Main Body

1
Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic
Chapter 1 - ABSTRACT
The first and most objective of my study is comparative study of perception and consumers
buying behavior regarding personal care products. The study of consumer behavior is the most
important factor for marketing of any goods and services. The consumer behavior suggest how
individual, groups and organization select, buy, use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or
experience to satisfy their needs and wants. It also clues for improving or introducing products or
services, setting price, devising channels etc.
Since liberalization 100% FDI is allowed in India. Cosmetic industry is one of the most
flourishing industries in the world.Herbs and spices have been used in maintaining and
enhancing human beauty. The more chemical free cosmetics are, the better they are as they will
not provide any irritation to the body or skin. Not too long ago, elaborate herbal beauty
treatments were carried out in the royal palaces of India maintains general cleanliness and
hygiene.
Consumer attitude gives both difficulty and development to actually access or define the
variability factor for favoring a type of cosmetic, Herbal or Conventional. Now, Consumers have
lot of interest regarding the cosmetics and also have awareness about cosmetic products. Here,
the cosmeceuticals need to understand the consumer attitude on cosmetics buying behavior
which brings success of the company. This study also focuses on the factors that affect the
buying concerns of consumers. Its either towards Herbal Products or towards conventional or
may be both.
This has attracted foreign companies to penetrate the Indian market. The marketers always look
for emergent trends that suggest new marketing opportunities and here in India a lot of
opportunities are available. The personal care sector is one of the best and important sectors at
the present time. There is a lot of future opportunity in this sector. The increasing trend of
different cosmetic products, beauty care products, skin care products, hair care products etc fuels
the market growing opportunity for cosmetic products.
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Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &
Chapter 2 - INTRODUCTION
The core concept of buying the type of product whether it is cosmetic or manufacturing good
always revolves around the decisions consumers and organizations take in buying certain
products. While buying cosmetics, consumers become highly sensitive of their quality, expected
benefits and the way of using it. Consumers buying behavior is a complex phenomenon with a
number of factors that affect their behavior when they involve themselves with buying process. It
always is the final factor that the demographic, social and psychological factors affect the way
final consumers make choices and can help a firm understand how people use the decision
process.
These vigilant consumers move through the process more quickly than a middle-income one due
to less financially prone risk. Here, the cosmeceuticals need to understand the consumer attitude
on cosmetics buying behavior which brings success of the company. This study also focuses on
the factors that affect the buying concerns of consumers. Its either towards Herbal Products or
towards conventional or may be both.
An insecure consumer would spend more time making decisions than a secure one. A
consumers mind is just so sensitive to product, price, advertising, sales promotion, display and
distribution, besides social norms as word of mouth and reference group.
2.1 Explanation of the current trends
lot of interest regarding the cosmetics and also have awareness about cosmetic products.
He calls it an enigma or black box which responds to the various stimuli resulting in either
buying or no-buying phenomenon. According to these authors, culture, and social class are
particularly important influences on consumer buying behavior. Social influences include
reference groups, family and personal factors comprise of age and stage in the life cycle,
occupation and economic circumstances, personality and self-concept, and lifestyle and values.
The market for cosmetic products, although still niche in India, is growing and evolving. These
consumers are placing greater importance on looking good and the personal care aspects of
improved health and wellness. But the way to do this is being more vigilant and more focused on
the market trends. The generalizabilty of our three attributes make it possible for designers to
actually use these attributes in the design process of new products for different product
categories.
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Additionally, due to the fact that consumers were asked to categorize a wide range of product
categories, the attributes described in this research are of an abstract nature. The more chemical
free cosmetics are, the better they are as they will not provide any irritation to the body or skin.
2.2 The cosmetic market Evolution
The cosmetics market, while exhibiting strong potential, needs a markedly different approach in
order to succeed compared to the mature market, due to some substantial differences in attitudes
and behaviors that exist across genders.
The appearance attributes of designed products noted in the literature often reflect what
designers themselves perceive in a product design. This present research, however, provides
knowledge on how consumers perceive product appearance by identifying appearance attributes
that consumers use to distinguish the appearances of durable products. Descriptions of
appearance were generated by consumers in a free categorization task.
The make-up market is far from saturated, particularly in rural regions and inland cities. Sales of
eye make-up products recorded significant growth in recent years. The descriptions were
classified as the attributes Modernity, Simplicity and Playfulness. These attributes were
confirmed in a separate rating-task performed by a second group of consumers. The attributes
proved stable across different groups of consumers indicating that they are universal.
Brand loyalty is the main effect marketers expect from consumers as the final goal of all
marketing campaigns, including TV advertisement, magazines, radio, etc. Many previous studies
have provided solid theoretical foundations in the fields that are covered in the study, which are
all essential to the undertaking of this research paper.
Additionally, the attributes were validated across different product categories and are thus
generalizable and not product category specific. Products for children: sales of cosmetic products
designed for use by children continue to soar. Sunscreen products ensure sales in traditional quiet
seasons. Anti-aging products, cosmetic products that help consumers stay youthful and fight
aging are increasingly popular.
Knowledge Gap In spite of a vast amount of previously published research papers dedicated to
the field of celebrity endorsement and brand loyalty separately, there are no studies which
specifically focus on identifying or establishing a relationship between the two thus far. Celebrity
endorsement is a conventional marketing instrument used by marketers to communicate brand
images and information to consumers.
This research paper might add some contributions into the field of branding and marketing
management. It might also help companies in the cosmetics industry to better grasp consumers
opinions concerning celebrity endorsement. Most importantly, this research can aid marketers to
identify a more efficient way to gain brand loyalty and thereby also to keep it.
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2.3 Understanding the research Plan

The Research plan includes the study of following things :
1. To understand the factor that influences consumer in purchasing of herbal and
conventional cosmetic
2. To understand the perception of consumer with regards to herbal and conventional
cosmetic
3. To determine the awareness of consumer towards the herbal and conventional cosmetics
4. To understand the preference of consumer while buying cosmetic (herbal and
conventional)
5. To understand the consumption pattern of an individual of herbal and conventional
cosmetics
6. To analyze how effective is the herbal and conventional cosmetic in daily basis
Chapter - 3 BACKGROUND OF
STUDY
Growth is also emerging from cultural influences from the West, Japan and Korea and the
emerging middle class. The real motivator for these women to wear make-up is to gain
confidence within them or to express their individuality. The main barriers to the further
development of Womens make-up and color cosmetics market include the skin types and skin
problems associated with these women, since it is widely believed that wearing color cosmetics
too often can harm the skin, Women also want to have fair-looking skin as this is part of their
beauty culture.
3.1 History of Cosmetic usage
Additionally, the usage of make-up and color cosmetics is not widespread enough, and where
usage does occur, it is usually limited to a light use of make-up. Make-up and colour cosmetics
are a huge and fragmented market in Women and brand loyalty is low due to the high presence of
me-too products and high levels of marketing. International companies are pushing deeper into
lower tier cities through the acquisition of local and smaller companies to consolidate market
segments in order to capture more groups of consumers with different needs and expectations.
The most effective strategy for brand positioning is to fulfill consumers emotional need for
confidence while delivering the results of functional benefits.
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There are specified four types of influences that affect consumer's adoption of herbal therapies
and these are: consumer
1. Consumer characteristics, social systems, communication channels, and characteristics of
herbals.
2. The influence consumer characteristics on consumer adoption of herbal therapies include
demographic attributes.
3. Friends were found to play a dominant role as a communication mode.
4. Use of herb professionals as an information source was also found to have a significant
and positive association with adoption of herbal therapies.
5. Although a grocery store was a common source for herb purchase, it was not found to
have associated with herb adoption.
Fig 1: Cyclic thoughts behind a modern shipping

experience which results in customer behavior for
buying a product.
The appearance attributes identified in this research provide knowledge of what consumers see in
durable product appearance. Knowledge of what appearance attributes are perceived by
consumers in a product design can help a designer to communicate certain pre-specified
meanings in a product.
3.2 Conceptualization of the study
Consumers perceived risk is a function of financial risk; the risk to harm ones finances due to
payment, functional risk; the risk about functioning of the product as expected, social risk; the
risk to be underrated by others, physical risk; the risk about the physical safety of the product,
and psychological risk; the risk to harm ones self-image.
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Companies that are able to communicate a certain meaning through the appearance of a product
design can create a competitive advantage in the market and increase the products chance of
success.
If you are of the opinion cosmetics brands are overusing celebrity endorsement in their
Advertisement, you might also presume that the product effect is exaggerated. This is because
celebrities look stunning hairdressers and stylists, something the average person does not have
access to The products effect, such as super long eyelashes, lipstick that last all day, hairspray
that keep your hair the same no matter what etc., which most of the time is not the case. But, it
can still better affect when comparing it to competitors products.
It can be seen from these results that the cosmetics industry is perceived to very often exercise
the use of celebrities in advertisements. Most of the time the customer knows about this, but they
still buy the products, even though they do not fully believe the message.Finished herbal
products and mixture herbal products may contain recipients in addition to the active ingredients.
However, finished products or mixture products to which conventional products are chemically
treated and hence are defined active substances in them have been added, including synthetic
fibrous compounds or constituents which have been derived from herbal materials, are not
considered to be herbal.
Todays global business has changed the role of marketing strategy of each organization.
Marketing strategy has become one of the vital role, which could assist a company to achieve its
mission and objectives effectively. With the emergence of the need of marketing activities, the
need for learning consumer decision making process has also increased.
The earliest book on herbal remedies is a These listing of 365 medicinal plants and their
applications, and dates back to 2700 BC. In 1000 BC, the Egyptians used garlic, opium, castor
oil, mint and other herbs as medicine. The Romans and Greeks also valued plants for their
medicinal benefits and records of their medical practices provided inspiration for later Western
medical learning.
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Fig 2 : In order to choose the safety of the product, its

important
to consider
safety.
Most
modern marketers
agreethe
thatparameters
the knowledgeresponsible
of consumer for
behavior
is the fundamental
requirement in achieving its primary goal to satisfy consumers needs and wants at a profit.
3.3 Features of various cosmetics
A distinctive aspect of this approach is that the outcomes affecting attitude towards behavior are
restricted to those that are salient, for instance, factors that are easily brought to mind by
measuring beliefs, we can gain insight into the underlying cognitive foundation by exploring
why people hold certain attitudes, subjective norms, and perception of attitude control.
Measure of beliefs provides estimates of attitudes towards the behavior, subjective norms, and
perceived attitude control. . In addition, due to the similar messages different brands convey, it is
hard to differentiate between them, for example knowing exactly which brand that promised both
thick and long lashes.
To meet this need, this study was conducted to identify dominant determinants on consumer
behavioral intention towards the consumption of herbal supplement. To be successful, product
developers need to have a clear understanding on the key factors influencing consumer-buying
decision. This study also attempts to provide a better understanding of market choice behavior,
giving directions for future research, offering recommendations to the core of how herbal
producer should define and view their business and at the same time assist marketing managers
in making policy decisions.
Processed herbal product is referred to as herbal preparations made from one or more herbs. If
more than one herb is used, the term mixture herbal product can also be used. Finished herbal
TPB addresses this problem of incomplete volitional control by incorporating a third predictor;
perceive behavioral control, which measures the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the
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behavior. TPB suggests that the proximal determinants of behavior are intentions to engage in a
behavior and perceived behavioral control over the behavior.
3.4 Customers & Sellers Attitude towards Market
A class of theories referred to as expectancy-value models appeared to be of particular relevance
because they provided a theoretical link between evaluative criteria and the concept of attitude.
In addition, these models formalized the widely held view that consumers anticipated
satisfaction with a product is determined by their beliefs that the product fulfils certain functions
and that it satisfies some of their needs.
Others concentrates more on the effects of marketing variables, and stress the effects of external
stimuli, such as advertising, product differentiation, packaging, promotion, retail availability,
point of sale display, and direct selling .The major theories takes into account both personal and
environmental variables.
Fig 3: How to foster a retail culture and skills. It is important

for seller to know consumers attitude towards market.
TRA failed to acknowledge the fact that an individual behavior may be directed by general
constraints .Thus, this limitation is addressed by ,Theory of planned behavior. Theory of planned
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behavior is an extension of TRA model. It emphasizes on the reason-based antecedents of

behavior, which also relates to perceived behavior control for a better prediction of behavioral
intention and behavior. It does not take into account of situations where a behavior is not
completely under an individuals control, such as when people are not free to act because they
lack appropriate opportunities or resources.
Intentions represent conscious plans or a decision to exert effort to perform the behavior.
Perceived behavioral control is the perception that performance of the behavior is within ones
control. Intentions are determined by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral
control.
Attitudes are overall evaluations of the behavior. Subjective norms are beliefs about whether
significant others think that the individual should engage in the behavior. Perceived behavioral
control is the perception that the performance of a specific behavior is within an individuals
control.
This model is based on a theory that focuses on consumption values that explain consumer
buying behavior towards a specific product. This model identified five consumption values
influencing consumer choice behavior. They are functional value, social value, emotional value,
epistemic value, and conditional value. Thus, this model only focuses on the consumption values
to explain consumer buying behavior.
Chapter - 4 SCOPE OF STUDY

Consumer behavior is defined as the acts of individuals directly involved in obtaining and using
goods and services, including the decision process that precede and determine those acts. Over
the past years, a variety of explanatory theories of consumer behavior have been put forward.
Some theories derive from social sciences: psychology, sociology, or economics.
4.1 General Inclination of the consumes
Although such theories provide an understanding of alternative brands or products are compared,
they do not explain how such comparisons are translated into buying decisions. To account for
this process and to develop a comprehensive theory of consumer behavior, many researchers
turned to social psychological research in attitude
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Fig 4 : Consumers inclination towards the type of ingredient in the

product. This is the major constraint to decide Herbal or conventional
product.
Out of
the many appearance attributes described in the literature, most likely only a number are
also perceived and used by consumers in the evaluation of product design. Therefore, some of
the attributes found in this research that are used by consumers may overlap those used by
designers. However, empirically based consumer appearance attributes are not found in the
design literature. Furthermore, as consumers are less knowledgeable about design language,
these terms may have no clear meaning for them.
Consumers may find other attributes more descriptive of the appearance than attributes used by
designers. Though it may be found that consumers use the appearance attributes from the
literature as well as their own appearance attributes, the appearance attributes generated on their
own will form a valuable addition to the attributes that are already described in the literature and
will help contribute to an overall view on product appearance perception.
As such, the appearance attributes that have been described in the literature might not give an
accurate overview of what consumers themselves see in a certain product appearance. This limits
the applicability of these attributes mentioned in the literature in testing designs with consumers.
4.2 Inclusions for the study to initialize
The contributions of this current research include adding consumer-based, empirically-grounded
appearance attributes to the literature. The research process of identifying the product appearance
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attributes that consumers use for distinguishing products is divided into two parts. In the first
part, appearance attributes will be identified on the basis of appearance description that
consumers generate in a categorization task.
In the second part, these results are confirmed using a Structural Equation Modeling process that
provides the generally used appearance attributes and shows their relationships with the separate
appearance descriptions. The underlying attributes are also validated across different groups of
consumers and different groups of products for generalization purposes.
Cosmetic relates to the treatment intended to improve person appearance outwardly. Different
consumers have got different perception towards buying cosmetic. With the changing times and
the consumer demands, organization should be more customer oriented which help in the growth
of organization.
Thus studying the consumer behavior is a very complex process, as it involves not only the
economic factors but also the emotional factors. Being a long glowing heritage of cosmetic and
beauty, aesthetic makeup products is used since times immemorial and of late being a booming.
The main objective of the paper is to study the effect of demographic variables on consumer
preference towards herbal cosmetics in the context of increasing consumption of such products.
A non-probabilistic convenience sampling method has been used for this survey. The findings of
the study indicate various parameters which consumers consider important in purchasing herbal
cosmetics.
Fig 5 : Abrahm Maslows Hierarchy Of needs is the chart which explains

the psychology
buying
a product.
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Karkera | of the consumer while Rizvi
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of Management Studies &
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Chapter - 5 LITERATURE REVIEW

Perceived quality and perceived price are thought to be instrumental in the formation of attitude,
which will subsequently influence market choice behavior. High perceived value is expected to
lead to willingness to purchase.
Natural product is gaining popularity among todays modern societies. We continue to witness
the disturbing effects of chemical based products in recent years. Natural product is gaining its
popularity among developing countries.
A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the
product by increasing quality of the usage experiences associated with it .Products can be distinct
from one another by different features, including design and style. The purpose of a good design
is to draw consumers attention to a specific ingredient.Product design is another variable that
can be used to influence consumers behavioral intention towards choice preferences. Herb based
products are historically believed to promote healthy living.
When the product meaning that is communicated is not clear to the consumer, he or she will have
difficulty assessing the product and will appreciate the product less. Therefore, it is valuable to
provide designers with guidelines that can be used during briefings at the beginning of the design
process or in product evaluation studies at a later stage of this process.
These motives play a role in the overall product appraisal. For example, when a product looks
modern, it has a positive effect on product appraisal when consumers are motivated to assess a
product on its aesthetics .In practice, designers often face the difficulty of how to incorporate an
intended meaning in a product design.
The whole process in which a meaning is derived from a product appearance can be summarized
in two steps first, when consumers see a product appearance; consumers perceive certain
physical properties that together make up the design of the product.
Online sales channels also recorded significant growth in recent years. Department stores and
supermarkets are the top two sales channels. It is estimated that retail sales of cosmetics through
these two major channels account for approximately two-thirds of the whole cosmetics market.
Satisfaction and accurate target in finding out what customers are aware off and their attitude and
there by offering products according to this needs will help the industry stake holders to enrich
their customer experience and accelerate growth of the market. It is estimated that retail sales of
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cosmetics through these two major channels account for approximately two-thirds of the whole
cosmetics market.
Fig 6 : The overall look of the product always affects the sales. For
the natural/herbal products, it is thought that they are less
Showy.
Major sales channels of cosmetic products on the mainland include wholesale markets,
supermarkets and department stores, dedicated counters, specialty chain stores, drugstores,
beauty parlors and direct selling. Online sales channels also recorded significant growth in recent
years. Department stores and supermarkets are the top two sales channels. It is estimated that
retail sales of cosmetics through these two major channels account for approximately two-thirds
of the whole cosmetics market.
Dedicated counter is a major traditional sales channel for cosmetics, adopted by most world
renowned cosmetics brands. Dedicated counters generate great return in terms of word-of-mouth
publicity and are thus highly effective in establishing brand image. Just a few domestic brands
like Herborist are able to compete with these giants. Some brands expand their business by
opening specialty stores, mainly in the formats of directly-operated specialty stores and franchise
stores.
5.1 Reference of various studies
Cosmetics companies are putting themselves at risk as there are too many celebrity endorsed
products available to choose from for the consumers, causing confusion. Based on the findings in
a study, consumers are more willing to see anonymous spokespersons or experts in
advertisements, rather than the use of a celebrity endorser.
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The industry foresees a steady 15% growth rate for the next five years, driven by increased
product usage intensity and wider market coverage, with increasing penetration in rural areas.
The market for fairness creams has been growing and will continue to grow in the coming years.
Some of the key factors driving the market growth in the sector are:
Higher disposable incomes per household in purchasing power parity terms.
The consumer confidence index is high, which is converting the traditional savings oriented
mindset to greater consumption and spending on leisure, lifestyle and even luxury - experiment,
try new things, spending more on feeling and looking good-entertainment, durables, apparels,
appliances, home improvement products, lifestyle accessories, beauty products etc.
India is a young nation, with majority of its population in the age group that is most likely to
use fairness creams and other personal care products.
The present low per capita consumption leaves tremendous potential for increase in
consumption in the coming years.
Indian consumers, particularly in the metros and tier I cities (young, wealthy, increasingly
internationally exposed and well educated) are demanding products and services of international
standard and quality.
Availability of specialty products addressing specific consumer needs are further driving the
demand for niche products, thereby expanding the market.
The rapid demographic transition, burgeoning demand, rising affluence and more
workingwomen force are key drivers for rapid growth in the fairness cream segment in India.
With per capita cosmetics spend of $0.68 per year, the Indian market offers a huge opportunity to
international beauty cosmetics companies, for whom markets around the world are saturating.
The celebrities themselves transfer their own personality and image to the brand and product
they are representing, generating a related image between themselves and the brand or product.
In order for the endorsement to be successful, there are three different attributes the celebrity
needs to communicate to the consumers. These are; credibility, attractiveness and power, where
credibility is represented by knowledge, skills and expertise concerning the product/s,
attractiveness includes likeability, familiarity and similarity, and power enables the endorser to
affect the consumer. The most important aspect when practicing celebrity endorsement is the
choice of celebrity, to see that the image and personality projected on the brand and its existing
image is suitable and enhancing.
5.2 Impact of various endorsements on the customers buying behavior
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The impact on and the outcome of the endorsement have to be well evaluated before, during and
after it takes place, with the intention of generating customers and creating brand loyalty. In
addition to likeability and recognition, celebrity endorsement can create new segments of
customers with a connection of some sort to the celebrity but with no previous attitude or
preference towards the brand. Celebrity endorsement is frequently used in the promotion of
cosmetic products. By using celebrities as endorsers in advertising for this specific type of
products, the company in question communicates the talent, beauty and perfection that are often
associated with famous actresses/actors, artists, etc.
Fig 7 : The sales of various types of products and there

percentage sales.
Consumers are the masters of their money and they have an enormous influence on the economic
market change because they possess the ability to implement and coordinate their choice of
spending or saving in the purchase decision. Consumers are influenced by their attitude towards
the product and therefore marketers need to implement their strategies and tactics frequently in
order to achieve more consumers.
their customer experience and accelerate growth of the market.
The process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions In order to fulfill strategic
marketing objectives it is called marketing plan but most of the markets are still challenged by
their marketing. Hence this research aims to explore the consumers awareness and attitude
preference towards herbal cosmetic products with special reference to Coimbatore city.
These products made from botanicals that are used to maintain or improve health and body care
may be called as herbal products or botanical products. In this context, the herbal products that
are available in those areas where they meet the desire and demand of a particular segment of
consumers who are health conscious.
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5.3 Understanding consumer behavior

The individuals are likely to intend to consume herbal or conventional products if they believe
that:
(i) The behavior will lead to particular outcomes which they value,
(ii) People whose views they value, think they should carry out the behavior,
(iii) They have the necessary resources and opportunities to consume herbal supplement.
The decision making process has been more complicated by the increasing number and variety of
goods, stores, shopping malls, and the electronic purchasing capabilities have broadened the
sphere for consumer choice. It is becoming important to study decision making styles,
particularly consumer choice behavior, as the consumer was behaving so unpredictably. Thus,
this study investigates factors that influence behavioral intention towards the choice preferences
of herbal supplement among some consumers.
Nowadays, the majority of Countries women living in urban areas still do not wear make-up
except for some special events, and if they do, they tend to do wear only a light covering. By and
large, Countries women working in certain service industries and professions are required to
wear make-up regularly. The colour cosmetics market is driven by the economic growth and
rising incomes, higher levels of education, and the increasing number of Countries women
working in the service sector industry, who need to be more presentable in front of clients.
Consumers are now believing in :
Fig 8: The changing trend in what the consumers are thinking and
believing in matters where cosmetic sales do influence.
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The introduction in the 17th century of active chemical drugs and the rapid development of
sciences such as chemistry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the dominance of synthetic
chemical in the 20th century. By the 1960's, consumers were again beginning to consider herb
based products to complement modern chemical based products. The belief that botanical
remedies were "naturally" superior to man-made drugs helped to promote their use in the general
public .
5.4 Cosmetics and present day scenario
Today, in many developing and low-income countries, herbs and spices take the place of
expensive imported medicines. In more affluent society, people are consuming herbs because of
the perception that they are more natural and friendly to our body metabolism.
It is commonly believed that health can be improved and maintained using natural resources. In
1985, the World Health Organization estimated that 80% of the world's population relies
primarily on herbs for its healthcare needs.
Recently, the escalating interest in novel flavors has increased the demand for herbs and spices.
In the United States alone, demands have been rising sharply since the 1980s with over 800
million pounds consumed annually.
Herbal industry in these forests is among the countries which have experienced remarkable
economic growth and industrialization in the past decade. These forests are blessed with an
abundance of natural resources and its natural resource industry remains an important part of the
countrys economic and political agenda.
It is difficult to ignore the fact that 60% of is covered with natural forest. They recognized the
economic potential of the forest product industry early in the decade and proceeded to play a key
role in further developing and promoting this particular sector of its economy through a
concessions system and the encouragement of downstream industries.
In These forests, the rich heritage of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, has a unique
position to serve as a confluence of three Asian cultures giving to three herbal traditions. The
tropical forest had an estimated 15,000 known plant species and an estimated 3,700 species were
known to be useful .
Approximately 1,200 species or 8 percent of the plants in these forests have medicinal value and
have been consumed for generations. Although the country has a huge reservoir of genetic
diversity, it is still a net importer of herbs.
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appearance attributes to the literature. Though it may be found that consumers use the
appearance attributes from the literature as well as their own appearance attributes, the
appearance attributes generated on their own will form a valuable addition to the attributes that
are already described in the literature and will help contribute to an overall view on product
appearance perception.
Fig 9 : The factors which influence the cosmetic purchasing where

it is gauged whether effectiveness is worth the claims made by the
product.
Estimates
of perceived behavioral control can be measured as the product of perceived access to
a factor and the power of the factor to assist in the action. PBC are measured through control
beliefs that may help or hinder the person in carrying out the behavior.
Elicitation interviews of this research revealed that availability and affordability are the salient
factors that forms perceived behavioral control towards intention to consume herbal supplement.
Introduction The concept of beauty and cosmetics is an ancient as mankind and civilization
women are obsessed with looking beautiful.
So they use various beauty products that have herbs to look charm and young. Indian herbs and
its significance are popular worldwide. Herbal cosmetics have growing demand in the nature.
There are a wide range of women around the world.
5.5 Worldwide Sales of cosmetic products
The cosmetics market is defined as skin care, hair care, color cosmetics, fragrances and oral care
segments. Its worth US $19.3 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow at 15-20 % according to
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the analysis of this sector. Today awareness of beauty products, treatment, fashion and grooming
are very high.
Out of the many appearance attributes described in the literature, most likely only a number are
designers.
The use of many different product groups in the first part of the research and the validation with
different groups of products in the second part assures that the attributes found in this research
are not product specific and therefore informative on the appearance of many sorts of product
categories in general. The provisions further clarify the labelling requirements for cosmetic
products, including the content allowed or prohibited to be stated in the labels, and the format of
such labels.
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Fig 10 : Overall Model of consumer behavior. This is the major aspect

which influences the sales worldwide.
However, empirically based consumer appearance attributes are not found in the design
literature. Furthermore, as consumers are less knowledgeable about design language, these terms
may have no clear meaning for them. Consumers may find other attributes more descriptive of
the appearance than attributes used by designers.
5.6 Consumer Decision Making Process
This study was conducted to identify dominant determinants on consumer behavioral intention
towards the consumption of herbal supplement. To be successful, product developers need to
have a clear understanding on the key factors influencing consumer-buying decision. This study
also attempts to provide a better understanding of market choice behavior, giving directions for
future research, offering recommendations to the core of how herbal producer should define and
view their business and at the same time assist marketing managers in making policy decisions.
appearance attributes to the literature.
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Fig 11: Consumer decision making is a very sub conscious decision

making process which involves lots of analysis and psychological
Though it may be found that consumers use the appearance attributes from the literature as well
as their own appearance attributes, the appearance attributes generated on their own will form a
valuable addition to the attributes that are already described in the literature and will help
contribute to an overall view on product appearance perception.
A certain proportion of the products will be picked for random inspection and testing. The
imported products may not be offered for sale unless reports indicate that they comply with
relevant requirements.
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Chapter 6 NEED OF STUDY

Many foreign brands have entered the mainland market by acquiring domestic brands and
making use of their distribution networks. For example, Mini-Nurse and MG were acquired by
L'Oral, TJoy by Coty, and Dabao by Johnson & Johnson. Fairs held in Countries provide an
ideal channel for industry players to gather the latest information and to meet dealers.
6.1 To answer, why is study conducted?
To study the need for this study, selected cosmetics fairs to be held in Countries in 2014 are as
follows Import and trade regulations:
1. Since the re-organisation of the State Drug Administration (SDA) into the State Food and
Drug Administration (SFDA), food, health and cosmetic products have been incorporated into
the regulatory regime of pharmaceuticals. Under new trade regulations, the supervision on
cosmetic products has shifted from the hygienic to the pharmaceuticals regulatory system.
2. The Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulation on the Hygienic Supervision
over Cosmetics provide that, for cosmetic products to be imported to Countries for the first time,
foreign manufacturers or their agents must obtain and complete an Application Form for Hygiene
Licence of Imported Cosmetics from the hygiene administration department above the local or
city level of the importing place and submit their applications directly to the hygiene
administration department under the State Council. Upon receipt of the application dossiers, the
hygiene administration department under the State Council will set up a cosmetics safety panel to
inspect the product in question. Products which have passed the inspection will be issued with an
Approval Document for Hygiene Licence of Imported Cosmetics and the number of the approval
document. The approval document will be valid for four years. Application for renewal can be
submitted to the hygiene administration department under the State Council four to six months
prior to the expiry date of the approval document and attachment of relevant information is not
required.
3. Pursuant to the Administrative Measures on the Inspection, Quarantine and Supervision of
Import and Export of Cosmetics, in addition to obtaining an Approval Document for Hygiene
Licence, an importer must also apply for a Verification Certificate for Countries Labelling on
Imported Cosmetics before reporting to the inspection and quarantine department. Normally, an
application for verification of labelling for imported cosmetics should be submitted to a
designated examination body 90 working days before reporting to the verification department.
Imported cosmetic products may use printed Countries labels on a temporary basis and the whole
label should be affixed onto the original sales packaging box. The names and addresses of the
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dealer, importer, agent and contact person on the mainland who have legally registered in
Countries must be clearly shown on the labels of the imported cosmetic products.
4. With a Hygiene Licence, a Verification Certificate for Countries Labelling and an Inspection
Certificate on hand, an importer may obtain a Notice of Customs Clearance from the Commodity
Inspection Bureau to proceed with normal customs declaration procedures.
Customs clearance only means the Countries customs allows a specific batch of cosmetic
products to enter Countries, not that those products can be placed on shelves for sale
immediately.
A certain proportion of the products will be picked for random inspection and testing. The
imported products may not be offered for sale unless reports indicate that they comply with
relevant requirements.
5. When exploring the mainland cosmetics market, foreign players should pay attention to
relevant standards adopted by mainland authorities. Under the Standardisation Law of the
Peoples Republic of
Countries implemented since 1 April 1989, standards are classified into four levels, namely
national, trade, local and enterprise standards, in order of descending precedence. National
standards are further classified into compulsory and voluntary standards, represented
respectively by standard codes GB and GB/T. Likewise, trade standards are classified into
compulsory and voluntary standards.
Enterprise standards are applicable within the respective enterprises. Industry players may refer
to the website hosted by the Industry Coordination Department of the National Development and
Reform Commission and the website of the Standardization Administration of the Peoples
Republic of Countries[1] to look up for the lists of relevant standards.
Fig 12:Karkera
Evolution
of herbal extracts patenting
for of
cosmetic
application.
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Management
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6. Pursuant to Countriess WTO commitments, a final bound tariff rate of 10% has been
applied to imported lip and eye make-up preparations and powders since 1 January 2005.
As for other imported cosmetics, a final bound tariff rate of 6.5% has been levied since
2008.
Fig 13:- Age vs. shampoo consumption is shown in above
Fig 14: Occupation of respondents of shampoo consumption is

shown.
7. Countries adopted a new consumption tax policy on 1 April 2006, under which high-end skin
care-type cosmetics (formerly classified as skin care and hair care products and subject to
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relevant tax rates) are classified under the heading of cosmetic products and hence subject to a
consumption tax rate of 30% for such products.
8. The Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics (2007 version) was implemented on 1 July 2007. The
Standard comprises five parts, namely General Principle, Methods of Toxicological Test,
Methods of Hygienic Chemical Test, Methods of Microbiological Test, and Methods of Safety
and Efficacy Evaluation in Human. Part One provides for the new definition for cosmetic
products, ingredients banned from being used in and restricted substances allowed to be used in
cosmetic products.
Part Two provides for the toxicological test methods for new ingredients used in cosmetic
products. Part Three provides for the hygienic chemical test requirements for banned and
restricted ingredients used in cosmetic products. Part Four provides for the basic microbiological
test requirements for cosmetic products and the test methods for several types of bacteria. The
last part provides for the evaluation methods for the safety and efficacy of cosmetic products on
the human body.
Fig 15: Shampoo consumption based on sex and the percentage
9. According to the Regulations on the Administration of Cosmetics Labelling which went into
force on 1 September 2008, a complete table of ingredients must be shown on the labels of
cosmetic products
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Fig 16 : Frequency of respondents using the products which are

conventional i.e. shampoo.
10. The Instructions for Consumer Goods - General Labeling of Cosmetics (GB5296.3-2008)
which became effective on 1 October 2009 provide that all locally produced cosmetics or
imported cosmetic products to be registered for inspection and distribution on the mainland must
truthfully indicate on the product package the standard Countries names of all added ingredients
in the cosmetic product.
11. According to the Naming Requirements for Cosmetics which was implemented on 5
February 2010, the name of a cosmetic product should be concise, easy to understand and in line
with the customs of the Countries language. Besides, it must not contain any content which may
mislead or deceive the consumers.
6.2 Cosmetic naming Guidelines and there usage
The Cosmetics Naming Guidelines which were issued to complement the naming requirements
provide a list of expressions allowed or prohibited to be used when naming cosmetic products.
Fig 17 : The respondents who claim that there were benefits from using
a kind of product specified for its function.
Eleven types of expressions are forbidden for use in the names of cosmetic products, namely:
arbitrary expressions, such as special effect, total effect, powerful effect, miraculous effect, super
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effect, extraordinary, skin renewing, wrinkle removing; expressions that falsely claim a product
is absolutely natural; expressions that explicitly or implicitly indicate the medical effect of a
product, such as anti-bacterial, bacteria-inhibiting, bacteria-removing, detoxifying, anti-allergic,
scar-removing, hair-growing, hair-regenerating, fat-reducing, fat-dissolving, body-slimming,
face-slimming, leg-slimming; names of celebrities in the medical field.
According to the Organic Product Certification Catalogue, beginning from 1 March 2012,
cosmetic products no longer fall within the 127 product types listed in the organic product
catalogue. Only for those products included in the catalogue can certification agencies accept
certification requests from producers and processing firms.
This historical event makes marketers and companies wonder; how can companies generate
brand loyalty and how to keep it? Brand loyalty has the mystery power of attaining consumers
over and over again.
6.3 Brand Frenzy amongst Consumers
At the beginning, consumers might buy a specific brand because of objective reasons. However,
after a long time of being advertised and exposed on the market, the brand might become part of
the memory and also part of the consumers life. Consumers might associate the brand with
many different and important occasions throughout time . Therefore, brand loyalty makes
consumers deeply committed to a specific brand. This is something marketers are constantly
searching for by running a vast amount of different marketing campaigns.
This is something marketers are constantly searching for by running a vast amount of different
marketing campaigns.
Fig 18 : Factors which marketers are constantly searching for by running a vast
amount of different marketing campaigns.

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Heavy use of celebrities in cosmetics advertisements might create a paradox, because consumers
cannot identify whether they like the celebrity in the advertisement or if it is the actual product
they like. The ultimate goal of marketers is making consumers assert most of their attention to
the products. But whether this goal can be accomplished by using celebrities is unsure.
lead to willingness to purchase. Natural product is gaining popularity among todays modern
societies. We continue to witness the disturbing effects of chemical based products in recent
years. Natural product is gaining its popularity among developing countries.
product by increasing quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Products can be distinct
is to draw consumers attention to a specific product .Product design is another variable that can
be used to influence consumers behavioral intention towards choice preferences. Herb based
Till to date, herb related products are generally believed to improve health and to cure ailments.
Healthy choice is a variable that can influence consumers preference. The defined perceived risk
as an individuals measurement of the consequences of someones own behavior, as a result of
purchasing certain product.
6.4 Risks involved in Consumer Decision & Perception
A number of studies have examined how perceived risk affect consumer decision and behavior.
Consumer risk perception plays an important role, especially in the area of food safety concern
because it shapes the behavior of consumers. As consumer awareness and concerns of risk
increase, risk calculations are likely to be central to an individuals life.
Initial investigation of this study revealed that physical risk is the most relevant type of risk
perceived towards herbal supplement. Thus, perceived physical risk is included in the
measurement of salient beliefs. From the perspective of consumer behavior, it appears that
products that people choose can be influenced by their reference group.
The highly visible products lead themselves to acquiring positive or negative social influence.
They discovered that behavior tends to remain consistent within a social group. A reference
group is any person or group that serves as a point of comparison for an individual in forming
either general or specific values, attitudes, or specific guides for behavior.
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Reference group that influence broadly defined values are called normative reference group
Subjective norms are beliefs that whether significant others think that the person should engage
in the behavior. The proposed that subjective norms are important attribute in shaping a persons
attitude towards performing a specific behavior.
Subjective norm controls the behavior that is instigated by the desire to act as others think one
should act. Sometimes, socially worthy acts brings about internally generated feelings of selfrespect or pride, while failure to act in this way may invoke feelings of shame or self-reproach.
Fig 19 : Average Utility Values : This includes extra features included

in the product and there consumption.
Reference group that influence general behavior is identified as normative reference group.
Estimates of subjective norm is predicted by normative beliefs about what relevant others would
advise, modified by the respondents motivation to comply with the advice of those people.
Perceived behavioral control is the perception that the performance of a specific behavior is
within a persons control.
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Fig 20: The worldwide estimation of the

cosmetic industry.
This segment is very fragmented, owing to the breadth of the supply. Many Countries give in to
the temptation of finding a unique and original scent and look for it among brand new or less
known brands produced by smaller, often local companies. To sum up, the Countries cosmetics
market has a vast and not fully recognized potential.
Even though Countriess disposable levels doubled over the last 5 years, the per capita spend on
cosmetics and toiletries is less which is more or less one-tenth of what can be observed in
Countries. It seems to support the more and more widespread belief that there is still much room
for Countries to become the largest beauty market in the world in the near future.
Chapter - 7 METHODOLGY
The research design and study plan adopted for this research is semi-descriptive in nature. To
collect the required primary data, a well structured and planned questionnaire has been
personally administered and collected from the people who are residing in Mumbai city. For
measuring the basic information about the use of cosmetic products multiple choice questions
have been asked in the questionnaire also in the survey, and for measuring the consumer attitude,
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concern towards various factors of cosmetic products, 5-pointer scale has been used. The
questionnaire was randomized and the sample size was also randomized in order to avoid the
bais .On the basis of random and blinded sampling method, 11 questionnaires have been issued
to the consumers who are using cosmetic products. Out of 11 questionnaires distributed, 100
filled-in survey and questionnaires were returned .Hence; the independent attributes and
variables of this study were developed from focus group interviews and the current literature.
7.1 Research Group
This study also set five focus group to decide and interact with 100 consumers (aged between 15
and 45 and above, Gen F/M) who had been residing in Mumbai city. The data collected through
this survey used the content finds, correlates and analyses process for data analysis and
interpretation, and follows the suggestions of several other studies. The current study adds value
by integrating both qualitative and quantitative research finding methods .Hence ,starting and
initializing the questionnaire and subsequent amendments, a eleven points questionnaire was
developed and managed with a 7-pointer scale (1= strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree).
The final survey attributes were again and again validated for knowledge and skills for the
research and consumer behavior. There was no strict ratio for male and female. The sample was
randomly picked. The data was analyzed in terms of confirmatory behavior with some
exploratory factors and analysis. The test done was Cronbach Alpha co-efficient test which was
calculated for each sample in order to determine the internal randomization and consistencies of
the sample. Finally, the structural model which has been finally randomized and assumptions
testing results were performed.
7.2 Statistical Software used for Analysis and Interpretation
For this purpose, this study used SPSS and AMOS, PSPP and R language. The assumptions
developed for this study are the relationships between the samples.
Selling cosmetics through drugstores has become a major feature in Countriess cosmetics
market. While the cosmeceuticals market is now dominated by foreign players, a number of local
pharmaceutical companies have already set foot in this territory. Domestic brand Longrich, for
example, has adopted a two-pronged approach. Apart from distributing through shopping centres
and supermarkets, it also launches its products in local pharmacies. Cosmetic products can also
be distributed through various types of beauty parlours, such as traditional, pampering and
therapeutic beauty parlours; large and medium-sized high-end beauty spas; franchise chain
stores; and grooming and hairdressing parlours, etc.
The study is done for getting a deep knowledge and idea about Indian cosmetic//personal care
sector. The need or objective of the study is to know the how much consumers give preferences
to the brand of cosmetic goods whether the customers are satisfied with the cosmetic products of
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the company and how far the company is able to satisfy the customer in terms of quality and cost
factors since in todays modern era customers are the focus for any company, any organization
that without satisfying them no company can survive in this global competitive age.
7.3 Policy Making and Target audience
Non satisfaction of the potential customers can lead them to switch over to another one. Now the
policy every company or organization is to provide satisfaction as there exists a lot of
competition for them. Hence it becomes necessary to conduct a comprehensive research in terms
of customer satisfaction so that it is able to know how far it stands before others. This also helps
to judge whether if there is any lag in the policy and could take immediate action to rectify it.
The need of this project also arose because an extensive survey can help the company whether
the work done by the company in the area of new products is able to satisfy the customers or not.
The major focus of the research conducted therefore is to discover the factors that people are
aware about the upcoming new products and the attribute of the product which attracted them for
a trial. The study was restricted to only around 50-60 percent of our target audience, because the
respondents included in the study are people who are regular user of cosmetic goods
7.4 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
Primary Data
Secondary Data
My research aims to gather primary data for understanding Consumer behavior through
questionnaire.
7.5 DATA SOURCE : Primary data is the first hand data, which are selected a fresh and thus
happen to be original in character. Primary Data was crucial to know various customers and past
consumer views. The research is descriptive type of research survey includes research instrument
like questionnaire which can be structured and unstructured. ` Secondary data are those which
has been collected by some one else and which already have been passed through statistical
process. Secondary data has been taken from internet, newspaper, magazines and companies web
sites.
7.6 SAMPLE DESIGEN AND TYPE: Simple random sampling.
7.7 UNIVERSE: Mumbai
7.8 SAMPLE SIZE: Sample for questionnaire is 100 persons.
7.9 SAMPLE: While deciding about the sample of research, it is required from the researchers
point to pay attention to these under mentioned points:
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a) Sample Units: A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting a
sample, sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village Etc. so in this
research sampling unit is individual consumer in Mumbai.
b) Source list: It is also called sampling frame from which sample is to be drawn, it caters name
of all the items of a universe (in case of finite universe only).Researcher has to prepare it
c) Sampling size: This refers to the no. of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a
sample. This is a major problem before the researcher. The size of sample should neither be
excessively large not too small, it should be optimum. This size of population must be kept in
view for this also limits the sample size .Sample size in this research is 100 customers.
d) Sampling procedure: Finally the researcher must decide the type of sample he must be .That is
he must decide about the technique to be used in selecting items for the sample .In fact this
technique or procedure stands for the sample design In this we used the random sampling on the
basis of first survey results, which is from 100 respondents.
7.10 INSTRUMENTS USED

We collected primary data through sample survey or census surveys from the selected elements
in malls and super markets. So for this purpose we have used the most popular tool of primary
data collection through direct communication with respondents. The tools we used are
questionnaires.
With improving purchasing power and increasing fashion consciousness, the industry is expected
to maintain the growth momentum
1. Increase in the Demand of Beauty products-From the last few years, the demand of beauty
products in India has been increased in a good speed. Not only women but men are also very
conscious towards their face and other personal care. Many companies are engaged in producing
the products according to them. So, the market is seeking to be very bright.
2. A Large Rural Urban Penetration The penetration ratio in rural market is very challenging
and prospective. So, there is a good scope in these areas.
3. Opportunity in Semi-Urban MarketThere is a good opportunity of cosmetic products in the
semi urban market. The people are looking towards a good brand name and quality within them.
4. An Untapped Rural Market.There is an untapped market is available for cosmetic products in
the rural area in India. It is an awesome opportunity for these companies.
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Chapter - 8 DATA ANALYSIS &

INTERPRETATION
Cosmetic industry is one of the most flourishing industry in the world.Herbs and spices have
been used in maintaining and enhancing human beauty . Women have long used herbs such
as Sandalwood, rosemary and Turmeric for skin care. Henna, to color the hair, palms and soles,
and natural oils to perfume their body. The more chemical free cosmetics are, the better they are
as they will not provide any irritation to the body or skin. Not too long ago, elaborate herbal
beauty treatments were carried out in the royal palaces of India maintain general cleanliness and
hygiene.
lot of interest regarding the cosmetics and also have awareness about cosmetic products. Here,
the cosmeceuticals need to understand the consumer attitude on cosmetics buying behavior
which brings success of the company. This study also focuses on the factors that affect the
buying concerns of consumers. Its either towards Herbal Products or towards conventional or
may be both.
8.1 HYPOTHESES
The study is aimed at testing the following hypotheses in line with the objectives mentioned:
There is no significant relationship between the age and the level of the respondents
towards the utilities of cosmetics.
There is no significant relationship between the marital status and the level of
satisfaction of the respondents towards the utilities of cosmetics.
There is no significant relationship between the family size and the level of satisfaction
of the respondents towards the utilities of cosmetics.
There is no significant relationship between the literacy level and the level of
There is no significant relationship between the type of occupation and the level of
8.2 OBJECTIVES
* To examine the influence of behavior and concern on cosmetics buying attitude for the type of
Cosmetic.
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* To identify the important factors that determines the buying attitude , concern and behavior for
the type of Cosmetic.
8.3 USE OF VARIOUS TESTS

Mean the mathematical average the formula is 3X/N ex: mean age = age of person
one + age of person two + age of person three, etc./number of people
Variance a measure of how spread out a distribution is it is computed as the
average squared deviation of each number from its mean
Standard Deviation how much scores deviate from the mean it is the square
root of the variance it is the most commonly used measure of spread
Differences of Groups
Chi Square compares observed frequencies to expected frequencies ex: Is the
distribution of sex and voting behavior due to chance or is there a difference between the
sexes on voting behavior.
t-Test looks at differences between two groups on some variable of interest the IV
must have only two groups (male/female, undergrad/grad) ex: Do males and females
differ in the amount of hours they spend shopping in a given month?
ANOVA tests the significance of group differences between two or more groups the
IV has two or more categories only determines that there is a difference between
groups, but doesnt tell which is different ex: Do SAT scores differ for low-, middle-, and
high-income students
Correlation used with two variables to determine a relationship/association do two
variables covary? does not distinguish between independent and dependent variables ex:
Amount of damage to a house on fire and number of firefighters at the fire
Multiple Regression used with several independent variables and one dependent
variable used for prediction it identifies the best set of predictor variables for ex: IVs
drug use, alcohol use, child abuse DV. suicidal tendencies
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8.4 RESULT OF HYPOTHESIS
Fig 21: Result of Hypothesis: Herbal vs .conventional in a

generalized term.
In summary, the fit indices are found to be satisfactory in terms of their respective probability
index. The pvalue of the 2 is found significantly correlated. This was due to the size of
samples considered for this study. However, alternative fit indices which also include Hoelters
critical N, and Normalized 2 show that the absolute fit measures are satisfactory. The results of
incremental fit measures are all close to 1.0 suggesting that the model is a better fit compared to
null models. The final normalized parsimonious probability fit measures are also satisfactory in
terms of models acceptability. The assumptions testing results are positive and significant at the
0.01 level.
ANOVA was performed and the result shows a significant outcome (F = 4.58; p = 0.014). That is
the consumers differ significantly with respect to their age towards their attitude on beauty
cosmetic products. On observing the mean values, it is noted that the consumers who are in the
age group of 15 to 45 years and above (mean = 3.53; SD = 1.08) significantly differ from the
consumers who are in the age group of 21 to 30 years (mean = 3.12; SD = 0.99) and below35
years (mean = 2.33; SD = 1.07). Next, the table also shows the influence of the Monthly Family
Income on overall attitude of the consumers towards beauty cosmetic products.
Healthy choice is a variable that can influence consumers preference.
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Fig 22: The table shows the influence of marital status, age, family income,
occupation on overall attitude of the consumers towards beauty cosmetic products.

What factors do you consider while purchasing cosmetics?
Factors
Well known brand
Price
Quality
Attractive Packaging
Ease of use
Advertisement
Availability
Advice from dermatology
Strongly
Disagree
27%
47%
32%
47%
39%
22%
45%
11%
Disagre
e
34%
36%
41%
22%
18%
26%
31%
14%
Neither Agree
nor Disagree
47%
23%
12%
21%
32%
11%
25%
14%
Agre
e
82%
78%
92%
97%
88%
96%
83%
34%
Strongly
Agree
87%
67%
72%
77%
69%
89%
90%
31%
Recommended by friends
77%
64%
21%
33%
53%
Free sample
62%
63%
73%
20%
28%
Contain Extra benefit (Sun 68%
72%
33%
35%
73%
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protected, vitamins)
Latest innovation
13%
52%
72%
25%
60%
Durability
34%
78%
78%
62%
18%
Fig 23: The chart shows distribution of various factors amongst the
respondents and there relevance.
The Mean and Standard Deviation for the samples based on the factors considered while
purchasing cosmetics :Factors
Mean
Well known brand
2.84
Price
2.72
Quality
3.19
3.46
Ease of use
2.54
Advertisement
3.99
Availability
3.82
3.09
2.16
Free sample
3.11
Contain Extra benefit (Sun protected, 3.40
vitamins)
Latest innovation
2.26
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SD
1.20
1.17
0.96
1.06
1.05
0.90
0.99
1.24
1.06
1.28
1.22
1.28
39
Fig 24: The mean and SD area graph for influencing factor
determination.
What are the sources through which you become aware of cosmetics?
Sources
Beauticians
Dermatology
Shopkeepers
Friends
Magazines
TV
Parents
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Very Low
58%
28%
39%
33%
66%
58%
56%
Low
66%
67%
71%
29%
67%
36%
82%
Neutral
75%
40%
54%
66%
68%
13%
72%
High
15%
32%
45%
64%
64%
32%
20%
Very High
84%
47%
28%
23%
55%
35%
30%
40
Fig 25: The graph for

distribution of Sources for
buying a type of cosmetic.
Sources
Beauticians
Dermatology
Shopkeepers
Friends
Magazines
TV
Parents
Mean
SD
3.12
3.73
2.81
4.26
3.99
2.59
4.05
1.28
1.07
1.14
0.84
0.96
1.15
0.90
Fig 26: Sources dependent buying attitude from different

sources.
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State your agreement on the below statements about cosmetics.

Statements
Strongly
Disagree
I love trying new products
84%
The only guarantee of quality 80%
is a recognizable brand
I feel the variety of cosmetic 62%
offerings is confusing for me
I spend too much money on 43%
cosmetics
The only guaranty of quality is 51%
recognizable brand
Cheap cosmetics are as good 21%
as the expensive ones
Disagre
e
44%
51%
Neither Agree
nor Disagree
59%
83%
Agre
e
72%
73%
Strongly
Agree
76%
55%
21%
20%
27%
69%
53%
72%
71%
26%
42%
50%
35%
72%
87%
60%
68%
65%
Fig 27: Graph showing peoples habit for buying the cosmetic based on
the questionnaire mentioned above.
Statements
Mean
3.04
The only guarantee of quality is a 2.98
recognizable brand
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SD
1.09
1.69
42
I feel the variety of cosmetic offerings

is confusing for me
I spend too much money on cosmetics
The only guaranty of quality is
recognizable brand
Cheap cosmetics are as good as the
expensive ones
4.18
0.95
3.66
2.43
1.02
0.67
2.98
1.21
Fig 28: Agreement on buying a cheap /expensive product

by customer .
If you try new products, how important would you consider the following criteria?
Criteria
Unimportan
t
Fairly
unimportan
t
Neutra
l
Fairly
importan
t
Importan
t
Technological innovation
73%
34%
56%
76%
48%
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Special offer or promotion
79%
62%
34%
32%
51%
New product or range from a 87%

well-known brand name
73%
41%
48%
49%
Attractive packaging
62%
31%
36%
40%
69%
Brand I have seen advertised 85%

on TV
58%
36%
29%
44%
Brand I have seen advertised 67%

on magazine
57%
60%
30%
67%
Brand
featured/recommended
magazine
76%
73%
30%
52%
47%
in-store 73%
48%
70%
55%
34%
79%
39%
42%
32%
57%
from 86%
59%
48%
63%
57%
Brand used by a celebrity I 93%

like
59%
46%
46%
65%
New product or range from a 65%

brand I use
62%
64%
40%
59%
Advice
from
consultant
in
In store display
Recommendation
friend/relative
Fig 29: Peoples Response

on
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Fig 30: Peoples Response
Fig 31: Peoples

Response on
Fig 32: Peoples

Response on
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Fig 33: Peoples
Fig 34: Peoples
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Fig 35: Peoples

Response on
Fig 36: Peoples

Response on
Fig 37: Peoples

Response on
Fig 38: Peoples

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Fig 39: Peoples

Response on
Criteria
New product or range from a well-known
brand name
Brand I have seen advertised on TV
Brand I have seen advertised on
magazine
Brand
featured/recommended
in
magazine
Advice from in-store consultant
In store display
Recommendation from friend/relative
Brand used by a celebrity I like
New product or range from a brand I use
In store display
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Mean
3.22
2.98
2.60
SD
0.62
0.36
0.75
3.59
3.59
2.03
0.69
0.83
0.66
2.24
0.52
3.59
2.09
2.20
2.50
3.87
3.19
0.87
0.75
0.16
0.20
0.16
0.52
48
Fig 40 : Effects of various

external entities on
customer behavior.
Name the categories of cosmetic use for different type of product

Product
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Styling gel
Foundation
Concealer
Mineral powder
Moisturizer
Sunscreen
Lip stick
Lip liner
Eye liner
Kajal
Eye shadow
Mascara
Nail polish
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Herbal
54%
32%
49%
34%
54%
39%
72%
41%
59%
42%
38%
46%
32%
33%
34%
Conventional
73%
60%
60%
53%
67%
36%
34%
57%
34%
81%
52%
68%
63%
42%
49%
49
Fig 41: Usage of herbal vs. conventional products

by consumers.
PRODUCT
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Styling gel
Foundation
Concealer
Mineral powder
Moisturizer
Sunscreen
Lip stick
Lip liner
Eye liner
Kajal
Eye shadow
Mascara
Nail polish
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HERBAL
Mean
3.06
2.02
2.97
3.84
2.31
2.49
3.50
2.14
2.55
3.95
2.91
2.09
3.43
3.63
2.92
SD
0.82
0.71
0.69
0.71
0.90
0.96
0.29
0.22
0.12
0.10
0.07
0.24
0.78
0.25
0.87
CONVENTIONAL
Mean
SD
3.17
0.90
2.13
0.61
3.52
0.84
3.93
0.86
3.56
0.86
3.81
0.79
2.78
0.66
3.93
0.30
2.24
0.12
2.95
0.16
2.25
0.55
3.33
0.24
2.94
0.07
2.44
0.86
2.38
0.92
50
Fig 42: Mean and SD of Herbal product usage.
Fig 43: Mean and SD of Conventional product usage.
The mean and standard deviation of individual factors were indicated in the samples which were
provided after the whole survey was conducted. The samples were given more importance to
good quality and well known cosmetics (mean = 4.26; SD = 0.89), also it was found out in
finding the best price in the market(mean = 4.15; SD = 0.91), putting in more weight to choose
the best quality of the cosmetics (mean = 3.79; SD = 0.76), also in the jointure where the
frequently favorite brands found in the cosmetics market , also for the consumers to stick to the
most adored and likeable brands (mean = 3.82; SD = 0.99), and their preference given in
purchasing the most well advertised brand of cosmetics (mean = 3.81; SD = 1.15).
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Fig 44: Different factors to decide consumer loyalty estimated by

Cronbachs Alpha Test
However, they give less importance to frequently changing of brands (mean = 2.06; SD = 1.16),
enjoying in buying unfamiliar brands), trying of new cosmetics once in a while (mean = 2.97; SD
= 1.13), likeableness of cosmetics and brands by others (mean = 2.34; SD = 1.15), price based
quality (mean = 2.69; SD = 1.05), and observing others purchase and usage of cosmetics.
Hence, it is concluded thats sample which had people i.e. consumer are having more quality
intrigued, also goes on pricing and brands which exist in the market.
8.5 EIGEN VALUES COMPONENT ANALYSIS

The eigen values represent the variance extracted by each axis, and is often conveniently
expressed as a percentage of the sum of all eigen values. PCA is used to reduce the number of
band images necessary for classification for noise reduction, and for change detection
applications. In the example, the first four axes explain approximately 73%, 17%, 4%, and 3% of
the variance, respectively. For such data, the data must be standardized to zero mean and unit
variance.
For ordination of cosmetic communities, therefore, all species are measured in the same units,
and data should not be standardized. In matrix algebra terms, most PCAs are Eigen analyses of
the corrected correlation matrix, but for ordination they should be PCAs of the covariance
matrix.
In most applications of PCA variables are often measured in different units. For example, PCA of
taxonomic data may include measures of size, shape, color, age, numbers, and chemical
concentrations.
This explains the total variance which is calculated by using
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Fig 45: The Eigen component analysis for the

mean and SD for herbal vs. conventional
product usage.
Correlation Analysis
Although both correlation and regression techniques concern about the relations between
Variables and the samples, they are used for different purposes. Correlation is a technique for
investigating the relationship between two quantitative, continuous variables, for example, age
and blood pressure.
Pearson's correlation coefficient is a measure of the strength of the association between the two
variables. Correlation analysis is employed when researchers need to find out how strong of the
relationship between variables, whereas regression analysis is used to determine the pattern of
the relationship between variables.
The is used to establish if the correlation coefficient is significantly different from zero, and,
hence that there is evidence of an association between the two variables. There is then the
underlying assumption that the data is from a normal distribution sampled randomly. To further
determine the strength between variables tested previously, the Pearson correlation analysis is
given here.
Fig 46: Usage of herbal products frequency.
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Brand advertise and attitude loyalty

The fist one is to test the correlation of the factor 3 which how important using brand advertise
in cosmetics advertisements influence your purchase decision and the attitude loyalty
variables.
Fig 47: Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis to understand

significance of endorsers in customer loyalty.
There is a correlation of factor 4, the importance of the usage of famous advertise in cosmetics
advertisements for the influence on purchasing decisions and the attitude loyalty variables.
Based on the results, the correlation between using famous advertise and attitude loyalty appear
to be positive as well.
Fig 48: Study of consumer attitude and behavior based on

various ground levels.
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Although the correlation seems to be smaller (.326) compared to using brand endorses, the result
is considered to have a medium strong relationship between the variables. Also, there is
significant difference between the variables at the .01 level.
Fig 49 : Attitudinal loyalty based on endorsements explained by

person correlation coefficient.
ANOVA Analysis
The one-way Analysis of Variance is used with one categorical independent variable and one
continuous variable. The one way ANOVA is employed to test the four different assumptions as
stated earlier. ANOVA is used to compare the variance of scores between tested groups with
There variance is shown outside or within the groups.Generally taken to be within the group as
when the variance within the compared groups is huge/large, generally if the p value is 0.05 or
0.01 significant level is applied, the groups are different. The independent variable can consist of
any number of groups or levels. Otherwise the results are not statistically calculated
permutation of and permutation of significant. The one-way ANOVA usually consists of one
independent and one dependent variable.
their customer experience and accelerate growth of the market
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Fig 50: Age wise distribution of preferences of the product.
To test ANOVA with the distributed sample. Four assumptions will be tested:
Hypothesis No1: There is no significant relationship shown/identified between the buying
attitude for herbal or conventional cosmetics for the sample size.
In the case where there are more than two levels of the independent variable the analysis goes
through two steps. First, we carry out an over-all F test to determine if there is any significant
difference existing among any of the means. Here, factor 3, the importance of the usage of
advertise in cosmetics advertisements for the influence on purchasing decisions and the new
attitude loyalty variable is used to test whether there is a statistical relationship existing between
these two variables. If this F score is statistically calculated permutation of and permutation of
significant, then we carry out a second step in which we compare sets of two means at a time in
order to determine specifically, where the significance difference lies.The dependent variable is
attitude loyalty and the independent variable is brand advertise.
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This table shows a result of the significance level being 0.001< 0.05.
This means that there is Statistical significance (.001) of differences between the brand/product
type , the consumers age and gender and their attitude loyalty.
Therefore, hypothesis H1 has to be rejected. Brand advertise in cosmetics advertisement have an
influence on attitude loyalty in purchasing situations. Also, the consumers age , gender and their
salary also influences the attitude patterns of the consumers attitude towards brand and type of
product buying inclination.
Hypothesis no2:
The way Factor 4, influences the buyers to buy the type of cosmetic is very much clear with the
kind of correlated total is achieved and the new attitude loyalty variable is used to test the
hypothesis.
The attitude loyalty and the way these factors influence the customers then as the regression is
also correlated to the factor influencing the consumer way of thinking also.
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The significance level is 0.010< 0.05. This means that there is a statically significant (.010)
difference between the famous advertise and attitude loyalty.
Therefore, hypothesis H2 also has to be rejected. Famous advertise in cosmetics advertisements
do have an influence on attitude loyalty.
H3: There is no significant relationship between the usage of brand advertise in cosmetics
advertisements and attitudinal loyalty.
This hypothesis is designed to test the relationship between buyers brand consciousness and
attitudinal loyalty. Firstly, factor 3 and the new attitudinal loyalty variable is used to test whether
there is a statistical relationship existing between these two variables.
Since the F count is 19.5567 > F table ( = 0.05) 2.48, then Ha1 in this research is accepted and
the regression model can be used to predict the customers willingness to buy (dependent
variable) or in other words, all of the independent variables, cultural factors, social factors,
personal factors, and psychological factors simultaneously have significant effect into the
dependent variable, customers willingness to buy.
The results for the hypothesis testing shows the result from the ANOVA analysis that there is
a huge statistically calculated permutation of significance between the buyers attitude, concern
and the type of product they use while making it quite evident that whether they are young or
adult or of any gender the consumer always has a bias towards the herbal or conventional
cosmetic.
Other factors are more important to take into consideration when making purchase decisions.
This study provides evidence that consumers are less likely to take famous advertise into
consideration for their decisions. 36 percent of the consumers would buy brands often promoted
in advertisements, but only when they are not familiar with the brands offered in shops. The
dependent variable is attitudinal loyalty and the independent variable is brand advertise.
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42 percent of the consumers tend to stick to brands they have previously been using instead of
switching to other brands. 74 percent of the consumers show that they would buy a brand even
though it does not use famous advertise. The results also show that 58 percent will buy other
products of the same brand as they are already familiar with.
H4: There is no significant relationship between age and gender of the consumer to the
frequency and type of cosmetic used.
The last hypothesis is designed to test the relationship between using sonsumers attitude to
buy herbal or conventional product and Attitude loyalty. First, the factor 4 which and the new
attitude loyalty variable is used
to test whether there is a statistical relationship existing between these two variables. The has to
be a no significant relationship between age and gender of the consumer to the frequency and
type of cosmetic used. The dependent variable is: attitudinal loyalty. The independent variable is
famous advertise.
This figure demonstrates the result from the ANOVA analysis, showing that there is no
statistical significance, since 0.220> 0.05. It means that the hypothesis cannot be rejected.
Hence, there is no significant relationship between the usage of famous advertise and attitudinal
loyalty.
Two assumptions concerning attitude loyalty are rejected because of the statistically calculated
permutation of and permutation of significant differences. But the other two assumptions, related
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to attitudinal loyalty cannot be rejected because there are no statistically calculated permutation
of and permutation of significant differences. Although now people are getting more inclined
towards herbal cosmetic but lack of knowledge and slow responses are creating a hurdle for the
advertise in the market to penetrate well enough.This table shows coefficients correlating t
various models responsible for finding the significance of product usage for respondents.
The results elucidate that using advertise or famous advertise in cosmetics advertisements do
influence the consumers buying decisions. To further test the strength of the relationship
between using brand advertise and famous advertise to attitude loyalty and attitudinal loyalty.
ANOVA result shows a significant outcome (F = 4.09; p = 0.01). That is, the participants in the
sampling differ significantly with respect to their age, expenses and marital status towards their
concerns and attitude on beauty cosmetic products.
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Fig 51:- The consumer buying process can be validated with the
results of ANOVA and other tests.
This can also be linked to the attitude since brands are using the same type of advertising
technique, where the message often is similar or the same.
Hence it is concluded that the people have positive attitude towards beauty cosmetic products
compared to unmarried people.
Descriptive Analysis
In this section, descriptive statistics regarding the attitudes and factors included and investigated
in the study will be presented. The results from the questionnaire have been processed in SPSS
and provided different interesting numbers, where the mean is the most important number for the
research question.
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Fig 52: The cycle of consumers purchasing decisions based on

various stage tasks.
If you are of the opinion cosmetics brands are overusing celebrity endorsement in their
advertisement, you might also presume that the product effect is exaggerated. This is because
celebrities look stunning hairdressers and stylists, something the average person does not have
access to The products effect, such as super long eyelashes, lipstick that last all day, hairspray
that keep your hair the same no matter what etc., which most of the time is not the case. But, it
can still better effect when comparing it to competitors products.
It can be seen from these results that the cosmetics industry is perceived to very often exercise
the use of celebrities in advertisements. Most of the time the customer knows about this, but they
still buy the products, even though they do not fully believe the message. In addition, due to the
similar messages different brands convey, it is hard to differentiate between them, for example
knowing exactly which brand that promised both thick and long lashes.
Next, the table shows the influence of Monthly Family Income on overall attitude of the
consumers towards beauty cosmetic products. In order to find out the influence, Anova result
shows a non- significant outcome (F = 1.577; p = 0.187). Hence it is concluded that the monthly
income of the family does not have any influence on the attitude towards cosmetic products.
Also, the table shows the influence of Occupation on overall attitude of the consumers towards
beauty cosmetic products. Anova result shows a significant outcome (F = 3.396; p = 0.025).
Fig 53: Means of Important Factors Influence Cosmetics Purchasing Decisions
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Out of the fourteen different factors, five of them have a mean around 4, which is important.
This suggests that these factors are considered to be important when purchasing cosmetics
products. The factors mentioned are; reputation of the brand which is factor 1 (3.73), reasonable
price factor 6 (4.26), friends recommendations factor 7 (3.84), previous purchase
factor 8(3.93) and special benefits factor 14 (3.86) (organic, allergy tested etc.).
None of the factors with the highest means (the ones considered to be the most important when
purchasing cosmetics) are related to advertising or endorsement, but only to experience, the
product itself and what opinion others have concerning the product.
Fig 54: Psychological aspect of consumer
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It can be seen from these results that customers value their own and others experience with a
brand and their perception of what a brand stands for the highest. However, it should be
mentioned that a brands reputation is created both due to the quality of their products, but also by
projecting themselves way in media and through advertisements. Thus, the use of a famous
endorser in advertisement might not have a direct effect on customers, but are important for the
brands entirety.
CHI -SQUARE ANALYSIS

There are basically two types of random variables and they yield two types of data: numerical
and categorical. A chi square (X2) statistic is used to investigate whether distributions of
categorical variables differ from one another. Basically categorical variable yield data in the
categories and numerical variables yield data in numerical form.
The analysis plan describes how to use sample data to accept or reject the null hypothesis. The
plan should specify the following elements.
Significance level. Often, researchers choose significance levels equal to 0.01, 0.05, or
0.10; but any value between 0 and 1 can be used.
Fig 55: Below mentioned graph shows, Use the chi-square test for independence to
determine whether there is a significant relationship between two categorical variables.
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The chi square test also indicates that the attitude loyalty and the way these factors influence the
customers then as the regression is also correlated to the factor influencing the consumer way of
thinking also.
If this chi-score is statistically calculated permutation of and permutation of significant, then we
carry out a second step in which we compare sets of two means at a time in order to determine
specifically, where the significance difference lies.The dependent variable is attitude loyalty and
the independent variable is same as the herbal or conventional type of product used.
T- TEST
The t-test values of the variables family size and monthly income are greater than their
corresponding table values at 5% level of significance, the null hypotheses is rejected. Hence
there exists a significant relationship between the variables such as family size, monthly income
and the level of satisfaction towards the utilities of cosmetics.
At the same time, since the calculated values of the variables such as age , marital status, literacy
level and occupation are less than their corresponding table values, the null hypotheses is
accepted
Var
iabl
e
TT
e
st
T
a
bl
e
V
al
u
e
s
De
gr
e
Of
Fr
ee
do
m
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el
of
sig
nif
can
ce
Re
m
ar
ks
66
Hence, it is concluded that the variables age, marital status, literacy level a occupation do not
have any significant relationship with the level of satisfaction towards the utilities of cosmetics.
Chapter - 9 FACTORS INFLUENCING

INTENTION TO CONSUME TYPE OF
PRODUCT
Overviews of Herbal Product Since the dawn of recorded history, plants have been the primary
source of medicine for people of every culture throughout the world. History of Herbs ,the first
written record of herbs dates back more than 4,000 years to the Sumerians who described
medicinal uses of such plants as laurel, caraway and thyme.
Herb refers to any part of any plant used for flavoring or medicine having nutritional and / or
medicinal value .Although herb was used for medication purposes for centuries, over the years
more and more usage for herb-based products has been discovered through extensive research
and development.
This research should work towards predicting consumer choice behavior, particularly focusing
on what factors that influence attitude intention towards the choice preferences of herbal
supplement.
As such this study was carried out to achieve the following objectives:
1) To determine factors influencing consumers attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
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2) To assess the effect of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived attitude control on consumers
attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
3) To determine the relative importance of those significant determinants in influencing
consumers attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
medical learning.
Most modern marketers agree that the knowledge of consumer behavior is the fundamental
perceived attitude control.
Chapter - 10 SUGGESTIONS
1. Customer like best quality product on any price, so company should add latest technology to
their products.
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2. After sales services is the area where Indian and International Company can highly satisfy the
existing customer, because they can make more customer through their word of mouth. So Indian
and International Company should provide latest and reliable service to their customers.
3. Customers behavior always looks for some extra benefit with purchasing. They demand for
affordable price for product and gifts with purchasing.
4. International Company should make strategy to cater every income group customers in city.
Upper income group are affordable to purchase but lower income group is not. So International
Company should make policies to send their product and every home.
5. The Indian company should give more emphasis on advertising to create market awareness
and to make a brand image in the minds of investors.
6. Companies should do more publicity through road shows, newspaper and advertisement. As
this will create awareness about he fund and schemes that are at present managed by the
International Company.
7. They should keep a close eye on competitor strategy.
Chapter - 11 CONCLUSION
There is at least one study in the design literature showing that these differences do exist between
consumers and designers. They found that when scoring a number of products on attributes like
mature, emotional and soft, consumers rate them differently than designers and are less able to
differentiate between different appearances. In light of the above, it may be expected that not all
of the appearance attributes.
designers. However, empirically based consumer appearance attributes are not found in the
design literature. Furthermore, as consumers are less knowledgeable about design language,
these terms may have no clear meaning for them. Consumers may find other attributes more
descriptive of the appearance than attributes used by designers.
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The research process of identifying the product appearance attributes that consumers use for
distinguishing products is divided into two parts. In the first part, appearance attributes will be
identified on the basis of appearance description that consumers generate in a categorization task.
This step is important, as in experimental research one runs the risk that results are applicable in
the tested situation only. In addition, previous research done into objectifying attributes into
product appearances involved product specific .However, these attributes used might not be
applicable for other product categories. Our validation of the results in the second part assures
that the findings are general instead of situation or product category specific. The product
appearance descriptions being generated by consumers and the underlying attributes being
validated for different groups of consumers guarantee that these are indeed the attributes that
consumers themselves generally use to distinguish product appearances.
A quick glance seems to show fewer attributes were identified than found in the literature, where
often six or more attributes are distinguished. This can be the result of the fact that designers are
able to see more differences in products than consumers .Another reason could be in the method
of this research that was set out to produce generic appearance attributes that could easily be put
into practice in briefings or product evaluation studies.
Two of the attributes that consumers use are similar to attributes mentioned in the literature.
Complexity is a design attribute that is used by designers which is opposite the attribute
Simplicity identified in this research
We can conclude from this that consumers and designers show communality in what attributes
they perceive from product appearance. This research now provides empirical evidence that these
two attributes that are used by designers are indeed also used by consumers. However, one of the
attributes found in this research, Playfulness, is qualitatively different from the attributes
mentioned in the literature, indicating that designers might have deeper knowledge than
consumers.
categories in general.
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Fig
The attribute Playfulness serves as an addition to the attributes described in the literature. In
future research, it would be interesting to look at the categorization processes used by designers
and users to gain insight into how the differences in product attributes that are generated by
designers and consumers originate.
The usage of many different product groups in the first part of the research and the validation
with different groups of products in the second part assures that the attributes found in this
research are not product specific and therefore informative on the appearance of many sorts of
product categories in general.
Moreover, the products used reflect the variety on the market place and thus a broad range of
motives that consumers use. In the literature, the attributes that are used as guidelines for
incorporating meaning into a product appearance are assumed to be applicable for different
product categories.
This approach makes the attributes less easy to physically objectify as designers may wish. On
the other hand, it gives a generic overview of what consumers perceive which enables
researchers to focus on translating these attributes into guidelines for designers to attune product
appearances to consumer preferences. As design is an important source of differentiation from
other products in the market place, the attributes defined in this research give the opportunity to
more validly assess consumer reactions to product designs and can give a company a competitive
edge.
For example, the attributes attached to a companys brand values and product specific attributes,
can be used to assess the degree in which a specific product appearance suits the tastes and wants
of the target group of consumers or the attributes a company wishes to communicate to the
consumers .To assess the value of a product appearance to consumers, ratings on the product
appearance attributes can be gathered.
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The intended product appearance can then be compared to the assessed one, and the attributes on
which the intended and actual appearances differ can be identified. This is more actionable for
product designers than just knowing which one of several concepts appeals the most to
consumers, as in this way there is some indication of how to improve the appearance to make it
better aligned to target consumers preferences.
Fig 57: Consumer Behavior
It is commonly known that consumers appreciate appearances that are unified, in balance and
harmonized .These attributes should not be neglected in designing a product. Therefore our
three-attribute model should not replace the attributes already mentioned in the literature.
It is shown that the attributes identified in this research are a valuable addition and should also be
taken into account when designing a products appearance. These attributes can be used in
briefings to gain a better understanding of what meaning a new product design should express.
The attributes can also be used when gathering consumer feedback on product concepts.
Physical properties underlie the appearance attributes .A next step in research would be to
identify what physical properties of a product underlie the different appearance attributes, in
order to make the attributes more objectifiable for designers.
That way a designer that, for example, wishes to adapt a product to look more simplified to
consumers will have a better idea of how to achieve such a result. Contrarily, since current trends
and fashion influence views on the attributes, the direct relationship between the attributes and
the physical properties will change over time which will make the applicability of these
relationships unstable over time.
When there is a need for choice decision, they tend to employ simple decision strategies rather
than going through complex alternatives evaluation. A choice is arrived much easier and faster
without overly burdensome task of assessing the alternative information on hand.
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Fig 58: Various stages of product consumption used for

attracting customers.
The limitation of this model is that it assumes that consumers in general employ simple decision
strategies in making any purchase decision. Moreover, it does not consider any external forces
that influence consumer decision making process.
This focuses on the psychological interaction of various steps in the decision making process, in
five basic stages: problem recognition, information search, source for internal and external
knowledge for alternative evaluation, purchase decision and resulting satisfactory or dissonance
outcome.
The stages and attention involves in a particular decision process depends on the extensiveness
of the problem. The information process gives a consumer necessary guideline for decision
making. The model also recognizes various variables that have direct influence to the decision
process which includes: individual characteristic (motives, values, lifestyle, and personality),
social influences (culture, reference group, and family) and situational influences.
This model basically focuses on the various stages of the decision making process and also take
into consideration other forces such as individual characteristic, social influences, and situational
influences. This develops a comprehensive theory of consumer decision-making. Three levels of
decision making stages were proposed: extensive problem solving, limited problem solving, and
reutilized response behavior.
Extensive problem solving, takes place when the consumers knowledge and beliefs about the
brands are limited and therefore, consumer actively seeks information concerning a number or
alternative brands. Limited problem solving, takes place when the consumers knowledge and
beliefs about the brands are only partially established and therefore, some comparative brand
information is sought.
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points
Fig 59: Bio-sensible aspects that are used for

luring customers.
This can be further simplified into four major sets of variables; inputs, perceptual and learning
constructs, outputs, and exogenous variables. The model also considers some of the influential
external environmental factors, consumer personality traits, time pressure, and consumers
financial status. The emphasizes on the consumer decision making process, although it takes into
consideration some of the external factors. This model focuses on the influential relationship
between the producing firm and its potential consumers.
Through an interactive design, the firm tries to influence the consumer through its marketing or
advertising messages. In return, the consumer reacts to the firms messages by their purchasing
action.
This can be divided into four major fields. Field one: formation of consumers attitude as a result
of the firms message. Field two: consumers search for relevant information to generate
motivation to purchase the firms product. Field three: actual purchase taken place as a result of
the motivation generation in field two. Field four: feedback from the purchase experience to both
the firms, and the consumer. The main limitation of this model is that there is an inadequate
understanding of the influences and the interrelationship among consumer attributes.
This emphasizes on the family and its members social value influences on the consumer
decision-making process. The model proposes that the decision-making may be either an
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individual or a joint decision influenced by the interaction between the family

According to the model, specific purchase decision is influenced by family
psychological system, social class, lifestyle, role orientation, family lifecycle stage,
risks, product importance, and time pressure. The limitation of this model is that
emphasizes on measures social influences towards consumers purchase decision.
members.
members
perceived
it merely
This model is based on a theory that focuses on consumption values that explain consumer
buying behavior towards a specific product. The identified five consumption values influencing
consumer choice behavior. They are functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic
value, and conditional value. Thus, this model only focuses on the consumption values to explain
consumer buying behavior.
Fig 60: Attitudinal loyaltys level vs. behavioral

loyalty.
Theory of reasoned action suggests that an individuals behavior is determined by individuals

behavioral intention to carry out the specific behavior, providing the most accurate prediction of
behavior. TRA proposes that the best predictor of consumers choice decision was their intention
towards the behavior. Behavioral intention is a function of attitudes towards the behavior and
subjective norm. TRA is an extended model from one of the multi-attribute model. Almost all
multi-attribute models suggest that the overall attitude is based on the component belief about an
object weighted by evaluation of these beliefs. The extension of the TRA model accounts for the
pressures of subjective norms in predicting behavioral intention.
order to achieve more consumers. Satisfaction and accurate target in finding out what customers
are aware off and their attitude and there by offering products according to this needs will help
the industry stake holders to enrich their customer experience and accelerate growth of the
market.
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According to the National Institute of Healths Office of Dietary Supplements, USA, products
made from botanicals that are used to maintain or improve health and body care may be called as
herbal products or botanical products. In this context, the herbal products that are available in
Countries meet the desire and demand of a particular segment of consumers who are health
conscious.
Research reveals that beauty consciousness among people is an ongoing process and consumers
need for appearances and materialism is increasing .Beauty conscious people want to satisfy the
need to look and feel good. This has created a growth in the skin and beauty care industry across
the world.
The advanced promotion and communication for cosmetics products and their ingredients and
values have made today's consumers more aware of what they are using on their bodies, and
making them more willing to pay.
They state that the mature expansion of satellite television and consciousness of the western
beauty and fashion world, communications and promotions resulted a growing number of
women in the work force, in particular, to become more conscious about their skin and beauty
care products.
The upbringings of rural and urban people along with economic and social developments have
also created an increasing consciousness among people about their health and beauty, with a
particular attention to care for their skin including getting protected from Ultraviolet Rays. The
use of skin care products by Countries consumers has been further intensified by relatively larger
disposable incomes, continuously changing life styles, strong influence of satellite television and
related media, and greater choice options and availability of products. Natural cosmetic sales are
increasing with revenues doubling every few year in Europe.
These parameters should also be considered when evaluating stability and shelf life of a
nanomaterial ingredient in a final product. Similar care is needed during toxicological
evaluations. Parameters such as size, aggregation states, surface charge, coatings and other
properties may change in different solvents, test media, and biological environments.
Therefore, conditions under which measurements are made should be given a careful
consideration, and documented at every stage of production and on the shelf, and should be
provided in the dossier. Where needed, the SCCS may ask for provision of a detailed description
of the production processes, any surface modifications, and the preparatory steps carried out for
integrating the nanomaterials in the final cosmetic products to facilitate risk assessment.
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Chapter - 12 FINAL OVERVIEW OF

THE STUDY
The motive is to play a role in the overall product appraisal. For example, when a product looks
modern, it has a positive effect on product appraisal when consumers are motivated to assess a
product on its aesthetics .In practice, designers often face the difficulty of how to incorporate an
intended meaning in a product design. When the product meaning that is communicated is not
clear to the consumer, he or she will have difficulty assessing the product and will appreciate the
product less. Therefore, it is valuable to provide designers with guidelines that can be used
during briefings at the beginning of the design process or in product evaluation studies at a later
stage of this process.
The whole process in which a meaning is derived from a product appearance can be summarized
in two steps .First, when consumers see a product appearance, consumers perceive certain
physical properties that together make up the design of the product
For example, refrigerators are rectangular and have a smooth, shiny white surface. Second,
certain combinations of colors, materials and other physical aspects give a product a look that
can be described by a certain appearance attribute.
The appearance attributes together provide the consumer with an overall impression of the
product. Further, they are more actionable and informative than physical properties for designers
to use in briefings or product evaluation studies.
In briefings, these attributes can be a way of making clear to designers what is expected from
them. In product evaluation studies, it can be assessed whether consumers do actually perceive
the meanings that the designer intended to design in the product using appearance attributes.
Appearance Perception by Consumers A great deal of research has identified product appearance
attributes that can be derived from product appearance, as well as from packaging, typefaces or
logos .
Tools have even been developed to guide designers in objectifying attributes in their product
appearances. The attributes described in the literature provide knowledge on what attributes are
derived from product appearance.
However, a major issue is not covered. Namely, the attributes reflect how designers perceive
product appearance and not how the consumer perceives it, since the attributes mentioned in the
literature are mainly drawn from the aesthetic and industrial design literature.
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For example, initial attribute set consisted of attributes derived from design literature. Also,
initially gathered appearance meanings form literature, and then expanded that list with product
specific meanings from trade and academic journals and experts. They argue that we cannot just
presume that the way a designer objectifies a certain meaning in the product appearance is the
same as the meaning that consumers derive.
This often forces companies to communicate the meaning of the product in high-cost marketing
campaigns because consumers do not automatically derive the intended meanings from the
product appearance. In the same fashion, it can be questioned whether consumers will derive the
same product attributes from product appearance as designers.
Indeed a possible difference between designers and consumers can be assumed given the
extended literature on differences between non-professionals and experts in the perception and
evaluation of a wide range of stimuli.
Non-professionals are known to have a more shallow knowledge and see less communalities and
differences between objects of interest than experts. Experts, therefore, can mention more
abstract attributes of objects.
Additionally, non-professionals distinguish fewer attributes than experts, which indicate further
that consumers have less knowledge. When one considers consumers to be the non-professionals
in design, and the designers to be the experts, then one can conclude that consumers have less or
qualitatively different knowledge of design than designers.
There is at least one study in the design literature showing that these differences do exist between
consumers and designers. These men found that when scoring a number of products on attributes
like mature, emotional and soft, consumers rate them differently than designers and are less able
to differentiate between different appearances. In light of the above, it may be expected that not
all of the appearance attributes.
designers.
However, empirically based consumer appearance attributes are not found in the design
literature. Furthermore, as consumers are less knowledgeable about design language, these terms
may have no clear meaning for them. Consumers may find other attributes more descriptive of
the appearance than attributes used by designers.
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Though it may be found that consumers use the appearance attributes from the literature as well
as their own appearance attributes, the appearance attributes generated on their own will form a
valuable addition to the attributes that are already described in the literature and will help
contribute to an overall view on product appearance perception.
The research process of identifying the product appearance attributes that consumers use for
distinguishing products is divided into two parts. In the first part, appearance attributes will be
identified on the basis of appearance description that consumers generate in a categorization task.
This step is important, as in experimental research one runs the risk that results are applicable in
the tested situation only. In addition, previous research done into objectifying attributes into
product appearances involved product specific .
However, these attributes used might not be applicable for other product categories. Our
validation of the results in the second part assures that the findings are general instead of
situation or product category specific. The product appearance descriptions being generated by
consumers and the underlying attributes being validated for different groups of consumers
guarantee that these are indeed the attributes that consumers themselves generally use to
distinguish product appearances.
A quick glance seems to show fewer attributes were identified than found in the literature, where
often six or more attributes are distinguished. This can be the result of the fact that designers are
able to see more differences in products than consumers .Another reason could be in the method
of this research that was set out to produce generic appearance attributes that could easily be put
into practice in briefings or product evaluation studies.
Two of the attributes that consumers use are similar to attributes mentioned in the literature.
Complexity is a design attribute that is used by designers which is the attribute Simplicity
identified in this research.
We can conclude from this that consumers and designers show communality in what attributes
they perceive from product appearance. This research now provides empirical evidence that these
two attributes that are used by designers are indeed also used by consumers. However, one of the
attributes found in this research, Playfulness, is qualitatively different from the attributes
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mentioned in the literature, indicating that designers might have deeper knowledge than
consumers.
categories in general.
motives that consumers use .In the literature, the attributes that are used as guidelines for
product categories.
appearances to consumer preferences.
As design is an important source of differentiation from other products in the market place , the
attributes defined in this research give the opportunity to more validly assess consumer reactions
to product designs and can give a company a competitive edge.
consumers.To assess the value of a product appearance to consumers, ratings on the product
The intended product appearance can then be compared to the assessed one, and the attributes on
which the intended and actual appearances differ can be identified. This is more actionable for
product designers than just knowing which one of several concepts appeals the most to
consumers, as in this way there is some indication of how to improve the appearance to make it
better aligned to target consumers preferences.
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The attributes can also be used when gathering consumer feedback on product concepts. Physical
properties underlie the appearance attributes .A next step in research would be to identify what
physical properties of a product underlie the different appearance attributes, in order to make the
attributes more objectifiable for designers.
relationships unstable over time .For example, in the 1980s angular products were modern,
while now organic forms are more contemporary.
The usage of celebrity endorsements has been confirmed to result in more favorable
advertisement ratings and positive product evolutions. It has even become one of the most
popular forms of retail advertising.
Marketers have heavily relied on celebrity endorsement, because they believe in its positive
impact of assisting in improvement of brand awareness, brand equity, and even financial returns.
Celebrities are easily chosen by marketers to peddle their products. Especially in cosmetics
industry, this tactic is commonplace and often seen in TV advertisements, magazines and other
types of media.
What do marketers expect from enormous amounts spent on celebrities appearing in their
advertisements? Besides returns on the financial aspect and brand awareness, using celebrities in
advertisements can be a shortcut to assisting brands in gaining recognitions. All these efforts may
be contributions in creating brand loyalty, which is where the marketing battle really begins. The
brand loyalty concept has been somewhat overlooked, in the sense that many studies have only
been focused on the behavioral aspect.
Recent studies actively propose that brand loyalty shall take both behavioral and attitudinal
aspects into consideration in order to make it comprehensive. Because of the existence of brand
loyalty, it makes the brand choice and brand equity possible. For these particular reasons and
arguments, the topic was chosen regarding both celebrity endorsement and brand loyalty in
cosmetics advertising, with the aim to probe the relationship between them.
This study concerns celebrity endorsement in cosmetics advertisements and the creation of brand
loyalty, thus investigating the use of celebrities in advertising and the effect it has and if and how
it contributes to brand loyalty. It is based on customers perception of this type of advertising
technique in relation to the cosmetics industry, and two different types of brand loyalty,
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attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. The literature and theories used for investigating and
supporting this area mainly focused on the two most important concepts for this study, celebrity
endorsement and brand loyalty.
In order to review these two theories and support the research question, additional concepts
concerning endorsement, attitudes, behavior, brands and products were investigated and
evaluated. These in turn enabled the creation of a questionnaire, covering the area to be
scrutinized. For the purpose of this quantitative study, a self completion web based questionnaire
was carried out.
The sampling method used when sending out the web survey was of a non-probability nature.
The findings led to a conclusion confirming that neither brand loyalty nor attitudinal loyalty is
proved to be created by famous endorsers. Although, not bearing brand loyalty in mind, it can be
seen that the endorsers help customers to get to know a brand better.
The data findings also suggest that the costs of using celebrity endorsement are not reasonable in
relation to gaining respondents attitudinal loyalty. It is positively confirmed that both behavioral
and attitudinal loyalty should be included when measuring actual brand loyalty concerning
cosmetics brands.
In recent years, the plethora of use of celebrities in advertisements has become more prevalent
than ever. Marketers have the perception that this technique of persuasion is a winning formula
to build up brand image, to increase sales revenue, and to gain strong brand loyalty. We are
bombarded by a variety of different advertisements in our everyday life without having a choice
not to.
Celebrity endorsement is very popular and widely used in advertising. From magazines to TV
advertisements, from toothpaste to luxury goods, celebrity-endorsed products have penetrated
almost every aspect in our life. Famous endorsers appear in approximately 25 percent of all kinds
of television commercials to promote different products and brands, and roughly ten percent of
advertisers budgets are spent on the use of celebrity.
This phenomenon displays the popularity and importance of the practice on communicating
brand images, where the aim is to communicate the message to consumers in a suitable manner
in order to achieve best results possible.
A celebrity endorser can be described as follows: Any individual who enjoys public recognition
and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an
advertisement. Strictly defining a celebrity, it refers to a movie, TV star, or a singer. But in
broader meanings, any individual who is successful in the world of sports, business, art, politics,
and the military can be attributed into the group of celebrities.
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The celebrities themselves transfer their own personality and image to the brand and product
they are representing, generating a related image between themselves and the brand or product.
In order for the endorsement to be successful, there are three different attributes the celebrity
needs to communicate to the consumers.
These are; credibility, attractiveness and power, where credibility is represented by knowledge,
skills and expertise concerning the product/s, attractiveness includes likeability, familiarity and
similarity, and power enables the endorser to affect the consumer. The most important aspect
when practicing celebrity endorsement is the choice of celebrity, to see that the image and
personality projected on the brand and its existing image is suitable and enhancing.
The impact on and the outcome of the endorsement have to be well evaluated before, during and
after it takes place, with the intention of generating customers and creating brand loyalty. In
addition to likeability and recognition, celebrity endorsement can create new segments of
customers with a connection of some sort to the celebrity but with no previous attitude or
preference towards the brand. Celebrity endorsement is frequently used in the promotion of
cosmetic products. By using celebrities as endorsers in advertising for this specific type of
products, the company in question communicates the talent, beauty and perfection that are often
associated with famous actresses/actors, artists, etc.
This is something consumers can relate to in the sense that they can buy the particular product
and thereby achieve a connection to and find similarities with the endorsing celebrity.
Customers attitudes regarding brands and products are well enhanced by celebrities, but whether
it generates repeat purchase intention and brand loyalty is not so clear.
The use of celebrity endorsement is not a new innovation in the advertising industry, an industry
involving massive money investments. Marketers do certainly expect returns from their
investments, not only by increasing sales revenues but by something even more important in the
long run- brand loyalty.
As mentioned that celebrity endorsement can provide a great value in building strong brand
equity, but also improving a brands market position if the endorsers are used wisely. This
marketing strategy is a swift and valuable way to build up instant brand recognition.
It saves marketers a lot of time when trying to attain consumers awareness and draw attention to
the brand. This results in the marketers ultimate objective from all efforts put into the campaign,
to be attaining brand loyalty. Why is brand loyalty so important to marketers? A variety of
instruments are used in order to capture consumers attention, interests and loyalty.
They announced they were changing their 99-year-old formula. This abrupt behavior made it one
of the biggest risks within the consumer goods area. The company did not foresee the firestorm
coming, which ended up with returning to their original formula.
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This historical event makes marketers and companies wonder; how can companies generate
brand loyalty and how to keep it? Brand loyalty has the mystery power of attaining consumers
over and over again. At the beginning, consumers might buy a specific brand because of
objective reasons.
However, after a long time of being advertised and exposed on the market, the brand might
become part of the memory and also part of the consumers life. Consumers might associate the
brand with many different and important occasions throughout time . Therefore, brand loyalty
makes consumers deeply committed to a specific brand. This is something marketers are
constantly searching for by running a vast amount of different marketing campaigns.
This leads us to the question of what brand loyalty really is and how it is constituted. Brand
loyalty has always been the primary focus of the behavioral aspect. Many researchers have
suggested that brand loyalty is a conscious reflection of a repetitive purchasing behavior of the
same brand. However, a supplement to the definition of brand loyalty has been brought up in
recent years. They first brought up brand loyalty as consisting of more than just a physical
purchase.
In their experimental research, six essential traits were included in order to accurately define
loyalty:
Bias
Behavioral response
Expressed over time
By some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternative brands
A function of inertia
A function of a psychological (decision-making, evaluative) process .
This supplement to the original thoughts concerning brand loyalty clearly points out that
attitude should be included along with behavior to define loyalty. They further emphasized that
loyalty should consist of a favorable attitude in addition to a repeat purchase behavior. These
people argues in a recent research paper that they have clearly redefined the meaning of brand
loyalty, based on reviews and summaries from other researchers previous studies.
They suggested that true loyalty should consist of:(1) a favorable repeat purchase (behavioral) pattern, and
(2) a favorable disposition (attitude) towards the brand , thereby ,including both attitude and
there is no doubt celebrity endorsers influence consumers purchasing decision.
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If there is an inherent fit or consistency between a celebrity and a product, the endorsement is in
fact perfectly matched with the purpose of celebrity endorsement. However, there is no evidence
proving that the usage of celebrity endorsement will achieve stronger brand loyalty in
comparison to a non-use of celebrity endorsement.
In fact, consumers might pay more attention to celebrities in advertisements than the actual
product endorsed, which is not the marketers intention. As in most cosmetics advertisements,
physically attractive celebrities are especially recognized. They might exert a magnetic power to
consumers resulting in a behavioral purchase instead of true brand commitment. But whether or
not the purchase behavior will become repetitive is less clear .
Based on the advertisement for Edge disposable razors, a laboratory study found that the status
of celebrity endorsers was, to many consumers, not related to an assessment of the true value of
the product. The celebrity endorsers still served as a peripheral cue because they were adored
more than ordinary people.
However, a simple behavioral response cannot be considered as real brand loyalty, and the
behavioral response might easily be wavered by other factors if consumers do not have a strong
commitment to the brand.
Attractiveness remains important but the attraction of the celebrity is not the best way to build a
positive benefit for the brand pointed out in its report.
Cosmetics companies are putting themselves at risk as there are too many celebrity endorsed
products available to choose from for the consumers, causing confusion. Based on the findings in
a study, consumers are more willing to see anonymous spokespersons or experts in
advertisements, rather than the use of a celebrity endorser. In the test, 56 per cent of volunteers
were opting to buy a cosmetic product that was marketed by an unknown person.
The appropriate usage of celebrity endorsement should be supportive in building brand loyalty
but not function as a purpose of beautification. Moreover, celebrity endorsers should not be used
as an excuse of lazy marketing when marketers cannot think of better ways to promote .
Celebrity endorsers often appear in cosmetics advertisements but not all of them fully match with
the products or brands. The fact that they are famous might often be the only reason for a
marketer to choose a celebrity as a spokesperson.
They stated that the physical attractiveness of a celebrity endorser may only enhance both
product and ad-based evaluation if the products characteristics match-up with the image
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conveyed by the celebrity. Further empirical studies made based on the match-up hypothesis,
suggest that there is no evidence proving a general axiom in advertising saying what is beautiful
is good .
That is a too simplistic of a judgment for marketers and with no doubt important for celebrity
marketing. Celebrities, as a person or as a character, do convey a profound meaning in our life,
but to many ordinary people, the celebritys unreal attractiveness has fewer connections with the
situation in reality.
It is pleasant to see celebrities appearing in a number of cosmetics advertisements, but perhaps
not in every one. The meaning of many cosmetics advertisements is to serve as a social approval
message, which merely encourages people to respond by adding intangible pressure on them,
because the endorsers look too perfect in advertisements. Is it really necessary for us, as human
beings, to look perfect? The original purpose of using celebrities in advertising is mainly for the
support of attaining brand loyalty. Many prior researches have been done regarding celebrity
endorsement and brand loyalty separately.
However, there is no connection between a celebrity endorser and its effectiveness in creating
brand loyalty as yet. We do not know whether the prevalent usage of celebrities as endorsers in
especial cosmetics advertising has an effect on creating brand loyalty or not.
Even if it is effective, what kind of loyalty can it create? As we have discussed earlier, brand
loyalty should not only be defined by behavioral loyalty, which should also include attitudinal
loyalty. Therefore, this research aims to explore the connection between using celebrities and its
effectiveness in order to create brand loyalty in cosmetics advertisements.
The beauty and cosmetics sector is experiencing outstanding growth. It has been one of the
worlds leading industries. In India the cosmetic and toiletries market has developed rapidly. Our
country cosmetics market is reportedly growing at 15-20% annually. Specifically, Demand for
skin whitening products by men as well as women, is driving the trend, but other beauty products
are not far behind.
The growth of cosmetics and beauty products markets have surged significantly as consumers are
increasingly becoming aware about appearance, beauty grooming and choice of person al care
products.To meet consumers needs, manufacturers are likely to be aggressive across all
categories in cosmetics.
However, the concentration of new product launches will be particularly visible in dynamic
categories such as skin care and emerging categories such as mouthwashes/dental rinses.
Consumers buy products according to their needs, preferences and buying power. Consumer
buying behaviour depends on his perception, self concept, social and cultural background and
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their age and family cycle, their attitudes, beliefs values, motivation, personality, social class and
many other factors that are both internal and external .
Specifically, the attitudes of consumers can have a significant effect on buying behaviour. This
paper examines the influence of attitude on cosmetics buying behaviour. 1. The cosmetics sector
on the Chinese mainland has been growing at a fast pace in tandem with the rapid development
of the Chinese economy in recent years.
Data from Euromonitor reveals that total retail sales of skin care products and make-up products
in Countries reached Rmb131.4 billion and Rmb18.8 billion respectively in 2013, achieving
year-on-year growth of 9.1% and 7.3% respectively.
The retail sales of cosmetic products of enterprises above designated size in the wholesale and
retail trade in recent years. 2. Current structure of Countriess consumer market of cosmetic
products: Skin care products: skin care products represent the fastest growing sector in the
cosmetics market.Shampoos and hair care products: the shampoo and hair care products market
is becoming saturated and its growth has decelerated.
These many consumers who love sports and pursue body fitness are keen to maintain an
attractive appearance as well. They need sports cosmetics that can help prevent the loss of
moisture and are anti-odour, anti-sweat, anti-bacteria and of compact portable size.
Cosme-ceuticals, Consumers are increasingly aware of products which combine cosmetic and
pharmaceutical features, namely cosmeceuticals, such as spot lightening cream, acne treatment
lotion and acne ointment.
Green/natural cosmetics: these cosmetic products contain natural or nutritional ingredients such
as aloe and vitamins. Cosmetic products for men: the mens cosmetics sector exhibits strong
growth, in particular skin care products for men. According to estimates by Euromonitor, the
market of skin care products for men expanded by 15.4% year-on-year in 2013. Figures for 2013
from show that the male population accounted for 51.25% of the total in 2012. However, the
share of cosmetic products for men in the overall cosmetics market is relatively small. Oilcontrol and cleansing are the two major concerns with respect to mens skin care requirement.
For mens skin care products, while facial cleansers take the lions share in the market, demand
for specialty products like masks and sun-blocks is also on the rise, demonstrating that male
consumers are paying more attention to skin conditions such as aging and coarseness. 4.
Cosmeceuticals, especially herbal cosmetics, are opening up a new territory in the cosmetics
market.
By estimate, the cosmeceuticals sector on the mainland is growing at an annual rate of 10-20%.
Reportedly, more than 170 enterprises have tapped into Countriess cosmeceuticals market to
date, and many of these players are renowned pharmaceutical companies in Countries. While
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cosmeceuticals have medical properties, they are classified as cosmetics since there is still no
official definition for the term cosmeceuticals on the mainland.
According to the Regulations on the Hygienic Supervision over Cosmetics, no medical jargons
and wordings on the medical efficacy of products should be used in the packages and instructions
of cosmetic items. In the cosmetics market, consumers attitude has changed drastically.
Nowadays, consumers are more independent in making decisions. Instead of being influenced by
advertisement or promotional campaigns, they gather information through different channels and
consider various factors before picking the products that most suit their needs.
Besides, there are changes with consumer groups as well. Consumers can be grouped into three
major tiers, namely upper, middle and lower, based on their preference for brand, quality, price
as well as their own purchasing power. Buyers of imported brand products in the high-end
market are mostly high-income earners in large and medium-sized cities.
Most of them are young and middle-aged women who prefer famous cosmetics brands from
Europe, the US and Japan, etc. These figures show that the number of search terms in cosmetics
in the first three quarters of 2013 remained stable, reaching a daily average of 3.58 million times.
Product and brand information accounted for the largest shares of search terms in cosmetics in
the third quarter of 2013, reaching 35.2% and 15.7% respectively. Word-of-mouth comment,
which took up 13.66%, is the third most popular search category in cosmetics by internet users.
In terms of market positioning, mass-market brands drew the attention of 48.5% of netizens in
2013, followed by upmarket cosmetics (30.8%) and natural, bioactive products (15.0%). People
are increasingly aware of the safety issues of cosmetic products. Consumers, manufacturers and
regulatory authorities have been alarmed by a series of problems arising from unsafe products.
It is believed that the promulgation of the Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics and the Hygienic
Standard for Cosmetics Production Enterprises can help regulate the behaviour of cosmetics
manufacturers and protect the rights of consumers. The authenticity of cosmetic products,
particularly those purchased from online sources, is also an issue of wide concern. According to
the Countries Consumers Association, 6,698 cosmetics-related complaints were received in
2013, of which 4,085 involved quality problems.
All-natural DIY cosmetics are gaining popularity in recent years. Consumers purchase
ingredients themselves and tailor-make cosmetics and skin care products with their own
formulas. DIY cosmetics were intended for individual use to achieve self-sufficiency.
Today, however, they are increasingly commercialized, mass-produced and sold through ecommerce platforms like Taobao.com and Tmall.com. 10. According to Euromonitor, sales of
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antiperspirants classified as sports cosmetics -- amounted to Rmb614 million in Countries in

2013, registering 6.3% year-on-year growth.
The younger generation is the major consumer group for these products. In general, consumers
prefer scented formulas. Antiperspirants with Chinese medicine or fruit extracts are favored by
females. Those featuring mineral ingredients and cooling effects are more popular with male
users.
1.12.1 Consumers desire Education about Natural & Organic Claims
I ask myself many times how small companies like Paul Penders (small but still selling our
products to many countries in the world) can succeed in make you become more informed about
our products and values.This points out that consumers require more education about
effectiveness and claims of organic and natural cosmetics.
Consumers understand conventional cosmetic claims and are familiar with the brands associated
with these claims. They are more likely to buy brands with claims they understand over products
labeled organic or natural.
But consumers who buy organic and natural cosmetics admit that they know little about what is
an organic or a natural product. They say that these products appeal mostly to them because of
absence of negative ingredients.
They believe cosmetics are safe when they are free of ingredients they view as bad, such as
parabens, dyes and chemicals. They place trust in a brands reputation making brand familiarity
an important influence when buying cosmetics.Smaller brands like Paul Penders also can educate
organic shoppers more about the effectiveness of organic and natural ingredients. Many people in
the study of Kairos Consumer indicated a desire for this information.
A large number of cosmetic and toiletry formulations have been developed based on Indian
Herbs recently. Apart from traditionally documented applications, some modern trials have also
established the utility of Indian herbs in Personal Care products. Herbal Cosmetics, referred as
Products, are formulated, using various permissible cosmetic ingredients to form the base in
which one or more herbal ingredients are used to provide defined cosmetic benefits only, shall be
called as Herbal Cosmetics.
The demand of herbal medicines is increasing rapidly due to their lack of side effects.[1] The
best thing of the herbal cosmetics is that it is purely made by the herbs and shrubs. The natural
content in the herbs does not have any side effects on the human body; instead enrich the body
with nutrients and other useful minerals.
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By the European Directives 93/35/EEC ( European Commission ), the ,cosmetic products, are
defined as a any substance or preparation intended to be placed in contact with the various
external parts of the human body (epidermis, hair system, nails, lips and external genital organs)
or with the teeth.
Herbs have been used in maintaining and enhancing beauty since time immemorial. Plants and
plant extracts in cosmetics are used for purposes such as moisturizing, whitening, colouring,
sunscreen, antioxidant, immunostimulant, cleansing, etc.
The main advantage of herbal cosmetics is that the natural content in the herbs does not have any
side effects on the human body; instead they enrich the body with nutrients and other useful
minerals. Some common herbal cosmetics include creams, face packs, hair oils and coloring,
shampoos, lipsticks, perfumes, soaps, etc. As chemicals in cosmetics produce harmful side
effects, consumer preferences are shifting towards herbal cosmetics. Hence, the present study
was undertaken with the objective of assessing the usage of herbal cosmetics by selected women
subjects.
100 women aged between 18-65 years and using herbal products regularly for the past one year
were selected using purposive sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect information on the
use of herbal cosmetics. The findings revealed that majority of the subjects showed a marked
preference for herbal products such as hair oil, hair wash and colouring , face pack and face
cream. Other products such as body lotion, perfume, sunscreen, moisturizer, face wash and
cleanser/toner were mainly preferred in the non-herbal form.
Soap, face creams, sunscreen, anti aging products, cleanser, toner, body lotion, kajal and hair oil
were used daily while hair wash was used twice a week or once a week. Hair colouring was used
once a month by majority of the subjects. Among the herbal products used daily, face cream was
used by majority of the subjects, followed by hair oil and body lotion. Lack of side effect was the
main reason given by the subjects for using herbal cosmetics. Owing to the high cost of
commercial herbal cosmetics, higher cost was incurred by the subjects in purchasing these
products.
Therefore, products such as hair wash, hair oil, bathing powder, face pack, hair colouring and
kajal were prepared at home by some of the subjects. Thus, it can be concluded that as
consumers show a marked preference for herbal products, manufacturers and suppliers of herbal
products should adhere to quality control standards and good manufacturing practices to ensure
customer satisfaction.
Herbs have been used in maintaining and enhancing beauty since time immemorial. Plants and
plant extracts in cosmetics are used for purposes such as moisturizing, whitening, colouring,
sunscreen, antioxidant, immunostimulant, cleansing, preservatives, thickeners etc. (Blum et al.,
2007). Products that are formulated using various permissible cosmetic ingredients to form the
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base in which one or more herbal ingredients are used to provide defined cosmetic benefits only,
are called as Herbal Cosmetics.
The main advantage of herbal cosmetics is that the natural content in the herbs does not have
any side effects on the human body; instead they enrich the body with nutrients and other useful
minerals. In general, botanicals provide vitamins, antioxidants, tannins, alkaloids, proteins and
other bio active molecules. Antioxidant properties could enhance skin nutrition as well as whiten
the skin (Mary and Lupo, 2001).
In addition, some vitamins may be beneficial to the skin because of other actions such as effects
of suppression of pigmentation, stimulation of collagen production, refinement of keratinization,
or anti-inflammatory effects. The use of bioactive phytochemicals from a variety of botanicals
have dual function:
(i)they act as cosmetics for care of the body parts and
(ii)the botanical ingredients
present therein influence biological functions of skin and provide essential nutrients for healthy
skin and hair (Kapoor, 2005). Concern for environment and prevention of cruelty towards
experimental animals has become a sensitive issue. Most of the countries have banned testing on
animals. Countries in the European Union have decided to stop animal testing by 2013.
The concern in this area is not only the use of animals for laboratory testing but also with the use
of materials and ingredients derived from animal sources. Due to the growing pressure from
vegetarians, religious groups and animal rights groups, there is a requirement of writing nonanimal tested, contains no animal ingredients, etc. on the label of the product. The awareness
towards environmental issues and a trend towards green politics and consumerism have
developed public opinion to a degree where products may be accepted or rejected according to
their environmental performance (Sanju Nanda, 2005).
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act (1940) is concerned with the standards and quality of drugs and
cosmetics manufactured and sold in India (Srikanth, 2011). However when purchasing
cosmetics, consumers must be cautious of possible side effects, even if the product is labeled
natural. The California Department of Human Services found in a random sample of herbal
stores that nearly one third of these natural remedies contained heavy metals such as lead, arsenic
and mercury.
The poor regulation on cosmetic products, not only in India but even in developed countries like
USA, leaves the consumers vulnerable. Thus, there is a need for greater regulation of the
natural products regarding labeling, advertising and industry standards. Presently, masses are
drifting towards herbal cosmetics, as numerous reports have come in on the harmful side effects
of chemicals. Soaps may irritate the skin by removing natural oils and may produce redness,
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soreness, cracking and scaling and papular dermatitis. Hydroquinone, which is commonly used
in skin lightening creams, is reported to have caused patchy de-pigmentation, hyper pigmentation
of the face and brown discoloration of the nails (Oebuekwe, 2004). In animal tests some
phthalates cause malformations of the reproductive tract and are found in hair spray and
deodorants.
The following table , summarizes the effect of chemicals in cosmetics on health and the
ecosystem. Table 1. Effect of chemicals in cosmetics on health and the ecosystem Product
Chemicals present Effect Hair colouring Coal tar dyes: pphenylenedi amine May cause cancer
Moisturizers and shampoos. cocamide DEA and lauramide DEA Harmful to fish and other
wildlife Nail enamel Dibutyl phthalate Suspected endocrine disruptor and reproductive toxicant.
Harmful to fish and other wildlife Hair products and lip sticks Petrolatum may cause cancer
Shampoos and cleansers Sodium laureth sulfate may cause cancer cleansers and antiperspirants
Triclosan Suspected endocrine disruptor and may contribute to antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Harmful to fish and other wildlife Cosmetics made up of herbal extracts for fairness, cleansing
and hair-care are very popular. Some common herbal cosmetics include creams, face packs, hair
oils and coloring, shampoos, lipsticks, perfumes, soaps, etc.
The demand for cosmetics, particularly in urban population is steadily rising owing to various
reasons such as better purchasing power, concern for looking better, nature of job, influence of
advertisements and in general, availability of a wide range of cosmetic products. As chemicals in
cosmetics have produced harmful side effects, consumers focus is towards herbal cosmetics.
Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the usage of herbal
cosmetics by selected women subjects.
One-fourth of the subjects indicated longer shelf life as one of the reasons for preferring herbal
products and that they can be prepared at home .Most of the subjects prepared their own hair
wash powder from shikakai and a combination of hibiscus leaves, dried flowers, soap nut, amla,
fenugreek etc., (Table 6). Bathing powder was prepared by 14 subjects from whole green gram,
turmeric, dried flowers, etc. Henna was mainly used for colouring the hair and the subjects used
powdered henna leaves mixed with coffee or tea decoction to colour their hair.
Hair oil was prepared by heating coconut oil with dried hibiscus leaves, curry leaves, and other
herbs. Preparation of these cosmetics at home has been a family tradition; moreover, it is much
economical to prepare these cosmetics at home. This could be the reason why the subjects
preferred to make their own cosmetics. Majority of the subjects spent in both the groups spent<
Rs 500/- on cosmetics. The reason for this could be that some of the herbal products were
prepared by the subjects themselves, as discussed earlier. However, more
The cost of herbal and non herbal cosmetics is presented in table 7. Herbal cosmetics are
manufactured by various companies like Himalaya, Ayur, Shanaz Hussain, VLCC, Biotique and
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Lotus. The popular non herbal brands in India are Lakme, Dove, Eyetex dazzler, and
international brands like Loreal, Maybelline, and Revlon etc. For the present study, Shanaz
hussain products were selected from herbal range and Hindustan Lever products were selected
from non herbal for comparison of cost.
Perusal of the table reveals that the cost of herbal cosmetics is considerably higher, due to the
higher cost of ingredients and processing techniques. However, more consumers prefer to use
herbal cosmetics in spite of their high cost, due to the safety factor associated with herbal
products.
A large number of cosmetic and toiletry formulations have been developed based on Indian
Herbs recently. The present study reveals the preferences of consumers for herbal products,
mainly due to increased consciousness about the harmful side effects of chemical cosmetics.
The formulation of herbal cosmetic products includes addition of various natural additives like
oils, natural colour, fragrances and parts of plants like leaves, flowers etc by specific formulation
methods. Quality control for efficacy and safety of herbal cosmetic products is of paramount
importance However, herbal cosmetics are not considered under the preview of drugs and
regulations of Food and Drug Administrations. There is need to enhance the regulations of safety
information and control standards of cosmetics in India.
Therefore, strict guidelines have to be followed for the successful production of a quality herbal
cosmetic. Among them are proper botanical identification, phytochemical screening, and
standardization. It is extremely important to establish good agricultural, harvesting, and
manufacturing practices for herbal starting materials in order to minimize deterioration and
contamination through adulteration, especially microbial contamination. Therefore,
manufacturers and suppliers of herbal products should adhere to quality control standards and
good manufacturing practices to ensure customer satisfaction.
Cosmetic relates to the treatment intended to improve person appearance outwardly. Different
consumers have got different perception towards buying cosmetic. With the changing times and
the consumer demands, organization should be more customer oriented.
Marketers must study the customer taste, preferences, wants, shopping and buying behavior
because such study provide clue for developing new products, price, product changes, messages
IPE Journal of Management, , Institute of Public Enterprise and other marketing mix element
which help in the growth of organization.
Thus studying the consumer behavior is a very complex process, as it involves not only the
economic factors but also the emotional factors. Being a long glowing heritage of cosmetic and
beauty, aesthetic makeup products is used since times immemorial and of late being a booming.
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preference towards herbal cosmetics in the context of increasing consumption of such products.
A non-probabilistic convenience sampling method has been used for this survey. The findings of
the study indicate various parameters which consumers consider important in purchasing herbal
cosmetics.
It has also been observed that gender and marital status play important role in consumer
preference towards herbal cosmetics whereas frequency, occupation and age have little or no
impact on preference of herbal cosmetics. The study also found that beauty appeal is the most
prominent factor affecting the product preference amongst trend and health.
An interesting finding which is supporting the fact and proven theory of role of advertisements in
influencing the behavior of people towards buying cosmetic is that the majority have expressed
their consent on the positive role of advertisements and recommendation of peer groups. The
study helps producers and marketers of herbal cosmetics products to take various decisions
regarding product, distribution and promotion aspects of the marketing mix.
preference towards herbal cosmetics in Dehradun region of Uttarakhand in the context of
increasing consumption of such products. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling method has
been used for this survey. The findings of the study indicate various parameters which consumers
consider important in purchasing herbal cosmetics.
It has also been observed that gender and marital status play important role in consumer
preference towards herbal cosmetics whereas frequency, occupation and age have little or no
impact on preference of herbal cosmetics. The study also found that beauty appeal is the most
prominent factor affecting the product preference amongst trend and health.
An interesting finding which is supporting the fact and proven theory of role of advertisements in
influencing the behavior of people towards buying cosmetic is that the majority have expressed
their consent on the positive role of advertisements and recommendation of peer groups. The
study helps producers and marketers of herbal cosmetics products to take various decisions
regarding product, distribution and promotion aspects of the marketing mix.
Suzanne Anich of Minneapolis, MN, has a morning routine similar to that of many women. She
shampoos and conditions her hair with products that contain natural ingredients, according to
the labels. She brushes her teeth, then washes her face with an upscale facial wash with the word
purity emblazoned across the jar. Then, she applies an anti-aging moisturizer and what she
calls a low-maintenance selection of makeup.
Suzanne was surprised to find out that nearly all of the personal care products she uses on her
face and body contain ingredients suspected of causing cancer; potential neuro-, liver-, and
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immunotoxins; and suspected hormone disruptors that could cause birth defects in any children
she might bear in the future.
Im shocked that the US government allows these
products to be put on store shelves, Suzanne says. Ill be
throwing out most of my make-up and starting over. Its too
bad, because the stuff I used seemed to work welltoo bad
the people who make them dont seem to care about their
customers well-being.
Fortunately, its easier than ever to find products that wont
endanger your healthand companies that do care about
their customers well-being. Heres what you need to know
about the personal care products you may be using and what your alternatives are.
1.12.2 Regulated or Not?
Like Suzanne, many consumers may be surprised to learn that the US federal government
doesnt require health studies or pre-market testing on personal care products. Manufacturers are
free to put just about anything they want into cosmeticsa far-reaching category used by the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include everything from make-up and deodorant to
lotions and mouthwashes.
Instead, the safety (or not) of the ingredients in these products is looked into almost exclusively
by a manufacturer-controlled safety committee called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR)
panel. Consequently, 89 percent of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not
been evaluated for safety by the CIR, the FDA, nor any other publicly accountable institution,
says the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The absence of government oversight for this $35 billion industry leads to companies routinely
marketing products with ingredients that are poorly studied, not studied at all, or worse, known
to pose potentially serious health risks.
For example, EWG found ingredients certified by the US government as known or probable
carcinogens in one of every 120 cosmetic products on the market, including shampoos, lotions,
make up foundations, and lip balm. What this adds up to, says the group, is that one of every 13
women
and one of every 23 men are exposed to ingredients that are known or probable human
carcinogens every day through their use of personal care products.
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Also of particular concern are the inclusion of phthalatesa group of industrial chemicals linked
to birth defects that are used in many cosmetic products, from nail polish to deodorant.
Phthalates are not listed as ingredients on product labels; they can only be detected through
laboratory analysis.
In April of this year, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC)a coalition of environmental,
social justice, and consumer groupslearned that the FDA has completed a study on the safety
of phthalates in cosmetics but is refusing to release its findings. According to preliminary
information uncovered by the CSC, two-thirds of health and beauty products analyzed by the
FDA late last year contained phthalates.
Two of the most toxic phthalates, DBP and DEHP, have been banned from cosmetics products
sold in the European Union (EU) but remain unregulated in the US. In response to the FDAs
refusal to publicly release this information, Friends of the Earth, a founding member of the CSC,
has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the study.
Another class of chemicals thats gotten some press recently is parabens, short for para
hydroxybenzoate. These preservatives are widely used in cosmetics, particularly nail polish.
Recent studies have implicated parabens as being associated with breast cancer, though more
testing is needed.
Though there isnt always definitive evidence that a given chemical can cause adverse health
affects, the fact that so few have been studied for safety is of significant concern. Plus, theres the
effect over time of all these chemicals were applying to our bodies to consider. The average
persons morning routine puts him/her into contact with over 100 chemicals before breakfast,
according to Aubrey Hampton and Susan Hussey, founder and vice-president of marketing,
respectively, of Aubrey Organics. The cumulative effect of all of the chemicals in these products
can add up over time, and no one truly knows what the results are.
Signs of Hope
There are signs of hope that the cosmetics industry could be poised for a major overhaul,
however:
Major Companies Phase Out Phthalates: Under pressure from the CSC, top cosmetics
companies LOral, Revlon, and Unilever recently said they have voluntarily removed phthalates
DBP and DEHP from products sold in the US. Avon, Procter & Gamble, and Este Lauder
agreed to remove phthalates from their products in 2004.
FDA Gets Tough: By law, companies are required to post a warning label on products that have
not been assessed for safety. In the past, most companies havent adhered to this law. But last
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February, the FDA issued an unprecedented warning to the cosmetics industry stating that it will
be taking steps to enforce the label law. Such an enforcement action could ultimately require
companies to issue consumer warnings for the more than 99 percent of personal care products on
the market that have not been publicly assessed for safety, says the EWG.
The EU Gets Tougher: This past September, an amendment to the EUs Cosmetics Directive
took hold, which requires companies doing business in Europe to eliminate chemicals in their
cosmetics that are known or strongly suspected of being carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive
toxins. Of the thousands of questionable chemicals in these products, the directive targets about
450. (Compare that to the nine chemicals the FDA has banned or restricted in personal care
products.)
California Follows the EUs Lead: Hoping to emulate the EUs efforts, California state senator
Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) has introduced the California Safe Cosmetic Act of 2005. This
bill would require manufacturers peddling cosmetic products in California to provide the state
Department of Health Services with a list of their products and to identify products that contain
chemicals identified as carcinogens or reproductive toxins. And another recent bill (AB 908),
introduced by Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), would ban phthalates DBP and
DEHP from cosmetics sold in the state.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: Thc CSC is calling on all cosmetics companies to phase the
chemicals banned from the EU out of products sold in the US. Visitwww.safecosmetics.org to
help the CSC call on companies to be responsible. Consumers have real power theyre not
exercising, Janet Nudelman of the CSC told Dragonfly Media. We need to let cosmetics
companies know were not going to buy their products unless they make a strong commitment to
safety.
What to Look For
Heres how to find the safest personal care products for you and your family:
Be Suspicious of Labels: Though words like natural or hypoallergenic look reassuring, on
some products, theyre basically meaningless. The FDA has no control over these labels.
Products labeled natural, for example, may contain some natural ingredients, but they may also
include synthetic dyes and fragrances. Hypoallergenic merely means that the most common
irritants are left out, but other potentially problematic chemicals may still be in the mix.
Fragrance-free means a product has no perceptible odorsynthetic ingredients may still be
added to mask odors.
Scrutinize Ingredients: The EWG recently launched its Skin Deep online database, making it
easier than ever to check the safety of over 7,500 personal care products, from OPI nail polish to
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Aveda shampoo to Johnsons Baby Oil. Scorecard lets you know about known and suspected
health effects caused by hundreds of chemicals, along with the sources (often government
agencies) that have questioned each chemical.
Go Organic: Cosmetics that contain certified organic ingredients generally contain mainly
natural ingredients, including those that have been grown without the use of toxic pesticides.
Unfortunately, organic doesnt necessarily mean problem-free. Even organic companies need to
keep their products from rotting away on store shelves, in warehouses, and in your medicine
cabinet. Some may turn to synthetic chemicals to keep their products fresh and useful. Be sure to
check the ingredients list on your favorite organic products.
The Compact for Safe Cosmetics: To date, 87 companies have signed the CSCs Compact for
Safe Cosmetics, pledging to phase the 450 chemicals banned by the EU out of all of their
products. The vast majority of them are organic and natural products companiesincluding
members of Green Americas Business Network, who are screened for their commitment to
going the extra mile to protect their workers, consumers, communities, and the environment. In
addition, cosmetics giants LOral and Revlon say their cosmetics now comply with European
law, though they havent signed the compact. You can find a list of the companies who have
signed.
The very best option is to find a cosmetics company that has signed the CSCs compact and
uses certified organic and natural ingredients. Those companies are listed in the box on this page,
and many have products that are readily available at natural products and food stores,
as well as online or by mail order.
One such company is EcoColors, which sells almost all-natural commercial and home hair dye
kits made with organic ingredients. When I became pregnant with my son in 1990, I was a
hairdresser doing five colors a day in the salon and teaching hair color at night, says Lisa Saul,
president of EcoColors. I started getting rashes on my wrists and having sinus issues, and I
thought, If these chemicals are doing this to me, what are they doing to my child?
That question led her to found her company, and it also takes her to the lab on a regular basis,
where she works on pinpointing problematic hair dye ingredients and making her companys
products as safe as possible.
Ive known so many people whove gotten hurt by the chemicals in different products, she
says. So Im committed to making sure hairdressers and my customers are using things that are
healthy for them.
The label is gaining popularity in the Asian cosmetics industry. Targeted at the growing Muslim
population, adoption rates are rising. However, there are questions whether it is meeting the
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growing ethical needs of consumers.

As will be shown at the Asia-Pacific edition of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, global sales
of Halal-certified cosmetics and personal care products are estimated at above USD 5 billion. A
growing number of cosmetic and ingredient firms are taking up Halal certification in Asia. The
highest adoption rates are in Muslim countries where multinationals that include ColgatePalmolive and Avon have launched certified products. International chemical firms
like BASF and CP Kelco are also getting ingredients certified for these markets.
At present, 57 certification agencies are authorised to certify products according to the Halal
cosmetics standard. Although the highest adoption rates are in countries like Malaysia and
Indonesia, certification is also catching on in Europe and North America. In the latter regions, a
growing number of Muslim consumers are interested in Halal-certified products. However, these
products often fall short in terms of their ecological credentials as the formulations are similar to
conventional cosmetics.
Realising this, some companies have started to formulate natural / organic cosmetics with Halal
certification. Saaf Pure Skincare was launched in the UK to appeal to Muslim consumers seeking
organic skincare products that adhere .The products are certified organic and certified Halal. The
brand is developing an international presence, with products exported to Europe, the Middle-East
and North America.
Organic Monitor sees high potential for such products in the Middle-East and Asia. In many of
these countries, the market for natural & organic cosmetics is growing by over 20% a year.
Rising consumer affluence, coupled with growing knowledge of cosmetic ingredients, is making
consumers pay a premium for cosmetics that meet their ethical / religious beliefs.
However, they have to decide between Halal-certified conventional cosmetics and natural &
organic products not meeting Sharia rules. With a lack of local brands of natural & organic
cosmetics in these regions, there is a clear gap in the marketplace. A major challenge is
formulating cosmetic products that meet two or more standards, as many European brands have
discovered.
The potential of halal cosmetics, and formulation challenges of developing natural & organic
personal care products, will be taking place in Hong Kong on 12-13th November, the summit
will discuss the growing role of labels (Halal, natural, organic, cruelty-free, etc.) in the Asian
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cosmetics industry. The aim of the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit is to encourage sustainability
in the beauty industry by bringing together key stake-holders and debate major sustainability
issues in a high-level forum.
The properties, behaviour, and biological effects of nanomaterials may be influenced by a

number of physicochemical parameters. Thorough characterisation of nanomaterials therefore
forms an integral part of the risk assessment. In the first place, the characterisation data presented
in a safety dossier must demonstrate that it relates to the same (or justifiably comparable)
nanomaterial that is intended for use in a cosmetic product.
The characterisation is considered a very important aspect in relation to the identification of the
nanomaterial tested. Therefore, a clear statement should be provided to indicate that the data
relate to the same nanomaterial which is intended for use in the final product. Therefore, where
the data relate to a different nanomaterial, or a different form of the same nanomaterial,
justification should be provided to show that there is sufficient similarity between the
nanomaterials to consider the data for risk assessment.
It is also of utmost importance that the physicochemical status of a nanomaterial in a cosmetic
product is determined at different stages. Each nanomaterial has a specific (bio)chemical
composition of its core and surface, as well as a physical structure of its surface. The behaviour,
interaction, fate and effects of a nanomaterial are inevitably influenced both by the nanodimensions (size, morphology, surface area) and the nature of the chemical(s) that make up the
nanomaterial.
A nanomaterial may pose a hazard to health and/or the environment not only due to inherent
chemical composition, but also due to the nano-features, including surface composition which
may modulate the uptake, toxicokinetics and effects. It is also important to note that any nanorelated properties are intrinsically linked to the physical integrity of the nano-structure of a
nanomaterial.
Where a nanomaterial loses the nano-structure e.g. in a formulation, a test medium, or
biological surface/environment, due to solubilisation, breakdown or degradation, it will no longer
be expected to behave any differently from its non-nano equivalent. It may still pose a
toxicological hazard at the local level because of its chemical constituents, or at systemic level if
before disintegration the nanostructure delivered the chemical constituents to a biological site
where such a concentration of the conventional form would have not reached.
Determining stability of the nanomaterial under experimental conditions is therefore of prime
importance for the interpretation of any test results. Stability may be measured in terms of
dissociation constants, dissolution rates, and solubilities of a nanomaterial in the final cosmetic
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product and in the media/ vehicle(s) used in exposure/ hazard evaluations and should be
determined by appropriate physicochemical methods. In addition, determining stability of the
nanomaterial surface is also important, as certain reactions, e.g. oxidation/ hydroxylation, may
take place during handling/storage which may modulate the interactions of the nanomaterial with
biological systems.
As the physicochemical parameters may change in various environments, the EFSA Guidance
(2011) recommends that characterisation of nanomaterials should ideally be determined in five
stages i.e. as manufactured (pristine state), as delivered for use in food products, as present in the
food matrices, as used in toxicity testing, and as present in biological fluids and tissues during
testing.
The SCCS recommends that, as a minimum, characterisation of nanomaterials intended for use
in a cosmetic product should include description of the pristine nanoparticles as produced, as
added to the cosmetic product, and as present during exposure for toxicological assessment, i.e.:
1. in the raw material form as manufactured
2. after addition to a final cosmetic formulation
3. during toxicological investigations If characterisation of nanomaterial at any of these stages is
not feasible, for example, due to the lack of methods, or due to degradation of the nanomaterial,
it should be justified and documented.
The selection of key physicochemical parameters that can adequately describe a nanomaterial,
and selection of characterisation methods that can be used to measure them, will depend on the
composition, properties, and intended use(s) of the nanomaterial. Due to the current gaps in
knowledge in regard to possible relationship(s) between physicochemical properties and adverse
health effects of nanomaterials, it is difficult to identify a shortlist of priority parameters for
characterisation of nanomaterials.
However, this has been the subject of discussions by several international expert committees and
working groups, the reports of which have been considered in preparation of this Guidance
Document. The key reports considered in this regard include those published by the OECD
Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN, 2009 and WPMN, 2010), the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO 10808:2010), the EUs Scientific Committee
on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR, 2009), the EUs Scientific
Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP, 2007), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA,
2011), the EUs guidance documents on REACH (RIP-oNs), and relevant report of the ICCR
Working Groups .
In addition, a document providing Cosmetic Industrys perspective on specific characteristics of
the safety assessment of nanomaterials used in cosmetic products (2010) was also considered.
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These expert reports have identified certain physicochemical parameters as important in relation
to safety assessment of nanomaterials.
As mentioned before, a thorough physicochemical characterisation of nanomaterials is critical in
supporting the risk assessment, and needs to be carried out at different stages (see above). In
general, characterisation of a nanomaterial in a cosmetic formulation is more difficult compared
to characterisation in a raw material, and even more challenging when the nanomaterial is
contained in a biological matrix or has been released to the ecosphere.
Depending on the concentration of nanomaterial contained in a formulation/matrix, and the
nature of the formulation/ matrix, a suitable characterisation scheme may be needed that includes
isolation, purification and concentration steps (if necessary) before analysis of the nanomaterial.
Characterisation in a cosmetic product should also provide information on any changes in the
nanomaterial characteristics during formulation, e.g. in terms of primary/ secondary particle
sizes, chemical composition, surface characteristics, etc.
These parameters should also be considered when evaluating stability and shelf life of a
nanomaterial ingredient in a final product. Similar care is needed during toxicological
evaluations. Parameters such as size, aggregation states, surface charge, coatings and other
properties may change in different solvents, test media, and biological environments.
Therefore, conditions under which measurements are made should be given a careful
consideration, and documented at every stage of production and on the shelf, and should be
provided in the dossier. Where needed, the SCCS may ask for provision of a detailed description
of the production processes, any surface modifications, and the preparatory steps carried out for
integrating the nanomaterials in the final cosmetic products to facilitate risk assessment.
A wide range of analytical methods is available for measuring the physicochemical parameters of
conventional chemical substances. Some of these methods can also be used (or adapted) for
detection and characterisation of nanomaterials.
The most relevant methods for nanomaterial characterisation are based on light scattering (e.g.
DLS), microscopy (e.g. TEM, SEM), size separation and extraction (e.g. (ultra) centrifugation,
FFF, HDC), and chemical analysis/ detection by spectroscopic or mass spectrometric techniques
(e.g. ICP-MS, UV spectroscopy, AAS); surface area determination (BET), and their different
variants and combinations. Methods for in situ imaging of nanomaterials, e.g. magnetic particle
imaging (MPI) and positron emission tomography (PET), are currently under development.
Similarly, antibody, binding protein, and enzyme based methods are also under development for
organic or coated-inorganic nanomaterials.
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Main methods for characterisation of nanomaterials have been listed in Table 1, and additional
details have been provided in the recent ICCR WG report (2011a), and other documents (EFSA
2011).
It is important to note that currently there is no single method that can be regarded a gold
standard for characterisation of the different physicochemical parameters of nanomaterial as
such, nor is there one suited to fully assess a nanomaterial in a cosmetic product. The exact
choice of analytical method(s) to measure a parameter will be dependent on the chemical
composition and the physical form of individual nanomaterials. However, as pointed out in a
recent EFSA Guidance (2011), a carefully chosen portfolio of established analytical techniques,
should provide adequate data for the purpose, provided that measurements are carried out
properly, and results are backed up by appropriate documentation.
In this regard, electron microscopy techniques provide a very useful visual means for the
determination of the particle shape and size, of which size is the common denominator of all
nanomaterials.
Electron microscopy can also be linked with spectroscopic or spectrometric methods to provide
more information on both particle size/shape as well as chemical composition of nanomaterials.
The EFSA Guidance (2011) and OECD (2010), recommend that the determination of
nanomaterial size parameters should include the use of an electron microscopy method.
The SCCS also recommends that size parameters for nanoscale ingredients intended for use in
cosmetic products should be measured by at least two methods, one being electron microscopy
(preferably high resolution TEM).
With regard to characterisation of nanomaterials, it is important to note that different
measurement techniques may yield slightly different results. This is due to the different
characteristics of the measurements of the very small dimensions, and/or the low amount of
material.
Furthermore, these differences reflect the differences in the aggregation/ agglomeration
behaviour of nanomaterials during different sample handling/ preparation procedures, dilutions,
or dispersions used in different methods, and/or the different measurement principles applied in
individual methods (Domingos et al., 2009).
It is therefore important to ensure that sample preparation is carried out in a consistent manner to
obtain reproducible results, and to allow a comparison between the results of different samples
analysed by a specific analytical method, or by different methods. In line with the EFSA
Guidance (2011), method performance parameters to be determined and documented should
include criteria such as specificity, selectivity, recovery, repeatability, reproducibility, and limits
of detection/ quantification.
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Where possible, existing guidelines (e.g. IUPAC, 2002) should be taken into account, or adapted
from guidelines available for that specific material or product category if no specific guideline is
applicable for a nanomaterial. The use of a method that differs from internationally agreed
protocols should be justified and documented.
At present certified reference nanomaterials are only available for size determinations (gold,
silica). It is preferable to use certified reference materials as internal standards in the analyses.
However, where certified reference materials are not available, self-generated standards may be
used instead, provided that details are documented.
Exposure assessment and the identification of potential exposure routes form the first crucial
decision point in the overall risk assessment (Figure 1). The exposure assessment for ingredients
in cosmetic products as described in the SCCS Notes of Guidance is a general approach that
applies to nanomaterials as well. There is currently no indication that the use of
consumer/cosmetic products that contain nanomaterials is likely to be any different from the use
of other products that contain conventional ingredients.
This means that default values in relation to exposure e.g. used amounts, will be the same to
those considered for cosmetic products as provided in the Notes of Guidance. If the systemic
exposure is estimated by using in vitro or in vivo experiments, the initial focus may be on
determining the likelihood and extent of translocation of nanomaterials across skin, lung, or
gastrointestinal barriers (as appropriate) whilst mimicking the actual use scenarios, with due
considerations to nano-aspects.
In this respect, the exposure dose needs to be carefully addressed, particularly when a nonphysiological administration is chosen; e.g. intratracheal instillation as a surrogate for inhalation,
or gavage as a surrogate for ingestion.
Measuring the effects of nanomaterials on compromised skin poses a challenge due to the current
lack of standardised model(s) that can be used to generate results that are reproducible and can
be used to compare studies carried out within a laboratory and between different laboratories. In
view of this, OECD (2011) has recommended studies on intact, healthy skin. According to
OECD (2004a), absorption studies should be conducted using healthy animals or intact healthy
skin in vitro (OECD 2004b).
This is also reflected by the recommendation to perform skin integrity checks, as described in the
current guidelines for in vitro skin penetration studies (OECD 2004a, SCCS, 2010a, 2010b).
Where studies on compromised skin are specifically required, the models used should be well
characterised to generate reproducible results, and appropriate controls should be included in the
studies. Urgent research is needed to develop appropriate test models of compromised skin that
can be reliably used to assess possible absorption of cosmetic ingredients, including
nanoparticulate materials.
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For conventional cosmetic ingredients, in cases where no (adequate) information is available on

dermal absorption, the SCCS assumes 100% absorption. In cases where molecular weight of the
ingredient is >500 Da and log Pow <-1 or >4, a value of 10% dermal absorption is considered.
These rules are, however, not likely to be relevant for most nanomaterials and therefore the 10%
default absorption will not be applicable.
In view of this, dermal absorption of nanomaterials will need to be determined experimentally
(see annex). The determination of systemic absorption of conventional cosmetic ingredients is
generally carried out by chemical analysis of the receptor fluid or of blood/tissues. However,
chemical analysis does not always provide information on the particle nature of the penetrated
material.
Thus, if chemical analysis indicates systemic absorption, further investigations will be required
to confirm whether the absorbed material was in a particle form or in solubilised/metabolised
form.
Where absorption of particles cannot be excluded either by experimental data, or justified on the
basis of solubility/degradation of the nanomaterial, the SCCS may apply a default approach and
assume that 100% of the absorbed material was in particle form. This, however, does not imply
that the particulate form of a chemical is always associated with a greater toxicity potential.
Depending on the chemical composition of the nanomaterial, certain solubilised/metabolised
forms may be more toxic than the corresponding particulate forms, which needs to be taken into
account for the safety assessment.
There is a man in New Orleans who is said to have an answer to the fading bloom and gradual
ruin that tell the tale in all our faces of the years we have seen. His name is Don Owen, he is an
ex-Vietnam fighter pilot as well as a scientist who runs three biotech companies, and his
cheerleaders would have us believe that he may have found the key to lifelong youth and bottled
it.
A genuine elixir of youth is something for which the immensely wealthy cosmetics industry
would pay good money. But the big companies will hesitate to knock on the door of Owen's
biotech enterprise with an open chequebook, even though their own research labs are looking in
the same scientific direction.
As yet, this is not something to be sold in an expensively elegant package across an upmarket
department store counter. Owen's potion, called Agera Rx, is not a fragrant, magic unguent that
can be smoothed across the cheeks and turn back the years overnight. It could make your skin
peel and look worse before you look better. It could take four months to see a difference.
At the moment, it is handed out only in skincare clinics in the UK by someone who is medically
qualified. But this is the future - a biochemical compound with the ability to penetrate deeper
into our protective layers of skin than any cosmetic product before.
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And its arrival - and likely imitation and refinement for the high street or shopping mall - raises
important and urgent questions about what we are doing to our bodies and to our environment in
the name of beauty.
Owen is using nanotechnology - the science of the microscopically minute. Most creams cannot
get far through the barrier of skin that protects us from the outside environment. Very tiny
particles can.
Nanotechnology is the next new thing in cosmetics and skincare. Owen may be ahead of the
field, but he's not alone. Very small particles of titanium dioxide (although at 2,000 nanometers,
they are 10 times larger than his) are already being used in sunscreens, because they disappear
completely into the skin, providing an invisible protective layer.
L'Oral, one of the biggest research players, is investigating the delivery of vitamin E into the
skin through nanoparticles, while Este Lauder's Clinique brand already has a serum that
contains them.
Some toxicologists are alarmed by this trend. The skin is a barrier for a reason - to keep harmful
substances out. If nanoparticles can penetrate, will they end up in the bloodstream and brain?
Will they do damage? Will other less welcome substances piggy-back on those tiny particles?
And what will happen if a number of different nanoparticles, from our hand cream, sunscreen
and foundation, join in the swim together?
Where Owen's research scientists might legitimately go, do we want the entire, profit-led, selfregulated cosmetics industry to follow? Ask the major cosmetics companies whether their
nanoparticles will penetrate the skin to reach the bloodstream or circulate around the body, and
they instantly say no. They insist that their chemical compounds will not go further than the first
layer - the stratum corneum.
But Owen is not afraid to voice a different view. He has entered skincare from a medical
background, where nanoparticles are already being successfully used to deliver drugs across the
blood-brain barrier. He has doctorates in pharmacology and organic chemistry, and one of his
biotech companies, Vital Assist, is devoted to preserving human organs for transplantation. It
was there that they made the discovery that took them into the cosmetics field.
"We kept spilling our artificial blood on the skin and it went right through the skin before we
could wash it off," says Owen. "We knew we had an interesting skincare delivery system. I
ended up developing Agera to use that technology."
So where was the artificial blood going? Did it reach the veins to merge with the real thing? Of
course it did, says Owen. "Twenty years ago, we did not have the technology to monitor blood
parts per million. Now, we can monitor parts per billion. Frankly, everything goes everywhere.
When you wash your hair or brush your teeth, you are putting agents into the bloodstream. So I
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think the issue is not whether it goes into the system, but does it go into the bloodstream in any
significant amounts?"
There's no point trying to turn back the clock, he says. "We live in a chemical soup, quite frankly.
I think we always have, whether you are smearing bear grease on your skin or one of our refined
products."
He says there could be a problem if these tiny particles delivered large concentrations of a
product, and he thinks that there needs to be better scientific scrutiny of the newer technologies.
"Ninety-eight per cent of the cosmetic companies out there, because we have done away with
animal testing, they don't do any testing," he says.
If nanotechnology is the delivery system, what Agera Rx delivers are growth peptides - synthetic
versions of the body's protein messengers that instruct cells to regenerate. At the age of 20 or 30,
you have loads of them. By 50-plus, they are in short supply. Another of Owen's companies,
Therapeutic Peptides, manufactures the growth peptides and sells some of them, although not
those he uses in Agera Rx, to cosmetic companies.
The technology of growth peptides is already five or six years old, says Owen. More recently, he
has found a way to stimulate cells to produce their own growth factors. But there are two types
(at least) of growth peptides - those that instruct cells to regenerate on a daily basis, and the
much more lively sort involved in wound healing. You have to make sure you trigger the gentle
daily repair variety.
Even so, Owen insists that there's no danger of over-stimulating cells into the manic pattern of
unstoppable division that produces cancer. On the contrary, delivering high doses of vitamin C
and peptides to the cells can actually prevent skin cancer, he says.
Is this cosmetics? No, says Owen - it is cosmeceuticals. It's a word that is increasingly used for
the borderline that the industry is now toeing.
Cosmetic is a temporary improvement. Anything that changes the body permanently is
pharmaceutical. But while cosmetics are largely self-regulated - companies do whatever product
safety testing they consider necessary - a new pharmaceutical drug has to undergo years of very
expensive clinical trials.
The American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, has so far not intervened
because the cosmetics industry has been careful not to make claims that might attract its
attention. But, says Owen, the cosmetics companies are now walking on thin ice.
"As far as I'm personally concerned as director of a cosmeceuticals company, I'm watching all
the retail advertisements in skincare and they are making drug claims."
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It's a tricky situation. What women - and men - really want is the permanent disappearance of
lines and wrinkles. But any amount of vitamins, oils and rehydration of the outer skin layers will
not achieve that.
Much of what the cosmetics companies do now is provide feel-good creams that offer, at best, an
improvement while they are being used. No wonder they are interested in going deeper, while at
the same time they are keen to stay clear of anything - such as Agera Rx - that could possibly be
described as a drug.
Este Lauder is one of the biggest in the business. When Lauder herself died last month at the
age of 97, her obituaries noted the company's $3bn annual turnover and a personal fortune of
$400m. According to Dr Harvey Gedeon, head of Este Lauder's research and development
facilities in Long Island, New York, the company has been working on nanoparticles for some
time, in collaboration with outside researchers, and already has several products that use
nanoemulsions and nanoparticles.
The new technology is going down well in Japan, where several of Este Lauder's lines already
use them. One of the company's many famous brands is Clinique. Its Repair Wear intensive
serum contains nanoparticles, says Gedeon. But there is nothing to worry about, he says, because
the particles used are not so very small.
"We are dealing in cosmetics.You can have nanoparticles that would penetrate into the
bloodstream. That is not what we are trying to do. We want them to remain in the serum
corneum. Safety to us is the most important thing. Anything we use in our products must go to
[our ] toxicologies board first. Even if it is a banana. If it is brought into this company, it must go
to toxicology."
L'Oral has a huge research complex in Paris underpinning its many brands, including Vichy,
Helena Rubinstein, Cacharel and Maybelline. It files almost a patent a day, more than any other
company in the field, and is also pursuing nanoparticles or, as they call them, nanosomes, to
penetrate between the layers of skin delivering vitamin E.
The rush towards the use of nanoparticles in cosmetics is starting to cause concern outside the
industry. Dr Charles Vyvyan Howard, head of research with the developmental toxico-pathology
research group at Liverpool university, says the tiny particles have a toxicity that seems to be
directly related to their size, which can cause inflammation. He also points out that studies have
shown that fine particles of the size now being used in sunscreen have gone through the skin and
ended up in the lymphatic system.
"If you apply them to the skin or ingest them, where do they go to?" he asks. "Do they go to the
brain or the foetus? There is no regulation. As is usual with brand new technologies, it is way
ahead of the regulators."
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Procter &Gamble, another huge player, owning Olay, Camay, Max Factor and Cover Girl among
others, has not moved into nanotechnology yet. But Raniero De Stasio, director of technical
communications and a toxicologist who has worked in the fields of safety and regulation, does
not rule it out.
There are no safety concerns yet, he says, but adds, "For the future, I would like to see more
reassurance that these particles truly do not penetrate [further than the outer skin layers]. If they
do, they become part of our body fluids."
The questions over nanoparticles might be less unsettling if there were not other disturbing issues
around the safety of the cosmetics we all use every day.
Environmentalists have begun to question the use of certain chemicals in our shampoos,
deodorants and perfumes that at best remain permanently in the body and at worst could do us
harm. Some do not even have to be named on the label because of a loophole in the legislation
designed to protect the commercial secrets of the manufacturers.
Despite this, the cosmetics industry is booming. We spent nearly 6bn on beauty products and
toiletries in the UK last year. In 2002, Europe as a whole paid out 56.7bn, with the UK the third
biggest spender after Germany and France. The US retail market in 2002 was worth nearly
$39bn.
The trend in recent decades has been the creation of global cosmetics giants, as one small,
personalised company after another has been swallowed up. But the identity of the individual
brands has been carefully preserved and nourished, because each has a dedicated following and a
niche.
So Helena Rubinstein, Biotherm, Cacharel, Lancme, Giorgio Armani Parfums and Ralph
Lauren Parfums, Maybelline, Shu Uemura, Kerastase and Vichy all belong to L 'Oral, which
calls itself "the world leader in cosmetics" and claims a presence in every country. Este Lauder
has Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins and La Mer, as well as several brands launched by
professional make-up artists such as Bobbi Brown, Stila and MAC.
It owns Aveda, Jo Malone, the New York hair care company Bumble and bumble, and the
Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Kate Spade and Michael Kors lines. It has six research centres
around the world, in Canada, Belgium, Romania, Japan, Minnesota and Long Island, New York.
The last is the biggest, although still smaller than the L'Oral operation, with 400 people. They
have two non-product development groups - one in basic biological science and the other in
polymers (synthetics) - looking for new concepts that might suit any of the brands.
More unusual, says Dr Gedeon, Este Lauder's head of R&D, is the New Venture group. "Their
job is to look out of the box. They have no charter. They look for ideas, whether from Nasa or the
food industry or the automobile industry. What does the car industry use in terms of paint or new
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technology to highlight the colours? They will go to the Caucasian mountains to ask why do
people live for such a long time? What type of water and food do you have?"
The bright ideas and research breakthroughs go to the applied technology group, which look at
the practicality of turning it into a product. Then Gedeon decides which brand or brands should
take it on and adapt it to suit their line.
Safety testing begins as soon as a new, potentially useful substance is identified, and before any
of the development takes place, whether it is a chemical or a Chinese mushroom, says Gedeon.
Then there are tests on the finished products, from scratch tests and patch tests to try-outs on
volunteers. None of the testing is mandatory.
"In the US, we are not required to do anything," says Gedeon. Although legislation stipulates
products must be safe, it is up to the manufacturers themselves to to determine what is safe.
There is no independent regulatory body.
Then there are the expert panels - the mascara panel, the foundation panel and the moisturiser
panel of specially trained and paid consumers who will wear a new product and report back.
"They come in the morning and put it on and evaluate it against certain criteria for wearability,"
says Gedeon.
The big prestige companies are adamant that their first concern is safety, and that their
toxicology testing is second to none. But the complaint from environmental lobby groups such as
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Women's Environmental Network (Wen) is that skin
creams, shampoos, perfumes and other cosmetics and toiletries contain chemicals that the human
body cannot flush out. They claim the chemicals bio-accumulate and there is evidence that some
of them could be harmful.
Of greatest concern are the phthalates (pronounced thalates), which are found in plastic toys,
vinyl floor tiles, glues and inks. In cosmetics, they are used as solvents. Two chemicals in the
family, DEHP and DBP, have already been banned from use in cosmetics by the European
Commission and are in the process of being phased out. Six have been banned from the sort of
plastic toys that children tend to chew.
The problem with phthalates, say campaigners, is that they bio-accumulate and that they are
hormone disrupters - a study on four commonly used phthalates found that they reduced the male
hormone action in rats, disrupting the growth of the male sex organs; another study found that
Puerto Rican girls with premature breast development had high phthalate levels in their blood.
The cosmetics companies say that the small amounts they use are completely harmless. But if
you decide you want to avoid all phthalates, it's no good reading the shampoo or skin-cream
label, because they don't have to be listed. Phthalates are used in the fragrance of cosmetics, and
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their presence is hidden by the catch-all term "parfum" in the label. The same goes for artificial
musks, which give perfume its staying power.
According to Friends Of The Earth, they are "persistent and bio-accumulative and are
widespread contaminants of the environment and the human body, for example being found in
breast milk".
Mark Strutt, a Greenpeace toxics campaigner, says, "Our position is that any chemical that
accumulates in the body, that the body cannot metabolise, we shouldn't be using. They are not
performing an essential function. We shouldn't be taking the risk."
The cosmetics companies say the evidence of harm is thin, although they are twitchy over the
issue, perhaps because Greenpeace and Wen have both run tests on branded products and display
lists on their websites.
Raniero De Stasio, of Procter&Gamble, says its data does not come to the same conclusions as
that of the lobbyists. The banned phthalates might be a problem if you swam in a pool of neat
chemical, he says, but P&G might use two or three molecules in a nail varnish. The other
phthalates, he says, "are completely safe. They are not classified anywhere in the world even at
high concentrations."
De Stasio is similarly reassuring about musks. "We have extremely strong environmental studies
and human safety studies that say that for both main types of musk, those products are very
effective and very safe." Furthermore, without musks you cannot have a perfume that lasts, he
says, and that is what the consumer wants.
But at Green People in West Sussex, neither phthalates or artificial musks are used. There is
nothing artificial in its products and most ingredients are organic. Ian Taylor, who is in charge of
the company's research and development, says, "People are becoming far more aware that there
may be problems with their skincare products."
Green People was started by Charlotte Vohtz, whose two-year-old daughter Sandra suffered from
eczema and skin allergies. She found that taking chemical-based products out of the home and
replacing them with herbal products solved the problem.
Small, alternative companies such as Green People may be a growing market, but it's unlikely
that the bulk of the population will suddenly shift from cosmetics as we know them to the
chemical-free alternatives.
Cosmetics, says Don Owen, are 20% product and 80% marketing, and the marketing that goes
into conventional cosmetics is phenomenal, backed by film star endorsement and cultural
pressures since the early days of Hollywood. The truly natural will almost certainly remain a
niche unless concern grows about what we are slapping on our skin and washing off into our
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rivers. But the move into genuinely scientific skincare and cosmetics should surely make us sit
up. After all, even those in the business are sounding a quiet note of caution.
Dr Mervin Pattison of Woodford Medical, a chain of skincare clinics in the UK that uses Agera
Rx, says, "We are moving into an area where skincare is actually doing something to the skin.
This is a grey area where the cosmetics industry ends and the pharmaceutical industry takes
over." He has full confidence in Owen, but not necessarily in his potential imitators.
Today the market of organic products is growing at global level (Guru & Ranchhod 2005).
There is an increasing emphasis on organic products as the harmful effects of chemical
substances on health have been scientifically demonstrated, a fact that influences consumers to
lead a more organic life (Schifferstein & Oude Ophuis 1998; Verhoef 2005).
The concern for health and beauty has increased also among Romanians, as the growing number
of organic shops or green corners in more and more super and hypermarkets from all around the
country shows. Experienced practitioners and specialists from the business environment share
their knowledge and opinion about the development and future of the organic market. Thus,
Messi Abdelaziz, the general manager of Ecocert Romania considers that the demand for organic
food and cosmetics has the greatest potential in the next two to five years on the Romanian
market (Bio Romania Association).
It is expected that the organic cosmetic segment record the largest growth rate, presently a much
smaller segment than organic food (Bio Romania Association). The general manager of Ecocert
Romania says that in a year, the cosmetic segment has grown enormously, from production to
processing. It is productive because it is based on herbs and grains, which are processed in
Romanian laboratories and then distributed all over the country.
I find it strange. Normally, food is basic. A cosmetic product is not basic, but additional;
however, I see that in Romania the efforts are more on this side (Bio Romania Association). His
opinion is shared by Radu Panait, the development director of the Radix organic line, who agrees
that there is a strong upward trend on the organic cosmetic market in spite of the financial crisis,
because women are more generous than men when it comes to purchasing organic cosmetics, the
latter being more important for them than organic food (Bio Romania Association).
The price difference between organic and conventional is much lower for cosmetics than for
food: organic cosmetics are only 10% to 20% more expensive, some even at the same price as
conventional cosmetics, while organic food is 50% to 200% more expensive than conventional
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food (due to the lower efficiency of this type of production, lower demand etc) and in Romania
organic food prices are usually 50% - 100% higher than abroad because of transport and import
costs (Bio Romania Association).
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), about only 1% of the
Romanian organic production (cereals - wheat, sunflower, corn, soy, berries, honey tea and dairy
products - milk, cheese, cheese, cream, butter) is consumed internally, the remaining 99% being
exported to countries from Western Europe and the U.S., where it is processed (Bio Romania
Association).
For 2013, MARD has set the target that about 5% of the Romanian organic agricultural products
should be consumed internally, but those working in industry, like Abdelaziz Messi, have less
lofty expectations and limit the increase to just 2% (Bio Romania Association). One of the
biggest hindrances that limit the development of the organic sector in Romania, being it food or
non-food, is the reduced consumption of these products, which derives largely from consumers
lack of information about the health benefits of such products.
It is generally known among consumers that organic food comes from farming in which GMOs
are prohibited and the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers is very limited and that it has a
lesser impact on the environment (Cornelissen et al 2008; Gore 2006; European Commission).
However, when it comes to biological, ecological and natural skin care or cosmetics, consumers
are rather confused regarding the meaning of these terms as they are not assigned a legal
definition, but are defined by certification and inspection bodies that have their own specific,
sometimes differing regulations (Leonard 2010).
It is very important for consumers to receive correct and comprehensive information because if
people learn to read labels and avoid everything that is harmful, there will be a much higher
demand for healthy products as consumers will realize the need to change their lifestyle (Bio
Romania Association). Another hindrance to the development of Romanias organic sector is the
countrys poverty. According to the EUROSTAT report, the poverty rate in Romania was 41% in
2010 compared to the European average of 23.4%.
However, the rate decreased in 2010 compared to 2009, when it was 43.1%, but poverty is still
the main reason underlying Romanian consumers high sensitivity to price. This explains why
people still consider organic food and non-food as luxury products and why this sector remains
accessible for the wealthier population.
There have been many studies referring to consumers green choices, some focusing on the
influence of consumers socio-demographic variables, health and environmental concerns on
their willingness to buy organic products (Davies et al 1995; Thompson 1998; Winterich et al
2009; Grunert & Juhl 1995; Schifferstein & Oude Ophuis 1998; Dietz et al 1998; Ailawadi et al
2001; van Doom & Verhoef 2011 etc), which show that women are more open towards the green
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market and more willing to pay the price premium for organic products than men (van Doom &
Verhoef 2011).
Moreover, they say that younger consumers are more environmentally driven, but that the older
population has more means to actually adopt a green lifestyle, the issue of financial resources
coming to the foreground once again (van Doom & Verhoef 2011).
Some studies conducted in Romania emphasize the fact that consumers consider organic
products more health beneficial, of superior quality, but at the same time more expensive
(Teodorescu et al 2009; Petrescu et al 2013; Petrescu 2013) and that those who purchase such
them are dynamic persons, equally focused on personal education, career and family, concerned
with physical and mental health, who are looking towards the future and try to stay up to date
with the latest trends so as to fit in society (Pagalea et al 2012). However, all these studies were
done with respects to organic food, while organic skin care and cosmetics have been rather
neglected. Though there are some studies analyzing this market segment (Mather et al 2005;
Prothero & McDonald 1992 etc), they are not specific to the Romanian environment.
Therefore, in order to provide more information about Romanian consumers behaviour towards
organic skin care products and due to the scarcity of research in this.field, the authors decided to
conduct a pilot study in Cluj-Napoca, one of the biggest cities in Romania and more up to date
with the markets new trends.
The study aims to outline consumers profile in terms of their interest in organic, natural and
conventional skin care, their knowledge about these products and the differences between them,
their opinion regarding the performance of organic skin care in relation to conventional skin care
and price. Because the sample is small 86 respondents the study is meant to be a starting
point for further research and an addition to the already existing literature that tries to analyze
consumers behaviour with respects to the green, organic market.
Consequently, consumers are not very acquainted with the meaning of ingredients of skin care
products and they acknowledge this in the answer to the next question: only 16.27% say that they
know the meaning of the above-mentioned ingredients and of skin care products in general,
while the great majority (83.73%) admit that the terms are not familiar to them.
This lack of information is a major impediment to consumers orientation towards organic skin
care products. Unfortunately, this gap can also be observed in what concerns consumers
knowledge about the meaning of biological, ecological and natural skin care products. In the first
question of the survey they were asked to match the terms with their corresponding definitions.
The results in Table 3 show that consumers are more acquainted with natural than organic skin
care products, as the former category was correctly defined by 52.32% of the total sample. The
correct definitions of ecological and biological skin care products were identified only by
41.86% and 47.67%, respectively, of the total sample.
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Consumers trust in certified organic skin care products, their opinion about the relationship
price-quality regarding these products and their performance compared to conventional skin care
were measured by 5-point scales. The analysis shows that consumers trust in certified organic
skin care products is above average (3.93 points on a scale from 1 to 5) and that they are almost
convinced that this type of products have better performance and increased health benefits than
conventional skin care (4.47 points on a scale from 1 to 5).
With respect to the statement that certified organic skin care must have a higher price because
this reflects their superior quality, consumers answers indicate a score of 2.43 on a scale from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), which means that their opinion regarding the statement
is somewhere between indecision and disagreement. However, this indicates that they do not
agree at all with the fact that certified organic skin care products should have high prices as they
do not consider it the guarantee of high quality. Asked how they came to know about organic
skin care products, consumers chose recommendations made by friends as the most efficient
advertising instrument, followed by leaflets, web pages, fairs, blogs and direct e-mail.
Respondents within the lowest income category (below 1000 Lei/ 250 ) usually prefer
conventional skin care products (10.46% of the total sample), while respondents with the highest
income (above 2501 Lei/ 626 ) purchase only organic skin care products.
Consumers distribution according to gender and the preferred type of skin care products shows
that women are drawn to organic skin care products more than men (of the 21 respondents who
purchase this type of products 85.71% are women), the latter preferring conventional skin care
products (61.29% of the total 31 male respondents). However, of the total of 55 female
respondents, only 32.72% buy organic skin care products.
The preponderance of females in purchasing organic skin care products is obvious, this being
explained by their innate inclination towards beauty and health. Consumers distribution
according to their educational attainment and the preferred type of skin care products shows that
consumers with high school and post-secondary studies generally prefer conventional products
(61.9% of the 21 respondents with this educational attainment equivalent to 15.11% of the total
sample - prefer conventional skin care products and only 14.28% of them and 3.48% of the total
sample - buy organic skin care products).
People who purchase organic skin care products are generally those with undergraduate and
graduate studies (85.71% of the total 21 respondents who purchase organic skin care products
and 20.93% of the total sample). These results seem to indicate that the educational attainment
has some influence on the purchase of organic skin care products, consumers with higher
education purchasing a larger quantity of these products due, of course, to their degree of
awareness and the nature of the information they receive.
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However, the existence of a relationship between these variables will be further analyzed with
the Chi-squared test.
By distributing respondents according to their income and preference for eco-friendly packaging,
it appears that certified organic skin care products with eco-friendly packaging are usually
preferred by consumers with an income between 1500 and 2500 Lei/ 375-625 (68.96% of the
29 respondents who prefer this type of packaging fall within this income range this equals
12.79% of the total sample).
Consumers with incomes below 1000 Lei/ 250 do not pay attention to the packaging as long as
the skin care products are certified and organic (62.5% of the 16 respondents with income within
this category, which equals 11.62% of the total sample), while high-income (over 2500 Lei/ 625
) consumers (75% of all respondents with incomes above this sum) usually opt for eco-friendly
packaging (they represent 3.48% of the total sample).
If the income level is high, the percentage of respondents opting for eco-friendly packaging
increases considerably. For the upper income ranges (1501-2000 Lei/ 376-500 , 2001-2500 Lei/
501-625 , 2501-3000 Lei/ 626-750 , >3000 Lei/ 750 ), the proportion of respondents
preferring certified organic skin care products with eco-friendly packaging is 50% or higher
within each interval.
Consumers distribution according to their educational attainment and preference for eco-friendly
packaging shows that of the 42 respondents with graduate studies 40.47% (19.76% of the total
sample) prefer certified organic skin care products with eco-friendly packaging, while 38.09%
(18.6% of the total sample) do not pay attention to the packaging as long as the products are
certified organic.
Most of the respondents with secondary studies (35.71%, equivalent of 5.81% of the total
sample) are drawn by certified organic skin care products with attractive packaging, while
consumers with graduate and post graduate studies prefer mainly eco-friendly packaging
(19.76% and 11.62%, respectively, of the total sample).
Therefore, it can be inferred that consumers with higher education are more aware of the
important role of eco-friendly packaging in preserving the properties of organic skin care
products and the environment.
By distributing respondents according to their educational attainment and their knowledge about
the ingredients listed on the label of skin care products, it can be seen that university graduates
and postgraduates are most aware of the meaning of such AES Bioflux, 2013, Volume 5, Issue 3.
http://www.aes.bioflux.com.ro 282 ingredients and they represent 71.42% of the total number of
respondents who said they were acquainted to such information (and 11.62% of the total
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sample). Of the 21 respondents with secondary education, only 19.04% know the meaning of the
skin care product ingredients (they represent 4.65% of the total sample).
Consumers distribution according to their age and knowledge about the ingredients listed on the
label of skin care products shows that of the 14 respondents who know the meaning of the
ingredients, 2 are under 20 years, 7 are aged between 20 and 30 years, 2 between 31 and 40, 1
between 41 and 50, 1 between 51 and 60 and 1 over 60 years.
Therefore, it can be noticed that people between 20 and 30 years are most familiar with the
meaning of the ingredients listed on the packaging of skin care products, this being due to access
to information - or rather to their pleasure to search the Internet and keep up with the latest trends
- and their increasing awareness of the necessity of adopting a more natural and organic lifestyle
with positive effects on their health.
The aim of this study is to outline consumers profile in terms of their interest in organic, natural
and conventional skin care, their knowledge about these products and the differences between
them, their opinion regarding the performance of organic skin care in relation to conventional
skin care and price. The study shows that consumers who purchase organic skin care products
are usually female, aged between 20 and 40, with an income above 2000 Lei (500 ), who
completed tertiary education at graduate level. However, most surveyed consumers use
conventional skin care (44.19%), but interest in natural products tends to increase more and more
(31.40% of the respondents are currently using them).
Bio and eco products are less sought after and the most important reason is their high price price is still the main driver for consumers when choosing one type of product over another for
28.57% of the respondents, price is the factor with the greatest influence on their decisionmaking process.
There is a gap in consumers knowledge which is emphasized by their not being able to correctly
define the terms biological and ecological skin care - not even half of the respondents could
assign the correct definition to these type of products - as well as by their failure to identify the
synthetic and possibly harmful ingredients listed on the package of a skin care product - 83.73%
of the respondents admitted they did not know the meaning and/or the side effects of the
ingredients they considered suspicious.
In addition, there is great negligence among consumers regarding their own health, which is
reflected in the very low frequency with which they read the list of ingredients on the packaging
of the purchased skin care products: 27.91% - i.e. most of the surveyed consumers - confessed
that they tend to read the ingredient list only sometimes. This is greatly due to the fact that they
would not understand its meaning even if they read it.
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One would be tempted to say that lack of knowledge is due to consumers educational attainment
or age, but the analysis explicitly shows that at 95% level there is no relationship between these
variables. Information gathering can be done by anyone, the only condition is to be aware of the
need to be informed and the desire to live a healthier life. Consequently, there is need for a public
information campaign regarding organic products, their effects on health, on the environment
and on local economy.
Consumers should be impelled to rank their preferences according to a products ingredient list,
certifications, eco-friendly packaging, country of origin, etc and not to its colour, flavor,
publicity, renowned brad name, etc. Such a process involves, of course, a change and
reorientation in lifestyle, giving up conventional skin care - and not only - and substituting them
with products made exclusively with organic vegetable ingredients, following traditional recipes
and using clean, less energy intensive technologies, which have minimal effects on the
environment.
Furthermore, consumers should focus more on buying skin care products with biodegradable
packaging, made of recycled, natural materials that keep the products properties intact. The
study shows that consumers preference for certain types of packaging is divided: they seem to
prefer to an equal extent (~33%) certified organic skin care with biodegradable packaging
(natural paper and cardboard, ceramic, wood, etc) and certified organic skin care with packaging
of any kind, a parity that should be influenced in favour of the former.
The study also shows that consumers tendency to buy more certified organic skin care with ecofriendly packaging increases along with an increase in income and not according to their
educational attainment. Here again comes to the foreground the issue of consumers receiving
more information and the need to develop among the public a culture that places health and
environment on the first place in the decision-making process.
Being a pilot study, this paper has its limitations with respects to generalization and the depth of
the analyzed issues. Its objective is to be a starting point for further research and to cast light on
important aspects related to the consumption of organic skin care products in Romania, as there
is little if any research in the field.
For more significant results, further studies should consider a larger sample, representative at
national level, if possible, and try to provide more insight into questions such as Romanian
consumes willingness to pay the price premium of certified organic skin care and eco-friendly
packaging and the factors underlying it, consumers ethicality and perceived ethicality of organic
skin care, consumers lifestyle and attitude towards AES Bioflux, 2013, Volume 5, Issue 3. 285
organic skin care, the gap between consumers attitude and decision-making process of
purchasing organic skin care, the gap between consumers values and attitudes towards making
organic choices, the influence of national culture or of corporate social activities on consumers
organic purchase
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lead to willingness to purchase. Natural product is gaining popularity among todays modern
societies. We continue to witness the disturbing effects of chemical based products in recent
years. Natural product is gaining its popularity among developing countries.
Healthy choice is a variable that can influence consumers preference. The defined perceived risk
as an individuals measurement of the consequences of someones own behavior, as a result of
purchasing certain product.
A number of studies have examined how perceived risk affect consumer decision and behavior.
Consumer risk perception plays an important role, especially in the area of food safety concern
because it shapes the behavior of consumers. As consumer awareness and concerns of risk
increase, risk calculations are likely to be central to an individuals life.
Initial investigation of this study revealed that physical risk is the most relevant type of risk
perceived towards herbal supplement. Thus, perceived physical risk is included in the
measurement of salient beliefs. From the perspective of consumer behavior, it appears that
products that people choose can be influenced by their reference group. Overviews of Herbal
Product Since the dawn of recorded history, plants have been the primary source of medicine for
people of every culture throughout the world. History of Herbs ,the first written record of herbs
dates back more than 4,000 years to the Sumerians who described medicinal uses of such plants
as laurel, caraway and thyme.
Herb refers to any part of any plant used for flavoring or medicine having nutritional and / or
medicinal value .Although herb was used for medication purposes for centuries, over the years
more and more usage for herb-based products has been discovered through extensive research
and development.
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This research should work towards predicting consumer choice behavior, particularly focusing
on what factors that influence attitude intention towards the choice preferences of herbal
supplement.
As such this study was carried out to achieve the following objectives:
1) To determine factors influencing consumers attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
2) To assess the effect of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived attitude control on consumers
attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
3) To determine the relative importance of those significant determinants in influencing
consumers attitude intention towards herbal supplement.
medical learning.
Most modern marketers agree that the knowledge of consumer behavior is the fundamental
perceived attitude control.
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The highly visible products lead themselves to acquiring positive or negative social influence.
They discovered that behavior tends to remain consistent within a social group. A reference
group is any person or group that serves as a point of comparison for an individual in forming
either general or specific values, attitudes, or specific guides for behavior.
Reference group that influence broadly defined values are called normative reference group
Subjective norms are beliefs that whether significant others think that the person should engage
in the behavior. The proposed that subjective norms are important attribute in shaping a persons
attitude towards performing a specific behavior.
The limitation of this model is that it assumes that consumers in general employ simple decision
strategies in making any purchase decision. Moreover, it does not consider any external forces
that influence consumer decision making process.
This focuses on the psychological interaction of various steps in the decision making process, in
five basic stages: problem recognition, information search, source for internal and external
knowledge for alternative evaluation, purchase decision and resulting satisfactory or dissonance
outcome.
The stages and attention involves in a particular decision process depends on the extensiveness
of the problem. The information process gives a consumer necessary guideline for decision
making. The model also recognizes various variables that have direct influence to the decision
process which includes: individual characteristic (motives, values, lifestyle, and personality),
social influences (culture, reference group, and family) and situational influences.
This model basically focuses on the various stages of the decision making process and also take
into consideration other forces such as individual characteristic, social influences, and situational
influences. This develops a comprehensive theory of consumer decision-making. Three levels of
decision making stages were proposed: extensive problem solving, limited problem solving, and
reutilized response behavior.
Extensive problem solving, takes place when the consumers knowledge and beliefs about the
brands are limited and therefore, consumer actively seeks information concerning a number or
alternative brands. Limited problem solving, takes place when the consumers knowledge and
beliefs about the brands are only partially established and therefore, some comparative brand
information is sought.
Theory of reasoned action suggests that an individuals behavior is determined by individuals
behavioral intention to carry out the specific behavior, providing the most accurate prediction of
behavior. TRA proposes that the best predictor of consumers choice decision was their intention
towards the behavior. Behavioral intention is a function of attitudes towards the behavior and
subjective norm. TRA is an extended model from one of the multi-attribute model. Almost all
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multi-attribute models suggest that the overall attitude is based on the component belief about an
object weighted by evaluation of these beliefs. The extension of the TRA model accounts for the
pressures of subjective norms in predicting behavioral intention.
order to achieve more consumers. Satisfaction and accurate target in finding out what customers
are aware off and their attitude and there by offering products according to this needs will help
the industry stake holders to enrich their customer experience and accelerate growth of the
market.
According to the National Institute of Healths Office of Dietary Supplements, USA, products
made from botanicals that are used to maintain or improve health and body care may be called as
herbal products or botanical products. In this context, the herbal products that are available in
Countries meet the desire and demand of a particular segment of consumers who are health
conscious.
Research reveals that beauty consciousness among people is an ongoing process and consumers
need for appearances and materialism is increasing .Beauty conscious people want to satisfy the
need to look and feel good. This has created a growth in the skin and beauty care industry across
the world.
The advanced promotion and communication for cosmetics products and their ingredients and
values have made today's consumers more aware of what they are using on their bodies, and
making them more willing to pay.
They state that the mature expansion of satellite television and consciousness of the western
beauty and fashion world, communications and promotions resulted a growing number of
women in the work force, in particular, to become more conscious about their skin and beauty
care products.
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The usage of many different product groups in the first part of the research and the validation
with different groups of products in the second part assures that the attributes found in this
research are not product specific and therefore informative on the appearance of many sorts of
product categories in general.
motives that consumers use. In the literature, the attributes that are used as guidelines for
product categories.
appearances to consumer preferences. As design is an important source of differentiation from
other products in the market place, the attributes defined in this research give the opportunity to
more validly assess consumer reactions to product designs and can give a company a competitive
edge.
consumers .To assess the value of a product appearance to consumers, ratings on the product
Estimates of perceived behavioral control can be measured as the product of perceived access to
a factor and the power of the factor to assist in the action. PBC are measured through control
beliefs that may help or hinder the person in carrying out the behavior. Elicitation interviews of
this research revealed that availability and affordability are the salient factors that forms
perceived behavioral control towards intention to consume herbal supplement. Introduction The
concept of beauty and cosmetics is an ancient as mankind and civilization women are obsessed
with looking beautiful.
So they use various beauty products that have herbs to look charm and young. Indian herbs and
its significance are popular worldwide. Herbal cosmetics have growing demand in the nature.
There are a wide range of women around the world.
The cosmetics market is defined as skin care, hair care, color cosmetics, fragrances and oral care
segments. Its worth US $19.3 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow at 15-20 % according to
the analysis of this sector. Today awareness of beauty products, treatment, fashion and grooming
are very high.
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designers.
The introduction in the 17th century of active chemical drugs and the rapid development of
sciences such as chemistry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the dominance of synthetic
chemical in the 20th century. By the 1960's, consumers were again beginning to consider herb
based products to complement modern chemical based products. The belief that botanical
remedies were "naturally" superior to man-made drugs helped to promote their use in the general
public .
Today, in many developing and low-income countries, herbs and spices take the place of
expensive imported medicines. In more affluent society, people are consuming herbs because of
the perception that they are more natural and friendly to our body metabolism.
It is commonly believed that health can be improved and maintained using natural resources. In
1985, the World Health Organization estimated that 80% of the world's population relies
primarily on herbs for its healthcare needs.
Recently, the escalating interest in novel flavors has increased the demand for herbs and spices.
In the United States alone, demands have been rising sharply since the 1980s with over 800
million pounds consumed annually.
Herbal industry in these forests is among the countries which have experienced remarkable
economic growth and industrialization in the past decade. These forests are blessed with an
abundance of natural resources and its natural resource industry remains an important part of the
countrys economic and political agenda.
It is difficult to ignore the fact that 60% of is covered with natural forest. They recognized the
economic potential of the forest product industry early in the decade and proceeded to play a key
role in further developing and promoting this particular sector of its economy through a
concessions system and the encouragement of downstream industries.
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In These forests, the rich heritage of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, has a unique
position to serve as a confluence of three Asian cultures giving to three herbal traditions. The
tropical forest had an estimated 15,000 known plant species and an estimated 3,700 species were
known to be useful .
Approximately 1,200 species or 8 percent of the plants in these forests have medicinal value and
have been consumed for generations. Although the country has a huge reservoir of genetic
diversity, it is still a net importer of herbs.
The attributes can also be used when gathering consumer feedback on product concepts.
Physical properties underlie the appearance attributes .A next step in research would be to
identify what physical properties of a product underlie the different appearance attributes, in
order to make the attributes more objectifiable for designers.
relationships unstable over time.
When there is a need for choice decision, they tend to employ simple decision strategies rather
than going through complex alternatives evaluation. A choice is arrived much easier and faster
without overly burdensome task of assessing the alternative information on hand.
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APPENDIX -1 (QUESTIONNAIRE)
Comparative study on Herbal versus Conventional Cosmetic
I am Amrita Karkera from Rizvi Academy of Management, Mumbai. I am presently doing a
study in this city on Herbal versus Conventional cosmetic for Women. In this context, can you
please spare some of your valuable time and answer a few questions? Thank you.
Name:
Gender: Male
Age: 15 25
Female
25 - 35
35 45
Family Income (Monthly): 15000 20000
45 and above
20000 25000
25000 and above
Q1. Could you please tell me which all beauty products do you use?
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Styling gel
Foundation
Concealer
Mineral powder
Moisturizer
Sunscreen
Lip stick
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Lip liner
Eye liner
Kajal
Eye shadow
Mascara
Nail paint
Q2. How frequently do you use cosmetic?
Daily
2-3 times a week
Once a week
2-3 times a month
Once or twice a year
Q3. Which kind of cosmetic products do you use the most?
Herbal
Conventional
Note: If answered Conventional in Q3, skip to Q5a

Q4a. Why do you use Herbal cosmetic products?
Good for all kind of skin

Long term effect
Less harmful
Natural ingredients
Q4b. When do you apply Herbal cosmetic products?
Always
Whenever going outside the home
If any skin problem
Note: If answered Herbal in Q3, skip to Q6

Q5a. Why do you use Conventional cosmetic products?
Quick result
Effective
Variety
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Fragrance
Q5b. When do you apply Conventional cosmetic products?
Daily basis
At the parties
When I want to
Q6. What are your reasons for buying and using cosmetics?
Improve your personality.

Social influences
Fashion and status symbol
Health point of view
Psychological satisfaction
Q7. What factors do you consider while purchasing cosmetics

Strongly
Disagre
Neither Agree
Disagree
e
nor Disagree
Well known brand
1
2
3
Price
1
2
3
Quality
1
2
3
1
2
3
Ease of use
1
2
3
Advertisement
1
2
3
Availability
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
Free sample
1
2
3
Contain Extra benefit (Sun
1
2
3
protected, vitamins)
Latest innovation
1
2
3
Durability
1
2
3
Agre
e
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
Strongly
Agree
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
5
5
Q8. What are the sources through which you become aware of cosmetics
Beauticians
Dermatology
Shopkeepers
Friends
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Very Low
1
1
1
1
Low
2
2
2
2
Neutral
3
3
3
3
High
4
4
4
4
Very High
5
5
5
5
128
Magazines
TV
Parents
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
5
5
5
Q9. State your agreement on the below statements about cosmetics.

The only guarantee of quality
is a recognizable brand
I feel the variety of cosmetic
offerings is confusing for me
I spend too much money on
cosmetics
The only guaranty of quality is
recognizable brand
Cheap cosmetics are as good
as the expensive ones
Strongly
Disagree
1
1
Disagre
e
2
2
Neither Agree
nor Disagree
3
3
Agre
e
4
4
Strongly
Agree
5
5
Q10. If you try new products, how important would you consider the following criteria?
Unimportan
t
Fairly
unimportan
t
Neutral
Fairly
important
Important
New product or range from a

well-known brand name

TV

magazine
Brand featured/recommended in
magazine
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In store display
Recommendation from
friend/relative
New product or range from a

brand I use
Q11. Name the categories of cosmetic use for different type of product
Herbal
Conventional
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Styling gel
Foundation
Concealer
Mineral powder
Moisturizer
Sunscreen
Lip stick
Lip liner
Eye liner
Kajal
Eye shadow
Mascara
Nail polish
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APPENDIX-2 (LIST OF FIGURES &

Tables)
Figu
re
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Figure Description
Page
No.
Cyclic thoughts behind a modern shipping experience which

results in customer behavior for buying a product.
In order to choose the safety of the product, its important to
consider the parameters responsible for safety.
How to foster a retail culture and skills. It is important for seller to
know consumers attitude towards market.
Consumers inclination towards the type of ingredient in the
product. This is the major constraint to decide Herbal or
conventional product.
Abrahm Maslows Hierarchy Of needs is the chart which explains
the psychology of the consumer while buying a product.
The overall look of the product always affects the sales. For the
natural/herbal products, it is thought that they are less Showy.
The sales of various types of products and there percentage
sales.
The changing trend in what the consumers are thinking and
believing in matters where cosmetic sales do influence.
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8
9
11
12
14
16
131
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
The factors which influence the cosmetic purchasing where it is

gauged whether effectiveness is worth the claims made by the
product.
Overall Model of consumer behavior. This is the major aspect
which influences the sales worldwide.
Consumer decision making is a very sub conscious decision
making process which involves lots of analysis and psychological
surveys.
Evolution of herbal extracts patenting for cosmetic application.
Age vs. shampoo consumption is shown in above fgure.
Occupation of respondents of shampoo consumption is shown.
Shampoo consumption based on sex and the percentage of
people using it.
Frequency of respondents using the products which are
conventional i.e. shampoo.
The respondents who claim that there were benefts from using a
kind of product specifed for its function.
Factors which marketers are constantly searching for by running a vast
amount of different marketing campaigns.

Average Utility Values : This includes extra features included in
the product and there consumption.
The worldwide estimation of the cosmetic industry.
Result of Hypothesis: Herbal vs .conventional in a generalized
term.
17
19
20
22
13
13
24
24
25
26
28
28
34
The table shows the influence of marital status, age, family income, 35
occupation on overall attitude of the consumers towards beauty cosmetic
products.
The chart shows distribution of various factors amongst the
respondents and there relevance.
The mean and SD area graph for influencing factor determination.
The graph for distribution of Sources for buying a type of
cosmetic.
Sources dependent buying attitude from different sources.
Graph showing peoples habit for buying the cosmetic based on
the questionnaire mentioned above.
Agreement on buying a cheap /expensive product by customer .
New product or range from a well-known brand name
Brand I have seen advertised on TV
Brand I have seen advertised on magazine
Brand featured/recommended in magazine
In store display
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37
38
38
39
40
41
42
42
42
43
43
43
43
44
132
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
Recommendation from friend/relative

Effects of various external entities on customer behavior.

Usage of herbal vs. conventional products by consumers.
Mean and SD of Herbal product usage
Mean and SD of Conventional product usage.
Different factors to decide consumer loyalty estimated by
Cronbachs Alpha Test
The Eigen component analysis for the mean and SD for herbal vs.
conventional product usage.
Usage of herbal products frequency.
Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis to understand
signifcance of endorsers in customer loyalty.
Study of consumer attitude and behavior based on various ground
levels.
Attitudinal loyalty based on endorsements explained by person
correlation coefficient.
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
Age wise distribution of preferences of the product.

The consumer buying process can be validated with the results of
ANOVA and other tests.
The cycle of consumers purchasing decisions based on various
stage tasks.
52
53
54
55
Means of Important Factors Influence Cosmetics Purchasing Decisions

Psychological aspect of consumer decision making.
Below mentioned graph shows, Use the chi-square test for independence to
determine whether there is a significant relationship between two
categorical variables.
56
57
58
Reasons that motivate respondents to buy cosmetics

Consumer Behavior Overview
Various stages of product consumption used for attracting
customers
Bio-sensible aspects that are used for luring customers.
Attitudinal loyaltys level vs. behavioral loyalty.
59
60
44
45
45
46
47
47
48
50
50
51
51
52
53
58
59
59
60
62
66
67
68
69
70
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AnjanChakravarty, Change in the Consumption pattern in Rural Market An Empirical

Study, Marketing Mastermind, Vol-11, Isse-1, page-52.
Bedi R. V. and Bedi N. V.(2004), Rural Marketing, Himalaya Publishing house, 1st Edi,
Page-24-26.
BhawnaGarg, Rural Marketing Study of consumer Behavior with reference to hair
oils, Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol-37, No-8, August-2007, Page-22-24.
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Dr. (Mrs.) D. Kamlaveni and Ms. M. Nirmala, Consumer Behavior in Instant Food
Products,Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol-30, No-5-7, May- july-2000, Page-12-18.
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1

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

2.3 Understanding the research Plan

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 1: Cyclic thoughts behind a modern shipping

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 2 : In order to choose the safety of the product, its

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 3: How to foster a retail culture and skills. It is important

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

behavior is an extension of TRA model. It emphasizes on the reason-based antecedents of

Chapter - 4 SCOPE OF STUDY

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 4 : Consumers inclination towards the type of ingredient in the

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 5 : Abrahm Maslows Hierarchy Of needs is the chart which explains

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Chapter - 5 LITERATURE REVIEW

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 7 : The sales of various types of products and there

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

5.3 Understanding consumer behavior

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

The contributions of this current research include adding consumer-based, empirically-grounded

Fig 9 : The factors which influence the cosmetic purchasing where

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 10 : Overall Model of consumer behavior. This is the major aspect

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 11: Consumer decision making is a very sub conscious decision

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Chapter 6 NEED OF STUDY

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Comparative study on herbal and conventional cosmetic

Fig 13:- Age vs. shampoo consumption is shown in above

Fig 14: Occupation of respondents of shampoo consumption is

Rizvi Institute of Management Studies &