Retail in Asia

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Purse strings remaining tight for Thai consumers

Thai consumers remain cautious spenders, particularly rural residents who find it difficult to earn more while their household debts are high, says the London-based Kantar Worldpanel, a consumer research firm under the WPP Group.

Its annual shopping behaviour survey of 4,000 households nationwide found Thai consumers made 4.9 billion shopping trips for consumer goods in the 52 weeks ending on 13 July. That was 4.1 shopping trips on average per week from Thailand’s 22.5 million households.

Compared with the same period last year, shopping trips increased by only 3 percent due mostly to urban Thais, down from 7 percent growth the previous year. Spending by rural Thais contracted by 1 percent.
 

(Source: Bangkok Post)