Sephora

Working with three other researchers, I helped design and run a quantitative study on what factors influence college students' skincare purchase intentions. The research question was: what factors influence college students' skincare purchase intentions? The study focused on Sephora as the primary retail context, comparing findings against Amazon to understand what is specific to Sephora's brand and shopping environment.

• Literature Review
• Survey Design
• Qualtrics
• Correlation Analysis
• SPSS

The team conducted a literature review to identify 16 potential predictors of skincare purchase behavior, including brand trust, perceived quality, experiential marketing, hedonic shopping, product popularity, and influencer credibility. We designed and administered a survey on Qualtrics, then analyzed the data in SPSS using correlation analysis to identify which predictors had the strongest relationship with both past purchase behavior and future purchase intentions at Sephora.

• Product Popularity The strongest predictor of past purchase behavior at Sephora (r = .715), with moderate correlations to purchase intentions (r = .248) and shopping intentions (r = .480). Students are significantly influenced by what others are already buying.
• Experiential Marketing Strong correlation with both past purchases (r = .554) and future purchase plans (r = .432), suggesting in-store and interactive experiences matter significantly to this audience.
• Hedonic Shopping Strongly correlated with both past and future purchase behavior, meaning students shop at Sephora for the experience itself, not just the product.
• Influencer Credibility Strong negative correlation with purchase behavior (r = -.595 for influencers, r = -.596 for celebrities), meaning students were actually less likely to buy when they perceived heavy influencer involvement, pointing to a trust gap with traditional endorsements.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Strong correlation with past purchases (r = .486), suggesting sustainability and ethical sourcing matter to this demographic when choosing where to shop.

The team produced strategic recommendations for Sephora based on these findings, including introducing a "Sephora Favourites for Students" product line with prominent placement in-store and online, setting up themed skincare zones to deepen the experiential shopping element, highlighting eco-friendly products and sustainability messaging, and shifting influencer strategy toward micro-influencers and user-generated content to rebuild trust with the college student segment.