The influence of social media on Thai consumers online behavior.

Abstract

The study aims to understand how important are online peer discussions in influencing Thai consumers purchase decisions? It is important for brands to be aware of the path that consumers take to make decisions when researching online to influence brands positive return on investment. Qualitative research methodology was applied in the research. Fifteen persons participated in the interview aged from 22-30. These participants were from Bangkok who used social media on a regular basis. The results revealed that the degree to which participants relied on peers’ communications depended on the type of product s/he is researching. For high involvement products, consumers tend to rely more heavily on peers communications through online channels such as review sites and search. This behavior could be connected because the aforementioned channels tend to be information heavy than social networking sites. However, peer communications are not very significant with low involvement products because the nature of these products is less risky and therefore, opinions of others do have much effect in comparisons to high involvement products. The result also revealed that Thai consumers would rely and trust information’s’ given by peers more than what brands advertise, as they believe that peers are the actual consumers of products. KEY WORDS: Social Media, online peer communications