Ethics On Par with Price When It Comes to Purchase Decisions

Despite growing concerns about prices, consumers are still putting placing importance on the ethics of the company they are buying from: 34% said that they consider ethics, while 35% used a product's price and value as their main consideration.

The survey was conducted by The Body Shop - for whom it probably makes sense to publish results that lean towards ethical choices - and it is lacking one major statistic: what consumer actually decide. As we all know, it is much easier to say than it is to do.

When asked how often they actually made purchasing decisions based on ethical values, 40% said they did so weekly. Okay, we'll take it.

No Love For Cosmetics "Superbrands"

The UK's top 500 Superbrands* list is out - and there's not a single cosmetics or toiletries brand in the top 100, reports Cosmetics Design.

Luxury brands performed the best: Estée Lauder was the closest at 120, followed by Chanel (No. 142) and Clinique (No. 195). Next came toiletries: Gillette, Wilkinson Sword and Colgate, followed by big personal care players, including Dove at 294th and Nivea at 300th. Still, a poor showing from the industry! --What's up with that?

According to a Stephen Cheliotis, the chief executive at the Centre for Brand Analysis, it is because there is a "lack of heritage and emotional attachment" that consumers hold for brands in the category. Most consumers do not associate big cosmetics brands with their childhood (like Kellogg's) or believe that they represent any kind of value system.

*A superbrand is defined as brand that has established the finest reputation in its field, offering customers significant emotional and tangible advantages over other brands, which (consciously or sub-consciously) they want and recognize.

Beauty Goes Green Webinar Explores Topics of (Consumer) Interest

Yesterday the Global Cosmetic Industry Beauty Union hosted another session of their Beauty Goes Green webinar to talk about Retailing and Point of Sale. With a stated purpose of finding "what consumers [are] really thinking right now about natural and organic beauty products," we found that there was, in fact, an emphasis on market research.

Several polls were taken ahead of time in an attempt to identify current consumer trends. For example, they asked, "In which category is natural/organic the most important?" The results showed a large number of people who thought that both skincare and baby/maternity products were rather important. However, when the poll was given to the webinar audience, skincare outshone all categories by more than 50 percentage points. Why is this?

It may be that the participants in the survey were mostly people who are in the industry, not your average consumer. Those of us who are immersed in this world are already aware of current (high) standards for baby products. Put simply, you cannot put many harsh chemicals in these; mothers are protective. Ever try to approach a baby bear when the mother is around? Don't do it.

Yet when it comes to their own skin, women are a little slow to adopt to natural and organic products. Perhaps it is a process - first baby, then me. It's going to take education, they concluded, both from the companies and at the point of sale. But are retailers really going to make space for product literature on their shelves?

We doubt it.