Attitudes and Guidelines for the Development of Thai Desserts in Singapore

Abstract

        The objectives of this research are to study Singaporean consumers' attitudes towards Thai desserts and to propose guidelines for the development and  improvement of Thai desserts to be accepted in Singapore. This research was based on a qualitative research method, and the data was collected by in-depth interviews and semi-structured interviews. The participants were 15  Singaporean consumers who bought Thai snacks in the Golden Mile Complex, Singapore. The participants were selected by the convenience sampling techniques and the content analysis was applied to examine the data.

         The result revealed that (1) cognitive aspect: customers’ consumption knowledge arises from their experience, traveling to Thailand, and friends’ recommendations. (2) feeling/sensation: it was found that most of the consumers liked Thai desserts because of taste, sweetness, and convenience. The price is reasonable with the quality of the materials used. In addition, there are many distribution centers in Singapore. And (3) behavior: most of the consumers buy Thai desserts on average 3-4 times a week. Moreover, they also share their impression via social media such.

        In the scope of the analysis of the development and improvement of Thai desserts, the results showed (1) proactive strategy: entrepreneurs should create social media platforms to present their products. Moreover, offline marketing channels should be used to promote their products. (2) corrective strategy: sweets and confectionery production should be improved by making them less sweet and using more environmentally friendly packaging. (3) defensive marketing strategy: entrepreneurs should increase online food delivery services. And (4) passive strategy: the production processes and materials should be improved to fit the healthy trend.