intension of
menstrual cups and to provide managerial implications in the future.
Methods: The data was collected through a questionnaire survey method; Exploratory Factor
Analysis was used to bring down the factor focusing on the prominent factor useful for the study.
Sample size for the study was 455 where simple random sampling technique was adopted to give
every element in the population to give an equal chance.
Results: Through Exploratory Factor Analysis, the paper identifies five factors as product
awareness, perception, external influence, product features and hygiene. Here, product awareness
is the most influential factor when compared to other factor which affects the buying intension of
the menstrual cups.
Conclusion: The word Menstruation which was backed by religious and cultural beliefs has gone
through tremendous change effect. The lack of product awareness and the existing taboos are
restricting women to buy menstrual cups. The study highlights the innovations in the menstrual
products and also the importance of buying healthier and eco- friendly menstrual products like
menstrual cups which are economically and eye catching products among women.
Keywords: Menstruation, Menstrual Hygiene Management, Buying Intention, Consumer behavior,
Menstrual Cups.
INTRODUCTION
According to worldometers 2019, India has approximately 1,369,399,000 populations whereas
half of the population consists of women and girls and among them more than 355 million are
menstruating(Geertz, Iyer, Kasen, Mazzola, & Peterson, 2016) (“Worldometers,” 2019).
Menstruation is a process in which the lining tissues inside the womb shreds away and are passed
out of vagina with some blood (Grose & Grabe, 2014). It marks the beginning of puberty in a girl
(Tegegne & Sisay, 2014). An average woman bleeds 500 times in her lifespan and it occurs once
in every month.
Sanitary protection material is a requisite in the journey of menstruation. There are Thousands of
varieties of products available in retail outlet and drug stores(Weiner, 2004). On an average, 10000
sanitary products are playing a vital role in every woman’s life. (Parihar, 2019). According to
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Menstrual Hygiene Alliance of India(MHAI) approximately 36 per cent of menstruating women
use disposable sanitary napkins (Ali Khan, 2019). Increasing demand has influenced different
companies to focus on the consumer needs and satisfaction by offering various innovative
products.
There is a drastic change in the buying behavior of urban middle and upper class Indian consumers
due to the influence from westernized culture. The Indian customers have turned out to be
substantially more receptive and trial in his/her view point. Due to this, foreign brands have
increased wide customer acknowledgement in India. The higher income group spends more on
luxury goods and trendy products. Consumer behaviour is unpredictable and often not considered
rational (Dey, 2017).
From the 1920s there is an extreme competitive shift in the advertisements of menstrual products
and now it has become one among the most popularly advertised products in the market (Weiner,
2004). Current advertisements of menstrual products have been more sophisticated than being
conservative. A significant and ongoing advancement in Indian commercialization has led to an
emergence in eco - friendly products (Dey, 2017). Usage of sanitary napkins is leading to
ecological and health issues. The materials used can cause cancer as a large portion of these are
plastic, having synthetic substances like Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S(BPS) that can affect
the growth of embryonic development. Furthermore, disposable sanitary napkins cause 288
hectares of landfills polluting the environmental for 500-800 years(Parihar, 2019). The younger
generations are moving towards wellness-oriented lifestyles than the previous generations and
particularly those with higher education and income are more consciousness about their choices.
A study found that nearly 40 percent of the women have switched towards non disposable and
reusable feminine hygiene products and among them 18-34 years old are driving the movement.
A Greater concern for the environment and waste reduction has led in adapting to reusable
products(Gustafson, 2017). Due to the drawbacks of synthetic sanitary napkins and also the
expansion of menstrual hygiene products there is a shift towards less expensive sustainable
healthier products in the developing countries.
Reusable menstrual technologies like menstrual cup is claimed to be healthier and environmental
friendly as compared to any other conventional sanitary protections. It is more economic than
disposable ones and one of the best ways to collect the menstrual fluid than cloth pads, sanitary
napkins and tampons(Kakani & Bhatt, 2017). Regardless of its long history menstrual cups are
largely unknown and never attained extensive usage due to religious and cultural beliefs and
taboos(van Eijk et al., 2019). Menstrual cup is a vaginal device for menstrual flow management
which is a bell shaped. It is made up of medical grade silicon which is flexible to be inserted into
the vagina. The device can hold blood up to 4-12 hours; Further it can be reused for a period of
10 years. At the beginning and end each cycle it must be sterilized and stored in a clean place
(Parihar, 2019).
There have been intensive studies on feminine hygiene products and also on various other sanitary
products. Nevertheless, limited study is conducted on the buying intention of women towards
recent reusable technologies like the menstrual cups which motivated the current study. Hence the
study attempts to determine the awareness and knowledge and also aims at determining the buying
intention of menstrual cups among women in India.
LITERATURE REVIEW
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The present study is assembled in a logical order and attempts was made to review similar and past
studies from journals, newspapers and other resources. Increase in consumer awareness brings
changes in consumer behaviour. Indians are highly value oriented and due to Urbanization there
are changes in the life style of consumers leading to westernization and they have become more
broad-minded in spending for innovative experiments(Dey, 2017).Consumers taste and
preferences keep changing according to the changing trends and businesses brings products which
makes life easier for the fast moving environment(Bhatia & Jain, 2014). India is the 5th consumer
market in the world where it has a higher disposable income due to modern urban lifestyle. An
Increase in consumer awareness has bought a shift in purchasing of urban products which is
happening at a tremendous pace. It affects the lifestyle of the working class by depending on more
comfortable and easy handling products(Dey, 2017). Consumer’s buying intentions and behaviour
is an important aspect of marketing a product. Manufactures have identified demographics,
ecological, health, personal and Culture factors affecting the buying decision and ethical
belief(Long, Hsiu, & Alan, 2016). On the other hand (Vani, Ganesh Babu, Panchanatham, &
Professor, 2010)suggests that these factors are uncontrollable. According to(Rajput & Khanna,
2014)suggest that Consumers different personality traits influence the buying behaviour.
Especially in India Customers are price sensitive and don’t like spending too much on daily
basis(Rajput & Khanna, 2014) .
The study done by (Portakalci & Kilic, 2016)analyses the buying decisions of consumers affected
by brand image and advertisements. It revealed that there is an inter–relationship among
advertisements and product as they are inseparable in nature. Purchase of a product is based on the
expectations, likes and dislikes of the customer. Brand image, price, quality are the various types
of consumer preferences and this paper focuses on brand knowledge, advertisement, features,
personal, social and loyalty factors (Portakalci & Kilic, 2016).Quality of products makes a
customer pay a higher sum of money(Vani, Ganesh Babu, Panchanatham, & Professor, 2010).
Purchase decision of a consumer becomes complex due to the many external and internal factors
such as modernization, advancement of technology, social class, reference group, economic level,
family, celebrity enforcement, well-established retail outlet and eco-friendly products.
Health and environment consciousness are making the buyers to moves towards green
consumerism and thereby influencing the purchase of eco-friendly and healthier products.
Changing life goals, values and standards makes them to lead a healthier life and also the
government encourages the businesses to produce products which are water efficient, healthier,
recyclable/ reusable, durable and cost effective(Bhatia & Jain, 2014)(Kim & Chung, 2011).
Furthermore, creation of products which are good quality, comfort, availability, trust, convenience
and at a lower price are more favourable to consumers(Arora & Chahal, 2017).Undoubtedly
growth in the economy has led to buy branded and quality products with the higher income and
the spending power of consumers (Chakrapani, 2015). E commerce has led to exploration of new
capability, challenges and wide variety of options(Goldsmith & Bridges, 2000).(Bucko,
Kakalejcik, & Ferencová, 2018) and (Li & Zhang, 2002)examines that Convenience, risk price,
social media activity, scarcity, availability, product details and social proof, are the components
affecting the purchase and among them price is an key aspect for purchasing the products. The
shopping of women has been associated to more of psychological, social and identity needs and
they buy more to satisfy themselves. The products bought by women is higher compared to men
and research has proven that they play a larger importance towards their buying habits (Batth Kaur,
2018). Women are very picky while choosing the product and they spend a lot of time to find the
right product that is accordance to their preferences(Matheos, Pangemanan, & Pandowo, 2017).
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The availability of the proper absorbent materials and the ability to manage them impacts a
women’s life and adopting to good hygiene practices depends on various preferences, influences
and pressures.(Farage, Miller, & Davis, 2011) emphasizes management of good hygiene practices
during menstruation is an important public health issue and lack of ability to manage them during
menstruation has led 60 % of girls to miss school. The repeated utilization of unclean cloth and
inappropriate drying before reuse has led to spread of vaginal diseases among girls. In low income
countries, it is difficult to find blood absorbing materials, clean water for washing and private
places for changing (Crofts & Fisher, 2012). Vaginal cleanliness and freshness is becoming a very
important reason for buying hygiene products for clean and fresh vagina. it is a westernized culture
of using more hygienic products for safety and health of women(Jenkins, Crann, Money, &
O’Doherty, 2018). Adequate washing of genital areas and use of good menstrual products are an
ideal practice during menstruation(Gupta, Tiwari, & Wavare, 2015).
Many cultural and religious beliefs about menstruation is one of the barriers for good menstrual
hygiene practices and also cultural restrictions and expectations. Sanitary protection material is
preferred based on the personal choice, cultural acceptability, economic status and also availability
in the local market (Kaur, Kaur, & Kaur, 2018). Usage of clean, soft and absorbent sanitary
products helps in the long run of women’s health (Gupta et al., 2015).According to surveillance
data for the period 1979-1996 it reported around 5296 cases among the women in USA using
tampons and the usage of this has been lead to vaginal micro-trauma due to high absorbency (Juma
et al., 2017). Apart from that (Juma et al., 2017)suggests that disposable tampons and sanitary pads
causes 200000 tons of waste a year which has led to drive interest in menstrual cups. Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine found out that low and middle income countries facing period poverty
and menstrual hygiene issues can be addressed through menstrual cups (King, 2019). Menstrual
cups are new technology which is reusable and eco-friendly and better alternative for poor women
where sanitation conditions are not good (Kaur et al., 2018). Menstrual cups have been an
affordable product compared to other sanitary products and the product was patented nearly 100
years ago (Rabin, 2019). According to the report published by the first major scientific review, the
researchers reported in The Lancet public health that 70% of women have tried menstrual cups
and they would like to continue to use it. (AFP, 2019). (Kakani & Bhatt, 2017)explores that the
users preferred cup for comfort, dryness and less odour and also the insertion and removal was
easy for most of the participants. It demonstrated that reusable vaginal device has no significant
health risks and is acceptable among many women’s in Gujarat. The menstrual cup has an
advantage of portability, easy storage, extended wear time and a greater freedom of movement.
The awareness and the availability of the cup can help in increasing the usage of the product. It is
considered to be a safe option during menstruation and are being used internationally. Adoption
of the menstrual cup required familiarization phase and peer support for taking up in low income
and middle income countries (van Eijk et al., 2019).
METHODS
Selection and description of participants
The data includes demographic details such as age, place and marital status, preference of buying
menstrual cups among women.
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Technical Information
An exploratory study was carried out to achieve the above stated objectives through a survey
method. Wherein, a primary data was collected through a questionnaire which mainly focused on
the buying intention of menstrual cups among women. A simple random sampling technique was
applied to collect the data constituting of a sample size of 455 women. The factors extracted from
the literature are used to prepare questionnaire. These factors are classified into different categories
relating to safety, usage, awareness, price, disposal, culture, peer influence, perception, quality and
buying intension exhibited in Table 1. Further, the statements were measured through a five point
Likert scale.
Statistics:
IBM SPSS statistics version 25 was used for the purpose of data analysis. Wherein, Exploratory
Factor Analysis technique was used to reduce twenty-seven variables into five number of factors.
Exploratory Factor Analysis was further executed to extract the underlying factors considered for
buying intention of menstrual cups in India.
Table 1: Factors from Literature
CATEGORIES VARIABLES
Hygiene is the most important factor while selecting menstrual products.
Safety and
Hygiene Genital areas are washed using soaps or other vaginal hygiene products
Touch of menstrual blood restricts the usage of cup.
Fear of using menstrual cup causes infection/allergy/irritation
Uncomfortable to use menstrual cups in public washrooms
Usage
Sterilization of cup after each cycle is an issue
Usage of menstrual cups do not cause unpleasant odour as there is no chemical
reaction.
Doubtfulness about the holding capacity of menstrual cups.
Fear of new menstrual products causing leakage
Afraid to make first time investment due to uncertainty of size of the menstrual cup
Menstrual cups are safe, effective and largely unknown
Awareness Lack of awareness restricts the shifting to new menstrual products
Menstrual cups are long lasting
Lack of effective promotion is hampering the new menstrual product purchase
Price matters while buying menstrual products.
New menstrual products are highly priced
Price
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Disposal of used sanitary napkins/ menstrual waste is an environmental issue.
Menstrual cups can resolve the disposal issues from sanitary napkins.
Disposal
Growing problem of menstrual waste
The fear is restricting to buy new menstrual products.
Buying Non availability of physical stores restricts from buying new menstrual products
Doubtful about the quality and safety in buying menstrual products online.
Willingness to adapt according to changing trends.
Culture
Menstrual cup/products usage affects virginity of women
Peer Influence Close friends influences to buy new menstrual products.
Perception Advertisements change the perception towards new menstrual product
Quality Online stores provides good quality menstrual products.
Results:
This study aims to discover the factors affecting the buying intention of menstrual cups amongst
Indian women. The demographic detail includes age group, place and marital status. According to
the survey conducted majority of the respondents belong to the age group 18-38 with 94.1 percent;
however,0.4 percent least respondents were from the age group of 50 and above. Responses were
received from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Amongst these
various locations across India, the highest respondents were from Karnataka with 59.5 percent
followed by Kerala with 22.8 percent. Whilst the highest respondents from the marital status were
from the unmarried group with 89.5 percent.
The particular section of the study consists of results and analysis. To check the sampling adequacy
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) is applied. Table 2 states that the value of KMO for the present study
which is 0.0869 that is significant to the overall sampling adequacy of the data as it is above 0.05.
Besides, Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity is applied along with KMO measure the correlation among
the variables to verify whether the data collected is appropriate and adequate to go ahead with
Exploratory Factor Analysis. The overall significance of correlation should be less than 0.05
concerning the relationship among variables. Wherein table 2 indicates that the significant level is
0.000 that is below 0.05 and Exploratory Factor Analysis is further applied to check the correlation
among the factors regarding the buying intention of the menstrual cups.
Table 2: KMO and Bartlett's Test
KMO and Bartlett's Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .869
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 3975.605
Df 276
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Sig. .000
Further, exploratory factor analysis is applied which is a statistical technique to establish a strong
correlation among the variables. Wherein, Principal component analysis extracts the highest
variance and categorizes them into different factors. Here, it was shown on 27 statements to bring
out the underlying factors to attain the above mentioned objectives of the study. The result of the
current study emphasis that extracted five factors from the set of twenty-seven variables was found
to be reliable and correlated according to the principle component analysis. Varimax Rotation is
used to make sure that the factors remain uncorrelated throughout the procedure of component
matrix. The factor loaded which are below 0.05 are excluded and those above are retained for the
analysis. The five factors extracted reflects the attributes of the variables loaded to the factors as
shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Final Factors Extracted
FACTORS VARIABLES COMPONENT
Product Menstrual cups can resolve the disposal issues from sanitary napkins. 0.820
awareness Disposal of used sanitary napkins/ menstrual waste is an environmental 0.818
issue.
Growing problem of menstrual waste 0.812
Menstrual cups are safe, effective and largely unknown 0.603
Menstrual cups are long-lasting 0.546
Lack of effective promotion is hampering the new menstrual product 0.536
purchase
Menstrual cup/products usage affects virginity of women -0.402
Perception Fear of using menstrual cup causes infection/allergy/irritation 0.753
Uncomfortable to use menstrual cups in public washrooms 0.703
Fear of new menstrual products causing leakage 0.685
Doubtfulness about the holding capacity of menstrual cups. 0.682
Touch of menstrual blood restricts the usage of cup. 0.656
Afraid to make first time investment due to uncertainty of size of the 0.638
menstrual cup
Sterilization of cup after each cycle is an issue 0.554
Lack of awareness restricts the shifting to new menstrual products 0.349
External Advertisements change the perception towards new menstrual product 0.742
Influence Close friends influences to buy new menstrual products. 0.717
Online stores provides good quality menstrual products. 0.684
Willingness to adapt according to changing trends. 0.537
Product New menstrual products are highly priced 0.741
Features Price matters while buying menstrual products. 0.736
Usage of menstrual cups do not cause unpleasant odour as there is no 0.405
chemical reaction
Hygiene Genital areas are washed using soaps or other vaginal hygiene products 0.711
Hygiene is the most important factor while selecting menstrual products. 0.576
Table 4, represents the ranking of factors of buying intension of menstrual cup amongst the Indian
women. Amongst these Product Awareness followed by Perception and External Influence were
the most important three factors. Table 4 exhibits the variance explained by the extracted factor
out of the total variance. In our study 56.632 % of the total variance are explained by the factors.
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Table 4: Total Variance Explained
COMPONENT FACTOR NAME EIGENVALUE % OF VARIANCE
1 Product awareness 3.851 16.047
2 Perception 3.829 15.954
3 External Influence 2.635 10.981
4 Product Features 1.718 7.960
5 Hygiene 1.557 6.489
TOTAL 56.632
DISSCUSSION
The study had ten categories to which variables where widely classified. The results provided five
factors and are identified as Product awareness, perception, external influence, product features
and hygiene. The factor Product Awareness consists of variables such as Menstrual cups can
resolve the disposal issues from sanitary napkins, Disposal of used sanitary napkins/ menstrual
waste is an environmental issue, growing problem of menstrual waste, Menstrual cups are safe,
effective and largely unknown, Menstrual cups are long-lasting, Lack of effective promotion is
hampering the new menstrual product purchase, and Menstrual cup/products usage affects
virginity of women. The disposal issues from sanitary napkins and Menstrual cup/products usage
affects virginity of women is found to be having the maximum and minimum association with the
factor product awareness (82% and 40.2%). Product awareness discusses about menstrual cups
can resolve the disposal issues from sanitary napkins as the maximum correlated and menstrual
cup/products usage affects virginity of women as the least correlated to the factor. Even though
the product was available in the market years ago and considered to be affordable, but due to many
culture and religious beliefs women were not willing to adapt to such changes. However, the
disposal issues caused by tampons and sanitary pads is making the new generations move towards
menstrual cups.
Fear of using menstrual cup causes infection/allergy/irritation, Uncomfortable to use menstrual
cups in public washrooms, Fear of new menstrual products causing leakage, Doubtfulness about
the holding capacity of menstrual cups, Touch of menstrual blood restricts the usage of cup, Afraid
to make first time investment due to uncertainty of size of the menstrual cup, Sterilization of cup
after each cycle is an issue and Lack of awareness restricts the shifting to new menstrual products
where categories and loaded under the factor perception. Amongst the eight variables Fear of using
menstrual cup causes infection/allergy/irritation is found to be recognized as highly associated
with the factor(75.3%) and the least associated with the factor perception is Lack of awareness
restricts the shifting to new menstrual products (34.9%).The variables fear of using menstrual cup
causes infection/allergy/irritation and lack of awareness restricts the shifting to new menstrual
products which were loaded to the factor Perception was statistically having the highest and the
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lowest correlation. Convenience and risk are the two factors which consumers look into while
buying. Here, awareness and the availability of the same helps to increase the usage of the
products. In line with the study there exist an inter- relationship between advertisements and
buying which are inseparable in nature. These factors together play a vital role in the buying
decisions of menstrual cups.
The third factor explored from the analysis is External Influence with advertisements change the
perception towards new menstrual product, close friends influences to buy new menstrual
products, online stores provides good quality menstrual products and willingness to adapt
according to changing trends. Initially the variables were categorized as perception, peer influence,
quality and culture but later loaded as External Influence. Advertisements change the perception
towards new menstrual product exhibits statically as the high correlation (74.2%) and willingness
to adapt according to changing trends as least correlation (53.7%) with the factor External
Influence. The purchasing decision of a consumer is becoming complex due to many external and
internal factors. Advertisements are one of the most important factors that bring changes in
consumer’s taste and preferences. Lack of advertisements of menstrual cups is the reason that
women are not willing to adapt to modern trends. Willingness to adapt according to changing
menstrual trend is at a slower pace when compared to advertisements can change the perception
towards new menstrual products
The factor Product Features consist of three variables new menstrual products are highly priced,
Price matters while buying menstrual products and usage of menstrual cups do not cause
unpleasant odour as there is no chemical reaction. Amongst these variables New menstrual
products are highly priced is discovered to be having maximum association (74.1%) and Usage of
menstrual cups do not cause unpleasant odour as there is no chemical reaction (40.5%). As
identified by various literatures it is found that Indian customers are price sensitive and are looking
forward towards companies that create products with good quality at lower price. In this context,
price being the highly correlated variable and usage of menstrual cups which do not cause
unpleasant odour is the least correlated variable that affects the factor Product Features.
Genital areas are washed using soaps or other vaginal hygiene products (71.1%) and hygiene is
the most important factor while selecting menstrual products (57.6%) were the last variables to be
loaded. Initially it was categorized as Hygiene and were loaded to form the same factor since these
variables focused towards same direction. However, the variables loaded to hygiene are above 0.5
creating both the variables correlating to the factor.
Management of hygiene practices during menstruation is a major public health issue where vaginal
cleanliness and freshness is the reason for buying menstrual products. The availability of the proper
absorbent materials and the ability to manage them facilitates in the adoption of good hygiene
practices. In line with our findings genital areas are washed using soaps or other vaginal hygiene
products and hygiene are the prominent variables that are correlated with the factor hygiene.
CONCLUSION
The health consciousness among women has motivated them to indulge in healthier practices
during menstrual days. Back then the word menstruation which was a taboo to be spoken in broad
light has undergone a drastic change in materials and methods being used till date. The present
study focuses on Menstrual cups which is eye catching among many women with its usage and
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impact on the environment. Concentrating on the buying intention, brings out an insight on safety,
hygiene, usage, awareness, price, disposal, buying, culture, peer influence, perception and quality
of the product. Irrespective of having several health benefits menstrual cups are not high in demand
due to unavailability of physical stores, lack of product awareness and effective promotion. In the
first place, Hygiene being the key factor while selecting menstrual products. Menstrual cups are
being highly priced and capable of solving the disposal issues but still there is a lot of taboos
prevailing about the usage of the cup. Fear and lack of awareness is the major disadvantage that
restricts them to shift to menstrual cups. Nevertheless, unlike any other study, this study faces its
own limitations. Firstly, there was no base paper in formulating our research. Secondly due to time
constraints and widely spread population our study was limited to questionnaire survey. Thirdly,
it was difficult to analyze the consumer’s changing taste and preferences towards buying menstrual
products. Based on the study, several suggestions for further researches are made. In this context
of the study, it paves a way for future research in newly available eco-friendly products like cloth
pads, period panties and organic pads. Further, creating an environment which focuses on
menstrual health management and assistance to use this device will shape a whole new world of
“green menstruation”. The future direction of the study can be attempted using various mixed
method approaches such as interviews, group discussions, clinical trials and expert opinions
possess an in depth knowledge on buying intension of menstrual cups.
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