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2 April 2007
Mumbai, India
Indian men are increasingly investing more time and money to enhance their looks, with 78 percent of the respondents feeling that it is ok for men to spend time and money to improve their appearance. According to a study conducted by The Nielsen Company, 84 percent of the respondents felt that Indian men are more interested in grooming today than they used to be.
It is interesting to note here that 100 percent of the respondents under the age group of 20 agreed that men are more interested in personal grooming than they used to be, indicating where the change is actually sprouting from.
In a recently released Global Consumer Report on Personal Grooming Nielsen surveyed 25,408 internet users in 46 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East about their attitudes to personal grooming, what and how often they invested in beauty products and treatments, and what they would spend, and on what, if money were no object.
On the whole 30 percent of Indians agreed to be spending more on beauty products and treatments to enhance their appearance. Whereas 80 percent of the respondents surveyed felt that the pressures to look good are more today than they were in their parent’s generation.
“In the last few years we have seen Indians indulging in grooming, health and wellness. The Indian market is now mature to accept specialized product meant for specific purpose rather than a mass general product. Now it’s for marketers to promote products which cater to this niche requirements and the sooner someone will identify and understand the need more lies the chance of success” said Sarang Panchal, Executive Director, Customized Research Services, The Nielsen Company, South Asia.
People have different reasons to look good. As shown in the survey results, 40 percent of the total Indian respondents and 86 percent under the age of 20 want to look stylish and well groomed always. It is interesting to note that for half of the Indian respondent (57%) the idea behind looking good is to please their partners. 39 percent of the respondents also invest in personal grooming to attract a partner. The percentage rises to a phenomenal 77 percent in the age group 21-24.
“Twenty is the dream age; when people dream and plan for the life ahead and quite likely looking good boost a lot of confidence that these people constantly seek. Our study results just confirm that,” added Panchal.
A thousand choices for personal grooming
For Indians beauty begins with beautiful hair. 36 percent of the respondents invest monthly on hair care to enhance their appearance. Surprisingly, the percentage of men investing monthly (37%) on hair care is significantly more than the percentage of women (28%) investing on hair care monthly.
People in Asia Pacific, China, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines in particular, make an effort to enhance their appearance daily, weekly or monthly through Hair Care (66%), Skin Care (57%), Facial Treatment (40%) and a host of other applications such as Body Massages, Skin Whitening and Teeth Whitening, compare to their counterparts in the North America, Europe and Latin America.
Beautiful hair needs to be accompanied with a beautiful face, at least that’s what the survey in India shows. Facial treatment comes next in line after hair care when it comes to investing money to look good. 21 percent of the respondents get a monthly facial treatment done to look good. When it comes to women beauty is not restricted to face alone. An equal percentage (39%) of women also invest in manicure and pedicure monthly to enhance their appearance. For Senior citizens (32%) group too, a daily skin care regime holds quite an importance.
“Looking good is not restricted to only young generation, even the middle age and older generation are keen on improving their look and overall health. But yes these are people who are less likely to run after a fad, what they need is something more substantial and promise real good deal” said Panchal.
Skin whitening and tanning are amongst the other grooming activities that people indulge in, though in India the percentage of people going for these is quite low compared to other countries. In India 3 percent of the respondents claimed that they go for skin whitening and 7 percent go in for tanning to look good. China has 30 percent of people who claim to use skin whitening products either daily or weekly, followed by 20 percent of people in Taiwan, and 18 percent of Japanese and Hong Kongers.
If money was not a constraint
Though consumers indulge in a lot of grooming activities, certain treatments are expensive. When asked what they would opt for if money were not a constraint, a majority voted for body massage (61%). Hair care (56%) is the second choice and facial treatment (44%) the third in line that respondents would like to spend on to look good if money was not a restraint. Though for women both body massage and hair care comes as priority with 59 percent voting for both if money was not limited.
About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a division of The Nielsen Company, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behaviour. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns. To learn more, visit www.acnielsen.co.in.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.
46 Markets Covered:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czechs Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, US and Vietnam
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