Thai consumers’ purchase intentions towards sugar-free sweet biscuits and chocolates made with natural sweeteners

This study is a contemporary topic in applied marketing in an area of sweetened snacks including biscuits and chocolates.Due to the higher awareness of healthy lifestyle and consumption, many brands have offered healthier alternative products; for example, sweetened beverages with less sugar or no sugar added (Berry, 2020). However, based on observation, the healthier range of sweet biscuits and chocolates are still limited on the shelves. This might be because the opportunity for these categories have not been academically revealed, which might pose the risk of fully investing in this kind of product innovation. The key objectives are to determine consumer profiles, to determine the key attributes and barriers to buy sugar-free sweet biscuits and chocolates using natural sweeteners, to determine the level of purchase intention, and to determine the classification of consumer profiles based on their purchase intention and the prediction of purchase intention based on consumer profiles. The research methodologies are exploratory and descriptive researches. The exploratory research includes secondary research and in-depth interviews. The latter refers to the survey questionnaires. Sampling selection was a convenience sampling method and targeted at Thai residents who consumed biscuits and chocolates over the past 6 months. Based on the input from 205 respondents, the purchase intentions towards sugar-free biscuits and chocolates made with natural sweeteners are considered high at around 80-100%. Consumer groups can be divided into four groups based on their purchasing behaviors and demographics. This research suggests the opportunity to tap into millennials who age around 27 years old and are highly aware of nutrition and calorie intakes from sweet biscuits and chocolates. The marketing strategy to grasp this group of consumers can be done through the clear communication of calorie level and nutrition on the packaging because these consumers are seeking for this information on packs. Therefore, the results from this research will help manufacturing and marketing companies of biscuits and chocolates to better understand the purchase intention of Thai consumers towards sugar-free sweet biscuits and chocolates using national sweeteners.

本研究聚焦于含饼干与巧克力在内的甜味零食领域的应用营销前沿议题。随着消费者对健康生活方式与健康消费的认知持续提升，诸多品牌已推出更为健康的替代产品，例如低糖或无糖甜味饮品（Berry，2020）。但经市场观察，市面上货架上的健康型甜味饼干与巧克力产品仍较为稀缺。究其原因，该品类的市场机遇尚未得到学术层面的系统揭示，这可能会使企业在这类产品创新上的全面投入面临潜在风险。本研究的核心目标包括：明确目标消费者画像；厘清使用天然甜味剂的无糖甜味饼干与巧克力的核心购买驱动属性及阻碍因素；评估消费者购买意愿的强弱程度；基于消费者购买意愿对其画像进行分类，以及基于消费者画像预测其购买意愿。本研究采用探索性与描述性相结合的研究方法：探索性研究包含二手资料研究与深度访谈，描述性研究则采用问卷调查法。本次调研采用便利抽样法，调研对象为过去6个月内有食用饼干与巧克力经历的泰国居民。基于205份有效问卷的调研数据，消费者对使用天然甜味剂制作的无糖饼干与巧克力的购买意愿较高，占比约为80%-100%。基于消费者购买行为与人口统计特征，可将其划分为四类消费群体。本研究发现，可将约27岁左右、对甜味饼干与巧克力的营养及热量摄入高度关注的千禧一代作为目标客群进行市场挖掘。针对该类消费群体的营销策略可通过在包装上清晰标注热量与营养信息来实现，因其在购买时会主动寻求包装上的此类信息。因此，本研究结果可帮助饼干与巧克力制造及营销企业，更好地了解泰国消费者对使用天然甜味剂的无糖甜味饼干与巧克力的购买意愿。