Colors in the shelves...

We would like to make a focus on the presence of shampoos in retailers. As you already know, shampoos are in the cosmetic shelves of a shop.

You can see on this picture, taken in a hypermarket, the shampoos shelves.

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You can notice first that it is really big, even if we have to remind that it is a hypermarket.

As all brands use almost the same packaging: one bottle of 250ml, they have to find other ways to differentiate themselves, in order to make people chose their product in particular whereas it is just close to a very similar other one, by catching consumers’ attention.

We know that 85% of clients, in the shelf, take only one product in their hands and this is the one they buy. Therefore the best solution for brands it that consumers take their buying decision before their shopping time. That is to say that the project manager has to use all the tools at his disposal to make people chose his product as soon as possible. Then, when clients will come in the shop they will have just to find it and buy it. If it is not the case, your brand will be in competition with all the others and you are not controlling anything because consumers’ decision can depends on the state of the shelf or the general atmosphere of the retailers.

Knowing that, brands use the visibility in this shelf that can be improved through mainly two criteria: the color of the bottle and the place in the shelves

Therefore, we will speak about color of the bottles. We can see on this picture that brands really use this criterion to differentiate themselves.

www.fructis.fr

The one which has the most power is certainly Fructis. This brand has chosen to have all its products in green. We have to underline the fact that it’s really a strategic choice because obviously it’s not one of the first colors that we would associate to shampoo. As it is a typical women product and first a cosmetic one, we would have seen more pink or purple or at least a soft color but not green, which is more related to environment, earth or nature. This choice makes the brand really identifiable easily in the shelf. Besides, they add a colorful circle, representing a specific product; for instance: purple for “hydra-boucles”, dark blue for “long and strong”, orange for “hydra-liss”…

www.nivea.fr

For its part, Nivea has chosen a unique color too, the clear blue. This color isn’t a habitual color for shampoo too, but is at least softer. And it allows the brand to differentiate itself also in the shelves. Indeed all its products being in the same color, creates a blue bloc representing Nivea. In the same way as Fructis, Nivea has chosen to use a dedicated color for the text on the bottle and the top of the stopper; for instance: pink for “nutri cashmere”, or blue for “volume sensation”… This strategy makes the brand more visible for consumers.

www.loreal.fr

Elsève has made a totally different choice. Indeed the brand has not chosen a single color to unify its products. On the contrary, Elsève has attributed a color of bottle according to the specificities of the product. We can give some examples: purple for “Volume Collagene”, yellow for “Nutrition et Lumière” and also white for the bottle associated to green/red/yellow. 

www.loreal.fr

This different choice seems to function too, as Elsève is one of the most present and sold brand. We can suppose that the mix of colors catch consumer’s attention or that consumers know these colors thanks to communication tools dedicated to one model.

 

www.headandshoulders.com

Head&Shoulders has made a choice similar to the two first brands. Its bottles of shampoo are all white and different colors are used on it to differentiate the specificities. For instance, we have pink for “hydratant lisse et soyeux”, blue for “classic or purple for “extra volume”. This strategy allows consumers to identify this brand too but we have to notice that white is a common color not very eye catching and it is not the only brand to have made this choice.

We can notice that all these colors for all these brands allow customers in a so big choice. Thus people have whether to take their chosen product (if they have already done it) or to choose the first coming or to start reading the information on the bottle and look for an adapted product.

This color strategy allows also brands to increase loyalty. Once you have found your shampoo, you’ll keep it because it answers your needs and fits your hairs and also because it will be a gain of time and therefore easily your shopping. Once you have chosen it, when you have to buy a new bottle, you come in the shelf and you can find it easily. That is why brands make so many efforts to differentiate themselves.