Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / The story of how Nitasha Mehta decided to fight the “Pink Tax” with the help of her employer, Boxed, & saved their customers who identify as women more than $2 millon dollars in the process

Transcript

The story of how Nitasha Mehta decided to fight the “Pink Tax” with the help of her employer, Boxed, & saved their customers who identify as women more than $2 millon dollars in the process · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Natasha Mehta for Female Startup Club. Hello and welcome back to the show. Today is something a little bit different. We are hearing an incredibly inspiring story from Natasha Mehta, a woman I met in New York last month who works in the CPG space for a company called Boxed.
• 0:30
  And why I want to share this story with you is to show you how much impact you can create in the world, even without jumping straight into starting a business. I think it's a really important reminder that you can create significant change and significant impact at your place of employment with resources and support at your fingertips.
• 0:52
  Natasha's an experienced digital marketer with over 15 years of expertise in e-commerce, product marketing, CRM, and shopper marketing. She currently heads up CPG Brand Partnerships at Boxed, working directly with over 60 CPG brands.
• 1:08
  She is extremely passionate about technology and equal opportunity, and she launched the Rethink Pink initiative at Boxed, which led to Boxed becoming the first and only U.S. retailer to take a stand against gender pricing inequities.
• 1:26
  She's also been involved with legislation and has testified in states that have introduced bills to repeal the tampon tax, three of which went on to repeal the tax, as well as joined Congresswoman Jackie Speier in her Pink Tax Repeal Act. I am just so inspired by this episode, and I hope you are too. If you love it, definitely do drop into my inbox. Let me know because I'd love to know if we should do more of this style of content.
• 1:55
  Okay, let's get into it. This is Natasha for Female Startup Club. Natasha, hi, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello, thank you so much for having me here too. And I'm so excited to chat with you today. I'm so excited too. How's your day going? Where are you? What are you doing? Hi.
• 2:16
  I am in the Upper West Side in New York City working. It's still early on a Tuesday, but really looking forward to enjoying the summer in New York post-COVID.
• 2:30
  everything is opening back up and it feels almost back to normal, which is amazing. The good vibes, good energy, I'm sure. For sure. I want to give our listeners a little bit of context because this episode is a little different from our usual programming where I interview CPG founders who have kind of going through that blueprint.
• 2:53
  and to give everyone that context, you and I met about a month ago, kind of by chance. I had a meeting with your husband for work, and he was like, you need to meet my wife, and that's basically how that kind of like came about. We had lunch together, we got along, and you kind of just
• 3:13
  talk to me a little bit about what you were up to. And I was so inspired by you kind of deciding to take a stance on something within the company that you worked for and going after, you know, doing something about it. And I was so inspired. So I wanted you to come on the show, tell everyone what you're up to and share that story with us, especially because I think,
• 3:34
  for me, it serves as a really important reminder. And I wanted everyone listening to know this too, is that if you realize a problem in the world or you realize something that doesn't make too much sense, you don't have to go out and start a business and do everything that way straight away. You can actually make change in your place of employment and you can rally and fight and do interesting stuff with the support of your place of employment. So I'm very excited.
• 4:03
  I'm very excited to go back over your story. Where do you like to start kind of talking about your background and what you've been doing the past couple of years? Sure. So I've always been in the e-commerce space and world. I started my career in digital media, went to grad school and then joined Amazon, really focused on mobile electronics and doing content marketing there in Seattle, and I'm
• 4:29
  I moved back to the East Coast where I'm originally from. I grew up in New Jersey. And so I moved back to work at Samsung, doing product marketing, a little bit of a different side of the coin, working on the brand side and then working ironically with Amazon as my customer.
• 4:48
  And then I joined Fox almost seven years ago. It's been seven years, which is insane, but it was just a small startup. I think I was number 24, 25 within the company. And Fox was only about a year old when I joined. And I initially started to really lead up our retention team and overall strategy. So focus on retention marketing through CRM strategies like email, SMS, and push. And then in true startup fashion,
• 5:17
  started doing kind of two full-time roles at the same time as profitability became more of a priority for the organization. I launched our CPG brand partnerships team, which I lead today. And so we work with
• 5:31
  over 60 of our CPG brand partners of products that we assort on our boxed platform, like Pepsi and Coke, Unilever, P&G, Soapbox, etc. And so our goal is to increase their sales and exposure through marketing activations on the boxed platform. Amazing. And for anyone outside of the US who might not know what boxed specifically is, what's the kind of like one-liner tweet-sized pitch on boxed?
• 6:01
  Sure. So we are the online version of your wholesale shopping club. And so we sell direct to consumer bulk size items, anything that you would normally get at your wholesale club. But without the membership fees and with free shipping, freebies and perks and free samples. And so we really focus on creating the best in class customer experience and user interface from the online e-commerce perspective.
• 6:30
  Very cool. And last time I was with you, or last time when I met you, rather, you were telling me about some really cool campaigns that you've worked on during your time kind of leading this particular team. Could you step us through some of your kind of highlights? Yeah, sure. So, you know, we consider ourselves, we're a partnership team. And so we work very closely with our CPG partners in creating custom, creative, unique types of campaigns.
• 6:59
  One of them was box tops with General Mills, for example. Education is something that's very important for our organization. And so we worked very closely to create the first digital box tops campaign with General Mills. So today, customers can come on the box platform, purchase items that are eligible for box tops, and then donate to their school of their choice.
• 7:27
  in terms of box tops. And so we run campaigns where customers can earn up to 200 bonus box tops or $20 for their local school, which is pretty incredible through like the first and only real digital integration program. This is a really stupid question, but what is a box top? What is that? So General Mills launched box tops.
• 7:52
  probably, I don't know, it must be over 50 years ago, but essentially on specific food items like cereals and snacks, customers can earn box tops and they're like physical box tops that they used to cut off boxes. And then you would turn them in and you redeem them or turn them into your school or your child's school or just a local school. And that would actually earn boxes
• 8:20
  money for that school. And so they can redeem these box tops and earn, you know, up to like thousands of dollars for school and for children in need. Now it's pretty much digital. And so a customer can purchase through Boxed, for example, they can purchase an eligible general
• 8:41
  or any of their brands that are eligible for box tops and earn box tops immediately for the school of their choice. And so it's a really incredible program to give back in children in need, especially, you know, underrepresented schools that, you know, don't necessarily have the funds to support everyday activities. Wow, that's so interesting. Very cool. Very cool indeed.
• 9:08
  I want to kind of start talking about the realization moment that you had that kind of got you going down this pink tax mission. Take us back to that time. Yeah, for sure. So I was only at Box for about a year when I launched our Raising Pink initiative, but this was back in 2016. I'd been reading a lot about the pink tax and the tampon tax and just started to do
• 9:38
  Out of my own curiosity, I started to do a little bit of digging. You know, at Box, 70% of our customers are women. And so the majority of our users are affected by ping tax and tampon tax every day. And so I wanted to understand what our pricing and costs that we receive from manufacturers look like, and if there was any discrepancies between men's products and women's items.
• 10:04
  And guess what? I found that there was. And so I was learning a lot and reading a lot about Pintax. And so it's essentially there are two different issues that we tackle under our initiative. Pintax is one where women's items cost more than their male counterparts. And so this could be razors, shave gels, deodorants, body wash, etc.
• 10:26
  They could be made by the same manufacturer, part of the same brand. But just because they're targeting women versus men, they're upcharged from a cost perspective. So, like, for example, a razor, a women's razor, disposable razor can cost up to one hundred and eight percent more than the men's disposable razor, the men's version, which is insane.
• 10:48
  But I still just don't understand why. Like, when did it start and why did it start? I don't understand. Do you know? Do you have the answer? Yeah.
• 10:57
  No, this goes back, you know, generations. And so, you know, when we ask, when we talk to brands and manufacturers, oftentimes their rationale is that, you know, the packaging is different or the marketing costs are higher when they're targeting women. And so it's unfortunate that that's the case and it's so systemic as well.
• 11:20
  it's really hard to change. I think that is the toughest type of, or the toughest issue right now to really tackle because it is so specific and it goes back so far. So I looked at our own prices at Box and realized that the costs that we were receiving from manufacturers for a lot of these items cost more for women than for men's items. And then on top of that is the tampon tax. So back in 2016, I think 35 states
• 11:49
  charge sales tax on feminine or period care products. So pads and tampons were considered luxury items and were charged sales tax. The UK, for example, repealed it nationally. Canada has repealed the tampon tax nationally.
• 12:06
  Many countries, India, Australia, have repealed the tampon tax nationally. The US unfortunately is far behind. It's a state by state issue. And so, you know, in 2016, there were over 35 states that still charged tampon tax. There is progress being made today. There are 27 states that charged tampon tax. So there are states that are repealing it one by one. It's going to take some time, but we decided to take a stand.
• 12:35
  at Box on Tampon Text as well and really roll it under our Rethink Pink umbrella. And so within two weeks of me bringing up this issue to our CEO, we were able to launch this campaign. To take a step back, our company has four male co-founders. And so
• 12:58
  I essentially, if you ask our CEO, Che, he will say that I cornered him in the hallway and demanded to know what we were doing about the Pintech. But they were so incredibly supportive and they understood who our customer base was. And this was an issue that we could genuinely take a stand on.
• 13:19
  and really positively make an impact to our customers. And so within two weeks of bringing this up to leadership, I launched our initiative. We decided we became the first and still the only national US retailer
• 13:35
  to take a stand and discount items on a cost per unit or cost per ounce basis for pin tax. So those razors and shave gels, et cetera, that cost more for women than their male counterparts. And then also discount period care products to offset the sales tax. We cannot remove sales tax, but we can offset it by discounting those items. And so since we launched
• 13:58
  We've been testifying in states. I've testified in states that have introduced bills to repeal the tampon tax. Three of those states have gone on to actually repeal them, which has been amazing. Um, and we've also been working with Congress women, um, specifically Congresswoman Jackie Speier on her national, uh, pink tax repeal act, um, to try to get that through.
• 14:24
  But really the goal was to create conversation and education around this issue and overall awareness. You know, when I launched it, probably one out of 10 women that I spoke to within my network even knew that they had been paying sales tax on period care products the majority of their lives. It's not something that you really look at line by line. And so now I'm,
• 14:49
  I would say that has changed significantly through the work that Box has done and so many other brands that have taken a stand on this issue as well. Awareness is there and that is really what is going to make real change overall.
• 15:04
  Wow, that is so inspiring and so cool. What's your kind of like bigger picture mission for this initiative specifically? Like are you going like state by state and you're not going to stop until you finish? Or like is it doing bigger things with Boxed or is it going directly to manufacturers to try and –
• 15:25
  not forced, but to try and see what changes they can make all the way back at that point or working directly with brands? What's the blueprint from here? Yeah, it's a lot of those things that you just mentioned. I would say number one is continuing to really create awareness. Our goal is to get other retailers on board. And so we're still working on that. I think if we're able to get other major e-commerce retailers
• 15:55
  to do the same thing and take a stand on this issue that would impact change even quicker. So that's number one. I'd say number two is really, we don't consider this a campaign, a one-time campaign. This is an ongoing initiative. And so it will continue to be one of our core values and missions at Box until it's no longer an issue.
• 16:19
  So we'll continue to testify in states that have introduced bills to repeal tampon tax and really move that over the finish line. We'll continue to spread awareness and educate our consumers and our network on what the issue is and how they can make impact as well, whether that's contact your local legislator or even just tell your network and really spread awareness around this issue.
• 16:46
  And so we're still fighting. There's still a lot more that needs to be done to get all 50 states to repeal the tax, to really understand or educate manufacturers and brands to ultimately change their pricing. We've decided from a manufacturer standpoint or brand standpoint that we no longer will even expect,
• 17:12
  accept products on our platform that cost more for women than for men. And so unless they update their pricing and offer us equal pricing for equal products, then we won't even accept it on boxed. And so that's been a huge game changer for a lot of our brands as well. They've updated their costs and pricing as a result of that. So it's step-by-step change, one at a time, but
• 17:38
  It's definitely happening. Here we are six years later, and there's been so much conversation around this issue and so much impact that has already been made. And so I think we're still just getting started. Have you had to drop any brands altogether because they wouldn't meet you at the table? No, we took the hit on pricing ourselves. And so if they weren't able to update their pricing and cost,
• 18:05
  we did it ourselves and we took a hit on margin. So I would say the majority of items that are part of our initiative today are ones that we are discounting on our own. Wow. So interesting. What does the impact actually look like from Box's point of view? What's happened since you've gone out with this stance in the world and educated consumers and done stuff? Yeah.
• 18:35
  I think probably the most surprising has been that it's actually been good for business. And I think the reason being is that, like I mentioned, 70% of our customers are women. And if we're able to make an impact and improve their everyday lives on items that are everyday essentials, then that is hugely significant.
• 19:02
  And so I would say since we've launched, we've attracted tens of thousands of new customers as a result of this initiative because their values align with ours. I think, again, if you're able as an organization, able to launch something in a genuine way, not just because... Not performative. Right, exactly. But if it's genuine, if it's authentic, if it's something that you can actually put your money behind...
• 19:31
  and your actions behind, then that's really going to resonate with your customers. And so as a result, we've been able to attract tens of thousands of new users who have then become some of our most loyal customers. They're spending more, they're repeating more, and they're also the ones that are talking about Boxed as well. And so I think that word of
• 19:58
  the issue that we've taken a stand on and because it aligns with what they care about has been probably the most surprising impact. You know, it wasn't our goal when we launched this initiative, but it is what we've seen as a result. And since we've launched, we've passed almost...
• 20:15
  maybe over by this point, $2 million of savings back to our customers, which is not chump change. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. My gosh. Wow. Yeah. That is just so inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. Where do you go from here specifically? What's next in terms of like, you know, the coming few months?
• 20:42
  Yeah, I think it's, you know, continuing to work with local legislators and repealing the tampon tax.
• 20:49
  working with our brands and manufacturers to help us or help support us with some of the products that we carry today that still have different costs or where we see the majority of discrepancies and also partnering with our partners. So we've created some really incredible partnerships with partners like 7Generation and Unilever,
• 21:14
  We've partnered with a nonprofit organization called Girls Helping Girls, period. It's just a mother and her two daughters that are donating period care products to underserved high schools across the country. And so we ran a program, a campaign with them, 7th Generation.
• 21:31
  And we were able to donate hundreds of thousands of period care products to that organization. And so I think any opportunity that there is to partner with our own brands that want to support us, as well as other organizations that have taken a stand on this, is such an incredible opportunity to continue this initiative and to keep it going and to continue to spread that awareness around it.
• 21:57
  If there's anyone listening right now who is like, this is lit a fire inside of me, like, how can I help? What can I do? Can they reach out to you? Like, is there a way that they can get involved? What's the course of action for people who want to join your movement specifically around this?
• 22:14
  Yeah, for sure. So there's a couple of different ways that you can really break it out from a consumer standpoint. Like if you, if this is an issue that you really care about and you're asking how you can raise awareness, I would say, you know, continue to be vocal about what you care about and educate your networks. And then also support brands that align with your values. I think that says a lot. Billy's for example, is a startup razor organization.
• 22:44
  that launched as a result of the pink tax. And so I think there are a lot of great brands out there that are doing really great things and especially around this issue as well. And so continue to support brands that align with their values. And then as an employee, I would say, how can you find your voice in the workplace? When I launched this initiative, I was a senior manager on the marketing team
• 23:12
  It was something that I really cared about. It was an issue that really resonated with me. And so if I never spoke to our leadership team, you know, this never would have happened when I was at Amazon. I don't think I could have ever had the guts to go up to Jeff Bezos and ask and tell him that we need to do something about the ping tax. But I think, you know, being able to find your voice within the workplace is important.
• 23:36
  can make such a huge impact. And so I would say, you know, be brave, speak up, and don't give up if it is something that you think your organization can really take a stand on. And then also, you know, set up one-on-ones with key folks in your organization and build allies within the company. That is really, you know, the best way to get
• 23:58
  an idea over the finish line. Again, especially if it's something that you really care about that you think your company can take a stand on in an authentic way. That's a really great piece of practical advice. Set up meetings with key stakeholders, start those conversations. I'm also wondering on that practical kind of level, when you went to your
• 24:20
  management team, you know, did you just go with a conversation or did you come like ultra prepared with like a slideshow, like, you know, printouts, like what did it actually look like?
• 24:32
  Yeah, I came with data. And so I had done all the backend work. I was looking at our costs per product for items that we carry the men's and women's versions of. And I came with an Excel doc of data. I was like, hey, look at this razor that we carry. It costs 108% more than the men's version. Like there's, if you come with hard data and proof that there's nothing that they can say about that, right? Or there's...
• 25:03
  I mean, it was kind of a no-brainer for our leadership team to take a stand. A, they were flabbergasted that this was even an issue. They didn't know that it was an issue that still existed back then in 2016. And so just bringing this to their attention was the first step.
• 25:20
  And then coming with that data and that hard proof of items that we carry at our company that we can actually change ourselves or we have the ability and power to update. That was, you know, what ultimately was able to get this over the finish line.
• 25:41
  Wow. I am so inspired by you. I can't wait to see what you do next with this mission, how you keep approaching it and where you are, you know, one year, five years down the track with everything. Hopefully we can have you back on the show to give us an update. Where can people find you?
• 26:01
  Sure. So I'm on LinkedIn. Please feel free to reach out at Natasha Metha or you can email me as well. I'll share my contact info with you, Dune. But we'd love to continue the conversation for anyone that's interested in.
• 26:18
  this particular issue or even any issue, right, that they think that they can take a stand on and really make impactful change with. I'm happy to chat always. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
• 26:39
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 27:04
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 27:26
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that. Thank you.
• 27:43
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 28:07
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 28:30
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.