There were three things going through my mind when I bought this Softsoap body wash at my local Target.
The Brand
While I can’t be certain what the brand recognition for Softsoap is without doing market research, I definitely know that it’s high. The great thing about brand recognition is that you, as the consumer, don’t realize the impact it has on you until you’re sitting in your bedroom wondering why you bought a product that you don’t need quite yet. As humans, we prefer to go to something that we’re familiar with, something that’s been tried and tested. Even if we’ve only used the product once, the image of the brand is locked away in our brains somewhere. Then, when you go to the store, the brand recognition inspires trust. I had never bought Softsoap before. I was even abroad for half a year so I wasn’t exposed to the brand like I would have been in the US. But when I came back and I recognized the brand immediately.That’s what’s great about brand recognition. You see the other brands and they may be the same quality as Softsoap but you just don’t know. You haven’t used it or seen others use it. It’s the follower effect. We don’t want to take the path less traveled because we don’t know what can be waiting for us. Clearly, we don’t go through this thought process every time. It’s instant. We have thousands of other things on our mind every day. There’s simply no way that we can sit down and analyse every single decision as I am about to do in this post. It’s impractical. Nonetheless, let’s carry on and go on to number two.
The Packaging
100% REAL EXTRACTS What does that mean? How do milk, almond and coconut extracts help my skin? I don’t know. And neither do other consumers (except maybe the real health buffs). The fabulous thing is that it doesn’t matter what these extracts are going to do. The point is that they are real extracts, written in all caps. This is clearly only meant to capitalize on the current consumer trend of having everything be “all natural”. The great part is that it doesn’t have to even be “all natural” because real is categorized in the same word family so it triggers the same thought of being healthy.
I’m being a bit satirical but I do believe that the packaging is well-made. It’s clean. The images evoke a gentle feeling, just like the “soft” in the brand name. It says what consumers want to hear. And it keeps the product secure. What else does a packaging need to do?
The Price
The final aspect that made me buy the soap on the spot was that it was on clearance. I didn’t even need the soap that particular day or that week even. Yet, because the soap was on sale, it created a sense of urgency. It’s not even that it’s going to save me all that much money. It’s 40 cents. But it’s that red sticker that’s telling me: “Buy me know because you know I’ll never be cheaper”. I knew that I would eventually use it so I decided to take advantage of the lower price. Putting the product on sale also shows that Target knows its clients. My local Target is right by my university and an overpriced CVS. Target knows that students come in to the store to buy groceries and beauty products at a price that is cheaper than its competitor. It does a great job at adapting to the client.
Before putting products on sale, however, marketers have to make sure that it aligns with the company’s brand image. If it’s a high quality product, marketers have to be careful not to cheapen the brand. Just like some consumers buy one product over another because it’s cheaper, others choose one product over another because it’s more expensive. To them, it shows that the product is good quality. Softsoap, though, is clearly a core product. All it needs to do is get the user cleaned. There is no status linked to it like a Michael Kors bag would have, for example.
In the end, I bought shower gel because I was familiar with the brand, I liked its appeal to a healthy lifestyle and it was on sale. If it hadn’t been for all three factors together, I would have probably waited until the next week, when I actually need the product, to purchase it. So this ended up being quite a long post. If you stayed this long, congratulations! But now to you: what is the most important thing you look for when you go shopping for everyday goods?