Consumer behavior toward food supplement in Trang province

Abstract

Nowadays, food supplement gets the attention from the consumers. Apart from nutritional benefit as general food, prophylactic and disease treatment are customer needs. However, information on dietary supplements should be studied thoroughly before consumption. The objectives of this study were to investigate consumer behavior in Trang province toward food supplement and factors affecting consumer behavior toward food supplement. The data were collected by interviewing 400 participants who represented as consumers sample of the study. The findings showed that majority of consumers purchased nourishment product (50.0%), followed by weight loss supplements product (27.8%). The majority of information source on food supplement was doctor/pharmacist (58.0%).  Most of the consumers bought the product for themselves (52.3%). The reason for purchasing was for good physical well-being (57.0%). Factor analysis was used to examine factors affecting consumer behavior on food supplement. After analyzing 16 variables for factor analysis, three factors were gained. First factor consisted of six variables with 55.508% of variance. The factor was called “product factor”. The second factor consisted of seven variables with 12.269% of variance. The factor was called “sales promotion and distribution channel factor”. Third factor consisted of 3 variables with 6.462% of variance. The factor was called “price factor”.  The finding from this study was useful for food supplement manufacturers in assigning and distributing pattern to meet consumer needs.