Shampoo Market Consumers Buying Behaviour Marketing Essay

Preface

This research is prepared for the purpose of gaining a better understanding on the factors influencing the consumers’ buying behaviour. The shampoo market is chosen as the field of study on the consumers’ buying behaviour because everyone needs shampoo to wash their hair so anyone could be the respondents of my survey. The age of the respondents in this survey ranges from 18 years and above.

The questionnaire constructed is based on the factors influencing the buying behaviour which are the social factors, the personal factors and the psychological factors. The social factors referred to reference groups and family whereas, the personal factors referred to age, occupation and lifestyle. Lastly, psychological factors referred to motivation, perception and beliefs and attitudes. [1]

This survey is carried out around Penang Island which includes housing estates, shopping malls and coffee shops within the period of two weeks. This survey targeted 100 respondents and was given self-administrated survey questionnaires to be filled up. The respondents can either be male or female in the Penang state. During the period of the survey, it was not easy to get respondents as many of them were not willing to reveal their personal information. There were also respondents that are helpful and responsive in making this survey a success.

The approximation of systematic sampling method is used in this research. All the data was collected at different times and the time frame to gather all the data is within the period of 2 weeks.

The tabulation of the data was done using Microsoft Excel. Besides that, illustration of the information in the form of pie charts and bar charts using Microsoft Excel enables readers to have a better understanding of the report instead of reading the whole report in forms of words and figures.

The Purpose of This Research

Consumers’ buying behaviour is affecting the purchasing power of the consumers. There are several factors that influence the consumers’ buying behaviour. In order to indentify these factors, a research on the shampoo market was carried out.

In addition to that, a better understanding on the factors influencing consumers’ buying behaviour will be gained after completing this research.

“This is the perpetual and pitiful tragedy of the practical man in practical affairs. He always begins with a flourish of contempt for what he calls theorizing and what people who can do it call thinking. He will not wait for logic–that is, in the most exact sense, he will not listen to reason. It will therefore appear to him an idle and ineffectual proceeding to say that there is a reason for his present failure. Nevertheless, it may be well to say it, and to try and make it clear even to him.”

Gilbert Keith Chesterton [2]

Why I Choose Shampoo Market As The Topic of The Survey?

Shampoo is chosen as the topic of this survey because shampoo had become the part of our lives. Shampoo is used to remove oils, dirt, dandruff, skin particles, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in the hair. [3]

Besides that, it is also easy to get respondents to this survey as everyone uses shampoo and there are also an increasing number of consumers who are very concern about their hair.

How This Research Is Carried Out?

This research is carried out in the form of survey. In order to carry out the survey, questionnaires were constructed and distributed in Penang Island. The survey is carried out in shopping complexes, housing estates and coffee shops.

The Structure of The Questionnaire

The questionnaire constructed is based on the factors that affect the consumers’ buying behaviour. Refer to the appendix for sample of the questionnaire.

The first four questions in the questionnaire are constructed based on the personal factors. The first question is about the gender, followed by the age, employment status and lastly, the monthly income of the respondent.

The fifth question is about the current brand of the shampoo used by the respondent. The first four questions will determine the choice of shampoo chosen by respondent as the first four questions are the manipulating variables and the responding variable is the choice of shampoo.

There is a combination of social factors and psychological factors in question six. The purchasing decision is made by the family member, friends’ recommendation and good research and development (R&D), influenced by brand ambassador, gentle to hair as it is chemical free are social factors and psychological factors respectively. Only one choice is from promotion which is promotions and offers made for the shampoo.

In order to understand how the product itself attracts the consumers to purchase it, I had added a question on the current brand of shampoo used by the consumer.

The following question is about the amount of money spent by respondent on the shampoo on a monthly basis. From this question, the respondent lifestyle can be determined as his or her monthly income will reflect on the shampoo expenses. Once again, the monthly income is the manipulating variable and the responding variable will be the shampoo expenses.

Question nine is about the promotion method used by the particular brand of shampoo. The reason of asking this question is to understand the method used by the particular company in promoting their shampoo in the market. This question also can prove that promotion also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer when it comes to purchasing a particular brand of shampoo.

Question ten is about the period of duration the respondent using the particular shampoo. The purpose of this question is to understand how effective the company’s strategy in keeping their consumers to continue buying their products.

The last part of the questionnaire is about the rating made by the respondents on the quality of the current shampoo used. The purpose of this question is to understand whether the company has successfully gained its customers’ satisfaction.

The Period of The Survey

The survey was carried out around Penang Island which includes housing estates, shopping malls and coffee shops within the period of two weeks. The respondents can be consists of either male or female but their age must be at least 18 and above.

During the period of the survey, it was not easy to get respondents who are willing to co-operate as they are unwilling to enclose their personal details like their monthly income. Besides that, some of them turned down the survey as they are not interested in participating in the survey especially those in the housing estate.

There were still some good and co-operative respondents who filled up the questionnaires without any need to persuading. Most of the co-operative respondents come from coffee shops and shopping malls and I would like to thank them as they are helping me to make this survey a success.

Collection, Analysis and Interpretation of The Data

The collected data was based on the questionnaires distributed to the respondents. The age as one of the personal factors influenced the consumers’ shampoo preference. Different ages of people will have a different brand of shampoo preference as the young generations will prefer a brand that manufactures colour lock shampoo so that the colour of the dye on their hair will last longer, whereas the older generation only prefers a basic range of shampoo as they seldom dye their hair.

From the employment status and the monthly income, the data about the lifestyle of the consumers can be gained. When the person is working full time and earns a high monthly income, he or she will definitely purchase a more high quality shampoo like the ones sold in the saloons. This is because he or she will definitely change his or her image by changing the hairstyle by perm, straighten or dye. When they go for chemical treatment on their hair, damage such as split ends and dry hair will be resulted, so they are willing to spend more on high end shampoo to protect their hair from such damages instead of buying a normal range shampoo and cry over the damage hair at the end of the day. From that, we can conclude that lifestyle does influence the consumers’ buying behaviour.

Asking the reason of choosing the particular brand enables the researcher to identify whether it was the social factor, psychological factor or promotion that influences the purchasing of the shampoo. If the respondent chooses friends’ recommendation, then the factor influences the buying behaviour is the social factor. Some consumers trust their friends’ recommendation when they share the same taste and preferences. When they see the effects of the shampoo on their friends’ hair they are willing to purchase that particular brand as it is proven good by his or her peers. On the other hand, if the respondent chooses gentle to hair and chemical free, then the consumer is influenced by the psychological factor which is the consumer beliefs that the shampoo is gentle to the scalp as it is chemical free. This usually occurred in the consumers’ mind as they belief is gentle to the scalp after they had tried the sample given by the promoters in the supermarket or during a free hair wash during the road show.

The type of shampoo used by the respondents enables the researcher to study whether the product itself and the brand influences the buying behaviour. When a respondent trusted the current brand of shampoo he or she is using, then when he or she is looking for a colour lock shampoo, he or she will definitely choose back the colour lock shampoo manufactured by the brand they used to buy. Sometimes, the product itself also influences the buying behaviour when the packaging of the product is nice and the sophisticated features of the product is such as the shampoo is anti-dandruff, with ginseng extract which will reduce hair fall and so on.

The monthly expenses spent on the shampoo will help the researcher to conclude that the monthly income does influence the buying power of the consumer. A lifestyle with a high monthly income will influence the consumer to spend more on shampoo such as high range shampoo as they tend to be more cautious about their hair when they perm or dye their hair. Besides that, the price of the shampoo also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer. Some consumers are not particular about the brands of the shampoo but they choose the shampoo according to the price. Normally, these types of consumers will buy a basic shampoo which the price is cheap and when there is a promotion about other higher range shampoo, they will tend to buy it.

The type promotion made on the shampoo is to ensure that the consumers are aware of the existence of this particular brand of shampoo. By asking this question to the respondents, the researcher can conclude that promotion also influence the buying behaviour in the shampoo market. In addition to that, the researcher also can conclude the types of promotion that are effective in the shampoo market.

The duration period of the respondent using the particular brand of shampoo will help the researcher to know whether the consumers have developed brand loyalty in buying the particular brand shampoo. Brand loyalty is also a psychological factor which the consumers perceive that the brand offers the right product features, image or level of quality at the right price. [4]

Consumers’ satisfaction on the particular brand of shampoo is gained by asking the respondent to rate the quality of the current shampoo used. This enables the researcher to understand how the company satisfy their consumers and how high is the level of consumers’ satisfaction on the current shampoo manufactured by the company.

Microsoft Excel was used to tabulate the data and illustrate the data in the form of bar and pie charts so that it is easy for the readers to understand instead of reading the report from the first page to the last page in the form of words and figures. As the saying goes, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’.

Conclusion

From the survey, I had realised that the consumers’ buying behaviour is not only influenced by the social factors, the personal factors and the psychological factors but also marketing mix such as the price, product and promotion also influences the buying behaviour. The social factors referred to reference groups and family whereas, the personal factors referred to age, occupation and lifestyle. Lastly, psychological factors referred to motivation, perception and beliefs and attitudes.

For social factors, the purchasing decision is made by the family member, friends’ recommendation. Some consumers just follow their family’s decision in purchasing a shampoo as they have no preferences on shampoo. As for friends’ recommendation, if the shampoo is proven good by their friends, some consumers will tend to buy it as they trust the results of the shampoo told by their friends. Personal factors include gender, age, employment status and monthly income of the respondent. For age, young generations will prefer a brand that manufactures colour lock shampoo so that the colour of the dye on their hair will last longer, whereas the older generation only prefers a basic range of shampoo as they seldom dye their hair.

Psychological factors of purchasing the shampoo include, brand loyalty, gentle to hair as it is chemically free, good research and development (R&D) and influenced by brand ambassador. One of the psychological factors is the attitudes and beliefs of the consumers where they believe that the shampoo must be good when the brand ambassador is their favourite celebrity. This kind of buying behaviour usually occurs among the teenagers or the youth because they wanted to follow the footsteps of their favourite celebrity and what kind of product used by the ambassador must be proven to be very good as they have a perception that their idol is always perfect. Besides that, some consumers believe that the shampoo is very gentle to the hair as the shampoo states that it is chemically free, where this is known as attitude. Lastly, the consumers are also motivated to purchase that particular shampoo when the company has done a good R&D. This is because it is very convincing when there is a proven research done by the company.

The price of the shampoo influences the buying behaviour as some consumers are not particular about the brands of the shampoo. They just only want a shampoo which is cheap and good to wash their hair. For product, when the shampoo features is sophisticated such as anti-dandruff, hair fall control or colour lock and the packaging of the shampoo is nice, some of the consumers will be influenced to purchase the particular brand of the shampoo. Promotion is made to remind the consumers about the existence of the particular shampoo in the market. Indirectly, it also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer when there is a brand ambassador promoting the shampoo during the road show or on an advertisement. Besides that, if there is an offer made for the shampoo such as buy one free one or free vouchers for every two bottles purchase will tend to increase the purchasing power of the consumers.

Appendix

I am a student from a private institution and currently doing a research on consumers’ buying behaviour in the shampoo market. All the information gathered will be used for academic research purpose only and it will be kept confidential. Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Please tick ( ƒ-) the appropriate option for the following (where applicable): Choose only the one that suits you the most.

Gender:

Male

Female

Age:

18-19 years

20-29 years

30-39 years

40-49 years

50 years and above

Employment Status:

Working Full-time

Working Part-time

Student

Unemployed

Monthly Income:

Below RM 1000

RM 1100-RM 2000

RM 2100-RM 3000

RM 3100-RM 4000

RM 4100-RM 5000

Above RM 5000

Brand of Current Shampoo:

Sunsilk

Pantene

Rejoice

Clairol Herbal Essence

Follow Me

Head and Shoulders

Pamolive

Clear

Dove

Others; Please specify

Reason of choosing that particular brand:

Good Research and Development (R&D) in manufacturing

Influenced by the brand ambassador

Promotions and Offers made

Purchase decision is made by the family member

Gentle to the hair as it is chemical free

Recommended by friends

Others; Please specify

Types of Shampoo used:

Anti-dandruff

Hair fall control

Dry and damage hair

Silky straight hair

Colour lock

How much do you spend monthly on shampoo?

Below RM 50

RM 50-RM 60

RM 61-RM 70

RM 71-RM 80

Above RM 80

How do you get to know about this shampoo?

Friends

Television

Roadshows

Radio

Internet pop-ups

How long have you been using this shampoo?

< 1 year

2-3 years

4-5 years

5 years and above

How is pre-sales of this shampoo?

Promoter in the supermarket

Recommended by hair stylists

Free sample for customers

Promotions of buy one free one

Is there a way to contact the customer service after sales?

Toll free number

SMS

Email

Mailing address

Is the shampoo easy available?

Yes it’s available every where

Only available in well known shopping complexes

Only in certain areas

Not available in the country and the only way to purchase it is through the Internet

What is your expected price range of the brand of shampoo in use?

Rate your favourite brand of shampoo on the basis of following attributes

Fragrance

Excellent [ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ] Poor [ ]

Design of the packing

Excellent [ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ] Poor [ ]

Variety

Excellent [ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ] Poor [ ]

Texture

Excellent [ ] Very Good [ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ] Poor [ ]

Thank you