Those who’ve taken notes from the past two years of market disruptions know this: steady and nimble wins the race. To stay relevant and be prepared for what’s next, knowing what people are prioritizing and what drives their interests is key, and for this, no guesswork is necessary.
We analyzed Search data in Thailand across three major industries — retail, technology, and finance, to find out what’s top of mind among consumers for these sectors, and discovered two key insights from the Search trends. One, people are seeking greater convenience and immediate access to services, and two, they are increasingly embracing a seamless online-offline lifestyle.
What do these Search insights mean for your brand? We show you how the latest consumer behavior trends in Thailand can inform your marketing strategies to meet customers’ needs and fuel business growth.
People value convenience and immediate access to services
As Thailand continues to digitalize, people are looking for convenient and immediate ways to shop, dine, and learn through the use of apps and digital services.
Retail
Pandemic restrictions are easing up, and people are restarting their social lives by looking for shops and services conveniently located in their immediate vicinity. Search interest in various services “near me” (ใกล้ฉัน) rose over 80% in the last year. This includes search interest in “restaurants near me” and “food near me,” which grew over 100% and 91%, respectively.1
Technology
Sustainability is becoming more important for consumers, especially those who are ready to make it part of their everyday life. Search interest in “sustainability” rose over 43%,2 and search interest in “sustainable fashion” grew over 90%.3
Finance
With digital financial services on the rise, people are looking to educate themselves on the latest investment trends and ways to minimize financial risks. Search interest in “dogecoin” grew over 8X in the last year,4 off the back of buzz around cryptocurrency, and search interest in “fear and greed index” grew over 11X in the last year.5
What this means for your brand
To meet consumers’ demand in real-time as they search for immediate answers and services, automated marketing solutions can help. Broad match, for example, enables your ads to automatically reach people whose searches are related to your keyword, even if their searches don’t contain the exact same words. This means you’re able to reach relevant customers, and more of them, at a speed and scale that cannot be matched by manually entering hundreds of separate keywords.
Keeping your finger on the pulse of consumer interests in products and services related to your business can also help you respond quickly to changing consumer behavior trends and capture new demand. The Insights page surfaces such insights specific to your brand and identifies opportunities to improve your campaign and grow your business.
People are embracing a seamless online-offline lifestyle
Hybrid experiences are becoming a common way of life. To move seamlessly between online and offline worlds, consumers are relying on products and services such as virtual retail experiences, booking apps, and digital payment solutions.
Retail
The easing of pandemic restrictions on in-person activities has shoppers searching for ways to seamlessly navigate the new online-offline way of life. Online shopping experiences that enable people to try on clothing virtually before they buy and wear it offline, for example, have become popular. Search interest in “virtual try on” grew over 150% in the last year, especially during peak shopping moments like Chinese New Year.6
Technology
Apps and online tools have become important for people to move seamlessly between the online and offline worlds. For example, people are using apps to facilitate offline activities such as dining in at restaurants, with search interest in “จอง คิว” (book a queue) and “แอ พ จอง” (booking app) having grown over 125% and 60%, respectively.7
Students, who have gone back to school, are also continuing to use digital learning apps. Search interest in “ศัพท์ เกม” (vocabulary game) and “ศัพท์ เกม” (word game) each grew over 4X in the last year.8
Finance
People are also looking for financing solutions that enable them to be flexible in the way they shop and pay, whether online or in stores. For example, search interest in “buy now pay later” and “pay later” have increased 4X and 1.8X, respectively.9 These short-term financing solutions can also help consumers in a time when they are concerned about inflation and the cost of living. Search interest in “inflation” and “cost of living” has grown over 90% and 35%, respectively.10
What this means for your brand
As people in Thailand embrace a seamless online-offline lifestyle, brands that want to understand consumers and connect directly with them in meaningful ways should have an omnichannel presence.
An agile omnichannel strategy enables you to integrate your online and offline channels and make it easy for people to access your brand at any point in their consumer journey, whether online or offline. To further merge the online and offline realms, immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and 3D simulation can help you create engaging experiences that draw people back.
Another way to bridge the online-offline divide is to build customer loyalty through app engagement. Research shows that 93% of APAC app users who use a brand’s app frequently are likely to have a greater affinity for the brand as a whole.
It’s difficult to predict which way markets will move in the coming months. Still, with Search data, automated marketing solutions, and app and omnichannel strategies, you’ll be able to anticipate consumer behavior trends in Thailand and respond to customer demand whenever and wherever.
Contributors: Jasmine Li, Product Marketing Manager, APAC Search Ads; Andre Sostar, Analyst, APAC Consumer and Market Insights