Marketing strategy for golf simulator business in Thailand

This research aims to study the expectation of golfers in Thailand with respect to the golf simulator business to develop relevant marketing strategy. A study showed that the golf industries tend to grow along with the growth of middle-class population and their consumption, and Thailand seems to have that growth as the GDP per capita of Thailand is consistently increasing which could be implied that the number of golfers in Thailand will be increasing as well. There are currently over a million golfers in Thailand and still a few golf simulator centers in Thailand. This could mean that there are opportunities in golf simulator business which binds technology and sport together to provide exceptional experience and tools to improve in golfing. This research mainly consists of a questionnaire survey and analysis on the information received from the respondents. The questionnaire consists of 3 parts: behavioral information questions, demographic information questions, and questions related to 7Ps marketing mix. There are two types of questions used in the questionnaire: Check-list questions and five-point Likert scale questions. The sample size calculated by Taro Yamane Formula is 400 persons. The results show that, among others, there are strong relationship between income and marketing mix elements of price and promotion, and that those with higher income tend to see less importance in pricing and promotion. Other marketing elements which could contribute to be a factor for a successful business are on the average of being very important when the mean of each element is analyzed. The element with the highest mean and the only one interpreted as extremely important is the pro-golfers as instructors (one of ‘people’ elements), therefore, the golf simulator business owner should higher focus on recruiting reputable and credible pro-golfers to work as the instructors at the center.To conclude from this study, the target market for golf simulator business should be golfers who are in the range of 30 – 60 years old and have average income higher than THB 75,000, and the business should focus on the quality of the service rather than focusing on having lower price comparing to competitors.