Marketing Strategies for the Competitiveness of Thai Condiments Business toward ASEAN: The Comparative Perspectives between the Thai Condiment Entrepreneurs and the Myanmar Consumers

Abstract

The research focused on (1) studying the marketing strategies affecting the decision to purchase Thai condiments (2) comparing the opinions to marketing strategies of Thai condiment  between Thai condiment entrepreneurs and Thai condiment  consumers in Myanmar, and (3) studying guidelines for development of Thai condiment entrepreneurs’ marketing strategies towards Myanmar. Research methodologies used were mainly in-depth interview and analysis on secondary data collected from eleven condiment entrepreneurs in Thailand and quantitative research was used by collecting 369 questionnaires from Myanmar consumers by using accidental sampling. The research results from Thai entrepreneurs found that innovations were encouraged. Original taste and distinctive traditional Thai characteristics were preferable. However, packaging should be modified into modern designs. Pricing of Thai condiment products should be aligned with quality. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should pay attention to suitable distribution channels and diverse marketing communication strategies through trade fairs and exhibitions, advertising, sales promotion and social media. From the consumers’ side, the research found that most of them have a positive attitude toward the Thai product. Fish sauce is the most popular condiment of Burmese. They always buy the Thai condiments from convenience stores. The most popular Thai food that they were cooking is Tom-yam. The most important factor that impact on their purchasing decision was price. The hypothesis testing found that the three factors of marketing strategies included price, place and promotion were correlated to purchasing decision process at a significant level of 0.05. The guidelines of exporting the Thai condiments to Myanmar were discussed.