Preferences of Filipino Consumers on Personal Hygiene Products: An Inside Look on Traditional and Sustainable Options

• Main Authors: Barbacena, Daniella Louise S., Clutario, Jose Gabriel T., Gutierrez, Lorenzo Miguel P., Lasiste, Graciela Gabrielle A., Razon, Don King
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: sustainability; consumers’ choices and decisions; personal hygiene products; NCR; ages 16 to 20; Business
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2022/paper_see/10; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=conf_shsrescon
• Institution: De La Salle University

The sustainability trend in the market requires businesses to change their usual models and mechanisms of producing goods to cater to consumer preferences. These preferences mainly revolve around the product's brand, price, and accessibility, impacting consumers' choices, priorities, and decisions (Gutierrez & Seva, 2016; Rappler, 2013; Longo et al., 2019). This study investigated more in-depth factors affecting an individual's purchase and non-purchase of sustainable personal hygiene products in the market: bamboo toothbrushes and shampoo bars. For the grounded theory inquiry, participants ages 16-20 from the National Capital Region of the Philippines were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted asking about their product preferences considering the initial categories: general questions, knowledge, price, effectiveness, culture, tradition, brand, social influence, availability, and other miscellaneous questions. All 12 participants' interviews contributed to summarizing the study's codes and categories. For the secondary analysis, the thematic analysis revealed two overarching themes characterizing the elements impacting one's purchase and non-purchase of sustainable personal hygiene products: (1) barriers to accessing sustainable products; and (2) factors influencing an individual's purchasing consideration of personal hygiene products. Enterprises might find it helpful to explore these themes to create business models best tailored to the market.