Russian Consumers of WAVE

In order to understand the behavior of potential Neutrogena WAVE consumers let’s create the consumers portrait of Russian women. To create appropriate strategy of this product market entry we should understand the peculiarities of Russian women behavior.

According to the research of the world perfumery and cosmetics market conducted by British agency Euromonitor (2011) Russian women spend on cosmetics (decorative and personal care) about $ 30 a year per capita in average and around 50$ in big cities. This indicator is higher in case of Russia, if we compare the result with similar expenses of women in Latin America ($ 20), but significantly lower than in North America ($ 160) and Western Europe ($ 120).

The largest share in the total sales of cosmetics, both worldwide and in Russia, belongs to hair treatment goods. Then we can see interesting difference in preferences of Russian women and women living in developed countries. For instance, in western countries the second place belongs to the skin care products, when in Russia this place belongs to decorative cosmetics. The next places in sales in Russia belong to (in descending order of proportion): oral hygiene, perfumes, and shower facilities.

Research of KOMKON Company confirms that Russian women prefer decorative cosmetics and they pay more attention to make-up than to their skin. Russian women traditionally prefer to save on that is not shown, but spend on what people can see. They are guided by the logic that the cream stays at home on the shelf, but the lipstick or powder can be demonstrated on public. For instance, no one can see that she has cream by Chanel, but everyone can see her Chanel powder when she will use it on public. It is a part of demonstration of social status and wealth for Russian women.

In April 2011 MAGRAM Market Research agency conducted marketing and sociological research of consumer habits and preferences in cosmetics and perfumes. Residents of 23 Russian cities in age from 16 to 55 years old with an income of middle and upper-middle were interviewed (totally 1500 women). The survey revealed that various means of cosmetics are used by 99% of Russian women, and 76% use it daily, 9% - 4-5 times a week, 7% - 2-3 times a week, 5% - once a week or less often.

The next step we would like to consider where Russia women prefer to buy perfume and cosmetics. The most popular places are specialized stores such as L'Etoile, Douglas Rivoli, Ile De Beauté, Rive Gauche, Sephora, etc. About 42% of women prefer to buy cosmetics in specialized stores which, in their opinion, can provide greater range and variety of brands and offer customers special discount programs than other sales channels. Specialized stores are associated with a guarantee against counterfeiting. About 30% of Russian women prefer to buy cosmetics in shopping malls when they come there for the products or clothing. About 18% of women prefer to buy goods from catalogue, as it allows making purchases at any time. For the same reasons Internet is gaining popularity in Russian cities, about 14% of women buy cosmetics and perfumes in the worldwide web. In particular, a special preference to the internet is given by young mothers who sit with the children and they are unable to make long shopping trips.