IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PURCHASE AND USAGE PATTERNS OF COSMETICS AMONG WOMEN OF GURUGRAM (INDIA)

Cosmetics are an important part of the modern lifestyle of people. In 2019, the international cosmetics market amounted to $380.2 bn and by 2027, will grow to $463.5 bn. The Indian Cosmetics Market size was $13.19 billion in 2020 and is projected to expand to $28.98 billion by 2026 showing a CAGR of 16.39% through 2026. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the practices of businesses as well as the lives of consumers. This has led to a change in the purchase behaviour of consumers. Such a change has been caused by many variables such as falling incomes, lockdowns, low availability of goods, breaking down of supply chains as well as accessibility of products. As there has been a change in the purchase behaviour of consumers due to the pandemic, this research aims to study the change in the cosmetic purchase behaviour of females in Gurugram, a city in Haryana (India), if any on various variables. A structured questionnaire based survey of the 159 women of Gurugram was conducted to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the factors affecting cosmetics buying behaviour like customer buying behaviour like product brand, variety, price of product, friends recommendation, advertising, celebrity endorsement, social media marketing, e-word of mouth and product information.