Phoenix Marketing International and TextureMedia's Research Shows Purchasing Behavior Varies Dramatically by Hair Texture

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Consumers are shopping by their texture type. This year’s report really shows how wavy consumers think and buy differently than coily consumers.

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) October 01, 2013

In a world where 60% of the population has natural curls, coils, or waves, the growing textured-hair market has been fueled by a passionate group of women embracing their natural hair textures. Nine out of ten textured-hair women say they see more women “going naturally curly” than they did five years ago. This has created an increasingly competitive product landscape, with many more choices for these informed and empowered shoppers – both more products and more innovative retailing experiences.

TextureMedia® and Phoenix Marketing International surveyed over 3,500 textured hair participants for Wave 3 of their research study. These findings were compared with straight-haired consumers. The report evaluates what and where consumers with wavy, curly, and coily hair purchase, how much they spend, and how they make their purchasing decisions.

Some key findings from this third wave of the annual research include the following:

1.    Purchasing behaviors of textured-hair consumers differ greatly depending on their specific hair texture. For example, products with “curl” in the name are particularly attractive to wavy and curly hair consumers, while coily shoppers are much less responsive to them. Texture type also correlates to considerations such as ingredient importance and ease of purchase.

2.    Haircare shoppers are moving to mass retailers such as Target and Walmart. Just like so many of the other market findings, this trend is highly dependent on the texture type of the consumer.

3.    When consumers are looking for new haircare products, reviews and ingredients are the most important considerations. Price and accessibility continue to drive overall purchasing for the textured-hair consumer, while pier opinions and product ingredients are also important considerations.

Michelle Breyer, co-founder of TextureMedia, noted, “Textured-haired and straight-haired women are clearly different in the ways they care for their hair, and it is strongly illustrated again in this year’s report. But what really stands out is how the different types of textured hair are individualizing. Consumers are shopping by their texture type. This year’s report really shows how wavy consumers think and buy differently than coily consumers.”

The report demonstrates growing access to products and consumer autonomy by textured-hair women. Breyer continues, “We expanded this year’s report to delve into the specific retail dynamics, and we found that coily consumers are drifting away from traditional marketing tactics. Since they buy a wider variety of products than other groups, they are accustomed to visiting many retailers just to find what they need – 86% shop at more than one retailer to find their core hair care products. Desire for convenience and low price may lead them to take more control of the buying process by going online or finding a store that offers all of the products they feel are right for them and their specific texture type.”

To learn more about the textured-hair market and the 2013 Texture Trends report, please contact Karen Munn, karen.munn(at)phoenixmi(dot)com or 740-497-0889 or Lori Kerrigan, lori(at)texturemediainc(dot)com or 512-372-8553.

TextureTrends is a research collaboration between TextureMedia, a social media leader in the textured hair market with community-driven brands like NaturallyCurly.com and CurlyNikki.com, and Phoenix Marketing International, a Honomichl Top 50 firm and one of the fastest growing research companies in the U.S.

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