Grooming Market in India: Concept, Instrumentality, Outcomes, and Marketing

Grooming Market in India: Concept, Instrumentality, Outcomes, and Marketing

Harsh V. Verma, Ekta Duggal
Copyright: © 2016 |Pages: 25
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-9758-4.ch006
OnDemand:
(Individual Chapters)
Available
$37.50
Current Special Offers
No Current Special Offers
TOTAL SAVINGS: $37.50

Abstract

‘Grooming' is a multi-billion dollar industry. Numerous brands participate in grooming market. Grooming is transformative. These products derive their significance from their psycho-socio-cultural roles. Grooming was found to be a three dimensional phenomena both for men and women. In case of men these dimensions were physical, psychological, and behavioral. And for women group, the other two dimensions remained same but behavioral dimension was replaced by beauty. It is these dimensions which give rise to consumption constellation and demarcate what product categories are relevant in the perusal of goal of grooming. Well groomed people are rare and uncommon. It is this rarity which renders a groomed state as aspirational and desirable. Being well groomed is advantageous for two reasons: it eases negotiation of social turf and psychologically it transforms identity into confident and energetic self. It is through these psycho-social processes, being well groomed gives an advantage over others in securing success.
Chapter Preview
Top

Theoretical Background

Grooming is transformative. It is transformation of reality into the realm of surreal, imagination and fantasy. It often is about converting the natural with the synthetic. Grooming and beauty go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin. Proctor & Gamble [P&G] (2015) on its website page titled ‘P&G Beauty & Grooming’ places before its readers how company’s scientists develop beauty and grooming products which deliver meaningful results. It goes on to claim that these innovations are inspired by thorough understanding of desires and needs of men and women (P&G, 2015). It is these needs and desires that give rise to multi-billion dollar market for body and appearance alteration. The discourse on beauty and grooming is not new. It has been a subject of discussion for centuries. Men and women through the centuries have relied upon various methods for bodily transformations moved by different motivations.

What pressing needs and desires prompt men and women to resort to grooming and beautification? Black (2004) writing in the context of the beauty salons distinguished between routine grooming, health treatments and corrective procedures. Routine grooming is engendered by the need of body maintenance, health treatments are sought to mitigate and cure illness, and corrective procedures are aimed to restore the normality of body. Most humans exist on a relativity scale where current position is compared with wished for position. The scale could be inward where the point of comparison is the position of current self with the desired position. Here the focus is on the self. In the outward comparison a person considers his or her ‘location’ in relation to others in the society. The pull of desired positions causes men and women to resort to transformative products and services. The grooming and beauty products like shampoo, skin lotions, fairness creams, shaving products, electrolysis, hair transplants, plastic surgery and acne treatments are therefore positioned as transformational.

Complete Chapter List

Search this Book:
Reset