Sensory benefits are important to consumers when buying beauty and personal care products. With unique experiences becoming an important purchase driver, more brands are leveraging multi-sensory experiences as a marketing tool.
For instance, 32 per cent of Italian fragrance users are interested in fragrance that offers additional cooling or heating benefits when applied and 28 per cent of German users are interested in bath or shower products with a warming effect on the skin.
Mintel's Emmanuelle Moeglin spoke about connecting products with consumers through multi-sensory experiences on Day 2 of in-cosmetics Asia in Bangkok.
CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com caught up with her afterwards where she explained that a connection between the product and the consumer builds an emotional bond to create deeper, more memorable experiences as consumers get closer to their products through smell, touch and feel.
Sensory experiences...
Scent
According to Moeglin, products that engage with the senses build a stronger connection with their users.
Even for products that are traditionally focused towards functionality; scent is always a key purchase driver. For instance, four in 10 German men who buy facial skin care think that scent is important when buying a facial skin care product.
Additionally, mood enhancement is a sensory innovation that is becoming increasingly popular.
Nearly half of French fragrance users are interested in the concept of mood enhancing scents and a further 43% are interested in stress-relieving scents incorporated into products.
Texture
Scent is only one aspect of the product sensory experience; Emmanuelle says touch and feel is also an important factor of the product mix.
Innovative textures include products which change consistency during used, change colour over time, feature heating and cooling benefits, or products that enhance experience upon application.
"Gel and jellies are interesting new textures that are increasingly popular in skin care and colour cosmetics, promising fresh and easy application with strong quenching claims, such as in BRTC Jelly Foundation," the analyst gives by way of example.
Additionally, she says that transforming textures offer innovative multi-sensory experience while combining several texture benefits within the same product such as in GlamGlow mud-to-oil cleansing mask based on delivering a multi-sensory cleansing experience.
Packaging
Packaging is the initial image the consumer gets from the product, but Mintel says that packaging can be more than just a container and add functional elements to the product.
It has the capacity to mix different parts of products to enable playful engagement, as well as enhancing the efficiency of the product.
Nearly 8 in 10 US anti-ageing skin care users are interested in packaging kits that contain multiple products that can address more than one need.
Recent innovations include South Korean brand Chosungah22's new generation of cushion compact with 'hidden foundation' that dispenses from the sponge.
Products that can be mixed or made at home are also providing an engaging and playful element to the product.
A good example is Chica y Chico Mask and Powder Kit that comes in a mask and powder form, which are mixed and blended to be used as a wash-off mask.