Introduction

Rajkot, is having the population of over 1.3 millions. By looking into the national average, we can safely assume that majority of this population is youth. To avoid any kind of misinformation, the age group between 15 to 29 is considered as youth for this research paper.

I hereby want to study the awareness and attitude of this large chunk of population from Rajkot district. The government is trying to rejuvenate the brand “Ayurveda” in our country. Our country has been pivotal to give YOGA Day to the world. Ministry of Ayush has been incepted on the 9^th of November 2014; the Ministry of Ayush was formed with a vision of reviving the profound knowledge of traditional Indian systems of medicine and ensuring the optimal development and propagation of the Ayush systems of healthcare.1, 2, 3

Literature Review

Bhat, B., Ashraf, S. S., & Shaheen, F. (2020), in this research, the author of the paper proves that the use of Herbal cosmetics is gaining preference over the years in the region of Kashmir. The probable cause of this trend can be the occurrence of adverse reactions because of traditional cosmetics. The use of the herbal cosmetic enhances physical and mental well-being, strengthen the immune system, increase stamina and reduce fatigue etc. At the end of research, the researchers prove that advertisements can lead to the increased sale of herbal cosmetics among the college going female students in the region of Kashmir.4, 5, 6, 7

However, they also prove that this tool is not used up to its full capacity and hence the market is not fully tapped to its full potential. Still, there are miles to go before the positive perception regarding herbal cosmetics is built.

Dhivyasri, R., & Ganesan, P. (2019), the researcher has chosen the region of Coimbatore for conducting the research because of the demography of the population available there.

Large number of population there is youth because of a lot of academic institutes’ existence in that region. The researcher has articulated that customers prefer ayurvedic/herbal products more for the kids. It is also noted in this paper that price, availability and brand popularity are the major reasons of products not being adopted up to its full potential.

Desai, K., (2014), It was reported that the major part of cosmetic market is covered by females and quality followed by Media and reference groups are the main factors to influence consumer buying decision. The major reason being the unawareness of people about the health benefits of using the natural cosmetic products. The cosmetic products used for maintaining one's beauty, be it natural or synthetic, has an impact on a person's health too so it is vital to probe about the constituent ingredients and the method of cosmetic production before buying and using any cosmetics. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Kumar, P., & Patel, J. (2014), It was reported that quality and price are the major key factors which can persuade cosmetic consumer buying behavior.

Sankar, A., & Srinivasan, K. (2013), it was reported that family income per month and amount spending for herbal products are positively correlated. The study further revealed that Quality of product was ranked as most important factor that influences consumers to purchase cosmetics. The study concluded with a note that consumers believe that herbal cosmetics are not a luxury now and should be used by consumers for health benefits.

Research Methodology

Research Objectives

Research Design

Data analysis and interpretation

Figure 1

How familiar are you with herbal cosmeticproduct ?

The data shown in Figure 1 represents that.

8% respondents are familiar about the products

Out of them, only 9.3% respondents use it regularly.

Figure 2

What is your preferable market place for the

The data shown in Figure 2 represents that.

Majority of the respondents prefer to buy from Specialty stores and medical stores and very rare of the respondents prefer the websites of particular brand

Figure 3

Which of the following categories ofhearbal cosmetic products are you aware about ?

Figure 4

if given a chance which category of cosmetic product will you use?

Data shown in Figure 4 clearly represents that if respondents are given a chance to use herbal products then they prefer herbal cosmetic product over conventional cosmetic products except in fragrance category.

Figure 5

How frequently do you cosmeticProducts ?

The Data shown in Figure 5 clearly represents that respondents are very frequently using skin care, Hair care and fragrance compare to other cosmetic product category

Figure 6

Table 2

Demographic profile of respondents

	15-19	20-24	25-29	Total
Male	8	17	2	27
Female	98	107	5	210
Total	106	124	7	237

Table 3

Observed frequency– contingency table

	Provision Store	Supermarket	Specialty Herbal Store	Medical Store	e-Commerce	None	Website of Particular Brand	Total
Male	1	5	9	4	7	1	0	27
Female	18	34	73	53	31	0	1	210
Total	19	39	82	57	38	1	1	237

Table 4

Observed Frequency	Expected frequency	Observed – Expected Frequency	(Observed –expected frequency)2 /expected frequency
1	2.165	-1.165	0.626545266
5	4.443	0.557	0.069818601
9	9.342	-0.342	0.012503859
4	6.494	-2.494	0.957608508
7	4.329	2.671	1.647827374
1	0.114	0.886	6.891701828
0	0.114	-0.114	0.113924051
18	16.835	1.165	0.08055582
34	34.557	-0.557	0.008976677
73	72.658	0.342	0.001607639
53	50.506	2.494	0.123121094
31	33.671	-2.671	0.21186352
0	0.886	-0.886	0.886075949
1	0.886	0.114	0.014647378
		Total	11.64677757

Table 5

Observed Frequency – Contingency table

	Provision Store	Supermarket	Specialty Herbal Store	Medical Store	e-Commerce	None	Website of Particular Brand	Total
15-19	9	17	35	25	20	0	0	106
20-24	10	22	44	30	17	0	1	124
25-29	0	0	3	2	1	1	0	7
Total	19	39	82	57	38	1	1

Table 6

Observed Frequency	Expected frequency	Observed – Expected Frequency	(Observed –expected frequency)2 /expected frequency
9	8.49789	0.50211	0.030
17	17.44304	-0.44304	0.011
35	36.67511	-1.67511	0.077
25	25.49367	-0.49367	0.010
20	16.99578	3.004219	0.531
0	0.447257	-0.44726	0.447
0	0.447257	-0.44726	0.447
10	9.940928	0.059072	0.000
22	20.40506	1.594937	0.125
44	42.90295	1.097046	0.028
30	29.82278	0.177215	0.001
17	19.88186	-2.88186	0.418
0	0.523207	-0.52321	0.523
1	0.523207	0.476793	0.434
0	0.561181	-0.56118	0.561
0	1.151899	-1.1519	1.152
3	2.421941	0.578059	0.138
2	1.683544	0.316456	0.059
1	1.122363	-0.12236	0.013
1	0.029536	0.970464	31.887
0	0.029536	-0.02954	0.030
		Total	36.922

Conclusion

As per released data by Ministry of Ayush and CII, It is clear that government is taking very sincere steps to promote herbal cosmetics industry. In last decade, budget allocated to Ministry of Ayush has been increased 3 times compare to 2011-12. In align to this effort this research shows that majority of respondents are aware and positive about herbal cosmetic product. If respondents are given a chance to use herbal cosmetic products then majorly all are ready to use herbal products over conventional cosmetic products. But in reality according to this study the frequency to usage of herbal cosmetic product is high in skin care and hair care category not in all product categories. It clearly shows that gender and awareness of herbal cosmetic products are independent. While Gender and preferable market place for the purchase of herbal cosmetic product is dependent and age and preferable market place for the purchase of herbal cosmetic product is also dependent.

Source of Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.