An investigation into factors affecting customers' buying decision in cinema context
Abstract
Cinema industry in Vienam has been growing strongly over the years
with the quick expanding of movie theatres all over the country. Understanding
customer behavior in choosing movies and the influential factors will not only
help cinema operators in choosing the profitable movies to invest but also aid the
marketing campaigns in attracting audience towards the latest movies effectively.
Thus the research was conducted to study the factors and their effect on
customers‟ movie choice as well as the audience‟s preferences in movies for
Vietnam market.
The applied theoretical framework was the combination of Thurau
(2001)‟s model and Bassi (2010)‟s work, which included four factors: movie
traits, structure qualities, communication and situational factors. The research
was executed by both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The surveys were
distributed to collect statistical data; while interviews were conducted to gain
insights into the reasons why and how those factors influence customers‟
decision.
Research study has found that in Vietnam market, communication
such as trailers, posters and situational factors affect more significantly to
customers‟ movie choice than the movie traits and structure qualities. It also
showed the great preference Vietnamese has for movies from the US and specific
movie genres such as action, comedy, fantasy, etc. Findings also provided
foundations for cinema operators to develop strategies in using movie trailers,
SMS marketing, brand-building strategies and social network-interacting to
communicate and influence audience more efficiently. Despite the inevitable
limitations, the research findings provided useful information in understanding
the motivation to customers‟ movie choice and their preferences; which are
useful sources of information for cinema operators to build their strategies.