Branded Shampoos: Consumer Behavior. Reseach

Shampoo is a common hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair.

The goal is to remove the unwanted build-up without stripping out so much as to make hair unmanageable. Shampoo formulations seek to maximize the following qualities:

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• Easy rinsing
• Good finish after washing hair
• Minimal skin/eye irritation
• No damage to hair
• Feels thick and/or creamy
• Pleasant fragrance
• Low toxicity
• Good biodegradability

The word shampoo in english usage dates back to 1762, with the meaning "to massage". The word was a loan from Anglo-Indian shampoo, in turn from Hindi champoo, ie "to smear, knead the muscles, massage". It itself comes from Sanskrit/Hindi word "champa" , the flowers of the plant Michelia champaca which have traditionally been used to make fragrant hair-oil.

The term and service was introduced by a Sake Dean Mahomed, who opened a shampooing bath known as Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths in Brighton in 1759. His baths were like Turkish baths where clients received an Indian treatment of champi (shampooing) or therapeutic massage. During the early stages of shampoo, English hair stylists boiled shaved soap in water and added herbs to give the hair shine and fragrance.

Kasey Hebert was the first known maker of shampoo, and the origin is currently attributed to him. During the early stages of shampoo, English hair stylists boiled shaved soap in water and added herbs to give the hair shine and fragrance. Kasey Hebert was the first known maker of shampoo, and the origin is currently attributed to him.

Segmentation:

Shampoo market is segmented on benefit platforms:

• Cosmetic (shine, health, strength)
• Anti – Dandruff (AD)
• Herbal 20% of the total shampoo market is accounted by the AD shampoos.

The AD segment is the fastest growing segment, growing at 10% to 12 % every year Usage: The frequency of shampoo usage is very low in India. Most consumers use shampoo only once or twice in a week. In many cases, these products are used on special occasions such as weddings, parties etc. About 50% of consumers use ordinary toilet soaps to wash their hair. About 15% of consumers use toilet soaps as well as shampoo for cleaning their hair. Also 70% of the total shampoo sales are through sachet sales.

HLL has higher stakes in the rural market with an 80% share. The bottle sales are popular in the northern region where 50% of the shampoo bottles are sold After a sober growth in 2004 due to the downturn of the FMCG sector, shampoo sector saw strong growth in the next two years due to the introduction of sachets and a surge in rural demand. The overall shampoo market, which sees annual volume sales of approximately 63,000 tonnes, saw rural off take grow by 40% last year, while urban demand grew half that at 21%. From a penetration level of 13% in 2000, now almost a third of the country's rural population uses shampoo with penetration levels zooming to 32% in 2005.

While the north and west zones have tripled in penetration, the south and east zones have doubled Urban - 40 % Rural - 10 %

Targeted customers:

Shampoos are mainly target at Upper middle class, Middle class housewives and upper rural class. However the main segment is Teenagers. Opportunity Penetration of shampoo is very low in India. The average per-capita consumption of shampoo in India is very low at approximately 13 ml and many people in rural India still use toilet soaps. People still perceive shampoo as high end product in the rural areas. This provides a huge opportunity to the players. The huge size of the untapped market leads to a great potential for the existing players.

India is and will remain for some time one of the youngest countries in the world. Currently there is a population of 163 m teen in India. Approximately half of the 1 bn plus population is under the age of 20, which is one of the largest consumers of hair care products. This provides huge market for the shampoo players. Also, with the increasing income levels of the middle class population, the usage of shampoos has increased.

Despite its undisputed potential, the rapid expansion of the shampoo market was interrupted in 1999. Overall growth rates in the market slowed to 1. 7% in 1999, from 16% the previous year. Lack of innovation was the major reason for slowdown. The perception that shampoos contain harsh hemicals that could damage hair, high price and the view that the shampoo is more of a glamour product rather than a hygiene product led to lower sales.

The players came out with the idea of smaller packs, which were a success. Also, products like anti dandruff started getting attention and became the fastest growing category. Players like Dabur and Ayush came up with herbal shampoos.

The top Shampoo brands Normal Shampoos

• Clinic Plus
• Sunsilk
• Chik Anti Dandruff Shampoos
• Clinic All Clear
• Head and Shoulders
• Dabur Vatika AD Premium Products
• Shehnaz Hussain
• Revlon Flex
• L'Oreal

Market Scenario of shampoo industry

The India shampoo industry is estimated at Rs 14 bn and is growing at an average rate of 20% per annum.

According to AC Nielsen, shampoo is one of the fastest growing categories within FMCG sector and is expected to grow at 25% per annum in the coming years. The group has been operating in India for over 60 years. Being first it has being given the market leadership position in many product categories. Lever's have a sprawling distribution coverage which in the case of HLL extends to 3,200 stockists and 600,000 shops directly serviced by the company. HLL is today a multi-product, multi-unit organization addressing various public health challenges facing humanity.

HLL is the undisputed leader from the early 1990s with brands like Sunsilk, Clinic All Clear and Clinic Plus. Sunsilk is the name of a brand of hair care products for women produced by the Unilever group. It was launched in 1954 in the United Kingdom and by 1959 it was available in 18 different countries world-wide. Currently, Sunsilk products are being marketed in over 50 countries throughout Asia, Latin America, The Middle East and North Africa. The Sunsilk brand is intended to demonstrate a perceptive and sympathetic understanding of women, communicate the idea of capturing the “emotional drama” in a girl’s life, and to provide a source of expert beauty care for women. P & G

In US-the world’s largest market place in terms of effective demand-the Cincinnati (Ohio)-based household and personal care products colossus P & G Co. is a renowned company. Over the past 157 years (1837-1994) since William Proctor and James GambIe entered into partnership to manufacture candles and soap in Cincinnati, P & G has conceptualized, manufactured and effectively marketed a stream of consumer products, which have contributed significantly to American consumers Currently P & G employs l lakh people globally and has subsidiaries in over 60 countries including India. On 1st April 1988, the Bombay based Richardson Hindustan Ltd. commenced doing business as Proctor and Gamble India Ltd.

The strategies and methodologies that the company has innovated to facilitate its inexorable growth have won it a place of honor in virtually every country. Yet to categories P & G as merely an excellent marketing company is to do it an injustice. It is an excellent marketing and product research company while its R & D, manufacturing strategies and operations are its major strengths. P & G entered India in Nov 1995, with the world’s largest selling brand – Pantene. It also launched Head , which is the leading AD shampoo Head & Shoulders is a famous brand of anti-dandruff shampoo produced by Procter & Gamble. Head & Shoulders was first introduced to the U. S. market in November 1961, as a blue-green shampoo formula.

Unlike other shampoos, Head & Shoulders had relatively few variations until the late 1990s and early 2000s, and there are now in excess of ten different kinds of shampoo for different hair types under the Head & Shoulders banner. It has since then grown into a billion dollar brand. The people responsible for this were Robert Jongstra (Procter & Gamble General Manager) and Olga Barr (Saatchi & Saatchi Global Creative Director). Pantene is a brand of hair care products owned by Procter & Gamble.

The brand's best-known product is the conditioning shampoo Pantene Pro V. CavinKare CavinKare was founded by Ranganathan in 1983, with a modest capital investment of Rs 15,000 and with a single product. The company was called Chik India Pvt. Ltd. , and its product was Chik shampoo.

The company targeted the local market and within a few years emerged as a leading regional player in the shampoo market in South India. In 1998, the company adopted its present name, CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. , to signify its change from a single-product company to a broader FMCG company, encompassing various market segments such as hair, skin and personal care.

L’Oreal has developed activities in the field of cosmetics, concentrating on hair color, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfumes and hair care. L’Oreal is active in the dermatological and pharmaceutical fields. L’Oreal is also the top nanotechnology patent-holder in the United States. THe CEO of L'Oreal SA in France is Jean-Paul Agon. L'Oreal is a listed company, but the founder's daughter Liliane Bettencourt who is one of the richest people in the world, and the Swiss food company Nestleeach control over a quarter of the shares and voting rights. L’Oreal markets its range of specialized hair care products exclusively through salons and beauty parlors. It is the only company in the market that has a hair colour range tailored exclusively for parlors.

The company was also the first to introduce modern shampoo-based hair dyes for the Indian market Garnier is a company producing hair care products, including the Fructis line, and most recently, skin care products under the name, Nutritioniste, that are sold around the world. It is a brand of L'Oreal. One of their key ingredients is a fruit concentrate used in all their products. It is a combination of fruit acids, vitamin B3 and B6, fructose and glucose

Consumer Behavior

The term consumer behavior may be defined as the decision process and physical activities in which individuals engage them while evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing off goods and services. The study of consumer behavior is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources on consumption of related items. Buying behavior is an attempt to understand and predict human actions in the buying role.

The issues that dealt within the discipline of consumers’ buying behavior are: What products and services do the consumers buy. How do they buy. Why do they buy. From where do they buy. When do they buy. Consumer behavior provides a sound basis for identifying and understanding consumer needs. It is the act of the individuals directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services. The study of consumer behavior is an essential component of marketing. The adoption of marketing concept by the marketers provides the impetus for the study of consumer behavior. In case of New Product Introduction in the market, there is a risk of product failure.

To increase the chances of success of new products, better information of the consumer behavior is required. Their desires, tastes and preferences are to be taken care of. So from all these aspects the study of consumer behavior is important.

It is careful investigation or enquiry in a systematic manner in order to find a solution to problem in research. It consists of defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solution, collecting and evaluating data, making deduction and reaching calculation etc and at last care fully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated hypothesis or not. It includes the scope of the study, research design, collection of data, analysis of data and limitations of the study.

Scope of the study

The scope of the study is to get the knowledge about the buying behavior of consumers towards the branded shampoos in Ludhiana.

The scope is restricted to study consumer’s awareness regarding branded shampoos and the factors influencing choice of consumers towards branded shampoos in ludhiana. This is done to avoid perceptual bias and for providing objectivity to the study. 2. 2 Research Design The research design is an arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. The research problem in clear-cut terms helps the researches to prepare a research design. It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. It is the strategy for a study and the plan by which the strategy is to be carried out.

The research carried down is descriptive in nature because it describes the consumer buying behavior regarding branded shampoos.

Primary Data Primary data is that data which is collected for the first time. It is original in nature in the shape of raw material. For the purpose of collection of primary data, a well-structured questionnaire was given to the respondents and they were personally interviewed to fulfill the objectives of the study. The questionnaire comprises of close ended as well as open-ended questions. In close ended questions dichotomous, ranking, likert’s scale, checklist questions and multiple choice questions are used.

Secondary data is the data which is already collected by someone. They are secondary in nature and are in shape of finished product. Secondary data was collected so as to have accurate results and the required data was collected from various magazines, newspapers, journals and internet to gather relevant information about the shampoo industry and the leading brands of shampoos.

Sampling refers to selecting some of the elements in a population by which one can draw conclusions about the entire population.

Universe is the infinite number of elements that the researcher is targeting in his study.

Here the universe for the study consists of all the people who use branded shampoos.

Population is finite number of elements that the researcher is going to target in particular area. People throughout Ludhiana who use branded shampoos constitute the population of my research.

In my research I have used non-probability technique for drawing a sample from the population. In non-probability technique I have preferred ‘Convenience sampling’ method because population of my research is huge and due to the time constraint I will be catering to 100 people according to my convenience. The selection of the respondents was done on the basis of convenience based on the non-probability method of sampling. Convenience sampling was basically used due to money, time as well as distance constraints.

Sample size is the size of sample drawn from the population which is the true representative of the research. The number of respondents included in the study was 100 for convenience in evaluating and analyzing the data and because of time constraint. The questions having alternative choices were analyzed by taking percentages. In the case of questions on Likert’s point scale, the mean scores and percentages were calculated.

In case of ranking questions the total score has been added and final ranking is given. The questions to which there were specific answers the ranges were clubbed and percentages were calculated. In case of explanatory questions, the general suggestions were summarized.

Sincere efforts have been made to collect authentic and reliable information from respondents, however the report is subject to following limitations:

1. The study was limited to Ludhiana city only. Wider coverage would have made the study more reliable and representative.
2. Sample was drawn by convenience sampling, so possibility of sampling error cannot be ruled out.
3. Responses of respondents were biased based on their personal preferences.
4. Due to time and cost constraints, study could not be carried out on a large scale
5. Sample may not be the true representative of the universe

Factors considered by them while purchasing branded shampoos and to check their brand loyalty. A total of 100 consumers were personally interviewed with help of structured questionnaires. It was clear that 48% respondents used shampoos 1-3 times in a week, 33% respondents use shampoos 3-5 times in a week and rest of the respondents use shampoos daily. 70% of the respondents buy another brand if a particular brand is not available. The most preferred alternate brand is Clinic, followed by Head & Shoulder, Clinic, L’Oeal, Pantene and the least preferred brand as an alternate is Garnier.

Quality is the main reason that made respondents stick to one particular brand as it is having the highest mean score. Price and brand are having equal mean scores and are the second most important factors. The most common reason that made respondents switch over to another brand of shampoo is that they like changing brands. Other important reasons are quality and schemes that made respondents switch over to another brand of shampoo.

67 respondents who did not stick to one particular brand, 19 have intention of sticking to current brand for 1 to 3 months, 19 for lass tan 1 month, 13 for 3-5 months and 12 for more than 5 months.

From the research it was found that 88% respondents use branded shampoos. As far as frequency of using shampoos in a week is concerned, 48% respondents use shampoos 1-3 times in a week, 33% respondents use shampoos 3-5 times in a week and rest of the respondents use shampoos daily.

Television (81%) is the most important source of information followed by Newspaper (51%), Magazine (49%), information from friends/relative (27%), internet (18%) and least important source of information is from salesman (4%). Most preferred shampoo brand among consumers is Sunsilk followed by Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Clinic, Garnier and least preferred is L’Oreal . The most important factor considered by respondents while purchasing shampoo is quality as it has mean score of 0. 96, followed by brand (0. 63) and advertisement (0. 54).

Out of 100 respondents, only 37% respondents stick to one particular brand and out of respondents who stick to one particular brand consider quality being the most important factor for it Out of 67% respondents who switch to other brand, majority of them quoted the reason “I like changing Brands” for shifting to other brands.

As far as the intentions of 67 respondents for sticking to current brand used by them is concerned, very less have intention of switching over the brand and are satisfied with the current brand they are using. Out of 67 respondents who did not stick to one particular brand, 19 have intention of sticking to current brand for 1 to 3 months, 19 for lass tan 1 month, 13 for 3-5 months and 12 for more than 5 months. Mostly all the respondents are satisfied with their currently using brand. The suggestions which are given for their currently used brand are: Consumers of L’oreal want its price to be lesser.

Consumers of Pantene want to have more hair specific like Sunsilk. No suggestion has been recommended by consumers of Sunsilk Chapter 5 Conclusion and Summary The results reflected the perception of users in Ludhiana of branded shampoos. The results of the study indicate that though the price of shampoos is perceived to be on the higher side of users, the quality offered by these products compensates for their dissatisfaction. The Ludhiana users accept that high quality comes at a price. Since the study was restricted to the Ludhiana city so there is need to study more in other cities to get the clear view of the findings. Scope for further study

Many companies are coming up with the shampoos with enough variety as it’s the fastest growing FMCG product now days. There is a huge potential market in India and better scope. To survive in such an environment, all the companies will have to undertake bold efforts towards their products in such a way so as to meet the requirements and expectations of the consumers. It therefore calls for a continuous research in this field as consumer preferences keep changing with time and so does their buying behavior. Hence it provides basis of a scope for further research.

References:

1. “Use of advertising and their impact on the consumer behavior”, Indian Journal of Management, Volume XXXIII, Number 4, April 2003, Page 3-5
2. Moorthi YLR, Brand Management(The Indian Context),2003,Edition V,Page 16-25
3. Kotler Philip, Principles of Mrketing, 2004,Prentice Hall, New Delhi, Pg 204-209
4. Bearden, William O. and Michael J. Etzel, “Reference group influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions”, Journal of Consumer Research, September 1982,Pg 183-194.

Websites:

1. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pantene
2. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Shampoo
3. http://www. diplomatist. com/dipo1st06/story_12. htm
4. http://inhome. rediff. com/money/2003/jul/19spec. htm
5. http://www. indiantelevision. com/tamadex/y2k4/june/tam63.
6. htm http://www. equitymaster. com/research-it/sector-info/consprds/consprds-products. html
7. http://www. domain-b. com/companies/companies_p/procter_gamble_india/20040129_wars. html

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