International marketing communication: a case study of Thai spa products and services in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The objectives of this research, International Marketing Communications: A Case Study of Thai Spa Products and Services in the United Arab Emirates are 1) To study marketing communication between Thailand and overseas in terms of product export and service of spa business in the United Arab Emirates; 2) To study beliefs, cultures, and lifestyle of the Muslim people in the United Arab Emirates; 3) To study satisfaction and expectations of spa users in the United Arab Emirates towards product and service of Thai spa businesses; 4) To study news exposure and social media application usage behaviors of the spa users in the United Arab Emirates; 5) To analyze problems, restrictions and practices Thai spa products and services in the United Arab Emirates; and 6) To analyze factors in developing international marketing communications for Thailand in terms of Thai spa product and service exports to the United Arab Emirates.

There are three pillars of research - Thai spa business, religion and culture, and international marketing communications. The focus would be on both Thai spa products and service sectors. This research used the mixed methods approach to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative studies.

The result of the qualitative study shows that the methods of marketing communications of Thai spa products and services are operated by both Thai public sector and private sector. In the public sector, international marketing communications channels include exposure in the beauty product expos and also through an advertisement on television. In the private sector, international marketing communications channels are presented in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) method. As the United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country in the Middle East, results of the literature review and the in – depth interview show that beliefs and cultures directly influence Thai spa products and services business.

Moreover, the result of the quantitative study shows that the Thai Spa customers received information from online media the most, followed by the word-ofmouth, TV, print media, and billboard. It was also found that the users of Thai spa products and services mostly have the account of Instagram, followed by Facebook, Whatsapps, Twitter, and Snapchat, respectively.

According to the result of comprehensive research there are six important factors, which could develop International Marketing Communications of Thai spa products and service in the United Arab Emirates. These factors are 1) demographic characteristics, 2) economics factors, 3) political and legal environment, 4) geographic characteristics, 5) culture environment and 6) communications characteristics.