How Do People Shop Their Toothpaste?

I went to a supermarket near our house in Laguna. I went to the toothpaste section and observed

the shoppers in that section. Initially, there were 3 shoppers in the section where two of them looked like

mothers and the other seemed to be a college student. Two of them bought 2 or 3 value packs with 2

tubes with a price of Php 149.00 each of Colgate Toothpaste. It can be noted that these two shoppers are

loyal buyers of Colgate Toothpaste with the quantity they bought. Also, the quantity bought would reflect

that these shoppers wanted to have sufficient stock of toothpaste in their homes so they will not to go

supermarkets or convenience stores to buy toothpaste for emergency use. The other shopper bought a

medium size of Close Up Toothpaste. It can be observed that this buyer only buys what he needs at the

moment and don’t do stock up. All of these three shoppers made a quick selection of the toothpaste

where it can be concluded that all these shoppers already have a brand of toothpaste in mind and what

variant they will buy.

Further, two more shoppers went to the section and both them were seemed to mothers already.

Both of them were like the first two shoppers mentioned where they quickly selected Colgate Toothpaste.

However, the difference was these two shoppers only bought one large-sized Colgate Toothpaste. It can

be noted that these two shoppers do regularly buy Colgate Toothpaste to replenish their need as of the

moment. Another two shoppers went at the toothpaste section. One shopper that looked like a college

student scanned the available toothpaste and picked a large-sized Happy Toothpaste. When that shopper

left, I checked the price of the toothpaste she bought and it had a cheap price compared to the other

brands. Therefore, this buyer buy depending on price and not brand-particular. The other buyer bought

both Colgate Toothpaste and Close Up Toothpaste but the in sachets. She bought quite a few bundles. It

can be concluded that this buyer owns a sari-sari store and would want to replenish the stocks of her
store. Additionally, there was one more shopper that shopped the same as the one concluded to own a

sari-sari store. This shopper bought bundles of Colgate Toothpaste and Close Up Toothpaste sachets.

Two more shoppers went to the section. These two shoppers are seemed to be college students

talking to each other and so I assumed they are friends. One of these two students bought a Close Up

Whitening Toothpaste and the other bought a Colgate Whitening Toothpaste. It could be noted that these

shoppers will compare which of the two brands has better results in terms of teeth whitening.

From the 10 shoppers observed in the toothpaste section, it was observed that most buyers are

women and are mothers. Also, majority of the shoppers bought Colgate Toothpaste and must be because

of the popularity of the products. But only one out of the 10 shoppers is not brand particular but is price

conscious. Further, there two shoppers who concluded to own sari-sari stores and buy toothpaste to

replenish their stocks. However, only two brands were chosen by these two owners of sari-sari store and

must be because they concluded that these brands are only the most common and well known toothpaste

in the market and surely will be bought by their customers. The last two shoppers are concluded not to

be brand conscious but choose their toothpaste depending on its additional use like whitening, fresher

breath, etc.

From the observations made, it can be concluded that most shoppers will buy something that is

well known. Their preferences are affected on the branding of the product. Since Colgate Toothpaste is

advertised everywhere and one of the few brands that has been in the market for a long time, shoppers

tend to buy such and would not experimentally try other brands. Therefore, it is very important that trust

to one’s brand is built up to assure the loyalty of the customers.