The business world today, as we comprehend it, has attained new heightened levels when it comes to competition within both the local and international market niches (Van, Van & Schubotz, 2012). This phenomenon can be attributed to the constant dynamicity of advancement in the contemporary technological factors and globalization constructs. Consumer are also know to face dilemmatic incidences in choosing the best possible products, which significantly align with their living standards, financial potentialities, and most importantly, their social classes in diversified social settings (Natural Marketing Institute 2015); (Nakata & Weidner, 2012). This paper seeks to highlight consumer motivations for purchasing personal care products among the poor/skilled struggler consumers in South Africa.
South Africa is one among the African countries which, over the last few decades of independence, has depicted a significantly high level of social economic development (Thom & Conradie, 2012). However, there arise major socioeconomic disparities among the South African population. Economic growth has resulted in the rise of a new and growing middle class and an increasingly affluent class of vary wealthy South Africans (Zembe et.al 2013).
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"Consumer Motivations for the Purchase of Personal Care Products amongst South Africa".
The low class citizens in South Africa represent a majority of the country’s population. In an effort to into this consumer base, personal care product manufacturers have adopted a number of consumer motivation strategies aimed at appealing to low class South African (Gbadamosi, 2013);(Scott & Vigar-Ellis, 2014). One strategy involves packaging products in cost effective materials such as low priced sachets while maintaining high product quality standards (Nakata & Weidner, 2012). Soaps, skin care lotions, sanitary towels etc are being packaged in this manner successfully.
Another strategy employed is the use of TV stars popular with poor South Africans (Choi & Rifon, 2012). This strategy has worked well when integrated together with conveniently packaging for personal care products. Another strategy has been targeting the large youthful population in South Africa. As much as they come from poor backgrounds, these consumers are known to favor purchasing those products to take to their siblings if they are cost effectively packaged to match their income levels (Chikweche, Stanton & Fletcher, 2012).
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- Nakata, C., & Weidner, K. (2012). Enhancing new product adoption at the base of the pyramid: a contextualized model. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 29(1), 21-32.
