Sensory marketing on the natural cosmetics market : The impact on generation X and generation Y

Sammanfattning: The purpose is to outline and discuss how natural cosmetics companies succeed in creating desire for their products by implementing sensory marketing in their outlets in France and how the sensory marketing impacts differently on French women depending on their generation.Theory: The concept of branding and especially sensory branding introduces the strategy based on sensory marketing. A detailed description is given for each human sense about their characteristics, their importance in the buying process and their role to attract customers.Method: Our research consists in the elaboration and the administration of a questionnaire for French women between 15 and 50. After using secondary data and assuming hypotheses, the questionnaire enables to revise or not the theory and was built according to observations that have been made in natural cosmetics shops.Conclusion: Sensory marketing impacts consumers differently whether they belong to the generation X or to the generation Y. The same stimulus leads to different behaviours and different levels of sensitiveness. The generation X is greatly sensitive to touch while the smell impacts significantly the generation Y. Overall, both generations are influenced by a pleasant environment in which they spend more time and which increases their desire to purchase.Some companies can take advantage of these findings to implement efficient sensory practices in their outlet, affecting accurately the target generation.