Vending is the way out

Stanza Living, India’s leading student accommodation provider and Sirona, a social start-up focused on providing feminine hygiene and wellness solutions for women on the move, have joined hands to launch a unique hygiene pod that can said to be India’s first digital vending machine for feminine hygiene products. Piloted in both the organisations, the pods are going to provide students 24x7 access to many feminine hygiene and wellness products, at just a tap.

The residents can access a comprehensive range of products including feminine washes, menstrual cups, PeeBuddy (India’s first female urination device), intimate wet wipes, tampons, herbal period pain relief patches, sanitary disposal bags, panty liners and many more to address their sanitary and menstrual needs.

The machines accept Paytm, digital payments and cash as well.

Speaking about the partnership, Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia, Co-founders, of Stanza said “The organisation is creating bespoke student living experiences. This means, we not only create high-quality residential spaces designed for students, but also drive value by bringing an array of exciting brand propositions to their doorstep. Our aim is to plug even their smallest daily needs.

The partnership with Sirona is targeted at a specific concern – ensuring that our female residents can have round-the-clock access to healthy and enabling products under one roof. We are excited to partner with such a brand that has pioneered some of the leading feminine hygiene and wellness solutions uniting in our efforts to provide relevant brand experience to our consumers.  

Voicing about the hygiene pod, Deep Bajaj, Founder, PeeBuddy & Sirona Modern Menstrual Hygiene Products said, “As a start-up, our life revolves around identifying and solving those Intimate & Menstrual issues for women which are not openly discussed. We started with Dirty Toilets with PeeBuddy & went on to introduce many category-first products under the brand which have been well appreciated by customers.  

These pods are a step towards disrupting the distribution hassles faced by women by brings products closer to them, with round the clock access. We loved the ideology of Stanza Living and the importance they give to many such needs for their residents and decided to launch the first ever pod with them.”

Apart from addressing immediate sanitary requirements of young women, this is also an exercise in educating them about the wide variety of customized solutions for diverse hygiene and care needs. As Sonal Kumari, inhabitant of the company’s residence for girls, says, “Having the Hygiene Pod within our residence premises is extremely convenient as we can try different hygiene products, anytime we want. We want to thank Stanza Living and Sirona for this helpful initiative.”

Feminine hygiene is a serious national issue, with concerns around limited sanitary options available to women, poor public hygiene set-ups as well as lack of awareness about specific solutions designed for women’s wellness needs.

The Hygiene pod sits at the centre of this as a much-needed intervention for Indian women. Both the organisations will soon be extending this partnership across its planned residences in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Indore, with the intent to continue making student living hassle-free.