Everyone in the world has their own bathing and showering rituals. In Japan, for example, nobody would get into the bathtub without showering first. Communal bathing in bathhouses is also still popular in the Asian country today, just as it was for the Romans in their heyday. And what about the showering habits of the Germans? According to “Die Welt”, cosmetics companies such as L’Oréal and Beiersdorf spend millions of euros every year on market research to get to know their customers and find out about their showering habits.
In the shower
Market research is very important for the cosmetics giants, because how else could they find out whether their new products might become consumer favourites on the cosmetics market? Many employees of cosmetics companies deal exclusively with consumer behaviour. Through their work and research, the companies know how much time people spend in the shower or how long they need for their facial care routine.
On average, Germans shower five times a week, preferably in the morning, for around ten minutes, and spend 21 minutes on skin care. Market researchers are at work all over the world, because what sells well in Germany could end up as a “shelf warmer” in the USA.
Women preferred
Unlike in Asia, where men are more open to cosmetic products, in Europe it is mainly women who are recruited as test subjects. Beiersdorf, for example, has new products tried out by up to 100 test persons: at home in the bathroom, in front of the mirror or under the shower. Dozens of private testers, trained beforehand to describe the texture of creams and other products accurately, also come to the company's research laboratory every week.
No joke: there are also so-called “sniffers”, who assess how well deodorants work by sniffing other test subjects.
Old rituals and habits
The market researchers are not only interested in which products are used in the bathroom and in the shower, but also in how they are used and how much of each product is consumed. For example, all over the world it is not unusual for women to wash their hair over the edge of the bathtub, because they picked this up from their mothers. On average, they use between two and 20 grams of shampoo.
The task market researchers face day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year is not an easy one. In principle, they can rely on habits and rituals staying the same over long periods, but preferences change constantly, and in today's global society showering habits readily spread beyond national borders.
Source: Die Welt
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