Many beauty industry manufacturers and distributors use focus groups to help determine whether their product is appealing, delivers its intended material, and elicits the desired consumer response. Such groups help the maker determine whether they have gotten it right. While some may be volunteer groups assembled through advertising, others are paid as test groups of regular women or men.
Many industry experts know the marketing value of connecting with their consumer directly and emotionally; if they do not, the potential client will not buy or continue buying their products. Many efforts of the beauty industry involve the direct marketing of perceptions; therefore, focus groups are essential whenever a company decides to update or change a product with which consumers are familiar, or to market a new product line. These groups can save manufacturers millions of dollars in wasted effort or failed product lines.
Beauty companies often conduct multiple focus groups in varied locations and varied climates to ensure the diversity of the population and conditions under which their product is being tested. Through these diverse groups, the company may be able to fine-tune its targeted audience and advertisement campaigns. Packaging changes are one area where focus groups are especially important; changing company logos or familiar package shapes and colors can be disastrous if the consumer no longer recognizes the product and feels more comfortable staying with her favorite.
Focus groups are also used within the industry, or by outsiders, to access information on how the industry is affecting people’s lives. They can be used to determine health risks, facility usage, diversity, and psychological effects, among many other topics. Marketers, lobbyists, industry interest groups, and health professionals may all use focus groups as a way to build informational databases on various aspects of the beauty industry. The information may determine the future directions of product ingredients, specialty consumers, safety, and product trends.
Some groups masquerading as focus groups are actually product demonstrations or sales meetings that may be gathering product/consumer information, but whose main purpose is actually to directly sell the product at that time.
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