Featured project: Cosmetics – researching the real and the virtual world

Sagaci Research recently worked on a study for a leading investor which wanted to assess potential entry opportunities in the cosmetics market in Ghana. The traditional field research (combining a quantitative survey, in-depth interviews with consumers and store checks) provided key insights on consumer behavior and the route-to-market of the existing players. Ghanaian women are not loyal any cosmetics brand and, when they have to choose, they prefer products coming from Ivory Coast rather than those from their own country!
Beyond the field research, the project also ventured out into the e-world. We conducted an extensive online scan to understand the digital footprint of the main market players. How often do Ghanaian people search for their brands on the internet? What does user-generated content report about these brands? What do the company’s corporate accounts on social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) reveal?
Differences in online footprint were striking. Some brands are indeed very active, generating new content on average 4 times a week and achieving up to 1,5 million “likes”, while other brands are hardly visible. Reactions to corporate posts and user-generated content were also very meaningful to understand each brand’s positioning.
At the end, insights from both the streets and the virtual world merge into a comprehensive assessment of the market.