{"id":3987,"date":"2017-02-26T15:28:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T20:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/this-chinese-man-is-battling-for-womens-fertile-ground\/"},"modified":"2017-02-26T15:49:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T20:49:03","slug":"this-chinese-man-is-battling-for-womens-fertile-ground","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/this-chinese-man-is-battling-for-womens-fertile-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"This Chinese Man is Battling for Women\u2019s Fertile Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chai Ke says no other man in China wants to understand women\u2019s periods more than him. And he\u2019s trying to make money from the “women\u2019s secrets\u2019\u2019.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 30-year-old founded Dayima<\/a>, meaning “auntie\u2019\u2019 (also a euphemism for the menstrual period), a period-tracking app in 2012. It rolled out with free basic functions of recording and predicting periods. Today, the Chinese period tracker, says it has more than 100 million registered with 5 million daily active users.Backed by deep-pocket investors such as Sequoia Capital and Bertelsmann Asia Investments, Dayima is valued around $200 million, according to founder Chai.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tapping into Female Economy\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chai\u2019s original idea was simple and straight forward: tapping into the female economy. As most Chinese women are shy to talk about their periods or gyno problems, why not develop a product to target such a big market?<\/p>\n

Going beyond the period tracking function, Chai turns Dayima into its own social network, community and content creator. Female users can discuss issues from health to family, fashion or even gossips via the app. The site also features a range of articles where women can find fitness advice and beauty tips.<\/p>\n

Dayima seemed to have checked off all the boxes of value creation: It\u2019s a high \u201chigh-frequency app\u201d \u2013 typical users come back for it at least once a month; it targets women from teenagers to the baby boomers, who with have immense purchasing power and are highly sociable; it addresses a big physiological need.<\/p>\n

“Chinese Women’s bestie”<\/strong><\/p>\n

It worked out well initially with increasing popularity among Chinese women. Chai was awed as “the Chinese women\u2019s bestie\u2019\u2019 by the local media. But the network effect didn\u2019t work for Chai. At least, not yet.<\/p>\n

The platform, therefore, made a number of attempts to capture value. It introduced premium services, including women\u2019s health counseling and female-oriented financial products. It also built an e-commerce site baked into the interface of the mobile app, on expect that women users will buy feminine products and cosmetics on the platform. It even designed a male version of Dayima, where men can see their significant others\u2019 calendars and access the couple\u2019s chatroom.<\/p>\n

Painful Leap to E-commerce<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, all these revenue strategies have failed to bear much fruit. It never rains but pours. Clearly, Chai is not the only man in China seeking profits in the female health market. A few of similar apps entered in the past few years, while Meetyou, or Meiyou, has grown into the biggest rival of Dayima.<\/p>\n

Chai, pause your “great leap forward\u2019\u2019 into China\u2019s $600 billion e-commerce market, please! Chinese women still shop on Alibaba or other big online retailers, while the men\u2019s market is just the red herring. Most Chinese men find it way too weird to install a period tracker on the phone. Forget about those sectors for now and go back to your root: female f\"\"<\/a>ertile market. Chai, you are the women\u2019s bestie, remember?<\/p>\n

To gain an edge in the head-to-head competition, Dayima should enhance product quality and work on differentiation. If there\u2019s one thing that Dayima should become more than just a period tracker, it probably should be a reproductive health app. Why not investing more in the research and development to enhance Dayima\u2019s algorithm and database to make the more accurate period prediction? By leveraging the huge database and technology, Dayima could find its competitive advantage the fertility market.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fertility Apps<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are already some successful models around the world, which attracted investors attention. Unlike period tracker with engagement rates on monthly basis, fertility apps engage with users on daily or even hourly basis.\u00a0 In the U.S., Glow<\/a>, cofound\"\"<\/a>ed by former PayPal CTO Max Levchin, is a fertility app that tracks women\u2019s monthly cycle and suggests the optimum time for baby-making. OviaHealth<\/a>, funded by 性视界 Business School alums, also started out in fertility and now is making a foray into a pregnancy app and a mom\/baby platform. The Berlin-based Clue <\/a>is a similar app popular among women in Europe.<\/p>\n

As the fertile market in China is still novel, Chai should take his Auntie-Dayima-to develop such a huge virgin territory. Business opportunities also lie in the partnership with hospitals and medical device producers. In addition, he could still try to sell some feminine consumer products such as sanitary pads, tampons or ginger tea on the platform, but it shouldn\u2019t be Dayima\u2019s core business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Chai battles for the secret therapy on China\u2019s fertile market, there\u2019s no secret that the road to profit will be painful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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