Thailand
Thailand: Survey finds shifts in spending habits
The spending habits and behaviours of Thai consumers are changing as new habits take shape across the globe. These findings come from a Visa survey of consumers from across 40 countries, including Thailand.
According to the survey, three in five Thais are forming cashless habits, preferring to pay with cards or through mobile applications over cash. Some 69% of Thais said they intend to stick with digital payment methods instead of reverting back to cash even when the current emergency is over.
Consumers are also becoming more cost-conscious. Some 78% of Thais said they pay more attention to prices nowadays, a higher proportion compared with consumers in Asia-Pacific (59%) and around the world (53%). Thai consumers are also most likely to be on the lookout for a bargain, with 65% paying more attention to products on sale, compared to their counterparts in Asia-Pacific (45%) and globally (41%).
Financial planning is top of mind for many, as 79% of Thais believe they now need to be more proactive about managing their money. This was higher than Asia-Pacific (74%) and globally (70%).
Although concerns over physical health remain present across the globe, people in Thailand are more concerned about their financial health. A full 79% of Thais agree the current situation requires them to be even more proactive about financial planning, compared with 53% indicating they are worried about falling ill.
Many Thai consumers are trying e-commerce for the first time and intend to increase buying online in the future. Based on the findings, 67% of Thai consumers said they are most likely to increase their online shopping, almost double the number of global shoppers (35%) and much higher than the average in Asia-Pacific (47%).
When it comes to the shopping experience, 54% of Thai respondents said online shopping is a more positive experience than shopping at a physical store, compared with 46% of Asia-Pacific and 37% of global responses.
“We approached the study with the intention to gain a timely, deeper and clearer understanding of how Thai consumer behaviours are changing in the current environment. We believe collaboration is key to progress so we are sharing this data to support the ecosystem and help businesses in Thailand adapt to and embrace the new reality, so together we can help to move the economy in the right direction,” said Suripong Tantiyanon, country manager for Visa Thailand.
On the other hand, around one in four consumers in Thailand plan to revert to paying with cash once the situation improves, compared with Asia-Pacific (17%) and around the world (20%).
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1921904/survey-finds-shifts-in-spending-habits#cxrecs_s