The study of marketing factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in department stores among consumers in bangkok

The Study of Marketing Factors Affecting the Use of
Integrated Car Care Services in Department Stores among
Consumers in Bangkok
Pisit Chumnanna
Suphanee Jongvivatsakul
Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, Thailand
Cathaleeya Rerkpichai
Siam Technology College, Thailand
Abstract
The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate marketing mix factors affecting the use of
integrated car care services in department stores of consumers in Bangkok, 2) to explore
psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in department stores of
consumers in Bangkok, and 3) to compare marketing mix factors affecting the use of integrated
car care services in department stores of consumers in Bangkok classified by personal factors.
The sample of this study was 400 consumers who have ever used the integrated car care
services in 5 department stores including CentralPlazaPinklao, CentralPlaza Rama II, The Mall
Bangkae, The Mall Thapra, and Seacon Square, Bangkae in Bangkok. Convenience sampling
was used to select the sample. The questionnaire was used as the research instrument. Data
were analyzed by frequency, percentage, standard deviation, independent t-test, and One-Way
Analysis of Variance.
The results of this study indicated that overall marketing mix had a high mean score ( =
3.61). When individual aspects were considered, six aspects with a high level of mean score
included product ( = 3.73), price ( = 3.76) , place ( = 3.51), people ( = 3.52), physical evidence ( =
3.62) , and process ( = 3.86). An aspect with a moderate level of mean score was promotion ( =
3.30).
In terms of psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok, overall psychological factor had a high mean
score ( = 3.55). When individual aspects were considered, four aspects with high mean score
were perception ( = 3.83), learning ( = 3.70), attitudes and beliefs ( = 3.55), and personality ( =
3.44). An aspect with a moderate mean
The results of hypothesis testing with a statistical significance level of 0.05 indicated as

follows:
1.

The respondents with different gender had different opinions towards marketing mix for

overall and individual aspects with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent
to the set hypothesis.
2. The respondents with different age had different opinions towards overall marketing
mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different age had
different opinions towards place, promotion, people, and process with a statistical
significance level of 0.05.


3.

The respondents with different marital status had indifferent opinions towards marketing

mix for overall and individual aspects.

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4. The respondents with different education level had different opinions towards overall
marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different
education level had different opinions towards place, promotion, people, and process
with a statistical significance level of 0.05.
5. The respondents with different occupation had different opinions towards overall
marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different
occupation had different opinions towards place and promotion with a statistical
significance level of 0.05.

6. The respondents with different average monthly income had different opinions towards
overall marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with
different average monthly income had different opinions towards place, promotion, and
people with a statistical significance level of 0.05.
Keywords: marketing factors, integrated car care, Department store
1. Introduction
Currently, cars have become an important part for human life, despite being an external factor
outside of human basic needs, which are food, clothes, home, and medicine, the demand for cars is
still high. This is because cars give convenience and quickness in transportation and also a status
symbol for its driver too, causing more new cars to be created. In Thailand statistic of car sales in
October 2017, the total sales is 68,551 cars, which is 13.1% increased from similar time in the
previous year. Personal car market has grown for 24.3%, while commercial car market has grown for
6.1%. A cause for this is because the continuous popularity in new car selling from each car
company being continuously introduced to the market while activities and campaigns also help
growing the market too (Thairath Online, 2017). These cars, new or old, require maintenance so the
owner needs to take care of it, especially in cleanliness as town life needs more convenient and
quickness and people are mostly living in condominium and townhouse, so the traffic would jam
from hurry lifestyle, using too much time on the road, causing car owners to not have enough time
for cleaning. With the current situation of Thai society, there are many working people but people of
working age instead have less personal time, causing car wash business to become more important
to town life as seen that people would bring their cars to wash at each center and use that time to
visit shipping mall or spend time with their family, then come back to retrieve their car, making this
business very suitable for town life.

Car care business is created for correctly care for car using modern equipment, products,
and services related to car care to respond the increasing demand of car owners. Car care
business have spread in many places around Bangkok, its vicinity, and other provinces, ranging
from small business with simple car care to bigger center that have automatic washer. There
are investments in place, management, and technology for a complete service for car care
(ChitsanupongSriprasaet, 2015).

From these information, the business of car care caused their customer to buy and
repeatedly but again while have loyalty to the brand, which positively affected the growth of
profit. There are many methods to satisfy the customers and create new experience for them.
Therefore, the researcher was interested in study market factors influencing the service of
complete car care in malls for consumers in Bangkok area to let business manager of this
service use as guidelines to improve their service to satisfy consumers while also become a
guideline for those who interested in study this research as follows.


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2.

Objectives

1) To investigate marketing mix factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok
2)
To explore psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok
3)
To compare marketing mix factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok classified by personal factors.
Hypothesis
The consumers with different personal factors including gender, age, marital status,
education level, average monthly income had different opinions towards marketing mix.
3.

Research Methodology

In this research, the researcher focused on studying the marketing factors affecting the use
of integrated car care services in department stores of consumers in Bangkok as follows:
Population
The population of this study was unknown and customers who have ever used the
integrated car care services in department stores in Bangkok.
Sample
The sample of this study was customers who have ever used the integrated car care
services in 5 department stores including CentralPlazaPinklao, CentralPlaza Rama II, The Mall
Bangkae, The Mall Thapra, and Seacon Square, Bangkae in Bangkok. The sample size was
determined by estimating the proportion for unknown population at 95% confidence level
(NarasriVivanichkul and ChusakUdomsri 1999: 104). The sample size was 385. The sample was
collected from 400 individuals.
Sampling technique
In this study, the researcher used Non Probability Sampling through convenient sampling to
select the sample.
Research instruments
The questionnaires were used as the instrument to collect data on marketing factors
affecting the use of integrated car care services in department stores in Bangkok. The
questionnaire was divided into three parts:
Part 1: A questionnaire on personal factors with a closed-end question and single answer is
required.
Part 2: The questionnaire on the marketing mix factors affecting the use of integrated car
care services in department stores of consumers in Bangkok. It was five Likert rating scale
questionnaire .
Part 3: Questionnaire on psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care
services in department stores of consumers in Bangkok. It was five Likert rating scale
questionnaire .
Data analysis
Data collected were analyzed from the questionnaire with statistical packages. The statistics

used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Independent ttest and one-way ANOVA.


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Conceptual framework

(Dependent Variables)

(Independent Variables)

Marketing mix factors
1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion
5. People
6. Process
7. Physical evidence

Personal factors
1.
Gender
2.
Age
3.
Educational level
4.
Occupation
5.

Monthly income

Psychological factors
1. Motivation
2. Perception
3. Learning
4. Attitudes and
beliefs 5.Personality

4. Results
The results could be summarized as
follows:

Marketing mix factors
Overall marketing mix affecting the use of integrated car care services in department stores
in Bangkok had a high mean score ( = 3.61). When individual aspects were considered, six
aspects with a high level of mean score included product ( = 3.73), price ( = 3.76) , place ( =
3.51), people ( = 3.52), physical evidence ( = 3.62) , and process ( = 3.86). An aspect with a
moderate level of mean score was promotion ( = 3.30).
Psychological factors
In terms of psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok, overall psychological factor had a high mean
score ( = 3.55). When individual aspects were considered, four aspects with high mean score
were perception ( = 3.83), learning (¯X= 3.70), attitudes and beliefs ( = 3.55), and personality (
= 3.44). An aspect with a moderate mean score was motivation ( = 3.23).
Hypothesis testing

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1.
The respondents with different gender had different opinions towards marketing mix for
overall and individual aspects with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent
to the set hypothesis.
2.
The respondents with different age had different opinions towards overall marketing mix.
When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different age had different
opinions towards place, promotion, people, and process with a statistical significance level of
0.05, which was consistent to the set hypothesis.
3. The respondents with different marital status had indifferent opinions towards marketing
mix for overall and individual aspects, which was inconsistent to the set hypothesis.
4. The respondents with different education level had different opinions towards overall
marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different
education level had different opinions towards place, promotion, people, and process
with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent to the set hypothesis.
5.
The respondents with different occupation had different opinions towards overall marketing
mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different occupation had
different opinions towards place and promotion with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which
was consistent to the set hypothesis.

6.
The respondents with different average monthly income had different opinions towards
overall marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with
different average monthly income had different opinions towards place, promotion, and people
with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent to the set hypothesis.
Discussions
The results of this study could be discussed as follows:
1. Theresults showed that overall marketing mix affecting the use of integrated car care
services in department stores in Bangkok had a high mean score. The aspects with the

highest mean score were process, followed by price, respectively. Quality, cleanliness
and reasonable price were the main reason for customers to use the car care services in
department stores. In this regard, car care business should develop qualityand
cleanliness in all aspects. The results were consistent to the theory of Seri Wongmontha
(1999) stating that a good service requires human touch and is not only consumer’s
product satisfaction but also the way to make interpersonal communication easier and
build the good relationship. The product differentiation in the next generation will be
reduced. The important thing is the buyer’s commitment to the seller. The case study of
maintenance business is an obvious example. Therefore, for considering consumer’s
decision-making for using the service, the impression plays an important role.
2. In terms of psychological factors affecting the use of integrated car care services in
department stores of consumers in Bangkok, overall psychological factor had a high
mean score. The aspect with the highest mean score was perception, followed by
learning, attitudes and beliefs, and personality. An aspect with a moderate mean score
was motivation. The results were consistent to SiriwanSerirat (2007) stating that
personal factors or psychological factors derived from individual and directly influenced
consumers. The results showed that car care business offered interesting promotion,
maximizing the perception. Car care business used quality agents that maximized
learning. The use of quality agent was to maintain the car color, which maximized
attitudes and beliefs of customers. This implied that integrated car care offers more
comprehensive service than others.
4. From the hypothesis testing, it was found that the respondents with different personal
factors had different opinions towards marketing mix in terms of product, price, place,
promotion, people, physical evidence, and process. When personal factors including
gender, age, occupation, education level and average monthly income were classified,
the results showed as follows:


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In terms of gender, the respondents with different gender had different opinions towards
marketing mix for overall and individual aspects with a statistical significance level of 0.05,
which was consistent to the set hypothesis. Female respondents emphasized more on
comfortable service than male respondents. The business operator should organize place and
facilities that meet the consumers’ needs. The results were consistent to the research of
DanuphonAphithampitak (2013), exploring the marketing mix factors influencing the behavior
of using car wash and cleaning station in Thonburi area. The study revealed that the
respondents with different gender had different behaviors of using the service of car wash and
cleaning station in terms of budget.
In terms of age, the respondents with different age had different opinions towards overall
marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different age
had different opinions towards place, promotion, people, and process with a statistical
significance level of 0.05, which was consistent to the set hypothesis. The consumers with
different age emphasized on the communication of the product/service detailsand clarify
product descriptions to enhance customers’ confidence. This was consistent to the research of
Chin Thamrongwittawut (2011) exploring the behavior of using car care services and service
marketing factors affecting the selection of using car care service of private car users in
Mueang KhonKaen district. It was found that age was related to the selection of using car care
service of private car users in terms of average cost per time of using the service.
In terms of educational level, the respondents with different education level had different
opinions towards overall marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the
respondents with different education level had different opinions towards place, promotion,
people, and process with a statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent to the set
hypothesis.
The respondents with higher educational level emphasized on accurate receiving order and
performance by employees. Therefore, the business operators should organize the training for
employees to educate them and make them ready to provide advices for customers. The
results were consistent to the research of DanuphonAphithampitak (2013), exploring the
marketing mix factors influencing the behavior of using car wash and cleaning station in

Thonburi area. The study revealed that the respondents with different educational level had
different behaviors of using the service of car wash and cleaning station in terms of budget.
The respondents with different occupation had different opinions towards overall marketing
mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different occupation had
different opinions towards place and promotion with a statistical significance level of 0.05,
which was consistent to the set hypothesis. The respondents with different occupation
emphasized on day and time of using the service, place, standard. Thus, the business operator
should plan to organize the training for employees to strictly serve the customers in order to
increase
their
confidence.
The
results
were
consistent
to
the
research
of
ThanawadeeChaluddong (2010), exploring and comparing factors affecting the decision-making
for car care service of consumers in Nonthaburi. The results revealed that occupation
influenced the decision-making for car care service usage in terms of frequency of using the
service.
The respondents with different average monthly income had different opinions towards
overall marketing mix. When individual aspects were considered, the respondents with different
average monthly income had different opinions towards place, promotion, and people with a
statistical significance level of 0.05, which was consistent to the set hypothesis. The
respondents with different average monthly income, especially those with higher average
monthly income emphasized on the benefits and value of the service. The results were
consistent to the research of Chin Thamrongwittawut (2011) exploring the behavior of using car

care services and service marketing factors affecting the selection of using car care service of
private car users in Mueang KhonKaen district. It was found that average monthly income was
related to the selection of using car care service of private car users in terms of average cost
per time of using the service.


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5. Suggestions
The demand of customers as well as demand of additional service should be studied to
improve and develop further.
The guideline in planning or marketing strategy should be formulated to learn about
weakness and strength of car care center to use this information in removing weaknesses of
car care service and strengthen the strength of car care business to attract more consumers.
The problems and obstacles which consumers received from car care service should be
studied for future decision and service.

References
ChitsanupongSriprasaet (2015). Service Marketing Mix in Customer Perspective Affecting Behaviors of Using Car Care
in Nonthaburi Province. Master Thesis, Graduate School. Srinakharinwirot University.
Chin Thamrongwittawut(2011). Marketing Factors Affecting the Selection of Car Care Services in Mueang District,
KhonKaen.
Independent Study of Master of Business Administration Program in Accounting,KhonKaen University.
DanuphonAphithampitak (2013). Marketing Mix Factors Influencing the Behavior of Using Car Wash and Cleaning
Station in Thonburi Area. Master Thesis, Graduate School. Srinakharinwirot University.
Thairath
Online
(2017).
October

Sale
Volume
2017.
Retrieved
on
November
24,
2017
from
ThanawadeeChaluddong (2010). Factors Affecting the Decision-Making for
Car Care Service of Consumers in Nonthaburi. Thesis of
Master of Business Administration, Suan Dusit University.
NarasriVivanichkul and ChusakUdomsri. (1999). Business Research Methodology. 6th edition. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn
University Press.

SiriwanSarirat (2007). New Marketing Management. 2007 edition. Bangkok: Dharmasarn Printing.
Seri Wongmontha (1999). Consumer Behavior. Bangkok: A.N. Printing.

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