Discussion guide

Demographics
1. What is your age and where are you from?- 24- Ahmednagar
2. What is your occupation? How many hours do you work in a day? Student/
8
3. How many hours do you sleep in a day? 6
4. Do you have any skin related problem?- Yes- I have a sensitive Oily skin. I
suffer a lot with pimples and tan. I have some water and geography impact
on my skin, its better and manageable in Pune/Mumbai but it gets very oily
in Kozhikode due to humid weather. I
5. Does your family have a history of acne or any other skin disease?- No
6. What do you generally have in your day? (Breakfast, lunch and dinner)- I am
not a huge junkie. I love chicken a lot and I do include it in my diet twice a
week at least. Other than that basic great Indian Diet- Roti sabzi etc.
7. Describe yourself in 3 words- I am strong willed, Determined and an
excellent speaker.
Skin care routine
8. How would you rate your skin on a scale of 1-10? 4- because I believe
comparatively I have greater skin issues and different products affect my
skin differently. It is not flawless.
9. What are some of the problems that your skin face?- Pimples & Oily skin
10.Are there any specific products you use to address those problems? – I
make use of Clean and clear facewash and scrub. Apart from that I have
tried Himalaya, Beardo and VLCC. I have had good experience with VLCC but
there was an offline availability issue. I don’t experiment a lot when it
comes to skincare. For moisturizer, I have been using Nivea since my
childhood, my mother always used this and we never questioned it.
11.Is there something that you do for your skin immediately after waking up in
general?- No, I just wash my face with a facewash.
12.What is your routine throughout the day for your skin?- I don’t follow a
strict skincare routine.
13.What do you do for your skin before going to bed? – I just wash my face
before going to bed.
14.When did you start using the skin care products?- Age 19-20, when I started
college.
15.How did you come across the various skin care products and their brands?-
Mostly I go with the recommendation of my sister or sometimes from the
shopkeepers from whom I make a purchase.
16. What brand products are you using? Is the brand different for different
products? – Yes I make use of Clean & Clear, Himalaya and Nivea and yes
the I make use of different brand for facewash, scrub and moisturizing
cream.
17.Have you recently switched from any of the brands? No
18.How much time do you give to a product before coming to a conclusion
about the effectiveness to your skin? – I generally buy a product and do not
make a conclusion till the life of the product ends. I only judge a cream
when I have completely used the pack.
19.Do you buy the products online or offline?- I trust our local retailers and
make most of my purchases offline.
20.What websites/shops do you prefer to buy the products from?- The popular
ones, Amazon and Flipkart.
21.Before purchasing a product, do you check its ingredients? No I don’t take
an interest in what are the ingredients of the product. It is time consuming
to do a research and I am not that interested in knowing what is the
product made of so long it is giving me the desired results.
22.Do you consider it safe, using acid-based products on your skin?
The word acid sounds traumatic and I am not open to experimentation of
such things without a dermatological prescription.
23.Do you consult your dermatologist before using a chemical-based product?
Yes for specific skincare related issues I just don’t buy it from the market, I
like professional consultation of a dermatologist first.
24.Are you aware about face serums? – I have heard the word, I think its kind
of a buzz on social media but am aware of nothing more than that.
25.If yes, then do you use them?- No I have never used any serum.
26.How long have you been using the serum and what are the results?-Not
applicable
27.Which brand is your preferred one and why? NA
28.Do you consider yourself to be open when it comes to trying out new
brands? – Yes as I said I like trying new things but I prefer them as a part of
bundled deals or trial packs, I don’t purchase things that burn a hole in my
pocket.
Media
29.How much time you spend on researching about a particular product? I am
not very invested in skincare and barely do any research in this regard.
30.What are the sources you refer to while browsing through the internet
about that brand?- If I have to look definitely, I check the company website
and online reviews. I like to check the reviews on the e commerce sites like
amazon, as most of the times I have found them reliable.
31.Are your social media ads heavy on skin care products?
No I don’t believe in social media a lot, most of it is paid advertising.
32.What brands do you mostly see advertise on social media?
A. - Wow , Mamaearth and Clean & Clear are something that I constantly
see online on my pages.
33.Have you ever considered buying a product after looking at an
advertisement either on internet/ television or any other medium?-
A. yes that’s the whole point of advertisements.
34.What kind of advocacy of the product do you consider to be reliable?
A. When it comes to buying a skincare product my sister is my God.
35.Do you follow any beauty influencer on Instagram/YouTube or any other
social media platform?- No, I don’t.
36.If yes, then what kind of content do they promote?-NA
37.Have you ever purchased a product purely by that influencer’s
recommendations? - No
38.If you purchase offline, do you consider the retailers’ recommendation
useful?-
A. Yes many a times, they understand the needs better due to their long
term relationship with customers. I have been going to the same shop
for 10 years and the shopkeepers know me on a personal level which
works at times.