Greek ‘Essence’ Cosmetics Brand research
During this spring semester of 2020 in the AdandPr Lab of the Communication, Media and Culture Department, in Panteion University, we had the fortune of attending a Market Research course. In fact, we were presented with the task to choose our own product category and conduct a thorough market research. Our team consists of 7 people and we are called “Parachute” (whole team tagged at the end).
Our chosen field was cosmetics and make up products in particular. The main brand we chose to focus on is Essence. Due to COVID-19 our work routine had to adapt to a new manner, which means that we had to depend on remote research only.
At first, we had to explore the cosmetics industry in Greece. We found out that facial and body care products are the leading market. Following these, we have hair care, hygiene, makeup and perfume products. In the country, it appears we do not have many established companies. Rather, consumers prefer a few household names and a plethora of smaller size domestic companies.
The leading distribution channels are:
Then, we proceeded to a PEST analysis. The findings showed that in the political sector, greek companies oblige to the European Union guidelines. European Union countries are prohibited from using about 500 ingredients out of the 1328 in total. The economic factor clearly showed that the 2008 recession had a huge effect in retail, some of which still has a hold on consumer habits. The social factor suggests that consumers tend to be loyal to a few specific brands being kind of reluctant to try new ones. Last but not least, the technological factor showed that the internet provides a 24/7 shopping experience.
It is estimated that the domestic cosmetics market will grow at an annual rate of 2,4%. There is a rise in online shopping buying behaviour and online distribution channels. Things to watch out for are testing on animals, counterfeit goods and environmental issues.
Next, we created two personas which we believe represent two different types of consumers.
We hosted 12 focus groups in the form of 1:1, since the greek government prohibited citizens from leaving their houses. It seems that most people who participated use cosmetics in order to enhance their natural characteristics, cover up some flaws, feel better and more confident. They use makeup products mainly when going out for fun, work, daily errands or special occasions (weddings, etc). They spend from around 10 minutes to one hour for their makeup routine and it usually depends on where they are going. The bigger the event, the more time they need. Most people would give the bigger amount of money in order to buy foundation. They spend about 10–20 euros per month for cosmetics. Information comes from makeup artists, youtubers, friends, television shows, reviews from other users. Most people said they buy products when they run out.
Then, we designed an online survey through the Survey Monkey platform, that 100 women and one man completed on April-May 2020. The first results showed this:
Fame and reputation of brands are the main factor which drives a person to choose them over the other companies. Second to that comes the quality of the products and the pricing follows. At a lower rate, we noticed that come factors such as variety of products, cruelty free, acne prone, organic products and silicone free.
Channel and Nyx seem to be the two best quality companies in the minds of consumers, following by Dior, Maybelline and Gucci. The most popular brand in sales is Nyx. Second comes Mac and then Maybelline and Radiant. Essence received a low rate (⅖ ) in consumers mind, whereas Dior scored a ⅘. The last question in our survey was whether consumers would buy Dior and Essence if they were on sale. Most people said they would.
When it comes to women ages 19–25 and focusing on the brand Essence and its competitors the results are slightly different:
Here’s a little video we put up on Essence’s perpective on our results!
Parachute: Christina Dadina, Alex Dimou, DELIcious, Marialenadr, Eleni flevotomou, Sofia Mavragani and I.
Professors/Mentors that guided us,helped us this whole semester and we want to thank!: Mrs Betty Tsakarestou, Mrs Dimitra Iordanoglou and Mr Konstantinos Ioannidis
And thank YOU for reading about our survey. We hope to have given you some useful information. See you next time!
#AdandPrLAB #MNMRLab #Essence #cosmetics #research #makeup
