A study that looks at the mental processes that drive economic decision-making (Neuron) has shown that consumers often experience both pleasure and pain when purchasing, but mostly pain - except for consumers in the cosmetics industry.
What's Makes the People Feel Excited?
In an industry such as beauty and wellness, most of the consumers are likely a mixture between what has been coined as ‘spendthrifters’ and ‘unconflicted buyers’ who are the opposite of the ‘pennypincher’ consumer archetype – a conservative spender who is less willing to part with their money.
“The classic economist erroneously predicates that shoppers always make rational, premeditated purchases.”
Customers buy the product and the packaging simultaneously
The classic economist erroneously predicates that cosmetic product shoppers always make rational, premeditated and informed decisions when faced with choosing a product in store, or even online – whereas the reality of this is that, more and more consumers in the beauty and wellness sector are choosing their cosmetic products purely from instinct and based on an emotional reaction caused by unobvious factors such as the weather outside or how glossy the product packaging is and so forth.
The ‘Neuron’ findings support the claim that consumers do buy products spontaneously; led by uniqueness of product presentation and overall appearance and 'feel' associated with the brand behind the product. It is revealed that the best selling products appeal to the intuitive brain before logic even has a chance to appeal to the individual faced with choosing a nice looking product over one with impressive medical properties, for example.
What These Insights Mean for Upcoming Cosmeceutical Brands
In order to understand more about the workings of a consumers’ mind regarding product benefits, product packaging and price, see below links for further references.
Neuron Journal: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(06)00999-8