“Economic Trend in 2023” Consumption Mind in Thailand is Steady ‘Key Findings from Macromill Weekly Index Asia’
01/12/2023
Consumer’s Lifestyle Value and Behavior in 7 Asian Countries and Regions
Macromill South East Asia Co., Ltd. (hereinafter ‘MMSEA’) studied the lifestyle values and behaviors of consumers in 7 Asian countries and regions through its weekly consumer fixed-point survey, Macromill Weekly Index Asia (hereinafter ‘MWIA’). The survey was conducted in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. We would like to present our key findings in Thailand.
■ Topics
1. Sentiments, consumption intention, etc., in Thailand was strong during the first half of 2023.
2. Consumption intention in Thailand is rising, however it is still being carefully watched whether this will continue in the second half of 2023.
3. Consumption intention was favorable in Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan, while consumer confidence was declining in Vietnam and China than the previous year.
1. Sentiments, consumption intention, etc., in Thailand was strong during the first half of 2023.
Sentiments, consumption intention, and consumer confidence in Thailand were ‘Good,’ but the same cannot be said for price consciousness. Overall, results for other countries need to be under ‘Observation,’ except for Indonesia.
2. Consumption intention in Thailand is rising, however it is still being carefully watched whether this will continue in the second half of 2023.
Though the overseas export value in Thailand is dropping, with the recovery of foreign tourists and favorable domestic consumption, the consumption mind is gradually rising since early 2023, and consumer confidence is improving.
On the other hand, export recovery is similar to other countries (*1). Thailand’s Fiscal Policy Office of the Ministry of Finance has made a downward adjustment to the economic growth forecast for 2023. Also, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has reduced the forecasted number of manufactured automobiles. Therefore, the future prospect is not necessarily a promising circumstance. We must keep observing whether the improvement in consumer confidence will continue.
*1 Cited from NLI Research Institute: Thai Economy ‘growth rate during January-March 2023 is increasing by 2.7% compared to the same period last year – business conditions improving due to tourism and consumption recovery.’
3. Consumption intention was favorable in Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan, while consumer confidence was declining in Vietnam and China than the previous year.
Finally, we’ll conclude with the tendency of each country and region based on survey results.
Thailand: Regarding business conditions, consumption intention is improving from last year and is favorable. However, we must keep observing whether this trend will continue for consumer confidence.
Indonesia: Consumer confidence is better than last year. Since May 2023, consumption intention continues to get better than last year.
Vietnam: Consumer confidence continues to drop lower than last year. This might have influenced the consumption intention, which also slightly dropped from last year.
Japan: Consumer confidence was low at the start of 2023, but by September 2023, it improved than last year. As for consumption intention, the tendency will remain the same as last year.
China: Consumer confidence remains hanging low, and recently, it has been declining to the same level as the past 2 years. Each economic indicator also shows a worsening tendency, calling for concerns of deflation.
Taiwan: While consumer confidence and consumption intention seem to continue to improve, tendency for sentiments continues to decline. Though the survey does not cover the reason behind it, the decline in sentiment may be caused by changes in surrounding conditions and changes in political conditions like the presidential election in 2024, the rising uncertainty in the economy led by the IT industry with a continuous drop in exportation, and news report on social issues (*2) in June 2023, etc.
*2 Such as the mysterious death of a high-schooler who inherited 500 million NT dollars and the MeToo movement in Taiwan
South Korea: Though it continued to hang low at the start of 2023, the tendency is that recovery continues thanks to semiconductor exports and recovering domestic demand. Though very slow, there are signs of improving consumption intention.
■ About MMSEA
Ever since Macromill, Inc., the parent company of MMSEA, was founded in 2000, it has been driving the industry as the leading company of online research in Japan. It has expanded into 20 bases in 7 countries and regions and is capable of surveying 1.1 hundred million people in over 90 countries and regions. The company has expanded its business in Thailand since 2014.
MMSEA was established in 2019 and has been providing marketing support for enterprises that are expanding their business to consumers in Southeast Asia. With offices in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam, the company can deliver to 17 million survey panels in 3 countries. MMSEA offers research solutions centering around online research to assist in solving the client’s marketing challenges.
■ About Macromill Weekly Index Asia
Data gathered from weekly fixed-point surveys that study consumer confidence, including lifestyle sentiment, etc., of consumers in Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea). The surveys have been conducted since April 2020 (*3) and are conducted every Thursday. Data gathered from the surveys are disclosed on Friday of the following week. By working with the BI tool ‘Tableau,’ one can know the gender, age, and region of the survey subjects.
The survey, in addition to ‘consumption expectation’ and ‘economic view’ based on the Japanese Cabinet Office’s Consumer Confidence Survey and Economy Watcher Survey, enquires a wide range of information such as ‘sentiment in the past week,’ ‘percentage of telework and/or off-peak commuting,’ ‘goods and services one plans to buy,’ and ‘consumption on/off ratio.’
*3 Conducted in South Korea since May 2020, in China since June 2020, and in Taiwan since June 2021
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■Outline of the survey Survey objective: To conduct a weekly fixed-point survey to promptly learn about consumption mind, consumption trends, etc. Survey method: Online quantitative survey Subject countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, and South Korea (Japan is cited from Macromill Weekly Index Survey) Question items: Economic view (current and future), price fluctuation (month-on-month and forecast), sentiment in the past one week, ways of eating like dining out or cooking at home on the weekend, percentage of their expenditure at retail stores, whether or not teleworking and/or off-peak commuting occurs, consumption estimate for the next one month, items they intend to purchase in the next one week. Conducted by: Macromill EMBRAIN Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Macromill South East Asia Inc. (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam), insights (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (China), Eastern Online Co., Ltd (Taiwan) ● Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, and South Korea: July 13, 2023 ● Japan: July 12, 2023 ● Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Korea: N=500 ●Japan and China: N=1,000 ● Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam: Male and female aged 20-49 ● Taiwan and South Korea: Male and female aged 20-59 ● Japan, China: Male and female aged 20-69 ● Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan: Equal allocation ● Japan and South Korea: Allocation in proportion to the general population ● Greater Bangkok: Thailand ● Greater Jakarta: Indonesia ● Greater Hanoi: Vietnam ●Nationwide: Japan ● 10 major cities*: China ● Whole nation: Taiwan, South Korea *: Sample composition of the subject’s area and age differs for each country, and thus is not strictly a comparison between countries. *: While the subject covers the whole country in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, it covers the metropolitan area in 3 countries of Southeast Asia, and in China, the subjects are the 10 cities from tiers 1 and 2. *: The survey in China started from the week of 18th June 2020. With its 10 subject cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi’an, Shenyang, and Suzhou (for each city N=100). *: Surveys are not conducted in the last week of December. *: For the weeks when data are not collected due to system maintenance, etc., scores from the previous week of the same year will be used as the substitute. (●Taiwan: 1st week of February 2022, 3rd week of January 2023, 1st week of May 2023 ●South Korea: 1st week of May 2023 ●Vietnam: 1st week of March 2021, 1st week of May 2023 ●Thailand, Indonesia: 1st week of May 2023) |
■About this document
Report for this survey is available for free to download.
Click the link below to download the survey report.
https://www.macromill.com/contact_mmsea/en/reports.php
[About Macromill South East Asia Co., Ltd]
Representative: Koike Nao, Representative Chief Executive Officer, Global CEO
Headquarters: 18th Floor, Two Pacific Place Building, 142 Sukhumvit Road, Klongtoey Subdistrict, Klongtoey District, Bangkok 10110 Thailand.
Established: August 2014
Main Business: Providing a wide range of services, mainly online research in Southeast Asia
URL: https://www.macromillsea.com/
-Contact us for further information on this survey-
Macromill South East Asia (Thailand) Co.,Ltd.
Email: [email protected]