The Effects of Cosmetics Consumption Propensity on Purchase Determinants in College Women

Abstract

The goal of this study is to make a contribution to the growth and development of the cosmetics market by investigating the effects of cosmetics consumption propensity on purchase determinants in college women and suggesting future directions for cosmetics manufacturers’ success and prosperity. For this, a questionnaire survey was performed among college women in Seoul. For data analysis, 337 copies out of the 350 copies distributed were used. The results confirmed that college women are very interested in their appearance and sensitive to trends. In addition, they are very concerned about what others think of them. Since they don’t yet have a great amount of disposable income, their monthly spending for cosmetics was low. Such college women’s cosmetics consumption propensity can be divided into two categories: planned buying based on consciousness of others and impulse buying. In ‘planned buying based on consciousness of others’, college women want to buy high-quality cosmetics at low prices. They buy them when they are on sale. In ‘impulse buying’, they buy cosmetics when they like their designs in advertising. Therefore, cosmetics manufacturers need to carefully watch product quality and design. They are able to increase consumption by exposing their products to consumers through continued advertisements and increasing discount rates during special offers.