12 ANALYSIS
What today’s consumers want from personal care
n Emma Gubisch – Leatherhead Food Research, UK Matt Herd – Sagentia, UK
With consumers’ needs and expectations evolving at pace, it is important for the personal care industry to adapt and realign to meet changing priorities. In this article we will look at recent research that gets to the heart of consumer truth to help drive focused, effective innovation that reflects what people really want from their personal care products. Product development and marketing has
always relied on consumer insight. However, in the digital economy, consumer sentiment can take a sudden turn that leads to lasting changes in demands and expectations. It has never been more important for personal care brands to keep up with what people want, then react intelligently, efficiently and effectively. To get a handle on this dynamic landscape, we recently conducted quantitative and qualitative research with more than 2,000 British adults. Our aim was to drill down into the essence of what today’s consumers want from personal care brands. And some of the answers were surprising. For instance, we anticipated that
environmental sustainability would be on people’s radar. But our survey saw a huge majority (79%) say personal care and beauty brands should put more effort into manufacturing products in an ethical and sustainable way.
Overall, our findings indicate that consumers are looking for purposeful and personalised brand experiences and interactions. Running through all the varied demands and expectations is one common thread: a desire to ‘find the products that work best for me’. However, ‘work best’ means different things
to different people. It is fluid, changeable and hard to define. It can relate to product functionality or practical factors like cutting down the time it takes to style hair or shave in the morning. It can encompass individuals’ environmental goals, such as reducing waste. And it also covers more nebulous feelings related to wellbeing or body image. How can personal care innovation accommodate all of this? Clearly,
PERSONAL CARE EUROPE
ingredients, formulation and chemistry will always be fundamental to products. But advanced consumer services driven by digital capabilities are moving up the agenda. Technology is now a significant factor in the ongoing race to achieve competitive differentiation and meet the needs of an increasingly demanding consumer. Brands that blend of-the- moment consumer insight with technical and digital expertise as well as traditional scientific skills are likely to thrive.
What consumers want Let us examine some of the core findings of our research. As behavioural research teaches us in relation to the human bias of sticking with the status quo, many people expressed an ambivalence towards new products. Overall, 81% said they were ‘happy’ with the products they currently use, with 43% saying they tend to stick to those products and 38% saying they nevertheless enjoy trying new ones. Value for money was the factor mentioned most often when we asked people what influences their choice of products: 67% of all respondents expressed this view, and it was more important for
women (72%) than men (62%). Functional benefits were the second most important criterion, mentioned by 54% of respondents. Again, the figure was higher for women than men, at 62% versus 45%; but it was the younger 18-24 age group that felt most strongly about this factor, with 65% selecting it.
When we asked how brands could
improve the way personal care products work at an individual level, the most popular answer was ‘give me an opportunity to try before I buy’. This was mentioned by 40% of all respondents, but the figure was significantly higher for women at 53% than for men at 27%. On the face of it, the ‘free sample’ route might seem an effective way to tap into the 38% of people who are happy with existing products but enjoy trying new ones. However, it is not quite that straightforward. Our findings related to ethics and sustainability would indicate that the traditional sample model, with its heavy reliance on small single use plastic containers, will become less acceptable to consumers in time. This is just one area of conflict that personal care innovation must resolve. And
April 2020
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