The Development of Product and Marketing Strategy of The Water Hyacinth Basketry Community Enterprise in Thoeng District, Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

This research aimed to study the potential of the water hyacinth basketry community enterprise in Thoeng district, Chiang Rai province, and develop new products, branding, packaging, and marketing plan. By applying mixed methods, group interviewing, focus group discussion, and questionnaire were used to compile the data. The first and second method were used as tools collecting needs of developing new water hyacinth bags from 10 community enterprise’ members. The third tool, a questionnaire, was used to gather opinions toward the revised items from 385 tourists and Chiang Rai citizens. The result showed that a new water hyacinth bag with a combination of embroidered patterns could create a unique identity. Moreover, consumers agreed on the development of the new product, branding, and packaging at a high level. As for the strategy aspects based on TOWS Matrix and Balance Scorecard, the proactive strategies were highlighted such as developing new collection of water hyacinth bags presenting the identity of the enterprise, and widening customer groups using the online sale channel. Therefore, when the community enterprise expanded two online sale channels, the monthly income increased by 20 percent compared to a single offline sale channel.