Consumers around the world spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money on improving their appearance. According to a personal care survey by Euromonitor International, men spend 28 minutes on average and women, 42 minutes, on beauty routines and personal grooming each day.
For personal care marketers targeting consumers internationally, it’s essential to understand the contexts in which grooming takes place in each target market, and if this differs within different market places. When people are undertaking beauty activities, what else are they doing? Who are they are with? What media they are consuming? And how they are feeling?
RealityMine has conducted a study in order to answer these questions by comparing the settings in which personal grooming sessions take place in different international locations. We used eDiary data of 4,054 panelist from the US, Australia, France, Mexico and Russia. With this understanding of consumer habits and behavior, we’re able to support marketers to plan strategies which cater for the localized grooming practices of specific countries, rather than creating a one size fits all beauty solution.
When?
Globally, people are most likely to engage in personal care routines at 7 AM and 9:30 PM (Figure 1). However, in France and Australia the morning peak is a bit later, at 8 AM. Each country also has smaller peaks during the day. Interestingly, in Mexico, the amount of people grooming stays relatively high throughout the day.
What?
During the same half hour as personal grooming, relaxing, having a meal and doing household chores are fairly common in every country. Relaxing is specifically popular during the evening routines, while having a meal – in this case breakfast – is common during the morning.
The French are also likely to engage in hobbies (32%), and in the afternoon, the link between hobbies and personal grooming is specifically strong. Meanwhile, in Russia, drinking is the most common activity, as well as doing household chores, during the same half hour as beauty sessions.
Who with?
People worldwide are most likely to be on their own (80%) during their daily beauty routines. Although Russians are more likely to be with their partner (75%), children (64%) or pets (40%), than on their own. The company of a partner and/or child is not uncommon among other countries either, but it’s clearly less significant than it is in Russia.
Looking at other countries, Mexicans are distinctly more likely to be in company of siblings or other family (28%) – this may be due to the family-oriented culture where gathering for breakfast and in the evening for dinner is common.
How do they feel?
Based on our data, mainly positive or neutral emotions are experienced while people of all nations are grooming. However, tiredness is also widely reported, especially during the evening routines (37%). Nearly half of Australians reported feeling tired while they were grooming, however, they also reported happiness (63%) more than other countries. Interestingly, we found that Mexicans feel distinctly more confident (42%) than the panelists from other countries.
When comparing the data behind the half hour before a personal grooming session and the half hour when grooming actually happens, we can find an increase in positive emotions such as happiness and confidence in every country when beauty session takes place. Although evening beauty routines are often carried out when panelists report feeling tired.
Media consumption
In the same half hour as personal grooming, TV (45%) and mobile (44%) are the most consumed media channels. We found that Australians and French panelists are the least likely to consume digital media, while printed media is slightly more common among them than other countries. While only 26% of French panelist used mobile during their personal care sessions, the usage among Mexicans was twice as high (53%).
After TV, mobile and computer, radio is the next most popular media channel, with 21% tuning in during personal beauty sessions. Morning is the time of day when people around the world are most likely to tune in to radio while getting ready for the day.
Key findings by country:
- Australians most likely to feel tired, but happy when taking part in daily beauty routines
- The French are likely to engage in hobbies within the same half hour as personal grooming
- Mexicans are most likely to feel confident and use their mobile device when freshening up
- Russians are more likely to be with their partner or children, than on their own when grooming
- Americans prefer to relax during their daily beauty routine
