National Institute of Fashion Technology Jodhpur

Lakme
Consumer and Industrial Buying Behavior

Submitted to: Ruchika Maam Asst. Professor

Submitted by: Simran Se thi MFM-2

Introduction Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups and studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. Belch and Belch define consumer behaviour as 'the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires'. The paper deals in explaining the consumer behavior of Lakme on the basis of perception and attitude. The selective nature of perception and attention act as a way of coping with the constant bombardment of stimuli, the precise manner in which the person allows some messages to penetrate while rejecting others depends on values, motives and attitudes as well as social situation. With a prior knowledge of this aspect of consumer purchasing behaviour, it is clear that when selecting and targeting potential consumers marketing strategies must incorporate a wide range of factors to appeal to a market segment which may encompass people with wide ranging beliefs, attitudes and values. For example marketing for young, trendy professionals looking for up to the minute style may represent a particular market segment but within this segment individuals may have varying beliefs or values.

Lakme A brand originally introduced by the Tata group of India, now bought over by Hindustan Lever (HLL) of the Unilever group and the nomenclature of the brand is dericed from French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Lakme is the Indian womans Beauty Sutra inspiring expression of her unique beauty and sensuality. Lakme brings expert products and services that are borne out of true understanding of the needs of the Indian woman. They help the woman in expression of her best self, sensual, original, expressive, alive and intuitive and inspires her to unleash the potency of her femininity, beauty and sensuality as she wants to be perceived that way. Lakme was the first major beauty brand in India and takes pride in being the expert on Indian Beauty for over 50 years. It is complete beauty brand spanning colour cosmetics, skin care & hair styling products and extending to beauty services through the network of Lakme Beauty Salons. Its bond with beauty and fashion is manifested through the Lakme Fashion Week, which is now the largest fashion event of its kind in the country. Lakme has a foot print of over 1200 assisted sales outlets, which is the largest span of outlets with Beauty Advisors in the country. Kohli & Thakor (1997) argued that a brand name involves the creation of an image or the development of a brand identity and is an expensive and time consuming process. The development of a brand name is an essential part of the process since the name is the basis of a brands image. Consumers tend to perceive the products from an overall perspective, associating with the brand name all the attributes and satisfaction experienced by the purchase and use of the product and, indeed, any negative associations that might exist. Also, Duff (2007) investigated the niche market in womens cosmetics and observed that cosmetics buyers were becoming mo re fashion conscious and were demanding products with more attractive design; furthermore, consumers have a tendency to use different makeup designs for different occasions. It is further argued that design or visual appearance is the important part of the product, which includes line, shape and details affecting consumer perception towards a brand.

Perception Perception depends upon various factors such as background of the individual, psyche, economic and social factors and a lot others. Though the brand communicates the same values to all the people in a target segment, the values are perceived differently based on various factors of an individual. A great brand strategist understands the perception of their target consumers. He makes them perceive what he wants them to perceive, and he brings out an emotion in them. This is what is called creating a new category. When you create a new category, you become the first and you will have an opportunity to become a leader in that category. So, when people find difficult to perceive your brand, you need to do something to help them easily distinguish your brand. Your brand should stand for something different from the competitors. You need to find something that people associate your brand with.

Black Box Model The black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, decision process and consumer responses. It can be distinguished between interpersonal stimuli (between people) or intrapersonal stimuli (within people). The black box model is related to the black box theory of behaviourism, where the focus is not set on the processes inside a consumer, but the relation between the stimuli and the response of the consumer. The marketing stimuli are planned and processed by the companies, whereas the environmental stimulus are given by social factors, based on the economical, political and cultural circumstances of a society. The buyers black box contains the buyer characteristics and the decision process, which determines the buyers response.

Perceptual selection A consumer subconsciously selects only a small number from the large number of stimuli encountered. The relevant factors are: Nature of Stimuli marketing stimuli includes a number of variables that affects the consumers perception. Contrast is most commonly used as a stimulus.

It is perceived that little things matter most to the women. These could be matching of colors, coordination of accessories, a texture, or a pretty hairclip. A woman has an uncanny ability to spot what she wants amidst clutter and chaos. A woman will take whatever it takes to get such small things. She does all this to feel herself. Lakme has worked on this concept. Lakme Beauty Salons provide professional beauty services. The salons not only make good business sense but they nicely strengthen the brand by completing customer contact and experience. Lakme India Fashion Week provides the top tier of the brand communication structure. Lakme means fashion. It has a brand personality of someone who takes care of you and your beauty needs. It tries to position itself amongst its consumers as a product range that will help them look beautiful as is evident from its catchphrases: 1. On top of the world! 2. Source of radiant beauty! Lakme has a range of beauty products to offer to its consumers. Some of the ways in which the brand products have been apprehended :1. Lakme Hair Color: magic of colors (collage). 2. Lakme (versatile eye shadow collection): rich, long lasting and healthy make up. 3. Lakme fair perfect: For flawlessly fair skin! 4. Lakme face magic: daily wear souffl 5. Lakme (skin vitalizer): radiant skin, now and forever. 6. Lakme (moisturizer): radiant skin, now and forever. 7. Lakme nail polish and lipstick: electric brilliance/sensual brilliance 8. Lakme sun expert (sunscreen): sun safe hamesha! (face the sun with a smile) 9. Lakme pure defense: anti-pollution system. 10. Lakme Tropical Island (cosmetics): defining the future of fashion. 11.Lakme hair care (international): natural hair care

12. Lakme hair next: exclusive range of hairstyle products that give you that salon look instantly.

Also, the perception of an increased price and quality relationship may counteract for a marketer who sells higher end as well as lower end products. In such a case, while the high price would imply a superior quality, the lower price may imply a poor or inferior quality and may harm the sales of the lower end products. That is why it is advisable to brand the product individually rather than as a family. For example, Unilever has practiced this successfully; while Lakme is a high end range, Elle is an economy range. They are meant for two different segments, positioned and priced accordingly.

The brand is for everyone , young as well as old. The new range has helped the brand to be perceived at par with other brands. Lakm has launched Youth Infinity, an expert range recommended by Lakm Salon professionals, helps retain young-looking skin before it starts losing its elasticity and firmness. Aimed at women in their late 20s, the range is a preventive rather than corrective solution. Since the target group of the range believes that skin is at its best in the 20s, Youth Infinity focuses on keeping skin bright and tight for a timeless sculpted look. The range is recommended to be applied with salon-style massage strokes which form the sculpting ritual and are a must for that sculpted look.The key ingredient Insta-Collagen Booster helps stimulate collagen production, enhance skin cell turnover, exfoliates dead cells, restores moisture content and brightens skin.The range consists of serum, facial foam, day crme, eye crme, and night crme.

And , Lakm has introduced the Lakm Perfect Radiance range that helps reveal perfectly radiant skin with an easy skin regime that includes cleansing, moisturising, day protection, night repair and intensive treatment which serves everydays women need. Lakm Perfect Radiance 4week Intense Whitening Capsules contain a luxurious serum that effortlessly seeps into your skin, leaving it radiant and flawless in just four weeks. Armed with skin lightening vitamins and anti-oxidants, these lightweight capsules are a powerhouse of pure Vitamin C encapsulated in microsponge which helps in continuously releasing these vitamins into the skins epidermal cells. It helps fight off all 6 fairness blocks - tanning, dark spots, blemishes, oiliness, uneven skin tone and dullness. The Lakm Perfect Radiance range also offers:

Lakm Perfect Radiance Intense Whitening Facewash for deep cleansing. Lakm Perfect Radiance Intense Whitening Day cream with skin lightening vitamins like Chronosphere Vitazyme C and Vitamin B3. Lakm Perfect Radiance Intense Whitening UV Day Crme with a protective index of SPF 15 that blocks UVB rays and PA++ that ensures UVA rays dont enter your dermis. Lakm perfect radiance Intense Whitening Night Repair Cr me that moisturises and enhances your skins radiance while you sleep.

Attitude An attitude may be defined as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object. By keeping in touch with changing consumer attitudes, marketers are better able to appeal to consumers through their marketing messages and appeals. Changing attitude with innovation Lakm, Indias leading beauty brand, now introduces Indias first ever makeover application that allows consumers to experiment with their looks and get an instant makeover with the vast Lakm pallet .Available under the Lakm Reinvent StudioLink opens in a new window section on the Lakm website, this first of its kind application is designed to precision giving the users a chance to create a look for themselves using options across all categories including the face, eyes, lips, etc. The application also suggests products and shades that will suit a ones face along with tips for application tips and tricks along with an option of emailing herself, the list of products used to create the look. Face: This section covers options for base make up including foundation, concealor, powder and blush. Each of these options contain a circulur color pallete of the Lakm products available across all ranges including Classics, 9to5 and Absolute. Once the user selects the shade according to her skin tome, she is introduced to the details of the product including its price and shade number thus helping her with a ready recknor. Eye: For the eyes, the app allows user to play around with different styles, thickness options for eyeliners, kajal and mascara. Be it on the models image available on the app or the users own picture, the app allows the user to reinvent their style virtually and thereby encouraging them to try different options in reality. Lip: This is the most exhaustive category with Lakms wide range of lipsticks across Classics, 9to5 and Absolute available for the user to play with and select the lip color that suits her style and mood. It allows the user to define the lip liner, further apply the lip color as per preference and complete the look with the lip gloss.

Nails: This segment is also designed to detail with the user being able to select the colour based on their nail style and skin tone. The most fascinating section of the application, it gives the user the chance to adapt her looks to the ones created on the Lakm diva Kareena Kapoor. The user simply has to choose their favourite Lakm look and click on their image to witness the same look being re-created on them. Exciting looks like Night Look, Sultry Evenings, Cocktail Glamour, Corporate Power and Sundown Shimmer are among the many options available. Today brand lakme stand strong as one of the 100 most powerful brands and right fully so ,for its the brand that lights up the face of million girls ,everyday. Its a brand that inspire , motivate and infuses confidence Colours , shades, brushes and tones to beautify , have been the core attribute of the products. The challenge which the cosmetic industry has to break was the negative connotation of being fashionable. Lakm also understands the importance of maintaining and accentuating a womens natural beauty, for this it has introduced a range of skincare products from 1987. These ranges have been constantly innovated to bring specialized beauty care and complete the range for the definitive women.

Innovation, say experts, has also become imperative in the cosmetics space because women today are not hesitant to experiment with their products. This is increasingly becoming evident in nail colour, for instance, where even working women can be found trying out newer and bolder shades without worrying about how their colleagues would perceive them. Lakme has responded to these mutiple challenges with a range of products from eyeliners, compacts, blushers, nail polish to lipsticks under 9 to 5. "Lip and nail colour, in particular, are new additions to the range," Srinivas says. "The packaging has also been revamped to make it exciting for the working woman," he adds.

Lakme products Colours From the spicy shades to the flattering look, Lakme offers a range of products in the face, lips, eyes and nail segment for the beauty aficionados. Face Lakm Daily Wear Souffl ,Lakm Perfecting liquid Foundation - Lakm Radiance Compact , Lakm Flawless Matte Complexion Compact Lips Lakm Enrich Lipcolor - . Perfecting Definition Lip Pencil - Starshine Lipgloss - Glosses in lustrous shades available in 14 shades. Eyes From dramatic to natural look- a wide range of products are on offer to create the perfect eyes. 1. Lakm Kajal: 2. Lame Insta Eyeliner eyelids 3. Lakme Lakm Shimmer Eye Cube: Nails True Wear Nail Enamel -Nail Enamel with Lacquer-like finish. Contains resins and silicone with colour lock technology that gives brilliant long lasting shine Skin For radiant skin Lakm is there to pamper your skin with specialized products for the diva in you. Cleansing

Strawberry Silk Splash Face Wash , Lakm Fundamental Deep Pore Cleansing Milk Moisturizing 1. Lakm Fundamental Peach Milk Moisturiser skin. 2. Lakm Fundamental Winter Care Lotion Sun Protection-The range comprises of lotions to keep your skin healthy and younger looking. Lakme tapped into what would grow to be amongst the leading, high consumer interest segments in the Indian Industry - that of skincare and cosmetic products. Armed with a potent combination of foresight, research and constant innovation, Lakme has grown to be the market leader in the cosmetics industry. It has grown to have a wide variety of products and services that cover all facets of beauty care, and arm the consumer with products to pamper herself from head to toe. These include products for the lips, nails, eyes, face and skin, and services like the Lakme Beauty Salons The eyeconic kajal introduced by Lakme still continues to rule the market because the company understood what all should a kajal should have i.e. it should be smudge proof, one application should be enough and the tagline successfully related to the womens mind. The eyebrow cream was another innovation after researching the market. Arun Srinivas, vice-president, skincare and make-up, HUL, says, "The number of contemporary professional women in Indian offices is increasing with societal changes. Lakme 9 to 5 offers women a unique range of long-wear make-up that allows them to look their best and go about their work with utmost style and without any touch-ups." In recent years, most international majors have focused on offering Indian women no-fuss but stylish products. For working women, this is an enticing proposition, given that they barely have the time for repeated touchups.

Secondly, the TEKNIA is the high-tech line from LAKM for hair care and hydration. The TEKNIA improved formula has been prepared with carefully selected natural ingredients and using the most advanced technology to develop a range of shampoos, conditioners and treatments capable of restoring original qualities to all kinds of hair. TEKNIA has added to its range of products a frequent use shampoo Gentle Balance that is totally organic and sulfate-free. In the Ultra range there are also three new products: Ultra Red, Ultra Copper and Ultra Brown that revive red, mahogany and copper colors. All the products are made with natural ingredients and do not contain environmentally unfriendly synthetic components. This range will strive to change the attitude of consumers towards professional hair care.

The women can easily relate to Kareena and the word second skin as most of the times the natural skin is tainted and the need of flawless second skin becomes a necessity. Getting the base right is the most important and yet the most tricky part of makeup. Every woman is on the lookout for the perfect base makeup- one that feels like her second skin. Making face make-up a simpler yet foolproof experience, Lakme launches Lakme Absolute Face Stylist a high performance professional face make-up range that includes Lakm Absolute Face Stylist Concealer, Lakm Absolute Face Stylist Foundation, Lakm Absolute Face Stylist Compact and Lakm Absolute Face Stylist Blush Duos. The new, break through and innovative combination of ingredients in each product promises professional results with every application.

The Lakme Absolute Face Stylist Foundation is constituted to spread evenly and when applied gives you a flawless base for the rest of your make up. It has a sensorial gel-cream texture that gives an even and weightless skin-like coverage. It comes in 6 different shades ideal for Indian skin: Ivory Fair, Rose Fair, Golden Medium, Golden Light, Beige Honey, Almond Honey

The Lakme Absolute Face Stylist Concealer is a unique offering from Lakm cosmetics, to ensure clever and unrecognizable coverage of every blemish, including uneven skin and undereye dark circles. The superior blendability and weightless finish of this liquid concealer makes it a must have in your base make-up kit. The Lakme Absolute Face Stylist Concealer comes three shades :Fair, Medium, Honey.

The Lakme Absolute Face Stylist Compact comes in a vibrant small package to ensure a soft and weightless finish. The neat compressed packaging works as a perfect addition to your purse when you need to renew your second skin just before an evening out. The Lakme Absolute Face Stylist Compact complements the Foundation and comes in matching shades of Ivory Fair, Rose Fair, Golden Medium, Golden Light, Beige Honey, Almond Honey

Lakm Absolute Face Stylist Blush Duos: Just what you need to contour your cheeks for natural looking radiance and a healthy glow. This luminous and silky powder formulation gives you an impeccable color payoff and a perfect intense finish. Lakm Absolute Face Blush Duos is available in four beautiful shades of pink: Coral Blush, Pink Blush, Peach Blush and Rose Blush.

Conclusion and Suggestions "Women know what is happening abroad and in a globalised world, they want to be part of an international trend or phenomenon," Ghosh adds. The homegrown universe of beauty and fashion bloggers has fanned such trend-spotting. And I think more and more boys are turning out to be metro sexual. This category will rise in the future and lakme must concentrate on catching them so that the company can generate more sales from them. . Lakme must not limit itself to serve only the women, as it will be ignoring a large chunk of looks conscious and metro sexual boys. It would be wise for the company to target young people in the above category and grow along with them as they and the nation prospers. Many respondents in their answer as to why they did not take lakme product said that lakme does not provide a makeup or sunscreen lotion which is to be put only once as it is not moisture resistant. So lakme should work more in creating a water resistant sunscreen lotion which could stay all through the hard sweaty days. More of the saloons should be created in order to provide easy accessibility to the consumers of the services and products provided . Lakme can start contests for free makeover of women.

References http://www.lakmeindia.com/beauty-trends

http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/lakme-s-new-muse-the-working-woman113070700636_1.html

http://www.hul.co.in/brands-in-action/detail/Lakme/303896/

http://knowledgebite.blogspot.in/2014/03/project-report-on-consumer-behaviour.html

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/95246405/LAKME-PROJECT