The Selection of the Service Marketing Mix 7Ps in Thai Massage Services: from the Perspectives of Thai Consumers

Main Article Content

Vilairat Pichetweerachai

Abstract

Thai massage, also known as Nuat Boran in its traditional medical form, is a type of Asian therapy based on the treatment of the human body, mind, and spirit. It is regarded as a service industry. The purpose of the Thai massage business is to provide relaxation and to cure muscular symptoms. The aims of this study were firstly to define the service marketing mix factors 7Ps influencing the buyers’ decision in Thai massage services namely product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence factors, and secondly, to provide recommendations to Thai massage owners for service improvement. Data was collected from 415 consumers through questionnaire, and analysed by using descriptive statistics, which were the percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results indicated that the most important factor of the buyers’ decision was “People”, which received the highest mean score. It can be explained that “People” is considered as “the skill of the therapists” that most consumers need and expect to receive the best massage. Therapists must be good at the massage skill with an issued certification. In addition, the efficiency depended on the experience of the therapists in which good therapists must be polite, friendly, and service-minded. Hence, it could be concluded that “people” was the greatest factor for developing the services, which would probably affect the buyers’ decision. The second important factor was “Physical”, which was considered as “hygiene of clothing”. Next, the important factor was “Process” which was considered as “follow consumers as requested”. The fourth important factor was “Product” which was considered as “hygiene of beds and chairs”. Fifth, “Price” was considered as “reasonable prices”. The sixth important factor was “Promotion” which was considered as “collect 10 stamps to get a free massage”. Lastly, the important factor was “Place” which was considered as “easy access and parking”. The recommendations to Thai massage owners for service improvement is to give training to all therapists for good manners in order to create and maintain customer loyalty. Consequently, Thai massage owners should offer therapists special training to be knowledgeable, have more skills, and be able to provide prompt service with good quality to all consumers. 


 

Article Details

How to Cite
Pichetweerachai, V. . . (2020). The Selection of the Service Marketing Mix 7Ps in Thai Massage Services: from the Perspectives of Thai Consumers. Dusit Thani College Journal, 12(3), 219–246. Retrieved from https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/journaldtc/article/view/240965
Section
Research Article

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