What you needto know before
conducting
research inThailand
APRC Conference Tokyo November 14th 15th 2016
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Contents• How attractive is the Thai economy?
• Market characteristics to be understood• Consumer characteristics to be understood• Aspects to be careful about when conducting researchor business in the market

2ECONOMIC/FINANCIAL
ATTRACTIVENESS OF THAILAND15 years of growth slowing in 2013
Thailand’s economy grew at an average annual
rate of 7.5 percent in the late 1980s and early
1990s, creating millions of jobs that helped pull
millions of people out of poverty.

Tom YumKum
crisis2009
financialcrisis

Politicalproblems

ASEAN AND MLCV
Second largest economy inASEAN

The MLCV opportunity

Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Vietnam
MyanmarCambodia
Laos
Brunei
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The drivers of the economy are changing
Private investment
Public spending
Exports
Agriculture

Tourism

Automotive

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MARKET CHARACTERISTICS TO BE
UNDERTOODPositive and limiting factors
Positivefactors

Limitingfactors• Pro business attitude• Well developed
infrastructure• Low inflation• Labor shortages/migrant workers• Household debt8The demographic challenge
1950: population
22 millions

Today: population
67 millions

2050: population
62.4 millions9

An unequal development• The gap rich VS poor is increasing (GINI coefficient is
now 45 from 39 two decades ago).

• Bangkok continues to grow faster than the rest of thecountry with GDP per capita projected at US$ 51,000
in 2025• Domestic demand required to replace the exportoriented model and escape the middle income trap.

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The impact of digital

Source: We are social

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CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS TO
BE UNDERSTOOD

"Thainess"• Optimism• Independence• Pragmatism andflexibility• Adaptation, ingenuity,and creativity• Fun loving• Focus on today
13The new generation
From a research conducted by TMRS.
The Next generation see themselves as more
confident’, ‘more creative’ and ‘more modern’ butshares the same values as the older generations("Accountability", "integrity", and "Value the Nation,
Monarch, and Religion", "family")Overall it seems that the Nest generation maintains
the Thai DNA but has to adapt to a tougher world.
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The role of women• 47% of the Thai workforce• 30% of companies have female
CEOs15

Love for Japan• Tokyo Osaka top 2 destinations forThai travelers (2015)• Bangkok fourth-largest Japanese
expatriate population city
• Japan is aspirational for Thais (food,cosmetics, fashion)• Influence of Buddhism

16CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN
THAILANDFirst ASEAN MR market,
reasonably priced and still growing
US$ M 178
US$ 2.6 percapita

Price index
2216%

122

113

110

104

4%
3%

97

2.80%
1%

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Source: ESOMAR

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Collecting data

• Face to face is still the most common datacollection tool although the market is moving
slowly to on line and mobile.
• CAPI and CLT are on the increase19

Important tips
• The cultural background leads respondents toavoid extreme answers while staying generallypositive. For questions using a five-point scale it iscommon to see more than half of answers using
second box making difficult to draw conclusions.
• When analyzing brand imagery through a range of
attributes it is sometimes difficult to observe a
clear profile. All big brands are rated high on all
attributes.
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