Women"s advancement in society has fueled the diversification of their own values, beliefs and lifestyles, and the cosmetic industry pays attention to the relationship between lifestyle and cosmetic purchasing behavior in line with the shift of consumption patterns. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of lifestyles to cosmetic purchasing behavior and makeup behavior among female Seoul residents in their 20s and up in an attempt to be of use for the revitalization of the cosmetic market and accurate information offering.
The findings of the study were as follows : First, as for the general characteristics of the 458 respondents, the women who were in their 20s made up the largest age group(37.3%). By occupation, the biggest group was office workers (31.9%). As to academic credential, more than half(53.9%) were college graduates, followed by the high-school graduates(30.3%). Concerning marital status, the unmarried respondents accounted for 57.0%, which was larger than the rate of the married ones who stood at 43.0%. The most common monthly mean family income was between two and less than three million won(27.9%).
Second, when the components of their lifestyles were analyzed, there were five factors: fashion seeking, aesthetic orientation, economy/practicality valuing, socializing orientation and conservatism/tradition valuing. As a result of making a cluster analysis of the five factors, the respondents who valued economy/practicality were grouped into cluster 1, and those who sought fashion were grouped into cluster 2. The women who valued conservatism/tradition were grouped into cluster 3. The most dominant lifestyle was fashion seeking(34.9%), and the second most prevailing lifestyles were economy/practicality valuing and conservatism/tradition valuing, which respectively accounted for 32.5%.
Third, as a result of analyzing their makeup behavior by lifestyle, concerning the purpose of makeup, more of the fashion seeking women put on makeup to express their own beauty, and more of the women who were of conservative/traditional type did that to protect their skin. More of the fashion seeking women usually put on full makeup. When they started putting on makeup was analyzed, and more of the fashion seeking women started it in their high school years. More of the women who were of conservative/traditional type did that after their employment. Regarding makeup time in the morning and makeup frequency, more of the fashion seeking women spent more time putting on makeup and did that more frequently.
Fourth, their cosmetic purchasing behavior was analyzed by lifestyle. As a result, the women of economic/practical type bought more cosmetics at cosmetic specialty stores than the others, and the fashion seeking women purchased more cosmetics at department stores than the others. As to monthly mean purchase frequency, more of the fashion seeking women bought cosmetics three to five times less. More of the fashion seeking women bought cosmetics for a change, and more of the women who were of conservative/traditional type purchased new cosmetics after they used up old ones. As for the re-purchase of basic and makeup cosmetics, the majority bought the same cosmetics that they had used.
The efforts by this study to analyze the relationship between the lifestyle and cosmetic purchase of the women in their 20s, who were emerging as a more powerful and diversified consumer group than in the past, are expected to be of use for consumer education, for marketing efficiency and ultimately for the development of the cosmetic industry.