Promotion Strategies of Naturally Positioned Personal Care Products (Application of International Best Practices in Russia)

Abstract

The goal of the research is to determine how promotion activities of naturally personal care brands target the antecedents of customers’ intention to purchase naturally positioned products. In order to reach the defined goal, the following objectives should be attained: - To explore the antecedents of the customers’ intention toward purchasing natural personal care products. - To explore the promotional strategies of two brands of naturally positioned personal care products in Russia – Yves Rocher and LUSH. - To develop recommendations for the further research and for the companies operating on the Russian natural personal care market. The main findings: - The consumers’ purchasing intention toward natural personal care products is in a greater extent influenced by their attitude than by subjective norm or by perceived behavioral control. - The attitude is primarily influenced by the perception of higher additional value the natural products bring (such as higher quality, better performance) compared to conventional personal care products. - As for the customers’ values, the environmental consciousness has the highest impact on the attitudes. Health consciousness, appearance consciousness and social consciousness also impact the attitude but in a smaller. - Naturally-positioned personal care brands might have completely different promotion strategies, but they target the same antecedents of the behavior that were mentioned earlier.