Abstract:
The purposes of this research were: (1) to examine the consumers satisfaction toward marina shipping; (2) to investigate the consuming behaviors of the customers using marine shipping; (3) to study the correlation between the customers satisfaction and the companys characteristics; and (4) to study the correlation between the customers consuming behavior and their satisfaction. The questionnaire was employed to 113 sample population along with the interview of 7 actual consumers. SPSS for WINDOWS was used to analyze frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Chi-Square.
The research results revealed that (1) most of the respondents were indirect consumers engaging in selling general article business. The articles they sold were construction materials. Their businesses located in Surat Thani province were big with business duration of 5 to 10 years.
(2) The results of the consuming behaviors revealed that the marine shipping helped reduce their cost at about 10 percent. They consumed the sent materials one to two times a week. The means of transportation used to come and get the goods was by the vehicles owned by the company or business firms, and their travel distance was over 201 kilometers. However, the most desirable additional process was the convenience along with less time consuming. (3) The results from the satisfaction toward the marine shipping revealed that the customers were satisfied with the marketing mix factor of process the most, then the product, the personnel, the price, the promotion, the place ,and the physical feature, respectively. (4) The results from the correlation between the business characteristics and the customers satisfaction in consuming the marine shipping revealed that all marketing mix factors were found to be correlated, except the factor of product. (5) The correlation between the customers consuming behaviors and their satisfaction was found to be correlated in all market mix aspects, except the aspect of promotion.