1. Introduction
1.1 Rationale of the Study
Perfume plays a significant role in the personality of a person. Perfumes are appreciated throughout history. So, buying decisions for perfumes also depend on several matters such as fragrance, price, brand, quality, ingredients and so on, as with other beauty or grooming products. Perfumes are helpful to get the attraction of others, so marketers utilise the techniques of endorsing celebrities in marketing the perfumes so that people can be attracted easily. The strategy of endorsing celebrities to market perfume is effective as celebrities provide awareness about the products to the customers and provide credibility.
However, various factors function concurrently when a perfume product endorses a celebrity (Kamins et al., 2011). Endorsing celebrities with perfume brands or products was first initiated in 2004 in the UK. David Beckham was the first celebrity who was endorsed with a perfume product first. There are different researches on the endorsement of celebrities with several products though there is lacking research on the endorsement of celebrities for perfume products. This research considers the lacking and provides realisation of the customers’ buying behaviour for buying the perfume endorsed by celebrities.
1.2 Research Aim and Objectives
This research aims to find out the impacts of celebrities endorsement on buying behaviour of the customers in purchasing a perfume product. This paper will deliberate analysing ‘Intimately Beckham’ for this study because it is the most prosperous celebrity-endorsed perfume product in the UK. The objectives of this research are as follows:
- To define the matters that have impacts on customers in buying perfumes.
- To evaluate the interrelation of the factors with the buying behaviours of the customers.
- To appraise the impact of endorsement of celebrity on buying intentions of the customers in buying perfume.
- To provide recommendations and suggestions to improve the success of celebrity endorsement mainly for ‘Intimately Beckham’.
The questions which will direct this research are as follows:
- What are the previous circumstances of celebrity-endorsed marketing and customer buying decisions?
- What are the impacts obtained by celebrity endorsement in the buying decision of perfume?
2. Literature Review
According to Shaw and Laura (2012), the working factors of customer purchasing behaviour models spin throughout the thought procedure of the customers. So they suggest that the researcher should consider those factors. Besides, Blythe (2013) stated that understanding the buying behaviour of the customers is very complicated. Consumer’s connection with a brand can be evaluated by considering various interconnected factors though it is very tough to conclude with a definite cause. In solving this problem, a model based on five factors has been developed by Laurent and Kapferer (2013). According to them, the individual interest of the purchaser, risks connected with purchasing the products, perceived significance of the products to the customers, passion or association towards the brand by the customer and perceived value emerged by the products are the major factors that determine the buying decision of the customers.
In a study, Retiveau (2014) utilised several instruments to realise personal perception concerning buying perfume endorsed by celebrities. According to Retiveau (2014), demographic variations, behavioural and attitudinal perspective and variations in psychology explicate the independent features of attitude and motivation toward purchasing perfume. Besides, Kotler and Keller (2013) researched how customers’ preferences in buying perfumes changes due to some particular factors. According to Kotler & Keller (2013), appraisal of substitutes, recognition of the problem, searching for information, decision buying and post-buying attitudes etc., control the extent to which a customer is related to a brand. If the extent of the relationship is strong enough, thesee matters can be utilised as a proxy of the customers’ buying behaviour. Moreover, Kotler & Keller (2013) defined the significant matters in celebrity endorsement with perfume products. The study presents that appeal, credibility, acceptability, awareness regarding the brand’s brand and trustworthiness are the significant factors that decide the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement.
In order to support Kotler & Keller (2013), Hoyer and Maclnnis (2013) stated that consumers are more prone to purchase those products that have appeal, attractiveness, credibility and celebrities or spokespersons. Hoyer and Maclnnis (2013) stated that the products or brands that celebrities have endorsed bring more attractiveness and distinct features than usual products or brands. For this reason, endorsement of celebrities is the most effective marketing policy in comparison to traditional or usual marketing. In another research, Jabber (2014) evaluated the success of celebrity-endorsed promotional policy in the EU. The research concluded that celebrity endorsement is highly effective for some specific products to obtain increased sales. For some products such as car or gold, the policy of celebrity endorsement is yet to improve because car or gold is not a basic necessity. Besides, the study of jabber (2014) also stated that celebrity endorsement is made to believe in the strategy of marketing where customers are motivated to purchase specific products.
A study has been made by Dhar et al. (2012) on the factors that make a consumer believe regarding the product that the quality of the product is good and can fulfil the expectation of the consumers. This research showed that the fragrance, price, brand, quality etc., are not considered by the customers most vitally when a world-famous celebrity endorses the brand. Though, a study conducted by Nayak (2013) on the customer purchasing behaviour in buying perfumes endorsed by celebrities in UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The study shows that the need of the consumers and the uncontrollability of circumstance are more significant factors to impact the buying behaviour of the consumers. Nayak (2013) explained that when a customer urgently needsperfume, and the celebrity-endorsed brand is absent, the customer chooses the alternatives. Thus, the variability of the situation has a significant impact on the buying decision of the customers.
Kunes et al. (2014) researched the buying intentions of the customers of perfume from the perspective of gender. This study aimed to reveal the factors that impact the buying decision of every gender group. To execute the research, Kunes et al. (2014) considered the position of the salesperson on the buying intention of female and male consumers in buying a celebrity-endorsed perfume and the factors that impact the buying behaviour of the male and female customer of perfume. According to the outcome of the study, it is found that most male customers expected to buy those perfumes which are endorsed by celebrities or which are on discount. Besides, female customers consider the factors such as beauty icons or fashion rather than the endorsement of celebrities. Borgrave and Chaudhari (2012) stated that preference and application of perfumes are reliant on moods, demographics, buying intention and attitudes of the customers. Customers of age limit 20 to 27 alter their buying decision crucially compared to another age group when a perfume brand is endorsed with a celebrity (Borgrave and Chaudhari, 2012).
Fah et al. need perfume arched the interrelation between the appeal of advertisement, spending behaviour, perceived social status, materialism and buying behaviour for perfume among the customers of the USA. This study obtained that the most vital factors are advertisements’ appeal besides perceived social status and spending behaviour are positively related with the perfume buying behaviour. Therefore, the inclination for buying a celebrity-endorsed perfume can be varied due to social or demographic variations. Almost every study found that the perfume brands endorsed by celebrities are gaining competitive advantages from the market because of utilising the celebrities in the marketing campaign of their products. Many studies considered several factors to realise the impact of celebrity endorsement and the buying behaviour of the customer. The outcomes are varied.
3. Research Methodology
3.1 Choice of Method
Most research studies utilise quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods to conclude their research. In the qualitative method, subjective preferences are preferred, and aspects of the studies are highlighted. The quantitative method focused on the numerical evaluation of the considered factors. Besides, mixed methods utilise both quantitative and qualitative features. This paper prefers to utilise the quantitative method of analysis as this method will be helpful to realise the relation between customers buying behaviour and celebrity endorsement for perfume products. Besides, another reason for selecting the quantitative method is that the objectives of this research necessitate quantitative explanations (Saunders et al., 2012). So, this study will be prepared by using the quantitative analysis method. The objectives of this study are deliberated in a way that necessitates quantitative analysis. For instance, Pearson Correlation analysis is required to determine the association and relation between customers buying intention and celebrity endorsement.
3.2 Data Collection & Analysis
In order to prepare the study, both the primary and secondary data will be gathered and utilised. By utilising a survey, primary data will be obtained. The survey will be supportive for the researcher to obtain the reaction and responses of the intended group. It will be helpful to eradicate unexpected responses which bring complexity to the study (yin, 2011). Besides, the survey will take place in Manchester. Choosing Manchester as the target area was because David Beckham was one of the widely accepted football stars and he played mostly for Manchester United. So there is the reason for the researcher that the customers of Manchester might have a fondness for Intimately Beckham. Therefore, the researcher will utilise a structured questionnaire-based survey to obtain the data on the customer’s buying decision of a celebrity-endorsed perfume brand. In order to collect the exact answers from the participants, the structured questionnaire is very supportive.
Obtaining secondary data is very significant for this study because it will be helpful to find the factors that affect the buying behaviour of the customer of celebrity-endorsed perfume from previously published reviews or magazines. So, secondary data will be obtained from very reliable sources. The major portion of the secondary data will be obtained from books, newspaper articles, journal articles, research papers, periodic reviews and web-based sources. As a result, secondary data will be collected from credible sources.
Data will be evaluated by using statistical software to obtain a valid and reliable outcome concerning the impact of celebrity endorsement on the customers’ buying behaviour in buying perfumes. To fulfil the primary objective of this research, the researcher will utilise a descriptive statistical analysis tool to decide the impact of every factor on the customers buying behaviour and celebrity endorsement. By utilising Pearson Correlation analysis, the second objective of this research will be obtained to decide the interrelation between customer buying intention and celebrity endorsement. Regression analysis will take place to obtain the third objective of this research. Therefore, all these statistical analyses will take place by utilising SPSS.
3.3 Sampling Strategy
Manchester has a population of 500000. So the researcher can’t reach everyone. Due to this reason, sampling has been utilised to decide the sample size of this research. A simple random sampling technique will be applied in this research. These techniques eradicate biases of the human in selecting the participants. Thus, these sampling techniques provide higher possibilities of representation of every social group. Besides, these sampling techniques will permit the researcher to generalise the outcome from the sample population to the entire population, and it has higher external validity (Saunders et al., 2012). This study took 200 customers from Manchester city as the sample.
Therefore, the selection of the place for this research has taken place based on some biases. For example, the chosen brand of the perfume has great impacts on the customers of the city as the endorsed celebrity was a widely acceptable footballer of the city. But external validity is high in this research as this research utilises simple random sampling.
4. Conclusion and Time Plan
In the modern business world, the endorsement of celebrities in advertising products is well appreciated because of its success and impacts on customers’ buying decisions. Researches showed that endorsement of celebrities in advertising various products can be very successful and can bring various effects to the brands and companies. Customers prefer to buy those celebrity-endorsed products which fulfil their preferences and which best matches their characteristics. The buying decision is influenced significantly when a celebrity with a superior personality brings higher recognition for the brand. Most pragmatic research showed that the products that have diverse market appearances tend to endorse the most particular celebrity. Researches propose that the performance of celebrity-endorsed perfume brands are higher in comparison to non-endorsed brands. This may occur because of product quality or brand recognition. It is also expected that this research also produces a similar outcome in relation to the effect of celebrity endorsement for perfume brands on the customers’ buying intention.
Schedule for this research is given below:
Reference and Bibliography
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