A STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ON PURCHASE OF

LIPSTICK
(A Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of M.Com. at Loyola College)

Submitted by

LOURDS SANDRA. N
18-PCO-016

Under the guidance of

Prof.Ms.A. Leena Mercy, M.Com, M.Phil.

Associate Professor, Loyola College Chennai- 34

LOYOLA COLLEGE (Autonomous)

(College of Excellence)

NUNGAMBAKKAM CHENNAI – 600 034

SEPTEMBER 2019
INTRODUCTION

In today's world, the customer’s demand and the power of the retailers is tremendously
growing due to competitive environment and changing business. It is vital to have a
sustainable relationship with customers for the survival and success of producers. Nowadays
in the market a tremendous growth is experienced by the beauty products and has become
one of the leading industries in the world. In Indian scenario too, the consumption and using
of cosmetic products have increased rapidly. In our country, annually 15-20% of cosmetics
market is reportedly growing. As consumer’s awareness about their appearance and beauty
results in the increasing demand of cosmetic and beauty products in the market. Manufactures
are likely to be aggressive to identify consumers’ needs and requirements across all
categories in cosmetics. Customers purchase products based on their preferences, needs and
buying power. Media have an idea about how the customers in this era can be targeted and
they have the power to change their thinking way through their emotions, wants, needs and
demands. Market researchers and organizations are conducting a plenty of studies and they
are spending billions of dollars to identify the factors that have an influence on consumer’s
cosmetic consumption. The customer's purchase decision is now becoming a complex
process. Consumer’s behaviour, perceptions and attitudes determine their purchase intentions.
To evaluate and access a specific product, purchase behaviour becomes a key point for
consumers. Key to the success of any business organizations lies in the hands of customers.
Understanding their needs, wants and their buying behaviour determines the organization
success. To predict the future trends, marketing personnel are analysing the customers buying
behaviour pattern. The term Consumer buying behaviour is defined as the analysis of when,
where, why, and how people purchase a product. In ancient days’ people don’t prefer to buy
cosmetic products, as they know the harmful effect of using these artificial but now the trend
has changed. Youth and adults in India are more concerned about their looks and for that they
prefer to buy cosmetics products. Consumer’s cosmetic consumption depends on different
attributes like Price, Quality, Brand name, Brand loyalty and Labelling. All these attributes
now become a new trend in the market. Currently, people are falling for quality, branded and
cheap priced products. Early day’s price was the only factor in the mind-set of people. But
now, all these factors have a major role in dominating the market. The main purpose of this
research is to have a better knowledge and understanding of consumer buying behaviour
towards cosmetic purchasing especially lipstick and what all are the factors influencing the
consumers in purchasing lipstick.
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR:

Consumer buying behaviour is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences,

intentions, and decisions regarding the consumer's behaviour in the marketplace when
purchasing a product or service. The study of consumer behaviour draws upon social science
disciplines of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and economics. If marketer wants
concrete positioning then the priority is to identify the consumers’ buying behaviour and
marketer will be in better position to target that products and services to consumer. Buying
behaviour is focused towards the needs of individual, group and organization. So,
requirement is to have proper understanding related to relevance of those needs with
consumers buying behaviour. It is important to determine the interaction of consumer with
the marketing mix to understand the consumer buying behaviour. The reason behind that is
the psychology of each individual towards products and services differ according to the
culture, attitude, past learning and perception. On the basis of that consumers make further
decision regarding whether to purchase or not and from where to buy the product that the
consumer prefers. Their decision depends upon many criteria. However, consumer purchases
have happened much before their actual purchase. Marketing plays an important role in this.
Marketing & Advertising have a strong positive impact on buying behaviour of consumers,
and they directly influence consumer buying a product from a company that she/he is well
aware of. In ancient days, consumers were not bothered about the attributes before buying a
product. But there comes a tremendous change in the consumer buying behaviour of the 21st
Century. There are mainly five steps/ stages in consumer decision process

1. Recognition of problem: Recognition of a problem starts when a customer realizes a

problem or need. In all phases of life, humans are considered to be the customers of one
company or another. And they have requirements and needs which have to be fulfilled at each
phase. These requirements may be low or high involved ones. The first step of consumer
buying behaviour starts when the customer realizes that he needs or wants something.

2. Search for information: Once a customer identifies a problem, the next step is to
adequate enough information to solve the problem. The extent of search for information
depends on the customer’s level of involvement in the purchase. The major source of
information which influence the consumer’s buying behaviour are – Advertisements, Friends,
Public, commercials and experience.
3. Evaluation of alternatives: Next stage of the consumer decision process is evaluating the
alternatives. In this stage the Consumer will find the alternatives. They will compare and
understand what they know about the alternative products and brands with what they
considered the most.

4. Purchase decision: After making a decision whether or not to purchase, a consumer might
move through the first decision process as it plans and intends to purchase a particular brand
or product.

5. Outcome: In this step, after critically analysing each stage in the decision process, final
purchase is made.

CUSTOMER PURCHASING DECISION TOWARDS LIPSTICKS:

Before buying a product, Consumers walk or move through a series of steps. They emphasise
the product in a way that it should satisfy their needs and have good quality with low or more
affordable price, and should deliver them with value added features. Consumer buying
pattern differ when comes to the product quality, price, status, features, packaging. They
mostly follow the rhythm of fashion and this changing preference affects their buying pattern.
To identify and predict this changing behaviour, marketers spend million rupees every year
for market research. Currently the marketers are facing difficulties to understand and target
the consumer’s behaviour because they are flourished by the different varieties, affordable
price and changing trend in the market of lipsticks.

Lipsticks : Lipstick is a cosmetic product that contains pigments, oils, waxes,

and emollients that apply colour, texture, and protection to the lips. Many colours and types
of lipstick exist. Some lipsticks are also lip balms, to add colour and hydration. Lipsticks are
used to enhance human appearance. Today people are more concerned about self-personality
and self-consciousness; hence the demand for cosmetic products is increasing rapidly.
Consumers use cosmetic products to become attractive, cleansing and to alter the physical
appearance of their body. Without affecting the body's functions or structure, lipsticks are
intended to be applied for promoting attractiveness, beautifying, cleansing or altering the
appearance of human body. There are many globally well-established leading cosmetic
companies such as The L’Oreal Group, The Procter & Gamble Company, Unilever, Shiseido
Company Ltd and Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Lipsticks have modernized and brings a
change not only in foreign countries but also in Indian society and thereby in the minds of
Indian customers especially youth and adults who have now started purchasing various
cosmetic brands viz. Lakme, L’Oreal, Avon, Mac and Chambor, Kraylon, Maybelline, Color
Bar, Dove, Elle 18, Revlon, Clinique, and ADS. There are many factors that consumers will
look for before buying a lipstick: Brand, Quality, Labelling, Price, and Advertisement.

Brand: The Brand is considered as a name and symbol of a company. Brand plays an
important role in creating a positive image among customers. Brand name has the ability to
create loyal customers as well as to retain market share of the company. Loyal customers
always remain faithful or loyal to a brand, they repurchase it and through word of mouth they
recommend it to others. Brand loyalty is customer’s willingness to spend high amount for
their favourite brand against its alternatives that loyal customers are great asset to a firm as
they bring profitability and growth to a company.

Quality: Quality product plays a significant role in assessing purchase intention. It can be
termed as a process of continuous improvement because the product performance and
satisfaction of customers will increase due to continuous changes. Quality is an important
tool for creating competitive advantage. Quality should need to be improved every moment.
Purchasing intention of customers depends upon the product quality and it has a significant
impact on it. Customer purchase intention is high for quality product than low quality
products. Quality product always has a direct and positive relation with customer buying
decision. Other researchers also found that quality product have a strong impact on customer
buying behaviour.

Packaging: Packaging is a representative of manufacturer and act as the carrier of

advertising messages and company slogan. Proper packaging creates distinctiveness among
the companies. Companies know about the needs of proper packaging and how a slight
change in packaging results in their profitability. Therefore, now companies are completely
focused on different aspects of packaging and thereby to reap high productivity and
profitability. Customers will look for the packaging style of food products. The visual aspect
of labelling and packaging has an important role in the food purchase process and have a
direct relation with customer and an effect on customer mind. Packaging’s definitely have
strong impact on purchase decision. During the time of unplanned purchases, customers are
attracted by the colour, labelling and totally the appearance of the product. Packaging, brand
loyalty and customer purchase intention these three are related to each other. There is an
impact of packaging on brand loyalty and which in turn shows a positive effect on customers
purchase intention.

Advertising: Advertising can be considered as a subset of marketing mix (4P) that are place,
promotion, price, and product. For promotion of a product, one of the main strategies used is
advertising. In order to make awareness of a product in the mind of potential customers,
advertising is an important tool and it influences the customer’s decision to buy a product.
Through advertising manufacturers create an emotional link with customers and it will long
last in the mind of the consumers. If advertising is attractive, then customers pays more focus
on that and thereby creates a feeling towards the product and that leads to the way of brand
promotion. Those who have loyal feeling show a positive attitude towards a brand. A positive
response to certain advertising or brand increases the positive evaluation. Advertising is a
strong powerful tool which plays an important part to affect and inform consumer behaviour.
There is an impact of advertising on consumer buying behaviour.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve a problem. It may be understood as a

science of study where research is done scientifically. It includes various steps that are
generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem. This is a descriptive
research based on both primary and secondary data.

SAMPLE DESIGN AND SIZE:

A sample design is a technique or the procedure that the researcher would adopt in selecting
the sample for the study. Purposive Sampling technique is adopted to select the type of the
respondents. Only those who use lipsticks are considered for the study. Under the study,
convenience sampling is used for selecting the sample from the universe. Sample respondents
have been chosen using convenience sampling technique. Convenience sampling refers to
the collection of data from members as population who are conveniently available to provide
information about their experience in using lipsticks. The questionnaire has been issued to
101 respondents of female gender to obtain data.

DATA COLLECTION:

Primary Data:

Primary data consists of original information collected for specific purpose only from lipstick
users of different age groups.

Questionnaire Structure and Design:

A structured questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. The questionnaire is divided
into 2 parts:

Part I deals with the general information about the respondents.

Part II reflects the consumer behaviour towards the usage of lipsticks.

Secondary source:

Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere have been collected for
some other purpose. The secondary data is obtained from the text book, Internet, research
articles and journals.
TABLE SHOWING THE OCCUPATION OF RESPONDENTS

S.No Particulars No. of respondents Percentage

1 Student 57 56.40%

2 Professional 33 32.70%

3 Self Employed 8 7.90%

4 Others 3 3.00%

TOTAL 101 100

Occupation of Respondents
Others
Self Employed
3%
8%

Professional
33% Student
56%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that most of the respondents are Students as
they constitute nearly half of the respondents group. The second highest occupation that the
respondents are engaged in Professional Occupation constituting 32% and 8% of the
respondents are engaged in Self-employed jobs and nearly 4% of the respondents are
housewives.
TABLE SHOWING THE AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

S.No Particulars No. of respondents Percentage

1 15 - 20 15 14.60%
2 21 - 25 57 55.30%
3 26 - 30 18 17.50%
4 More than 30 13 12.60%
TOTAL 101 100

Age of Respondents

More 15 - 20
than 30 15%
13%

26 - 30
17%

21 - 25
55%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above chart we can understand that nearly half of the respondents are from the
age group of 21 – 25. Nearly 17% of the respondents are from the age group of 26 – 30. And
15% of the respondents are from the age group of 15 – 20 and 13% of the respondents are
from the age group of more than 30 years.
TABLE SHOWING THE FREQUENCY OF PURCHASE OF LIPSTICK BY THE
RESPONDENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Rarely 51 50.50%

2 Frequently 33 33.00%

3 Very Frequently 17 16.50%

TOTAL 101 100%

Frequency of Purchase of Lipstick

Very
Frequently
17%

Rarely
50%
Frequently
33%

INFERENCE:

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one half of the respondents purchase
the lipstick rarely stating that they purchase the product only hen the lipstick they use is either
finished or lost. It also states that one-third of the responents purchase the product frequently
stating that they are respondents who purchase lipsticks whenever they found a new shade
available in their preffered brand or other competent brands. The chart also states that nearly
17% of the respondents purchase the product frequently and most of them are not brand loyal
and purchase any brand that is made available.
TABLE SHOWING THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PURCHASE OF
LIPSTICK BY THE RESPONDENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Peer Group 15 14.60%
2 Family 11 10.70%
3 Advertisement 13 12.60%
4 Brand 21 20.40%
5 Shade Availability 15 14.60%
6 Matte Look 15 14.60%
7 Glossy Look 11 10.70%
TOTAL 101 100%

Factors influencing the purchase of Listick

Glossy Look
11%

Peer Group
15%

Matte Look Family

15% 11%

Advertisement
Shade Availability 13%
15% Brand
20%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one-fifth of the respondents are
influenced by the brand of the product and nearly one-half of the respondents are influenced
by the availability of shade, matte look and peer group’s suggestions. Nearly 22% of the
respondents are influenced by family and glossy look lipsticks. Only 13% of the respondents
are influenced by the advertisements displayed by the companies.
TABLE SHOWING THE BRAND OF LIPSTICKS USED BY THE RESPONDENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1. Lakme 34 33.00%
2. Mac 16 15.50%
3. Nykaa 11 10.70%
4. Purpelle 3 2.90%
5. Sugar 6 5.80%
6. Sephora 5 4.90%
7. Elle 18 7 6.80%
8. Krayola 2 1.90%
9. Huda 5 4.90%
10. Others 12 13.60%
TOTAL 101 100.00%

Brands of Lipstick used by the respondents

10 Others
9 Huda 12%
5%
8 Krayola
2%
7 Elle 18 1 Lakme
7% 33%

6 Sephora
5%
5 Sugar 2 Mac
6% 16%
4 Purpelle
3% 3 Nykaa
11%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one-third of the respondents prefer
Lakme brand and nearly 16% of the respondents prefer Mac Brand and nearly 11% of the
respondents prefer Nykaa Brand and one-tenth of the respondents prefer other brands that
include Maybelline, Colorbar, Matte Me, and other local brands like ADS, Natura etc. Nearly
7% of the customers prefer Elle18 and 6% of the respondents prefer the brand Sugar and 5%
of the respondents prefer the brand Sephora and Huda and 3% of the respondents prefer
Purpelle and nearly 2% of the respondents prefer the brand Krayola.

TABLE SHOWING THE PRICE BAND AT WHICH THE RESONDENTS PREFER

TO PURCHASE LIPSTICKS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Less than Rs.100 10 10%
2 Rs.100 - Rs.250 29 29%
3 Rs.- Rs.250 - Rs.500 32 31%
4 More than Rs.500 30 30%
TOTAL 101 100%

Price Band at which lipsticks are preferred

1 Less than Rs.100
10%

4 More than
Rs.500
30% 2 Rs.100 -
Rs.250
29%

3 Rs.- Rs.250 -
Rs.500
31%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly 31% of the respondents prefer to
buy lipsticks at the price bands of Rs.250 – Rs.500. 30% of the respondents prefer to buy the
products at a price more than Rs.500 and nearly 29% of the respondents prefer to buy
lipsticks at Rs.100 – Rs.250 and one-tenth of the respondents prefer to buy the product at a
price less than Rs.100.
TABLE SHOWING THE PLACE OF PURCHASE OF PURCHASE OF LIPSTICK
BY THE RESPONDENTS

S.no Particulars No. Of Percentage

respondents
1 Departmental Store 22 21.4
2 Specialty Cosmetic Store (sephora,lakme and other 35 34
brand showrooms)
3 Common online platforms (Amazon,Flipkart, etc.) 19 18.4
4 Specialty cosmetic online platform ( Nykaa, 25 26.2
purpelle, sugar etc.)
TOTAL 101 100

Place of purchase of Lipsticks

4 Specialty cosmetic
online platform ( 1 Departmental Store
Nykaa, purpelle, 22%
sugar etc.)
25%

3 Common online 2 Specialty Cosmetic

platforms Store (sephora,lakme
(Amazon,Flipkart, and other brand
etc.) showrooms)
19% 34%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one-fourth of the respondents prefer
to buy the product from Speciality online platforms like Nykaa.com, Purpelle.com, etc.
nearly 34% of the respondents prefer to buy the product from Speciality cosmetic stores like
Sephora, Lakme and other brand showrooms. Nearly 19% of the respondents prefer to buy
the product from Common online platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, etc. and nearly 22% of the
respondents prefer to buy the product from Departmental Stores.
TABLE SHOWING THE OCCASIONS AT WHICH THE RESPONDENTS USE
LIPSTICKS

S.No Particulars No. Of Percentage

Respondents
1 Daily 19 18.8
2 Sometimes during parties and other festive 51 50.5
occasions
3 Rarely 28 27.7
4 Others 3 3
TOTAL 101 100

Usage of Lipsticks by the Respondents

4 Others
3%

1 Daily
19%
3 Rarely
28%

2 Sometimes during
parties and other
festive occasions
50%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one half of the respondents ear
lipsticks during parties and other festive occasions. Nearly one half of the respondents prefer
to wear lipstick daily and nearly one-third of the respondents prefer to wear lipstick rarely
and 4% of the respondents prefer to wear lipsticks depending on their mood.
TABLE SHOWING THE REASON WHY CUSTOMERS USE LIPSTICKS OF A
PARTICULAR BRAND

S.No Particulars No.Of Respondents Percentage

1 Good Quality 43 42.4
2 Cheaper rate 13 12.6
3 Shade Availability 25 25.2
4 Long Lasting 20 19.8
TOTAL 101 100

Reasons why respondents prefer a particular

brand of Lipstick

4 Long Lasting
20%
1 Good Quality
42%

3 Shade
Availability
25%

2 Cheaper rate
13%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly 42 % of the respondents stick to a
particular brand because of the good quality of the products from the brand and none-fourth
of the respondents state that they use a brand because of the different shades available in the
brand and one-fifth of the respondents state that they use a brand because of the long lasting
ability of the lipsticks offered by the brand and only 13% of the respondents choose a brand
when the product is offered at a cheaper rate.
TABLE SHOWING WHETHER THE RESPONDENTS WOULD PAY MORE IF THE
LIPSTICKS ARE NATURAL

S.NO PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Yes 47 46.5
2 No 25 24.8
3 Maybe 29 28.7
TOTAL 101 100

Preference to pay more for natural lipsticks

3 Maybe
29%
1 Yes
46%

2 No
25%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly on-half of the respondents prefer to
pay more if lipsticks were made out of natural components instead of chemical components
and one-fourth of the population states that they would not prefer to pay more for lipsticks if
they were stated natural and one-third of the respondents may or may not prefer the product if
they were stated natural and also stated that they would prefer it only based on the brand that
offers the variety.
TABLE SHOWING THE INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT ON THE
BUYING DECISION OF THE RESPONDENTS.

S.No Particulars No. Of Respondents Percentage

1 Yes 20 21.6

2 No 57 54.9

3 Maybe 24 23.5

TOTAL 101 100

Influence of celebrity endorsements

1 Yes
3 Maybe 20%
24%

2 No
56%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly 60% of the respondents are not
affected by the celebrity endorsements in their purchase decisions and one-fifth of the
respondents are affected by the celebrity endorsements in choosing their brand and one-
fourth of the respondents state that they may or may not be affected by the celebrity
endorsements in their decision to choose a brand.
TABLE SHOWING THE REASON WHY RESPONDENTS WEAR LIPSTICKS

S.No Particulars No. Of Respondents Percentage

1 Improving Self - Image 19 18.8

2 Young looks 18 17.8

3 Being Fashionable 40 39.6

4 Boosts my confidence 21 20.8

5 Others 3 3

TOTAL 101 100

Reasons why customers wear lipstick

5 Others
3%

1 Improving
4 Boosts my Self - Image
confidence 19%
21%
2 Young looks
18%
3 Being
Fashionable
39%

INFERENCE

Thus from the above table we can understand that nearly one-fifth of the respondents prefer
to wear lipsticks because they think that it boosts their confidence and nearly 19% of the
respondents think that it improves their self-image and nearly 40% of the respondents ear it to
be fashionable and 18% of the respondents wear it to look more younger and 5% of the
respondents wear it for other reasons like occupational requirement and for the reason that it
has become a part of their daily make-up and also that they just love it as an accessory to be
on them.
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Customers would be ready to pay more if lipsticks are made of natural products and
the distributors should also make the product known to the customers.
• Majority of the customers are aware of the latest brand and its products through many
social medium.
• The company should maintain the brand loyalty on sustaining the satisfaction level of
customers by considering those factors like not compromising in their quality and
introducing new shades like Maybelline’s initiative to introduce 7 shades every month
to keep their position in the market.
• Advertisement is an important device which influences more customers. Therefore,
they have to increases awareness through the advertisement in order to increases the
sales.
• The marketer has to provide awareness about the foreign branded cosmetic products
in rural areas to attract more customers.
• Companies should provide training to their distributors and dealers in order to serve
their customers in the best way so as to build brand loyalty.
• Nowadays the sales strategy is moving towards giving free gifts, free samples, offers
like BOGO, etc.., for the products. Hence, in order to withstand in the market and to
increase the market share the manufacturers should give free gifts, offers, etc.., from
charging the reasonable price.
• The distributor has to take necessary steps to improve the supply of products by
fulfilling the customers’ requirements.
• Most of the customers prefer to buy their lipsticks from the Speciality online
platforms like Nykaa.com, Sugar.com, etc. Thus the new entrants should ensure that
they supply their products through these distributors also.
• A proper communication should be created with doctors, beauticians and should be
involved in advertisement to make them more attractive, affective and reliable.
• Marketer should include your attitude and personal appeals in their advertising
communication to induce the consumer buy the products on their own.
• The new entrants will have to target those customers who are more price-conscious
and prefer products at a cheaper and affordable price to gain market share. Eg: ADS
 though being a local brand has introduced all its products at a lower price and has
succeeded in winning the market share in comparison to its competitors.

CONCLUSION

The modern market is highly competitive in nature. The consumer is the king in the market.
The importance gained by the individual consumer in the present market compel the
marketers to look the buying habits, preferences, taste, like and dislikes of consumers and
accordingly they need to revise its policies and marketing mix. While purchase of cosmetic
product, the consumers are found more quality conscious preferred to purchase ayurvedic
products, they wait for the brand during non- availability, become emerging as important
source of information and inspite of impact of other factors, the actual brand decision is taken
by themselves.

BIBILIOGRAPHY

A study on consumer buying behaviour of cosmetic products by P. Rameshwari, R.

Mathivananand M. Jeganathan published in IAJMR ISSN: 2454 – 1370.

www.academia.edu

www.scribd.com

www.yourarticlelibrary.com