Focus on Ethnographic Studies in the African Continent by Imasens

Imasens is a leading market research agency specialized in cosmetic consumer and sensory research both in France and internationally. Founded in 2006, Imasens collaborates with most of cosmetic top brands and is constantly developing tools and its international network to meet the very specific needs of the cosmetics industry.

Imasens offers ethnographic approaches (in addition to quantitative studies) in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ethnographic studies are essential to confront the “saying” with the “doing”, to deconstruct the “preconceived notions” and to adopt a point of view resolutely centered on the consumer.

They are particularly recommended in non-Western and emerging countries, and especially in Africa, in order to avoid preconceived ideas and the launch of products or ranges shaped by our Western representations.

Our approaches consist of an immersion in the homes of about 20 consumers to observe and analyze existing hygiene and care practices: decoding practices and associated representations, identifying the key elements in the usages, the objects, even the most trivial ones, and the daily experiential path.

This approach allows us to respond as precisely as possible to the objectives of decoding usage: understanding existing practices with an immersion in the reality of consumers in order to grasp the levers or barriers to the use of cosmetic products and insights not addressed by the existing offer.

Declarative information alone does not reveal routine, reflex or internalized behaviors, because the people interviewed are not even aware of them. This is why ethnological observation is conducted from the consumer’s point of view in order to build knowledge from the inside, through the eyes of the actors.

The ethnographic interviews last from 1 to 2 hours and take place in 2 phases:

Filmed/photographed observation phase: the observer takes note of all the actions he/she witnesses and records his/her work with shots or videos of the places where the products are stocked and applied, the products, the objects and the hygiene and care routines.
The recorded interview phase allows to deepen and understand the observed practices.

The deliverables are documented and lively, integrating ethnographic material and allowing to inspire both marketing and R&D teams who are therefore immersed in the reality of the target market.

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