1. Internship Abstract
Title: Deodorant Penetration Study Based on E-commerce Shopper Behavior
Name: Manqi Yang
Preceptors: Vivian Li, Research Manager
Agency: Kantar Retail Zdology Marketing Research & Consulting (GZ) LTD.
Purpose: To increase deodorant penetration in China via E-Commerce: first to raise purchase intention
among potential users, and then to convert the penetration into regular and consistent usage.
Significance: Unilever assigned the market research project to effectively broaden the target shopper
groups for deodorant, which is a personal care product that has high potential growth in China. Rexona and
Lynx, the two brands under Unilever were chosen for focussed target groups (18-25, university students
and 1st jobbers) as a prime marketing reserach technique. These shoppers usually come into the category
because of external pushes (e.g. 1st job, temperature, etc.), but then they drop out or use infrequently
because of a lack of internal pulls. Therefore, the brands should do more than create superficial interests in
the product, and instead, take longer to educate small target group to develop the ideal usage habit.
Method/Approach: 96 qualified respondents, who are current users or potential users of deodorant, were
selected in three main cities in China to participate in the long-term research process. The first step of the
research is to tap into the shoppers’ needs, hobbies and interested topics/activities with an assigned
self-introduction and a questionnaire. After that, a Wechat Listening is scheduled to promptly capture
deodorant target shoppers’ daily routine, and to analyse their consumption attitude by observing their
Wechat moments. Another important step is the Shopper Behavior Tracking on mobile and PC. Participants
were invited to install mobile app ‘mTracker’ on their mobile phones, and to download PCTracker on their
personal computers to enable passive observation of their online behavior.
Outcomes/Results: The respondents have similarities in entertainment hobbies, interested topics and
activities, but they hold different consumption attitudes and thus were divided into four groups: Quality
Seeker, Smart Shopper, Promotion Seeker, and Economical Shopper. The shoppers chose various shopping
channels to finish different shopping missions, including replenishment, promotion driven, replacement and
occasional need. The key trigger for users’ first time usage is their psychological needs to leave a good
impression on others when attending an important event, and the main barrier for non-users is the lack of
physical need. Many of them have misunderstanding of deodorant's effect and wonder if the product would
do harm to their skin. Shopper’s online shopping route includes four steps: trigger, review, engage, and
purchase.
Evaluation/Conclusion: Within shopper’s online shopping path, the three pages that most respondents stay
are E-tailer Homepage, Product List Page, and Product Detail Page. The report thoughtfully analyses
shopper’s online shopping process to effectively increase deodorant penetration on E-commerce in each
step. It provides feasible suggestions for the brands under Unilever to design proper advertisement and
promotion events to attract potential customers of deodorant.
