A Study of Marketing Strategies in the Flea Markets in Ratchaburi Province

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to 1) study attributes of sellers, 2) survey buyers’ purchasing behaviors and marketing factors, and 3) analyze marketing strategies. This research was a policy research incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data collection. The samples of qualitative data included fifty existing sellers who had their own booths at flea markets. The samples of quantitative data consisted of 520 sellers together with 400 buyers selected by accidental sampling. The tools were a semi-structured interview, and a close-ended questionnaire with the reliability of 0.941 and 0.788 respectively. Statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation and factor analysis.

The results showed that the attributes of the sellers included 1) using self-investment fund which was more or less depending on types of goods; the motives of becoming a seller were firstly sourced from family inheritance as a job for living, secondly from a recommendation from friends, and finally for a job try; the common type of trading was in form of direct incoming and outgoing exchanges; common goods suppliers were wholesale traders or manufacturers; common goods for selling were those of their interests and skills; morale bonds with the job were from supernatural practices and beliefs;  common income and accounting conduct depended on types of goods; their relationship with the job reflected both positive and negative forms; national economy affected the job; the key factor indicating the success selling was the sellers’ grooming;