Business Market and Consumer Behaviors toward Thai Fruits in Malaysia and Singapore Market

Abstract

This study aims to investigate business and consumer market behaviors toward Thai fruits, longans and mangos, in Malaysia and Singapore. Participatory Rapid Appraisal method with structured questionnaires were employed to survey 208 Malaysian and Singaporean consumers. Results show that Thai longans and mangos could be found both in upper and lower market segments in both countries. Merchants in the business market focus primarily on country-of-origin label, not on longan and mango varieties. Malaysian and Singaporean consumers make their purchasing decisions based on freshness, safety, price, and market conveniences, respectively.
In addition, Malaysian consumers’ buying decisions are strongly related to their residences. Owning a house, they prefer to buy fruits from fruit shops. Renting, they prefer to buy fruits from fresh markets. In Singapore, there is also a relationship between place and seller characteristics. As a result, exporting Thai longans and mangos to these Malaysian and Singaporean markets, exporters need to comply with the business and consumer market behaviors.