Consumer Behaviors in Purchasing Rice : A Case Study of Rice Shops in Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

The study of consumer behaviors in purchasing rice by a case study of rice shops in Ubon Ratchathani province aimed to investigate the following issues, 1) the internal factors affecting a consumer’s rice purchasing decision in Ubon Ratchathani province, 2) the external factors affecting a rice purchasing decision in Ubon Ratchathani Province and 3) the consumer’ rice purchasing behaviors in Ubon Ratchathani province. This survey research employed the questionnaires that were created and developed by researcher to collect data. Moreover, there were 400 household samples representing the rice consumers in Ubon Ratchathani province, and they were selected through a simple random sampling method. And, the research came up with the following results:

Most respondents were female (62.32%) and the age range was between 31-40 years (43.54%). For their educational levels, it has revealed that the highest educational levels of participants who mostly bought rice were at the secondary and the vocational levels (50.00%). The average income of respondents was between 10,001-20,000 THB per household (35.14%) and the purchase amount per time was less than 5 kilograms (63.97%). Moreover, the places to buy rice were at the grocery stores and the village local shops (35.25 percent). The type of rice being mostly bought was the general rice or “Khao Chao” (61.76 percent) such the types as white rice and polished rice (82.28 percent). For the rice packaging type, the most purchased one was weight measuring on individual demand (54.99 percent).  And, the results also showed that the household with 1-3 members mostly bought rice (53.69 percent) for household consumption purpose (95.90%).

To the results concerning the participants’ opinions toward the internal factors affecting rice purchasing behaviors, it found that the overall trend of consumers’ opinions towards the distribution channels was at a high level ( = 4.43, SD = 0.79). The pricing was at a very high level ( = 4.75, SD = 0.59). The service quality was at a very high level ( = 4.70, SD = 0.60). The product quality was at a very high level (  = 4.77, SD = 0.50). The packaging was at a very high level ( = 4.75, SD = 0.58). The brand image was at a very high level ( = 4.75, SD = 0.44). Moreover, the external factors affecting rice purchasing behavior showed that the overall level of economic motivation was at the high level ( = 4.29, SD = 1.41).

To the overview results concerning the participants’ opinions toward consumer’s behaviors, repurchasing was at high level ( = 4.03, SD = 1.23) and the satisfaction was at very high level ( = 4.82, SD = 0.47).