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Column<Report from overseas office> [Thailand] Thai motor shows are huge trade fairs
- Release date: Jan 20, 2020
- 8278 Views
1. Introduction
The Thai motor show is fundamentally different from other motor shows held around the world. While there are show-like elements such as stage presentations and campaign girls, for visitors it is a business meeting where they can compare attractive promotions from various companies at once, in other words, it is a huge sales event where they can actually buy a car on the spot.
The 36th Thailand International Motor EXPO 2019 (hereinafter referred to as “EXPO”), a motor show held in Bangkok from November 29 to December 10, did not do well in terms of orders for four-wheeled vehicles, down about 15% from the previous year, probably due to the sluggish economy that has been caused by various factors since the second half of this year.
Although new vehicle sales have been weak this year, November through December is usually the peak period for new vehicle sales. The forecast for 2019 is for annual new car sales of approximately 1 million units, but it remains to be seen how this will translate into real-world sales.
How did consumers react to the event? The results of a survey conducted by Intage Thailand revealed some interesting facts, some of which are introduced below.
2. the motivation for visiting the site is to seriously buy a car
I wonder how many people who went to the EXPO came with the intention of buying a car. If one imagines a Japanese motor show, it would not be surprising to find a certain number of visitors who came for pleasure, for example, as an extension of their leisure time, simply to gather information, or to take pictures.
However, according to the survey results, only 7% of visitors came to the show with no intention of buying a car, while 93% of Thai visitors intended to buy a car. In addition, 76% of the respondents answered that they “definitely planned to go” to the Expo. It is safe to say that Thai visitors' purchasing intentions were not only warming up, but for some, even heating up. The fact that an extraordinary number of sales representatives and a large space for business talks were waiting for these visitors is proof that the automakers see this as a major opportunity to win. In fact, the number of sales representatives is often much larger than the number of visitors at each company's booth.
3. 77% success rate?
One may wonder, then, whether they actually purchased a new car or not. The number of respondents who “purchased a new car” during the event was 35%, which is surprisingly low considering the number of visitors who came to the event with the intention of buying a car. About 90% of the visitors came to the event with the intention of buying a car, and only about one in three actually made a purchase. However, a certain number of visitors were unable to make a decision on the day of the expo, and as of December 11, the day after the expo ended, 42% of visitors were still in negotiations. If all of those in negotiations had made a purchase, the closing rate at the Expo would have been up to 77%.
On the other hand, 23% of respondents "did not buy during the expo. If the same survey had been conducted last year, the purchase rate might have been higher.
In terms of EXPO excitement, the economic slowdown also contributed to the 15% decline in unit sales compared to last year, as noted above.
Next, we looked at the percentage of respondents who “definitely intended to go” to the Expo, and found that 43% of them purchased during the Expo, 8 percentage points higher than the overall average. It would seem that those who had already made up their minds in advance were more likely to actually purchase a car.
Some may have made their final decision after comparing various vehicles on the day of the show, while others may have been selective about which vehicle they would purchase. In any case, it can be said that a certain amount of competition is decided before the Expo is held. It makes sense, then, that companies are stepping up their pre-Expo promotions.
If decisions are made to some extent prior to the show, it may be possible to forecast sales with a relatively high degree of accuracy by conducting pre-purchase intention surveys for big events such as motor shows. Furthermore, by looking at the discrepancies between the pre- and post-event surveys, it would be possible to identify the losing factors of manufacturers and models that struck out and use them in the next round of promotions.
By the way, let me mention the following as a side note. The results of this survey are for reference only due to the small sample size, but for those who “went to the Expo as a result” (N=27, 24% of all respondents) and did not plan to visit the Expo, the purchase rate during the period dropped to 11%, while 59% said they were currently in business negotiations. The percentage of respondents who were in the process of negotiating was 59%. Compared to those who planned to visit the show, it is possible that more people are holding off on their decision. (We would like to conduct further verification with a larger sample size in the next survey.)
Nevertheless, even if approximately 60% of the respondents were actually in talks at the time the survey was conducted, they may not have concluded a contract or may have decided to go with another manufacturer.
If the motivation to visit the show is not that strong for about one out of every five visitors, it is not only important to promote the show in advance, but it is also more important to close the deal on the day of the show. It is important to know what consumers are thinking, rather than simply competing with them for a discount, so that you can close more favorable business negotiations with them.
4. finally
Motor shows have indeed become a major sales event. On the other hand, the closing rate during the show period alone is only about one in three, an unexpectedly high number. Of course, consumers may want to fully compare multiple manufacturers and may expect to get more favorable terms by continuing business negotiations rather than making an immediate decision. On the other hand, considering that many promotions are conducted toward the day of the motor show, the closing rate during the show period should be a very important indicator of advertising effectiveness, and continuing business negotiations would not be very desirable. Although not conducted this time, we believe that it is possible to change the closing rate during the show by understanding the psychology of prospective buyers in advance of the event through the use of a pre-show survey on the car models they plan to purchase. After all, 93% of the visitors had the intention to buy a car.
Translated by DeepL, AI Translator
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Author profile
Daisuke Aoba
Male researcher in his 40s living in Thailand. He has visited more than 30 countries in the past. He believes in seeking out the best for the consumers in the country and always trying to be close to their feelings. He continues to post his own global gourmet posts, which are viewed about 1,000 times a day, mainly in Thailand.
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Editor profile
INTAGE
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