A Comparative Study Of Factors Influencing Purchase Decision On Gold Between Foreigners And Thais In Songkhla Province,Thailand

The objective of this research was an effort to study different factors affecting decisions of gold purchase and compare consumer behavior on gold purchase between Thais and foreigners in Hatyai,Songkhla province,Thailand.Also,study the comparison of emphasis level of psychological and behavior dimension for personal factors and consumer behaviors.It aims to help the gold marketers to develop consumer profiles.This research is a quantitative study,which is focused on gold as commodity like bars and jewellery.Data has been collected from 400 Thai and 400 foreigner respondents,using convenience sampling.Tool for data collection was check-list and five-point Likert scales questionnaire.The sample cuts across socio economic strata so as to manoeuvre the study to identify triggers of purchasing gold.The key findings of this study figures out six major psychological and social factors of consumer behavior including risk hedging,family influence,influence of market,extended returns,portfolio balancing and safe investment.Additionally,the result shows the major group of both foreigner and Thai consumers are female,married with children,ages between 26 and 36,had Bachelor's degree,had their own business and had monthly income between 10,001 to 50,000 Baht.Those customers are satisfied to buy gold at the same place.However,Thais are likely to purchase gold more often than foreigners.Thai consumers prefer to buy gold bullion,whereas foreigner consumers prefer gold jewellery.Moreover,it is found that all psychological and social factors influence on foreigners' consumer behaviors(frequency of purchase)at significance level 0.05 and all psychological and social factors except influence of market influence on Thais' consumer behaviors.