© JAN 2019 | IRE Journals | Volume 2 Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Study of Factors That Influence the Consumer Behaviour

Towards Cosmetics - Conceptual Frame Work
“Amazing things happen when you listen to the consumer”

Y P SAI LAKSHMI1, M. SURESH BABU2

1
Research scholar, Sri venkateswara university, Tirupati
2
Professor, Sri venkateswara university, Tirupati

Abstract -- This current paper is aimed to discuss about the rapidly, in keeping with remarkable growth and hostile
general factors that influence of consumer behaviour consumption in the Asian, Eastern European, and
towards cosmetics. We the human beings live in a society South American markets (Kumar, 2005).
where the people perception mainly depends on
appearance of a person; hence the cosmetics industry plays A boom in the Indian fashion industry has been linked
a vital role in everybody life either directly or indirectly. to the increased awareness of Indian people about their
This paper brings an overview that how the people are
appearances & consequently contributed to an
influenced towards cosmetics which factors make them to
move towards cosmetics in detail. The concept is difficult to
increase in the demand for cosmetic products. Indian
understand, but it is important for efficient and effective competitors have begun to manufacture products to
marketing. Consumer behaviour consists of actions, make available to an international need. Herbal
reactions, and responses in relation to the products bought cosmetics from India have a great demand in the
and services sought. Factors such as personality, overseas market and many cosmetic products that are
perception, attitude, and learning on the one hand and the manufactured in India today are supplied to
product, price, physical attributes, advertising and societal international suppliers of branded cosmetic products
influence on the other shape the behaviour of consumers. like the Baby shop. New facts that have been reveal
The range of cosmetic and beauty products in India has
that the industry of cosmetic products in India is
widened terrifically. Indian competitors have begun to
manufacture products to make available to an
growing at an average rate of almost twenty percent
international need. annually; this increase is attributed to two main
factors. There are also many reasons for the increased
demand for cosmetic products. With the introduction
Indexed Terms: Consumer, Behaviour, Cosmetics,
of satellite television and a wide array of television
Psychology, Social.
channels as well as the internet, the average Indian
consumer is constantly bombarded with
I. INTRODUCTION advertisements and information on new cosmetic
products which often translates into the desire to
Consumers wear makeup for the purposes of “sexual purchase them.
attractiveness,” “social and professional interaction
success,” “emotional pleasure,” “better physical The emergence of rural market as a viable proposition
appearance,” “self-perception,” and to create a has sparked a new interest among marketers to explore
“symmetrical face”. Consumers consume different and understand them (Lalitha Ramakrishnan, 2005).
products and services according to their needs, needed to consider when designing and implementing
preferences and buying power. They consume marketing programs. Failure to understand the
perishable items, durable goods, specialty goods or dynamic buyer behaviour and improper allocation and
industrial goods. Consumers have a wide number of coordination of resources will lead the organization to
alternative suppliers for the goods, they need. great losses. There are three sections of consumer
Cosmetics have been used for thousands of years; use behaviour that need to be addressed carefully:
of cosmetics can be traced back to ancient times, psychological influences, socio-cultural influences
including the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman eras In and situational influences. The marketers have to go
recent decades, the cosmetic industry has prolonged through a number of challenges in selling products like

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„cosmetics‟ as they have to be applied directly on research how consumer makes their buying decision,
human skins, body and other parts. There is a what they buy, how much they buy, when they buy,
perceived risk of dissatisfaction in the consumers as and where they buy (Kotler, Amstrong, 2001). To get
far as its benefits are concerned. It is necessary to a well coherent result, organisations normally looked
study the consumer buying decision process in this at these behaviour base their analysis on difference
regard. Consumer is that foundation of every business. conceptions; whether customers buying behaviour
consumer sees, thinks, prefers, and buys is of great were measured from different perspectives, such as
importance to marketers to fine tune their marketing product quality and better service, lower price
offers and achieve high level of consumer acceptance structured etc (Papanastassiu and Rouhani, 2006)
and satisfaction.
Consumer Behaviour by Hawkins, Best,
II. LITERATURE REVIEW Coney and Mokherjee: The authors of the book
discussed various factors affecting consumer
Consumer Behaviour by Leslie Lazar and Schiffman: behaviour for buying such as demographic and social
The authors suggested consumer behaviour as influences (family and household), group influence,
individual differs as from group. The family decision impact of advertising and internal influences (learning,
for a purchase decision is entirely different from perception, attitude etc.). The book elucidated the
individual decision making. The authors discussed topics such as types of consumer decisions, purchase
various variables that affect consumer purchase involvement and product involvement. The book also
decision. The book focused on family life cycle and emphasized on information search process and various
various needs of consumer during different life stages. ways for providing relevant information to the
The family decision making process as a group consumers are recommended in this study. The book
decision making is elaborated and it is recommended also emphasized on individual judgment and proposed
to segment the market according to family need that the ability of an individual to distinguish between
hierarchy. similar stimuli is called sensory discrimination which
could involve many variables related to individual
Consumer Behaviour Christopher (1989) studied the
preferences
shopping habits of consumers to form an idea of
whether or not the store concepts, product ranges and Different theories and researchers have claimed that
strategies of the companies are appropriate towards when organisation fully meet all aspects of its
consumer requirements. He believed that consumer customer needs, the result enhances their profitability
behaviours are unpredictable and changing (Chaudhuri, 2006), and also enable them to develop a
continuously changing; while trying to under try to better tackling strategy for consumer (Asseal, 1998).
understand how individual or group make their Possibly, the most challenging concept in marketing
decision to spend their available resources on deals with the understanding why buyers do what they
consumption-related items. These are factors that do and what method or philosophy are they using to
influence the consumer before, during, and after a evaluate the product after the transactions and what
purchase (Schiffiman and Kanuk, 1997), for example, might be the effect on future transaction (Schiffman,
feedback, from other customers, packing, advertising, 2004). The reason why marketer chooses to learning
product appearance, and price (Peter & Olsonetc, about consumers” buying behaviour is, from a
2005). business perspective; to be able to be more effectively
reach consumers and increase the chances for success
The essence of this approach is critical for
(Sargeant & West, 2001). Therefore, the field of
organisational success, so that they can have a better
consumer behaviour has taken a tremendous turn in
understanding of their customer behaviours (Solomon
the commercial world and became the fundamental
et al., 2006). The physical action or behaviour of
concepts of achieving company goal (Schiffman and
consumer and their buying decision every day can be
Kanuk, 2007).
measured directly by marketers (Papanastassiu and
Rouhani, 2006). For that reason many organisations
these days are spending lot of their resources to

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More recently, different researchers and author have

given their definition and meaning of consumer
behaviour. For Michael R. Solomon (2001) consumer
behaviours typically analyse the processes of group
selected or individual purchases/dispose of product,
service, concept or experiences to satisfy their need
and desires. Additionally, Kotler (1996) suggested that
consumer behaviours have a huge impact in a firm
marketing decision making process every year. There
is a risk that what a consumer does will inflict on his
or her behaviour and generate consequences. (Snoj,
Pisnik Koda & Mumel, 2004). The user and the
purchaser can be different person, in some cases;
another person may be an influencer providing IV. EVOLUTION OF CONSUMER
recommendations for or against certain products BEHAVIOUR
without actually buying or using them (Solomon 1999;
Solomon et al. 1999). Evolution of consumer behaviour started with
manufacturing orientation followed by selling
In this case, most of the large consumer electronics orientation and then it switched over to marketing
retailers tend to be gathered more information about orientation.
customers motivating factors and what influences their
buying behaviour Solomon & Stuart (2000). Manufacturing Concept

To get in-depth understanding consumer behaviour In the mid1800s, manufacturing concept

concepts will gives us an idea on how its plays emerged and blossomed during the U.S. civil war.
significance role in our life and in the whole trend of Manufacturers were given power from late 1800 to the
business profit to various firms which will allow the latter part of the 20th century to sell whatever products
researcher to get the analysis and determine product they manufactured due to lack of competitive pressure.
positioning, develop the message and targeting This concept assumes that consumers mostly prefer
strategy in order to reach to the market (Holskins J, the products at low prices. Consumers buy what is
2002). available in market rather than what they really want.
Manufacturers had the ability to decide the type of
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY product, quality of the product and package of the
product. The effects of depression had a direct impact
From the above literature review we can able to find
on the consumers. It resulted in very little spending
so many factors that are influencing the consumer
power of consumers, attributing it to the lack of
behaviour like physiological, social, cultural, personal
interest in consumer behaviour.
and economic factors. A Literature Review is a
Descriptive Literature Review study conducted with Product Concept
the help of Secondary Data. The study aims at
understanding the core of Consumer Behaviour Later consumers prefer high quality products
concept and reviewing the Literature available in the which give them the best performance and numerous
field of Consumer behaviour studies across Industries features. The manufactures strive to improve the
quality of the products with new features that are
technically feasible without finding out whether
consumers really need them or not. This concept led to
“Marketing Myopia”, that is focus on the product
rather than on consumer needs it presumes to satisfy

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Selling Concept

The Second World War contributed to a lack Motivation

of interest in consumer behaviour because during that
period product scarcity prevailed. In this concept Motivation is a process of creating motives. A motive
marketers attempted to sell products that they is defined as an inner urge that moves or prompts an
unilaterally decided to produce. The assumption of action. Motivation to purchase a product becomes
this concept was that consumers were not willing to positive when the product corresponds to a need or a
purchase products unless they were actively and motive, which is to be satisfied. The motivation
aggressively persuaded to purchase. When consumers becomes stronger when such satisfaction is very
were induced to buy a product which they were not in important to the consumer.
need, they would not buy them again. This concept did
Motives
not take care of consumer satisfaction.

Marketing Concept
Primary Secondary
Food and drink Bargains
In 1950s marketers realized that they could Comfort Information
sell more goods easily by producing goods which were To attract the opposite sex Cleanliness
preferred by the consumers. Various concerns
Welfare of loved ones Efficiency
conducted research to understand the consumer needs
Freedom from fear and Convenience
and manufactured goods accordingly. Modern-day
marketers gave due consideration to quality, danger
convenience, image and advertising, helping the To be superior Style, beauty
transition of organizations to produce goods according Social approval Economy, profit
to the preference of the consumers .Behavioural To live longer curiosity
sciences took centre stage and provided a tool box of
theories and methodologies borrowed by innovative
marketing organizations, including motivation (Source : Melvin S. Hatwick, How to Use Psychology
research, positivism and post modernism. for Better Advertising, Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood
Cliff; NJ:1950, pp. 15-26.)
V. FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR Perception

The marketers try to understand the actions Perception is the process by which an
of the consumers in the marketplace and the individual select, organizes, and interprets stimuli into
underlying motives for such actions. These motives a meaningful and coherent picture of the world.
are the factors that influence the consumer behaviour. Stimuli may include products, packages, brand names,
These are: advertisement, and commercials, and so on.
Perception is an individual process and depends on
Psychological Factors internal factors such as an individual’s beliefs,
experiences, needs, moods, and expectations.
The human psychology plays a crucial role in
Perception is also influenced by the characteristics of
designing the consumer’s preferences and likes or
stimuli such as the size, colour, and intensity, and the
dislikes for a particular product and services. Some of
context in which it is seen or heard. As consumer
the important psychological factors are: perception significantly affect their behavioural
responses to marketing activities, consumer attitude
• Motivation
towards marketing have been found to be linked to
• Perception
several key macroeconomic variables and have been
• Learning
used in economic forecasts (Chopin and Darrat, 2000).
• Attitudes and Beliefs
Perception includes three distinct processes:

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Family

• Sensation Family is an important consumer-buying

• Information selection organization in consumer markets. Family size and
• Interpreting the information roles played by family members exercise considerable
influence on purchase decision. In a family, the male
Learning head makes the decisions in most of the cases.

Learning is through action. When we act, we Reference Groups

learn. It implies a change in the behaviour resulting
from the experience. The learning changes the Humans, being social animals form groups and
behaviour of an individual as he acquires information develop behaviours with reference to groups they like.
and experience. . For example, if you are sick after Associated groups are the groups to which a consumer
drinking milk, you had a negative experience, you belongs as a member. They are: Primary groups-in
associate the milk with this state of discomfort and you which there is a regular and informal interaction, for
“learn” that you should not drink milk. Therefore, you example, family, friends and neighbours. Secondary
don’t buy milk anymore. Rather, if you had a good groups-in which the interaction is formal and less
experience with the product, you will have much more regular, for example, offices, political groups, and
desire to buy it again next time self-help groups.

Beliefs and Attitudes Reference groups are aspiration groups, which serve
as guideposts to shaping the attitudes and behaviour of
A belief is a descriptive thought that a person consumers. For instance, sports teams and culture
holds about anything. Beliefs may be based on associations can be reference groups to the rural youth.
knowledge, opinion, faith, or emotion. A rural buyer Opinion leaders are those people, who, by virtue of
of a watch holds the belief: “heavy watches are good their competence or acceptability wield influence on
in quality, durability, and reliability”. Attitude others. They are well informed and reliable in their
describes a person’s relatively consistent evaluation, opinion. As such, opinion seekers and followers seek
feelings, and tendencies towards an object or idea. It them. In a village, opinion leaders can be a sarpanch,
has three components: a teacher, a bank manager, a village development
officer, a doctor, a manual youth extension officer or
Cognitive - information evaluation and inference
a social worker (Rebecca Gardyn, 2000).
Co native - emotional feelings
Roles and Status
Behaviour - disposition to do or not to do
Every person is a member of more than one group or
Social Factors organization. In each one of them, the individual has a
role and status. Role refers to the behaviours expected
The human beings live in a complex social of the individual as a member of the group. Status
environment wherein they are surrounded by several refers to the place given to the individual because of
people who have different buying behaviours. Since his or her position or achievements. It reflects the
the man is a social animal who likes to be acceptable general esteem given to him/her by society. High-
by all tries to imitate the behaviours that are socially income group people to reflect their status use premier
acceptable. Hence, the social factors influence the products. A sarpanch and head master enjoy a higher
buying behaviour of an individual to a great extent. status in a village, people trust them and expert them
Some of the social factors are: to be exemplary. Accordingly, they try to make sound
purchase decisions and provide rational advice to the
• Family people who seek their opinions.
• Reference Groups
• Roles and status

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Cultural Factors class segment of rural markets is positively responding

to the stimuli offered by marketers of premium
It is believed that an individual learns the set products (Richard, 1983).
of values, perceptions, behaviours, and preferences at
a very early stage of his childhood from the people Personal Factors
especially, the family and the other key institutions
which were around during his developmental stage. There are several factors personal to the individuals
Thus, the behavioural patterns are developed from the that influence their buying decisions. Some of them
culture where he or she is brought up. Several cultural are:
factors are:
• Age and life cycle
• Culture • Income
• Subculture • Occupation
• Social Class • Lifestyle
• Personality and self-concept
Culture
Age and Life-Cycle Stage
Basic cultural values have not faded in rural India.
Many rural purchases require collective social Buying is influenced by the age and life cycle
sanction, unheard of in the urban areas. Buying stages of people. A look at table presents the picture of
decisions are highly influenced by social customs, the consumption by age and life cycle stages.
traditions, and beliefs. Social norms influencing
Age Life-Cycle Products
individuals are more visible. Caste influences are
Stage Urban Rural
direct and strong. However, the rural youth are more
open to fresh concepts unlike their elderly family Below 12 Child Book, Pencil, Slate, Pencil,
members. They are better educated and have Noodles Kanji
aspirations similar to those of the youth of urban India. 13 – 19 Teenage Mopeds Cycles
Rural consumers being conservative in their outlook, 20 – 40 Young A/c Restaurants, Tea stalls, soda
take longer time to be influenced. They do not take Coke
quick decisions. They discuss the issue of purchase 40 – 60 Middle Credit cards, Bank accounts,
with other villagers and the headman. Decision- aged Readymade Tailored
making is thus a collective and time-consuming garments, clothes,
process. Small library,
village
Subculture Above Old Clubs, Parks Centre under a
60 big tree
Each culture contains subcultures or groups of people
(Sources: Lalitha Ramakrishna, “Rural Marketing”,
with shared value systems based on common life
Pearson Education Pvt, Ltd., New Delhi, 2005)
experiences and situations. Subculture includes
nationalities, religions, racial groups and geographic Income
regions. Many subcultures makeup important market
segments and marketers often design products and The purchasing power of an individual is the
marketing programs tailored to their needs.5 prime consideration for marketers. If the disposable
income of an individual is high. Obviously, he or she
Social Class can buy a number of popular goods or a few expensive
goods. Marketers have to find the income sensitivity
Social classes in rural areas are difficult to define for
of the goods and services they offer and make
two reasons. Occupations are not the same throughout
decisions such as offer low priced pack sizes. Price the
the year. (b) Incomes are understood. Many farmers
goods moderately, Offer instalment purchase schemes,
and artisans receive cash and kind as their
remuneration. However, the upper and middle-upper

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five heavy discounts or incentive goods with the • Personal Income

purchase • Family Income
• Income Expectations
Today, sachets of shampoos, toothpastes, hair oils, • Consumer Credit
skin creams, cough syrup, and several other products • Liquid Assets of the Consumer
tap the vast rural market. The small unit purchase is • Savings
convenient to rural who are mostly daily wage earners.
These are some of the underlying factors that influence
Occupation the consumer behaviour, and the marketer must keep
these in mind, so that appropriate strategic marketing
Evidently, the goods and services bought by a person
decision is made.
are influenced by the occupation of the individual.
Farmer buys a tractor and a carpenter buys a hacksaw. Personal Income
People who work in the fields buy shirts, dhoti, and
upper cloth and those who work in the offices wear The personal income of an individual influences his
shirts and trousers. buying behaviour as it determines the level to which
the amount is spent on the purchase of goods and
Lifestyle services. The consumer has two types of personal
incomes disposable income and discretionary income.
Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living. The pattern of
living is determined by the activities, interests, and The disposable personal income is the income left in
opinions of people. Activities - work, hobbies, hand after all the taxes, and other necessary payments
shopping, social events, etc Interests - food, fashion, have been made. The more the disposable personal
family, recreation, etc Opinions - about self, society, income in hand the more is the expenditure on various
government, business, etc items and vice-versa.

Personality and self-concept The discretionary personal income is the income left
after meeting all the basic necessities of life and is used
Personality refers to the unique psychological
for the purchase of the shopping goods, luxuries,
characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and
durable goods, etc. An increase in the discretionary
lasting responses to one’s own environment. To relate
income results in more expenditure on the shopping
personality to products people, purchase, there are two
goods through which the standard of living of an
aspects to be considered –situation and person. When
individual gets improved.
in a social gathering, youth prefer to buy mineral water
bottles or sachets, food packets, etc. given the Family Income
situation, the response patters vary from individual to
individual. The family income refers to the aggregate of the sum
of the income of all the family members. The total
A conservative person may offer tea, whereas a jovial, family income also influences the buying behaviours
51hedonistic type may buy Pepsi cola for his friends. of its members. The income remaining after meeting
A person low on sociability will prefer drinking tea all the basic necessities of life can be used for the
standing alone at a corner tea stall. Modern marketers purchase of shopping goods, luxury items, durable
are increasingly concerned about matching products to goods, etc.
the perceived self-personality of the individual
(Lalitha Ramakrishnan, 2005). Income Expectations

Economic Factors An Individual’s expectation with respect to his income

level in the future influences his buying behaviour
The last but not the least is the economic factors which today. Such as, if a person expects his income to
have a significant influence on the buying decision of increase in the future, then he will spend more money
an individual. These are: on the purchase of the luxury goods, durables and

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shopping goods. And on the contrary, if he expects his [5] Saxena Rajan (2002). Marketing
income to fall in the future his expenditure on such Management. (New Delhi : Prentice Hall of
items also reduces. India (P) Ltd.)
[6] Schiffman Leion G. and Leslie Lazar Kanuk
Consumer Credit (1997). Consumer Behaviour. (New Delhi :
Prentice Hall of India (P) Ltd.)
[7] Hundal, B.S. (2001). „Consumer Behaviour
The credit facility available to the consumer also
in Rural Market : A Study of Durables.‟
influences his buying behaviour. If the credit terms are Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Guru Nanak
liberal, and EMI scheme is also available, then the Dev University. Amritsar.
customers are likely to spend more on the luxury [8] Kapoor, S. (2001). „Family Influence on
items, durable goods, and shopping goods. This credit Purchase Decisions – A study with
is offered by the seller either directly or indirectly Reference to Consumer Durables.‟
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. University of
through the banks and other financial institutions.
Delhi. Delhi.
[9] The University of Melbourne Energy
Liquid Assets
Research Institute, "Zero CarbonAustralia
Stationary Energy Plan," Tech. Rep., 2010.
The liquid assets with the consumer also influences his
buying behaviour. The liquid assets are the assets that
are readily convertible into the cash. If the customer
has more liquid assets, then he is likely to spend more
on the luxury items and the shopping goods. On the
other hand, if the liquid assets are few then the
expenditure on luxury items also reduces.

Savings

The amount of savings out of the personal income also

influences the consumer buying behaviour. Such as, if
the customer decides to save more for a particular
period, then his expenditure on the other items will be
less and in case the savings are less the expenditure on
other items increases.

Apart from these factors other economic conditions

such as inflation, recession, business cycles, etc. also
influences the consumer buying behaviour.

REFERENCES

[1] Assael Henry (2006). Consumer Behaviour

and Marketing Action. (New York :
Thomson Learning)
[2] Baroota K.D. (2008). Experimental Design
in Behavioural Research. (New Delhi : New
Age International (P) Limited)
[3] Kotler Philip (2000). Marketing
Management. (New Delhi : Prentice Hall of
India (P.) Ltd.)
[4] Mc Neal James U. (1992). Kids as
Customers (New York : Lexington Books)

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