Bangkok--26 Nov--Spark Communications
Thais in northern and southern regions make most store visits in the lead up to the annual Loy Krathong festival, according to research by dunnhumby, the world's leading consumer science company.
dunnhumby's analysis of Thai shopping behavior during the Loy Krathong period in 2014 revealed that shopping occurred most heavily the day before the festival, accounting for around 35% of Loy Krathong-related sales. As might be expected, tourist-friendly areas in the southern and northern regions of Thailand proved to be most likely to shop for items related to the festival. Perhaps surprisingly Bangkokians were the least likely to shop during this period.
The range of Loy Krathong-related products was also revealed with natural-made krathongs proving to be most popular, particularly in northern, southern and northeastern regions where they accounted for more than 50% of sales. In fact, the natural-made krathong proved to be the most popular purchase in all areas of Thailand with the exception of Bangkok, where bread krathong's were the choice selection, accounting for 45% of sales. Overall the bread krathong contributed to 34% of sales nationally.
Other popular products around this period are as expected, with candle krathong proving to be popular (7% sale contribution toward krathong products) and, perhaps more surprisingly, VCD's and CD's featuring Ramwong (Thai traditional dances) accounting for 0.4% of sales.
"It is pleasing to see eco-friendly products dominating buying habits at this time of year, and perhaps understandable that areas populated by tourists lead the way in sales. While sales from the Bangkok region were the highest in volume, it is clear that a higher proportion of Thais in northern and southern regions are the most likely to buy Loy Krathong-related products," said Teeradet Dumrongbhalasirt, Head of Connect Media from dunnhumby, dunnhumby Thailand.