COLOGNE BRAND PREFERENCES OF TEENAGERS IN THE PHILIPPINES: MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

Studies focusing on the constantly changing buying behavior and product preferences of a booming teen market are rare and this is particularly true in the Philippines. To address this gap in the literature, this study focused on the supermarket brands of cologne preferred by teens in the Philippines such as Lewis & Pearl (L&P), Johnson's Baby Cologne, Juicy, Bench, Ellips, Fiona, Bambini and Baby Flo which are manufactured by various competing companies. Essentially, this study presented and described the profile and buying behavior of cologne users and non-cologne users and determined whether preferential differences existed between these brands. The respondents consisted of 473 teens all over the Philippines stratified in terms of general location via the three major groups of islands in the Philippines: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Respondents came from selected schools in Quezon City in Metro Manila, Sariaya in Quezon Province, Cebu City, and Digos City to represent the Greater Metro Manila Area, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, respectively. Findings showed that almost all of the respondents used cologne at varying degrees. In general, teens use several scents and brands of cologne and continually shift from one scent/brand to another scent/brand. This made it difficult for any company to capture loyal consumers. The most popular brands used by teenagers were Bench (61.7%), Lewis and Pearl (59%), Juicy (42%), Afficionado (32%), Fiona (19.3%), Penshoppe (18%), Bambini (12.6%), Ellips (11.3%) and Zen Zest (7.5%). Fragrance or scent is the top priority of teenagers in choosing a cologne brand, followed by brand name, affordability, bottle design and endorser. The spray bottle type of colognes is preferred even if cologne spray bottles are priced higher than the splash cologne bottle type. Managerial implications of these findings for market players, marketing scholars and prospective investors are presented.