A STUDY ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKETING FACTORS IN THE CONSUMPTION OF ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN POWDER AMONG HEALTH-CONSCIOUS CONSUMERS IN MUEANG DISTRICT, KHON KAEN PROVINCE.

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) investigate the protein powder consumption behavior of health-conscious consumers; 2) examine factors influencing the purchasing decision process of health-conscious consumers; and 3) compare factors influencing the purchasing decision process among health-conscious consumers in Mueang District, Khon Kaen Province. Data were collected from a population of 400 protein powder consumers in Mueang District, Khon Kaen Province, using a stratified random sampling method. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, were used for data analysis. Hypothesis testing involved the t-test and one-way ANOVA with LSD post-hoc analysis.

The research findings revealed the following: For Objective 1), the majority of respondents were male (119 individuals), aged 20-29 years, held a bachelor's degree (97 individuals), and had a monthly income of 30,001-50,000 baht. Most consumed protein 3-5 times per week, showed high interest (96 individuals), placed significant importance on standard certification (193 individuals), strongly agreed on the importance of nutritional value commensurate with price (168 individuals), and expressed the highest satisfaction with their chosen product (67 individuals). For Objective 2), the factors influencing the purchasing decision process (4Ps) for protein powder among health-conscious consumers in Mueang District, Khon Kaen Province, were found to be at a high overall level of agreement. When examining individual aspects, Price had the highest mean score, followed by Product, while Promotion had the lowest mean score. For Objective 3), the comparative analysis of factors influencing the purchasing decision process, categorized by gender, age, education level, occupation, and average monthly income, revealed statistically significant differences at the 0.05 level.