DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2017.407
title: A study to understand the selection criteria of millennials when buying dog food brands

description: A Study to Understand the Selection Criteria of Millennials when buying Dog Food Brands has been chosen as an independent study which represents a contemporary topic in the area of applied marketing, which focuses on market knowledge and social trends.Recently, the dog food industry in Thailand is growing rapidly. There are many brands which are overseas and domestic brands that enter to this competitive market. Millennials are becoming major influencers in the market bring the trend of humanization of a dog into Thai society. Most dog owners consider dogs as a part of the family. This has effects on dog food shopping process to shift from a simple consideration of the price and convenience to more emotional value and educated quality considerations. So many brands have introduced several kinds of dog foods with this trend in mind.The purpose of this research was to determine the key factors that lead millennial to purchase dog food brand and develop effective marketing strategy to convince millennialcustomer to purchase such as effective promotions, effective marketing channel by conducting research includes exploratory and descriptive researches which consist of secondary research, in-depth interview and online survey with 101 respondents. Regarding data analysis from 101 respondents are divided into four segments that include 1) Unexpected people 2) Quality seeker 3) Design oriented and reliable brand searcher 4) Incentive oriented. The research found thatFrom the research, 1respondents are divided into four segments which are statistically significance including 1) Unexpected people: they are individualized and not significantly focus on any factor when consider buying dog food brands. 2) Quality seeker: Quality of product concern as well as vet recommendation and quality assurance of product are key attributes that they look for. 3) Design oriented and reliable brand searcher: They interested in packaging of the product as well as the reliable brand. They are fashionable and spend most of time for working. 4) Incentive-oriented: They can be attracted by incentive provided such as promotion, discount etc. From the research found that the majority of respondents include quality seeker and design oriented and reliable branding as well as from the compare mean, the quality of product is the highest significant. In order to attract the millennials, dog food brand should ensure the quality of product satisfy the customer. It should be endorsed by reliable sources such as vet, influencers etc. Moreover, the packaging and product appearance are very important to convince Millennial to buy products.The key findings of this study can be utilized to capture key influencing attributes of dog food brand that lead millennial to purchase the brand as well as the effective marketing strategies and influent channel that convince millennials interest in dog food brands. As well as this study can be represented new insightful information thatdog food brand can use to utilize and develop the brand, better understand in consumer preference and identify realistic opportunities for business.