Skin-Care Product Characteristics Skin-Care Products

Skin-Care Product Characteristics

Skin-care products are primarily employed to provide protection against skin damage (Tadros, 2005). Skin-care products are usually formulated with two ingredients in mind: (1) a moisturizer that prevents water loss from the skin; and (2) an emollient that allows the smoothing or spreading of the said product -- the vehicle of the product, so to speak -- by way of its application (Tadros, 2005). Active ingredients such as UV filters, botanical, and animal extracts are also integrated into the formulation depending on the actual specific use for the product (Cuadrado, 2007). Fragrances, depending on the general imagery and olfactory therapeutics are also an essential ingredient of most skin-care products (Draelos, 2010).

Cuadrado (2007) further differentiates the products according to their respective functionalities, with three broad categories running in parallel with that of the European Commission Council Directive of 1976 grouping of cosmetic products: (1) General face and body products, including creams, emulsions, gels, and oils for the skin; (2) Specific products such as face masks, products applied to the lips, and anti-wrinkle products; and (3) Sunscreens and related products including those used for tanning and skin-whitening products. Skin-care products are also distinguished from each other depending on: (1) the region in which the product will be applied to, (2) the type of skin the product was formulated to work with, the age of the individual which will use the product, the ethnic group, and the social level of the product's target market.

Asian Trends for the Skin-care Product Market

With the general spectrum of skin-care products available, it is a distinct observation that Asian markets are prominently held by only a singular category of products. In the past decade, skin whitening products seem to be have captured the Asian market in ways that were unprecedented in others (Bird, Caldwell, and DeFanti, 2010). Li et al. (2004) cites the dramatic growth of skin and whitening products in the four Asian markets (i.e. India, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea) that they have investigated. Bird et al. (2010) corroborates this observation in the social phenomenon by which such products have even been made available to women of lower social economic classes. It seems then that skin-whitening product is veering away from a luxury positioning, making it a daily usage product instead. The popularization of skin whitening products has been such that it skyrocketed from only 50 brands in 2002 to at least a total of 226 skin-whitening products in 2006 (August, 2008).

This trend is similar in the Asia Pacific countries, especially in Thailand. August (2008) cites a 2004 consumer study yielding that least 58% of Thai women from the age of 18-64 and with a household income of at least 20,000 baht (roughly USD 665) have used skin whitening products in the past, with respondents spending at least USD 65 for the purchase of such products. Fuller (as cited in Bird et al. 2010) states this as a general indication how such products have been marketed aggressively in the Asian Market -- whiter skin is to be aspired for.

Consumer Purchase Behavior

Consumer behavior is defined as a dynamic process in which both emotional and rational points of interpolation, in the presence of environmental influences, make way for a process of exchange involving the acquisition, consumption or facilitation of goods, ideas, services, and experiences (Bennett, 2009). In this sense, the buying process is affected by a confluence of factors, of all which facilitate a constant tug-of-war that may or may not result in the actual purchase.

Hoyer and MacInnis (2008) implicate the psychological core of the consumer that consists of three critical factors that affect such an effort: (1) motivation; (2) ability, and (3) opportunity to engage in such decisions of purchase. This mechanism is tempered by the fact that companies themselves are in the act of marketing the specific goods and products, virtual or otherwise, to the consumer a process by which can be led to or away from a product based on the competitive advantages of the different marketing efforts being bombarded. In this case, it can just be simply noted that consumers coming into contact with marketing stimuli, exhibiting attention and finally perception, would increase the probability of actual purchase (Bennet, 2009).

The process of marketing, in this case, is the act by which consumers are led to a particular tipping point in decision-making that is incremental in mechanism but should lead to product loyalty in its finality (Bush and Burns 2001). Bennett (2009) describes this behavior as the purchase funnel, a metaphor by which describes a consumer journey into the product buy-in: brand awareness, brand familiarity, brand opinion, brand consideration, first choice intention, shopping/trial, and purchase. Purchase, in this context, coincides with the point of repetition or loyalty from the standpoint of the consumer, an act by which the product will be purchased again and again for a significant amount of time.

Primary Drivers Toward Purchase Behavior

Brand Influence

Fitszimons, Chartrand, and Fitszimons (2008) studied the priming effects of brands on human behavior and found that there is a significant effect depending on the product imagery. This means that product brands, the whole confluence of images, metaphors and personalities included in their portrayal are ultimately powerful enough to change the course of a particular individuals behavior. The reason for this is that brands, having their own personality characteristics depending on the consumer perception, could resonate well with individual personality traits of people (Fitszimons et al., 2008; Sirgy et al., 2007). Aside from this, brands are also seen as aspirational symbols that represent personal qualities that individuals feel they don't have but they must acquire (Fitszimons et al., 2008).

Evidence of this have long been predicted in market research literature (Bennet, 2009). A consumer's psychographics -- learned predispositions that are translated into values, beliefs, attitudes affecting purchase behavhior - will react to marketing efforts depending on the particular intersections it has with the consumer perception of what their lives are. In this case, it can be seen as part of the narrative of a person, a product being not only bought for its functional aspects but also for the beneficial imageries that it confers as a consequence of the purchase (Sirgy et al., 2007).

This kind of brand influence, however can only be as successful depending on the degree by which different environmental factors are put into play. Hoyer and MacInnis (2008) expresses the important of an experiential quality to the formation of brand perceptions that makes it all the more influential in the long run. It is true that at the bottom of the puchase funnel, there are already influential elements being put into play, but the fact still remains that the product trial itself, is the most influential in terms of affecting consumer perception (Bennet, 2009).

The Influence of Quality

This belies the importance of creating the perception of a high-quality product for the consumer. Iyer and Kuksov (2010) investigated the role of affect activities in consumer brand perception, focusing on how estimations of quality, however the actual product, could influence the actual customer decision. Iyer and Kusksov (2010) exemplified affect activities such as retail agents baking cookies for their clientele which, even if they are not necessarily crucial to the actual quality of the houses they are selling, creates a fluid relationship by which the consumer could perceive a sense of quality in the transaction -- an act which therefore could lead into the purchase decision.

Given this, if perceptions of quality could change a consumers purchase decision, then the assumption of a rational basis for quality could also become a touchpoint for purchase. Hsee et al. (2009) showed this in a study that significantly points out the strong influence of actual product specifications could essentially sway a consume toward a purchase decision even without the actual experience being formed. In this case, quality was directly associated with the specifications of the products, a result that leads to the understanding of product attributes as a purchase driver.

In this case, what is being pointed out here is not only does the imagery of the product matter, it is still pertinent that that the actual product is sold by its specific qualities alone. Marketing could only go so far as to strengthen brand image. The reverse is also true for product quality could only soar up to a limited height, so to speak, if there was not aforementioned way of spreading the word. Brand also influences quality in its own unique way, with recent studies showing that brands could confer quality on the particular products even if the products themselves are fake (Fitszimons et al., 2008).

The Influence of Packaging

Ghoshal, Boatwright, and Cagan (2009) delved into the study of the immediate and perceived influences of product packaging on product valuation and found that there is a significant effect as to the quality product and the integration of positive brand attributes. As pointed out in the study, the emotional hold of attractive packaging is such that it creates a positive impact on product valuation as well as other attributions that are not necessarily directed to the brand itself. In this case, the attitude towards the packaging confers a resonating attitude to the product itself -- packaging is also crucial for purchase decisions.

A study by Wakefield, Germain, and Durkin (2008), this time on the perception of smokers on the perception of cigarette brands, showed how the importance of packaging reiterates itself again by product quality perceptions -- plainly packaged cigarettes were seen as having lower tobacco and having a decreased level of satisfaction. The level of change was such that the number of brand elements removed from the pack is correlated with the decrease in perceived valuation of the respondents.

Hoyer and MacInnis (2008) corroborates the data with the more recent studies with the idea that the psychological core of the consumer does indeed reflect their particular hedonic perceptions based on what is just sensed on the onset. It can even be said that the influence of packaging could be amplified by way of the correct timing of the placement of the packaging, a fact that could easily be noticed within the context of a brick-and-mortar purchase (Underhill, 2006).

The Influence of Price

Price also becomes a general purchase driver that consumers bank on given that there is an intense regard for value-for-money purchase decisions just after the global economic crisis of 2007 (Galinsky, Ku, and Mussweiler, 2009). Bennet (2009) describes the effects of price as essentially similar to the general influences of brand, quality, packaging with resulting threads that intertwine in the context of consumer purchase behavior. For example, a high price would almost certainly be perceived as correlated with a high product quality or a service that may be seen as rationally defensible given the terms of the valuation that was pegged by the company. In this case, stating a high price for a product would most certainly be important if the product valuation that the company is aiming for is more of a sophisticated image.

However, the affect services that were previously described in the discussion on quality influence are also important in the calculations of pricing equivalents as is the case with Paul et al. (2009). In the study, the specific drivers correlated with pricing can be dependent on the actual perception that the consumer has on the product and the valuations that have they already developed prior to product exposure. Simply said, there will be times when such pricing influences could backfire given the opportune time that consumers would be able to rationally optimize the service that they pay for and what they actually get -- a high price requires excellent service.

Of course, cheap doesn't necessarily mean carrying a negative connotation not if the consumer perceptions sees the product as a value-for-money decision that gives a distinct calculation of the purchase (i.e. price) with what the consumer perceives as the benefits it confers to the him or her. In this case, the mass market implementation of a product could be rolled given that pricing influencing mechanism in mind (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2009)

Specific Influences Toward Skin-care Products

In the context of Asian markets, the platform for analyzing the pricing, quality, packaging and quality valuations of skin-care products could now be employed as a way to explain the increase in the specific product. Bird et al. (2010) explains this phenomenon as hinged on the associations of pale, smooth skin with the standard for Asian beauty. Having a lighter or paler skin creates an opportunity for a higher perception -- a better 'brand image' if you will' -- of the individual who has obtained these attributes; paler skin is associated with wealth, status, and power in Asian societies (Bird et al., 2010). This has a simple physical correlate in that those who have white skin do not have to venture outside to work in the fields or do some rough activity that requires some exposure to the sun (Li et al., 2008).