Perception of Natural Cosmetics Among Central European Consumers

Figure 1.

Frequency distributions (in percent) for sociodemographic variables according to the countries (the numbers of respondents in parentheses)

	Czechia (230)	Slovakia (175)	Poland (325)
sex
men	10.4%	12.0%	8.9%
women	89.6%	88.0%	91.1%
age
24 or less	52.2%	37.7%	39.7%
25–44	27.8%	42.9%	45.8%
45 or over	20.0%	19.4%	14.5%
education
basic or secondary	55.2%	68.0%	47.7%
higher or university	44.8%	32.0%	52.3%
status
employed or self-employed	48.7%	58.9%	59.4%
other status	51.3%	41.1%	40.6%

Frequency distributions (in percent) for net income according to the countries

CZK (Czechia)	Percent	EUR (Slovakia)	Percent	PLN (Poland)	Percent
no income	9.1%	no income	16.0%	no income	13.5%
less than 10,000	17.0%	less than 400	9.7%	less than 2,000	11.4%
10,000–20,000	22.2%	400–800	14.9%	2,000–3,500	32.3%
20,001–30,000	19.1%	801–1,200	23.4%	3,501–5,500	16.6%
30,001 or more	19.1%	1,201 or more	25.1%	5,501 or more	10.5%
I don’t want to answer	13.5%	I don’t want to answer	10.9%	I don’t want to answer	15.7%

The values of Cramér’s V (Slovak respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

	Explanatory variable
Target variable	sex	age	education	status	residence	income	shopping frequency
shopping_frequency	0.129	0.161	0.321	0.172	0.027	0.193	---
higher_quality	0.034	0.152	0.183	0.12	0.172	0.169	0.246
easy_recognition	0.011	0.215	0.139	0.024	0.198	0.312	0.095
assumed_expensiveness	0.025	0.234	0.047	0.272	0.038	0.319	0.163
criterion_of_selection	0.141	0.129	0.084	0.083	0.114	0.172	0.171
reason_for_shopping	0.098	0.238	0.242	0.093	0.130	0.263	0.05
healthy_lifestyle	0.039	0.113	0.205	0.052	0.247	0.098	0.102

The values of Cramér’s V (Polish respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

	Explanatory variable
Target variable	sex	age	education	status	residence	income	shopping frequency
shopping_frequency	0.153	0.062	0.128	0.052	0.119	0.185	---
higher_quality	0.068	0.237	0.098	0.188	0.160	0.146	0.119
easy_recognition	0.105	0.074	0.003	0.096	0.102	0.156	0.090
assumed_expensiveness	0.051	0.073	0.064	0.030	0.144	0.136	0.176
criterion_of_selection	0.192	0.107	0.074	0.101	0.047	0.082	0.164
reason_for_shopping	0.108	0.081	0.029	0.132	0.131	0.161	0.149
healthy_lifestyle	0.068	0.269	0.150	0.178	0.153	0.228	0.019

The values of Cramér’s V, square root of the Goodman and Kruskal tau, square root of the uncertainty coefficient (UC), and maximum of p-values for dependencies of core variables on a country

Target variable	Cramér’s V	Square root of tau	Square root of UC	Max p-value
shopping_frequency	0.197	0.197	0.170	< 0.001
higher_quality	0.132	0.134	0.114	0.002
easy_recognition	0.133	0.134	0.118	0.002
assumed_expensiveness	0.130	0.130	0.114	0.002
criterion_of_selection	0.152	0.126	0.152	< 0.001
reason_for_shopping	0.082	0.095	0.089	0.042
healthy_lifestyle	0.102	0.100	0.089	0.022

The values of Cramér’s V (Czech respondents; significant dependencies are in bold)

	Explanatory variable
Target variable	sex	age	education	status	residence	income	shopping frequency
shopping_frequency	0.185	0.202	0.047	0.132	0.085	0.210	---
higher_quality	0.001	0.115	0.009	0.009	0.160	0.159	0.263
easy_recognition	0.034	0.040	0.016	0.014	0.053	0.168	0.078
assumed_expensiveness	0.177	0.083	0.027	0.020	0.105	0.136	0.026
criterion_of_selection	0.093	0.130	0.146	0.084	0.139	0.142	0.168
reason_for_shopping	0.098	0.145	0.143	0.033	0.046	0.183	0.078
healthy_lifestyle	0.125	0.050	0.048	0.034	0.034	0.066	0.087

Frequency distributions (in percent) for core variables

Variables and categories	Czechia	Slovakia	Poland
shopping_frequency
often	28.7%	30.3%	48.6%
occasionally	71.3%	69.7%	51.4%
higher_quality
yes	33.5%	47.4%	47.7%
no	7.4%	3.4%	4.0%
it depends on the case	59.1%	49.2%	48.3%
easy_recognition
yes	59.1%	74.9%	70.5%
no	40.9%	25.1%	29.5%
assumed_expensiveness
yes	37.4%	46.3%	30.5%
no	14.3%	4.6%	19.4%
it depends on the case	48.3%	49.1%	50.2%
criterion_of_selection
declared product composition	60.0%	57.7%	70.2%
brand	16.5%	24.6%	7.1%
certification of the product	13.9%	9.1%	15.7%
another	9.6%	8.6%	7.0%
reason_for_shopping
effect on my health	65.7%	58.9%	71.1%
nature protection	21.7%	25.7%	15.4%
another	12.6%	15.4%	13.5%
healthy_lifestyle
yes	74.3%	62.3%	65.5%
no	25.7%	37.7%	34.5%

The core questions used, their abbreviated forms, and possible answers

Question	Abbreviated form	Answers
How often do you buy natural cosmetic products?	shopping_frequency	often; occasionally
Do you agree with the statement that natural cosmetics are of higher quality than conventional cosmetics?	higher_quality	yes; no; it depends on the case
Can you easily distinguish natural cosmetics from conventional ones (e.g., on the basis of packaging)?	easy_recognition	yes; no
Do you agree with the statement that natural cosmetics are more expensive than conventional cosmetics?	assumed_expensiveness	yes; no; it depends on the case
Which criterion do you follow most when choosing natural cosmetics?	criterion_of_selection	declared product composition; brand; advertisement; certification of the product; another (indicate)
State the main reason for buying natural cosmetics compared to conventional cosmetics.	reason_for_shopping	I think they have a more influential effect on my health; I think I protect nature more; I believe that I support small and medium-sized enterprises more; another (indicate)
Do you practice a healthy lifestyle?	healthy_lifestyle	yes; no

Answers to the formulated research questions

Number	Wording of the RQ	Answer
RQ1	People prefer natural cosmetics over conventional cosmetics primarily due to environmental and health concerns.	Yes
RQ2	The sociodemographic profile of the consumers has a significant influence on the perception of the price level of natural cosmetics.	No
RQ3	The sociodemographic profile of the consumers has a significant influence on the frequency with which they buy natural cosmetics.	Yes
RQ4	The frequency with which people buy natural cosmetics does not depend on health consciousness.	Yes
RQ5	Awareness about natural cosmetics does not depend on age.	Yes
RQ6	Awareness about natural cosmetics does not depend on the level of education.	Yes
RQ7	Consumers associate natural cosmetic products with higher quality.	No
RQ8	There is no prevailing decision criterion when consumers choose natural cosmetics.	No

Frequency distributions (in percent) for permanent residence according to the countries

Czech region	Percent	Slovak region	Percent	Polish region	Percent
Prague	19.1%	Region of Košice	18.9%	Masovian Voivodeship	20.9%
Středočeský Region	53.5%	Region of Prešov	43.4%	Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship	22.2%
other Czech regions	27.4%	other Slovak regions	37.7%	other Polish regions	56.9%