Abstract
Since several years, technical improvements, combined with the evolution of the buying power and the social remuneration systems, allow to satisfy people's primary needs. Most of French people don't have to worry about getting food, clothes or a house. Such items that serve further functions nowadays are beyond feeding or protecting from the cold. They became more diverse and extremely complex so as to satisfy new trends: fashion, social class, originality, diversity, regression, defiance…
The pursuit of pleasure has been a substitute for the satisfaction of primary needs.(Francoscopies 2006.
According to Francoscopies, we can observe that the French remain the first cosmetic buyers in the world. Being clean has been a growing concern, along with taking care of his appearance. But hygiene seems to be the hiding part of beauty. Purchases of cosmetics now represent more than 2% the household available budget, compared to 1,4% in 1990 or 1,1% in 1960. Hair products are those which have seen the highest increase, behind shave products, deodorant and beauty products.
The deodorant market comes second in the more global hygiene-beauty market. It is still characterized by the explosion of “multi format”.
