Know-how is everything for today’s beauty consumer

For instance, 32% of Italian fragrance users are interested in fragrance that offers additional cooling or heating benefits when applied and 28% of German users are interested in bath or shower products with a warming effect on the skin. With unique experiences becoming an important purchase driver for consumers, more brands are leveraging multi-sensory experiences as a marketing tool.

 

A connection between product and consumer encourages greater experimentation and builds an emotional bond to create deeper, more memorable experiences as consumers can get closer to their products through smell, touch and feel. Unusual textures, mood changing fragrances and interactive packaging offer strong ways to draw users closer to their products.

 

Products that engage with the senses build a stronger connection with their users. European consumers have a high interest in sensory attributes of beauty products, with scent being at the top of the list. Even for products that are traditionally focused towards functionality; scent is often a key purchase driver. For instance, two in five German men who buy facial skincare think that scent is an important factor.

 

Scent is only one aspect of the product sensory experience; touch and feel is also an important factor of the product mix. Innovative textures include products which change consistency during use, change colour over time, feature heating and cooling benefits, or products that enhance experience upon application.

 

Consumers are making a clear link between sensory factors of a product and its functionality. Three in five UK female bodycare users think that a bodycare product is moisturising when it leaves the skin soft to touch hours later. However men engage more with visual benefits, as 46% of UK male bodycare users think a product is most moisturising when it absorbs quickly.

 

While packaging provides the initial impression a consumer gets from a product, packaging can be more than just a container, adding functional elements. Built-in applicators or an indicator that show when a product is running out drives significant consumer’s interest for 23% and 30% of UK consumers respectively.

 

Another multi-functional element that packaging can hold is the possibility to mix different parts of products to enable playful engagement, as well as enhancing the efficiency of the product. Nearly four in five US anti-ageing skincare users are interested in packaging kits that contain multiple products that can address more than one need. Packaging can also be part of the product itself such as edible packaging or tactile packaging that reacts to human contact.