The Selection of the Service Marketing Mix 7Ps in Thai Massage Services: from the Perspectives of Thai Consumers
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
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
Article Screening Policy
- All research and academic articles to be published must be considered and screened by three peer reviews in the relevant field / article.
- All articles, texts, illustrations and tables published in the journal are the personal opinions of the authors. Editors don't always have to agree. And no responsibility whatsoever is the sole responsibility of the author.
- The articles to be published must never be published. Where did you first publish? And not in the consideration of other journals If the audit found that there has been a duplicate publication It is the sole responsibility of the author.
- Any article that the reader sees as being plagiarized or impersonated without reference. Or mislead the work of the author Please let the journal editor know it will be your greatest blessing.
References
2. Collins, H. (2003). Dictionary. Reverso. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-cobuild/tool equipment
3. Department of Strategy and Evaluation, (2017), Bangkok Poll Statistics 2559, Retrieved August 9, 2017 from http://bangkok.go.th/upload/user/00000130/Logo/statistic/stat2557(thai).pdf
4. Department of Trade Negotiation, (B), (2011), Business Services, Retrieved August 9, 2017, from http://mdh.hss.moph.go.th/uploadFiles/document/D00000001019_25101.pdf
5. Dewey, John (2007). How we think. New York: Cosimo. ISBN 9781605200996.
6. Diffen LLC, n.d , “Qualitative vs Quantitative.” Diffen.com. Web. Retrieved August 18, 2017 from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Qualitative_vs_Quantitative
7. Dimitrijevic, I. (2005, January 1). 9 Unexpected Benefits Of Foot Massage That Make You Want To Have One Now. Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/9-unexpected-benefits-foot-massage-that-make-you-want-have-one-now.html
8. Dudovskiy, J (2011), Quantitative Research, Research Methodology, Retrieved August 10, 2017, from http://research-methodology.net/research-methods/quantitative-research/
9. Engel, James F., Kollat, David T. and Blackwell, Rodger D. (1968) Consumer Behavior, 1st ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1968
10. Fernquest, J. (2011, August 16). Thailand's spa and health industry. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/252097/thailand-spa-and-health-industry
11. Goodtheraphy. (2007). What Skills Does a Therapist Need? Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://www.goodtherapy.org/become-a-therapist/skills-needed.html
12. Hawkins Del I. Mothersbaugh David L. & Best Roger J (2007). Consumer Behavior. 10th Ed. Irwin: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
13. Hutchins, M. (2002). Marketing Theories. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketing-theories---the-marketing-mix---from-4-p-s-to-7-p-s
14. Jareonsook, Teerapat (2017), VoiceTV21, Living outside Bangkok, Retrieved August 9, 2017, from http://www.voicetv.co.th/blog/508864.html
15. Kotler, Philip (2013). “dl.ueb.edu.vn/bitstream/1247/2250/1/Marketing_Management__Millenium_Edition.pdf” (PDF). Pearson Customer Publishing. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2017
16. LLC, I. (2016). What is 'Skilled Labor' Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/skilled-labor.asp
17. Matichon Online (2017), AUPOLL ABAC University, Thai Economics, Retrieved August 9, 2017 from https://www.sentangsedtee.com/today-news/article_33554
18. MbASkool, (2011), The Black Box Model, Marketing and Strategy Terms, Retrieved August 26, 2017 from http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-terms/11419-the-black-box-model.html
19. McCarthy, Jerome E. (1960). Basic Marketing. A Managerial Approach. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
20. Merriam-webster. (1828). Retrieved March 31, 2016,
from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambience
21. Ministry of Commerce, Department of Business Development, the statistics of Thai massage entrepreneurs in Thailand, (2009), Retrieved August 8, 2017 From http://dbd.go.th/ewt_news.php?nid=7485&filename=form_use_internet
22. Nitipinyadech, N., (2012). The Trend of Thai Massage Go to International Business. Retrieved August 8, 2017, from https://www.l3nr.org/posts/530834
23. Ornpinngern,P (2012), “Factors affecting the consumer buying decision of foreign tourists on Thai traditional massage service”, Retrieved August 10, 2017, from http://www.repository.rmutt.ac.th/bitstream/handle/123456789/964/131895.pdf?sequence=1
24. Polak, N. (2015). Massage Therapy Supplies: Basic Equipment List. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from https://naturopathyhomeopathy.knoji.com/massage-therapy-supplies-basic-equipment-list/
25. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) “Research Methods for Business Students” 6th edition, Pearson Education Limited
26. Schiffman L.G. & Kanuk L.L. 10th Edition (2010). Consumer Behavior. Pearson Education Limited.
27. Sereerat, S. (1998). Marketing Mix 7ps for service business, Retrieved August 10, 2017, from http://thesisavenue.blogspot.com/2008/09/marketing-mix-7ps.html
28. SOD-NGAM, S (2015), Business Tutor, Consumer Behavior, Retrieved August 26, 2017 from http://surat-mlw6.blogspot.com/2015/02/bus-7301-final.html
29. Sopimpa, C. (2015), 6W1H Model, Consumer Behavior Analysis, Retrieved August 26, 2017, from http://thbusinessinfo.blogspot.com/2015/02/6w-1h-model.html
30. Sullivan, L (2001), Sample Size Determination, Sample Size to Estimate Confidence Interval, Retrieved from August 27, 2017 from http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/BS/BS704_Power/BS704_Power_print.html
31. Suwannawong, S (1995), Theory and sampling technique, Retrieve August 10, 2017, from http://www.watpon.com/Elearning/res22.htm
32. Thaiarcheep, T. (2012, January 1). Making money by Thai massage services SME. Retrieved March 21, 2015, from http://www.thaiarcheep.com/อาชีพนวดแผนไทย-นวดแผนโบราณ-อีกหนึ่งอาชีพทำเงินของคนไทย.html
33. The Business directory.com (n.d.), Consumer Buying Behavior. Retrieved August 27, 2017, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/consumer-buying-behavior.html
34. United Nations Thailand, (2017), Thai population, Retrieved August 8, 2017 from http://www.un.or.th/th/services/%e0%b8%9b%e0%b8%a3%e0%b8%b0% e0%b8%8a%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%81%e0%b8%a3/
35. Webster, M. (1828). Simple Definition of skilled. Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skilled
36. Wong, C. (2015, January 6). Thai massage. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://altmedicine.about.com/od/treatmentsmtoq/a/Thai_Massage.htm
37. Wongkrom, P (2015), “MARKETING MIXES THAT AFFECTS TO CONSUMERS DECISION TO USE THAITRADITION MASSAGE IN MUANG CHASOENGSAO”, Retrieved August 10, 2017, from https://mba.kku.ac.th/NICBMI/proceeding/2015/national/files/686.pdf
38. Wongprawmas, R. (2007). Perception of European operators towardThai Spa & “Thai Spa World Class Standard”. Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://script-thai.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Spa_Rung.pdf
39. WordPress Theme by MH Themes, (2017), Retrieved November 5, 2016, from http://www.comboyne.org/%e0%b9%80%e0%b8%ab%e0%b8%95%e0%b8%b8%e0%b9%83%e0%b8%94%e0%b8%9a%e0%b9%89%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%99%e0%b8%88%e0%b8%b1%e0%b8%94%e0%b8%aa%e0%b8%a3%e0%b8%a3%e0%b8%95%e0%b8%b2%e0%b8%a1%e0%b8%81%e0%b8%a3%e0%b8%b8/
40. Z., & B. (2003). Definition of Service Quality. Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://hero-bussiness.blogspot.com/2009/12/definition-of-service-quality.html