Empirical Investigation of Demographic Determinants in Consumers' Preference of Personal Care Products

Changing lifestyle of Indians has resulted in a healthy growth in the personal care market during recent years. The preference of Indian consumers is changing from 'merely functional' products to more 'advanced and specialized' cosmetic items. An attempt is made to understand the demographic determinants that might influence the buying behavior of personal care products. The various demographic determinants considered under the study are age, occupation, income, education and location of the respondents. It was found that age group of 26-50 years, who are mostly graduates or post graduates, working as employees and earning an income of Rs. 20,000-39,999 are the consumers of either popular or middle end categories of personal care products. This signifies that middle class consumers is the most important target group for all the major players in the personal care segment.