Buying behavior and consumption of Italians women of cosmetic products

Abstract

The main aim of the thesis is to investigate the buying and consumption behavior of cosmetic products of Italian ladies, with a particular focus on the relationship between mass cosmetic and premium/luxury products. The thesis will deep the reason why ladies prefer one category rather than the other and the reasons for their choice: i.e. show off desire or perceived higher quality. A relevant aspect that will be investigated is the “mix and match” phenomena in the cosmetic usage.

The effect of the brand equity and brand loyalty in cosmetic products will be deepen. In the make-up field the brand is relevant especially because distinguishing among luxury and mass products is difficult for customers, so that brands play a great role as guarantee. The “mix and match” phenomena in makeup industry is also interesting to be compared with the same phenomena in the label industry, because in the former the show off reason is more hidden than in the latter industry.

The expected output of the thesis is a segmentation of consumers based upon their purchase behavior ( who uses just mass cosmetic products, who matches mass and premium products and who prefers just premium products) and a perceptual maps of different brands.