What Factors to Affect Hong Kong Male.docx

7/24/2019 What Factors to Affect Hong Kong Male.docx

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What Factors to Affect Hong Kong Males ConsumerBehavior in Buying Facial Cleanser?

What factors to affect Hong Kong males consumer behavior in buyingfacial cleanser?

Abstract

The current trend of the human race is to remain presentable wheneverthey meet new faces. This transition separated male gender from femalewho appreciated the factor of beauty. However, current male generationshave initiated the factor of beauty thereby imposing their sin care intovarious beauty products for them to remain presentable. This study willinvestigate and evaluate the factors, which affect the consumer behavior ofmales of Hong Kong in buying facial cleanser. The researcher developed a!uestionnaire to capture the re!uired information and analy"ed the datausing #$## program. This study gives an insight of various attributes thatthe researcher used in the analysis, revealing confidence, apprehension,self%presentation and orthodo&y as the main factors to consider whilepurchasing male cosmetics. 'iely, the researcher discovered that HongKong consumers of for facial cleanser normally concentrate on price, brandimage, product !uality and customer service as the main determinant of thepurchase.

(ntroduction

)acground and problem

*veryone in the society appreciates their body and will always maintaintheir dignity by remaining beautiful. 'ooing at the perception of the globalworld, most individuals live in a set of stereotypes who want to become

models. This does not factor out the male gender who have adapted theconsciousness about their image. The urge to remain beautiful hasgenerated a different perception on beauty among males globally. Thise&plains the gold mine factor for various male cosmetic brands.

+acial cleanser is a product used by various applicants in cleaning theirsin. The main aim of using the product is to remove unseen particles,


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especially in the face, that may affect the sin from remaining smooth. Theintroduction of facial cleansers came amidst growing numbers of variousmodels countrywide. The desire to remain competitive in the modelingworld forced the participants to maintain their body and faces in a

professional way. As professionals e&plain, sin for various people hasdifferent features. #ome are oily while some are over dry. This e&plains thediversity of facial cleansers suitable for different sin feature.

As e&plained earlier, the trend of beauty among people is growing in afascinating pace. The males aped their female counterpart in various formsand had to employ their products to maintain their sin tone. urrently,males are more conscious of their body and desire to adapt to thein-unctions of health, youthful and physi!ue that will mae them competitive

in body aesthetics. The emergence of fashion maga"ine triggered theupcoming concern for males and their appearance. This diverted theattention of beauty to consider both gender with certain attributes to males.

Although men use various cosmetics, facial cleanser included, most ofthem get the products as prescribed by their wives. However, the maretresearch shows that women re!uire their partners to consider theirappearance as strategic bait, some fear that the purchase of some of thecosmetic products interfere with their eti!uette of imitating femalebehaviors. This e&plains the hard life that the stereotypes pass through.+rom the beauty perception, body appearance reflects to the seductiongame rather than the desire women versus men. Thus, as the researchremains relatively seldom on men cosmetics, it seemed significant tocomprehend the meaning of men beauty in the modern world. Thee&planation should consider the emergence of mores and mentalities onone side, and mens orientation as considered by the opposite se&, on oneend. As e&plained by other researchers, men have dissimilar tastes oncosmetics as compared to women and this e&plains the disparity in factorsthat affect the demand for some products. 'iewise, heterose&uals havetheir own tastes and e&periences dissimilar from other straight people.

As e&plained in the above bacground, men are very choosy when itcomes to cosmetics. As the ma-ority never cares about their appearance,the few who consider it vital have a reason behind. As a way to promote thecosmetic products, especially for men, various firms need to adapt uni!ue


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mareting strategies that will ensure they secure maret for the new target.The uni!ue mareting strategies may include areas lie product,communication, price among other factors.

/verview of the cosmetic maret in Hong King

osmetic industry in Hong Kong covers a limited place, especially the menproducts. 0ost of the local manufacturers normally produce toiletries andperfumes that compete at low prices. However, in the mid to high%levelmarets, the international brands overtoo the local products therebymaing them less competitive. urrently, global companies lie #ulwhasoo,Kiehls and '/ccitane compete in maing sin care for men gender.

(n the year 1232, Hong Kong had 42 establishments that produced

cosmetics. The main clients for the companies were the hinese, 0acau,5apan and the *uropean marets. +rom the total e&port from Hong Kong,36.78 of the cosmetic product goes to the hinese maret, with 36.98going to 0acau maret. The :nited #tates maret accounted for 3;8 ofthe total e&port from Hong Kong.


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=esearch !uestion

3. >oes brand image affect your buying trend for facial cleanser?

1. >oes the !uality of facial cleanser determine how often you buy the

product?

;. (s the price a determinant of facial cleanser ownership?

. >oes the way you relate with the company affect the consumer behaviorof product ownership?

To answer these research !uestions, this study will concentrate on theconsumer behavior and more so, developing on the self%concept theorieswhich are self%esteem and self%image. #elf%concept is a term that e&plainsthe totality of the thoughts and feelings a person has on him. #elf%esteemforms part of self%concept and it focuses on the need for a person torecogni"e himself and by others. #elf%esteem is an element of self%assertion. #elf%image, on the other hand, is a personal mental picture of anindividual based on -udgments of other people.

'imitations

Woring on a research paper re!uires accurate data@ however, some

circumstances may deter the researcher from collecting the re!uired data./ne limitation of the above research was the cultural dimension of thesocieties in Hong Kong. (t is obvious that consumption of cosmetics isdissimilar in different regions according to cultural dimensions. Theresearcher did not consider this dimension while performing the studysimply because the factor would complicate the whole research.

'iterature

As mentioned in the introductory part of the report, men, in the modernworld, are becoming conscious on their image as compared to the oldertimes. This e&plains the alarming rate of various industries thatmanufacture men cosmetics within the cosmetic industries. According toresearch, male cosmetic products increased by 348 between the year122 and 1233. >uring this period, the maret for the cosmetic productspriced at B19 billion. This significant change in the male grooming is


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forming a new trend and spectators still maintain that the trend will continueto blossom in various places where people are adapting to Westernlifestyles.

>espite the tremendous growth in the demand for male cosmetics, variousconsumers have different factors that they consider before maing adecision on the product they want to consume. (n a research on a model ofmale consumer behavior in buying sin care products, a case study inThailand, the researchers main purpose was to study the behavior of maleconsumer in purchasing sin care products in Thailand. (n this researcher,the researchers employed the theory of reasoned action developed by+ishbein and A-"en. The researchers included other factors lie the self%image construct in the formation of the theoretical framewor. The

researchers wored on various research !uestions, which are the e&tent towhich beliefs in certain attributes of a product, self%image, influences fromthe normative perspective and attitudes that clients have on sin careproducts application to the Thai male consumers of sin care products. Theresearchers used a sample si"e of 11 respondents aged between theages of 13 to 92 years. The study area was in )ango metropolitan. +romtheir results, it was evident that beliefs, self%image, influences from thenormative factors and personal attributes positively influence the purchasepotential of sin care products among males in )ango. This meant that

the modified theory of reasoned action proves suitable in e&plaining thebehavior of the male consumers in purchasing certain cosmetic productwithin the Thai setting.

(n another study, #iddharth and #inha conducted a research on the factoranalysis on the attitude traits of the buying behavior of male consumers oncosmetic products, a case study in $une ity. According to the authors ofthe report, they acnowledge the current trend of studies, which focus onattitude characteristics that affect the buying behavior of male cosmetics. (ntheir study, they used a !uestionnaire in arriving at their analysis. The studypopulation constituted of 39 males aged between 12 and 92 years whowere the respondents. +rom the analy"ed data, the researchers found outthat self%esteem, an&iety, self%presentation and conformity had a significanteffect in the purchasing of male cosmetic products.


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(n another study by Ting and heng, the two authors studied the maleconsumer and their cosmetics, a survey done at 0alardalen :niversity in#weden. The main aim of the product was to describe the traits that includedemographic subculture, psychological factors, personal and social factors.

The named factors have a positive effect towards attitudes of potentialbuyers. The authors investigated the attitude and the purchase behavior ofmale consumers using a survey. They further used the model thatdescribes the relationship between attitudes and bacground traits. Theauthors further described the purchase behavior of male consumers. (n theresearch, the researchers used positivistic approach in describing theirdata. $ositivistic approach gives a description of the ob-ectivity of thecollected data. 'iewise, they used both !uantitative and !ualitative methodin analy"ing data. +rom the data analysis, the researchers found out that

the behavior of the male consumer is influenced by the named fourdeterminants e&cept sub%culture factors. The reason for e&empting thecultural determinants was due to place of study. The researchers useduniversity students from #weden who have similar demographic subculturalbacground. (n addition to the results, the researchers also found out thatthe theoretical findings and the empirical study compared distinctly. That is,the four named factors have a significant effect in the consumer behavior ofmen during the purchase of cosmetic products.

(n another study by Ca%'ing and Cou%#hyang, the two researchers analy"edthe consumer purchasing behavior with respect to cosmetics. According tothe researchers, consumer e&perience dissimilar purchasing behaviors.The researchers used personal characters and bacground in e&plainingthe differences. +or them to perfect the research, they grouped consumersinto two distinct groups counter cosmetic consumers and open%staccosmetic consumers. They used male participants from a famouscommercial district. +rom the results collected, fashion, service, !uality andprice are the main factors that affect the purchasing behaviors of male

consumers.

0ethodology

=esearch approach


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The researcher used deductive approach, which describes the situation ina chronological manner starting with a general idea and then dealing withthe hypothesis developed. The researcher used various studies thate&plain factors affecting the behavior of male consumers. +urther analysis

was done after the result that proved the literature that the researcher usedin answering the research !uestion.

$opulation and sample

oncerning the purpose of the research, the researcher attempted to findthe relationship that e&ists between men consumers and their purchasingbehavior of facial cleansers. The researcher wored with thirty respondentsfrom Hong Kong.

=esearch design and sampling design

The research was a descriptive nature and the researcher used!uantitative research method. However, some attributes re!uired!ualitative method as the researcher analy"ed some !ualities thatconsumers re!uired before purchasing the facial cleanser. Additionally, theresearcher used a simple sampling method from Hong Kong and responsetaen from male clients.

>ata collecting instrument and method

The researcher designed a close%ended !uestionnaire from standard!uestions forming the data collection instrument. The researcher used the!uestionnaire in interviewing the male respondents. 'iewise, theresearcher also used secondary data collected from the different scholarlyarticles. This contributed to the collected data.

>ata analysis techni!ue

The researcher used #tatistical $acage for the #ocial #ciences $rogramD#$##E in maing the statistical assessments. 'iewise, the researcherscreened the data while e&amining missing values, normality and outliers.

=esults

+re!uencies


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F Fi mainly consider Fi prefer to buy theFi prefer to buy the Fi will buy the facialF

F Fthe brand image Ffacial cleanser Ffacial cleanser with Fcleanser if i saw a F

F Fwhen i buy the Fwith a good brand Fenvironment friendly Fpersuasive F

F Ffacial cleanser Fimage Fbrand Fadvertisement about theF

F F F F Fbrand in F

F F F F FT


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The table above shows statistics of respondents who prefer buying thefacial cleanser with good brand image. According to male consumers offacial cleansers, .78 do not consider brand image as a factor while usingfacial cleanser. However, -ust a few people consisting of ;8 strongly

consider brand image as a factor.

i prefer to buy the facial cleanser with environment friendly brand

F F+re!uency F$ercent F


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important while purchasing facial cleanser.


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F FTotal F;2 F322.2 F322.2 F F

0a-ority of the respondents considered natural ingredients as an importantraw material for the facial cleanser they are using. This constituted of 428of the respondent supporting the factor as important.

i prefer to try a tester before i buy the facial cleanser



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$rice is yet another factor that all of the respondents considered. This isreflected in the above table where 7.78 of the respondents stronglyagreed with the rest agreeing on the factor.

i prefer to buy a special discount of facial cleanser



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F Fneutral F3; F;.; F;.; F72.2 F

F Fagree F6 F;2.2 F;2.2 F322.2 F


ood selling sills and customer service sills are not a factor to determinethe purchasing behavior of male consumers. This e&plains why the ma-orityof the ma-ority of the respondents were neutral over the factor.

i will buy the facial cleanser if the promoter have clear information abouttheir product and give me some advices



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0ost of the respondents were students, as they form the ma-or part of themodeling group. Within the same range, 28 were woring with white%collar -obs. They considered their appearance as an important factor.

what is your monthly income



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how many times do you wash your face with using facial cleanser in a day



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Another ma-or factor to consider is the price of the product. $rice is a factorthat most consumers consider before purchasing any product. 0ost clientsconsider the price before maing the purchases of the facial cleanser. Tosome e&tent, the purchase of the product may greatly increase if the

producer offers some special discount for the product. This will increase thesale volume of the facial cleanser, as the users will ac!uire with a fair price.To some e&tent, the clients will compare the prices of similar functionalfacial cleanser when purchasing. This e&plains why the factor of price is animportant determinant of male consumer behavior in purchasing the facialcleanser. However, going for a cheaper brand is not a factor, as theconsumer will re!uire a !uality brand despite the price of the product.

With a low margin, the clients might consider customer services from the

production side. +or instance, the client might feel comfortable if they gete&tra information concerning the product. The producers should considerthis factor, as they need to be well informed with the products name.'iewise, the user should have a guarantee for refund or replacement if theproduct does not wor as prescribed. This e&plains the superiority ofcustomer service to the determination of consumer behavior in thepurchase of male facial cleanser.

'ooing at the male maret for the facial cleanser, people maing up thema-or clients of the product are the youths. These people engage in variousactivities involving modeling among others. 'iewise, they are the samepeople who treasure beauty and will do anything to confirm they arepresentable. This is a message to all facial cleanser producers amongother cosmetics that their main target are the males in their youthful stage.onsidering that they form the ma-ority of the people who earn a lot ofmoney, they can spend most of their income in purchasing the productthereby increasing the profit margin of the producing firm. 'iewise, most ofthe users are those in the white%collar -obs. This e&plains the consistency inthe sales volume of the product as individuals with white%collar -obs earn alot of money. They may divert part of money to cater for their beauty.

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What Factors to Affect Hong Kong Male.docx