Women are breaking through the patriarchal hurdles and stride towards the realm of women empowerment. Increased access to education, encouragement to pursue the career of choice has made the modern women more instrumental in allying the society. Women and beauty are indispensible; as women empowerment is escalating, similarly the beauty consciousness. Facial beauty has occupied a prime importance in women beauty care. Therefore the facial cream market has earmarked its peak. This has attracted more entrants into the facial cream market leading to mushrooming effect; increase in number of companies and brands has resulted in intensification of rivalry. The companies with core competence and competitive advantage can alone survive. The women consumers have diverse requirements and have access to diversified products customized to meet their niche needs. Thus it has become a mammoth challenge for companies to effectively market and maintain their loyal customer clientele. In this direction an attempt has been made to critically analyze the women buying behavior regarding facial skin care products.
A survey was conducted – to ascertain the buying behavior pattern of Indian women related to facial cream; -factors affecting the buying decisions of female consumers; -The aim is to compare the similarities and differences in the buying behavior between young (aged 20 to 40) and middle-aged (aged 40 to 60) Indian women -Furthermore, the objective is to get reliable and valid results that help the case company in planning their future business activities and marketing strategies.
Data was analyzed using statistical techniques such as, Factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Correlation Coefficients, KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy) and Bartlett's test, Scree Plots and percentage analysis.
The assessment unearthed various factors affecting women buying behavior related to facial creams;
Recommendations include changes or new initiatives in following aspects, all of which contribute to upholding the loyal customer clientele - Sales process, pricing strategy, Public relations strategy, Advertising strategy, brand building strategy, Through these initiatives, the case company could increase loyal clientele of repeat customers, continuous profits which help in making the case company a successful long lasting brand with augmented popularity.
Core competence, competitive advantage, loyal customer clientele, consumer buying behavior
