It used to be so simple. It was either brown or white sugar. Toothpaste was just toothpaste and shampoo... well, there might've been two or three brands. Now, there's golden, light brown, dark and in-between brown sugar while the hundreds of varieties of toothpaste, shampoos, deodorants and other consumer goods lure shoppers with promises beyond clean teeth and hair. These days the stakes seem higher -- a better love life, the annihilation of germs, a brighter future, a better you.
Are you confused yet? Lifestyle sent freelance reporter Avia Ustanny to scout out the bewildering array of items available on supermarket and pharmacy shelves. She brings back this report.
Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
SERVE! SERVE! Uttering this age-old call, cloth bag -- the one as old as your grandmother -- under one arm, you used your knuckles on the chicken wire partition to get the shopkeeper's attention.
Serve!
In the old wooden shop, redolent with the scent of beef, salt, butter and toiletries -- all given shelf space in one small room -- you handed Madam or Mister Shopkeeper your hand-written list, or called out each item with self-conscious dignity. Each arrived with a slap on the counter.
Today, many of these neighbourhood shops have been replaced by vast air conditioned stores where a dizzying array of products lie waiting for you. Usually there is nary a 'shopkeeper' between you and the several thousand goods neatly arranged on shelves. You serve yourself and you are lost in a sea of brands -- 'miracle' products (packaged brightly enough to pluck your eyes from your head) that promise to meet and exceed all your needs.
You wanted to buy toothpaste -- plain old toothpaste -- but you're dazzled by the almost 20 brand names (each with about 10 varieties of their own) and suddenly you find yourself wondering if you should get the one for sensitive teeth, the one with the extra whitening power, or the, the...Your head spinning, you reluctantly grab what seems to be the most regular of the varieties and make your way to a computerised cash machine.
Along the way you wonder: Will this brand really do what it says? Did I forget anything? Did I overlook something that was cheaper? Should I have shopped at another store?
BEWILDERED BY CATEGORIES AND SUB-CATEGORIES
The transition from the little corner store to warehouse superstore can be overwhelming.
In one pharmacy, stuffed to the rafters with new goods for Christmas, Lifestyle looked at shampoos. We were pole-axed by the sight of shelves, stretching beyond sight, dedicated to this product's display.
We counted 28 different brands of shampoo and conditioner, noting that each brand has different categories too. For example, the Salon Selectives Line has 15 items, including such marvels as 'Completely Drenched, Full of it (don't ask us what), Perfectly Normal and Don't Fade on Me. For each hair type, so described, there are further sub-categories including balancing conditioners, bodyfiying conditioners, colour protecting conditioners and moisturising conditioners. The line up of shampoos included Cleanslate, Clarifying Shampoo, Hold Tight and Stay Flexible. Added to the line were shaping and finishing sprays.
In the deodorant/antiperspirant aisle our counting ability was further stretched.
On these shelves we tallied 47 different brands of this product alone.We left for a supermarket where we continued the count and found 17 brands of toothpaste, local and imported. The toothpaste story is comparable to the shampoos, with each brand carrying several varieties. Under Colgate, for example, we counted at least five different products, these included Maximum Cavity Protection, Herbal, Sensitive, Baking Soda and Peroxide as well as Colgate Triple action. Aquafresh, another brand, was present with promises of triple protection, help for sensitive teeth as well as a product for those who need extra fresh breath too.
RESPONDING TO THE INCREASING SOPHISTICATION OF CONSUMERS
Could the plethora of products be a gambit to stun consumers into a zombie-like state when making choices?
We put that question to Dennis Hickey, lecturer at the University of Technology and marketing manager at the City of Kingston Credit Union. Marketers, we are told, are not trying to drive us gaga. They are simply responding to the increasing sophistication of the Jamaican consumer and also hedging their bets in a context where all and sundry are scrambling for market share.
For example, the Grace brand of foods -- marketed on its quality -- has diversified to include the Manor House and Hi Lo brands, we are told by Hickey, in an effort to keep those clients who rely on its reputation of quality (at any price) and others who will only leave the store with the cheapest item their money can take home.
Mr. Hickey also noted that the liberalisation of imports, reduced tariffs and other factors have unleashed a vast array of items on the unsuspecting consumer. "This is actually good for the consumer", he added. "This is intense competition which gives the consumer more choices and invariably better choices too. Competition also drives down prices and consumers are also benefiting from more give-aways, seen in the media every week in the form of coupons and competitions."
Everybody is competing and their success depends on how often they can give good deals," he noted.
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
Are shoppers having a field day picking, choosing and refusing, or are they just made plain miserable by the onslaught of products to choose from?
The effect of such abundance, we found, was as varied as the individuals. A typical response, especially from those who are older, was cynicism and sheer scorn for anything new. Jean, 54-year-old housewife we met at Tropical Plaza in the Half-Way-Tree area of Kingston, said: "I don't believe any of them work (personal care products). It's difficult to choose. To me they are all the same. I just look for the price."
Among those who are older, there was definitely a concern with price. In Basix supermarket (owned by the Hi Lo chain), 72-year-old woman, D. Robinson, told us that her one consideration when shopping was "price. Of course, price!"Michelle, aged 30, said her first consideration was about the ingredients and quality of items. "I use Herbal Essence shampoo because the ingredients are more natural." She was also willing to experiment. "I have tried a lot of shampoos and this really works."
Where it comes to food, however, she is a traditionalist, sticking to certain brands. "I buy Grace most times because they have been around for awhile. I like to stick to things that I know."Ricky, 28 years old and a full time student approaches the line up of goods in a practical manner. "I don't look at brands. I don't look at price. I look at stuff like nutritional value and ingredients. When buying shampoos, I look for one that treats dry scalp, because this is a problem with me."Girvan has an even easier method for shopping. He has no worries about the array of goods beckoning to him. "I buy what my wife tells me."
LOCAL SHOPPERS USING
A VARIETY OF WAYS TO GET BETTER DEALS
Mr. Hickey, our marketing analyst, noted that local consumers were responding to the plethora of products by actually shopping around more. Some, he added, were also using the telephone to do their own price comparison surveys.
They are doing quality comparisons, more bargaining (hey, I got this for $$ less up the road) and are shopping overseas as well using the Internet.Jamaican consumers, he added, were segmented as in other western market economies. "You have people who are price conscious and others who focus on quality.
In another category are those who will apply quality considerations to some products like lawnmowers and refrigerators, but tend more to focus on price for basic food items."Marketers must find ways to get into consumers' minds, and manipulate them into taking their products off the shelves. It's a tough task to get people to change from one brand to another, we find."
But, the marketers, masters of game, use the P's of the trade -- product, price, place, packaging and promotions -- to ensure that their products are taken from the shelves. User friendly products and pretty packaging are only the beginning as they must send you the message by advertising, and other means, that you need their product and none other.
They make sure that goods are not priced out of your range or priced so low that they run the risk of consumers thinking that 'this thing can't be any good!'In addition products must be in the right place, at the right time and in sufficient quantities and, these days it seems, in a range of varieties to get the shopper at one end or another.
Shopping for toothpaste today? It may not exactly help you to capture the heart of the one you desire (as the commercials imply), but at least you'll have a choice of how to get your pearly whites glistening and adding minty fresh breath too.
