Kin Jae Festival in Bangkok will be poorly attended due to reduced participation as a result of COVID-19 and economic conditions

       Kin Jae (Vegan Food) Festival this year will fall on October 17-25, 2020. Normally, the festival is well received by regular consumers groups including Thai-Chinese people who eat vegan food as a religious practice, and new-generation consumers who eat vegan food for health purposes. However, sluggish economic conditions and subdued purchasing power due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) have become factors that affect the eating of vegan food and will cause the festival to be poorly attended this year.     

        A survey by KResearch found that 63.0% of Bangkok respondents will participate in the festival this year, falling from 66.7% in 2019. The majority of respondents who will participate in the festival (64.6%) will eat vegan food for some meals but not for the full length of the festival (9 days). Meanwhile, those who plan to eat vegan food for every meal will reduce their budget from THB105 per meal in the past year to an average of THB100 per meal, and those who plan to eat vegan food for some meals will reduce their budget from THB100 per meal to THB92 per meal, indicating that the budget per meal will be reduced by 5.9% on average.  

        Regarding the sales channels of vegan food, Bangkok residents’ first choice this year will be stalls/roadside shops/fresh markets, accounting for 30.1% of the total channels. This will differ from the previous year, in which people predominantly bought vegan food from restaurants. The survey results also show that, besides the diversity and convenience of purchasing, price factors will weigh higher than in the past year when choosing purchasing channels of vegan food, thus stalls/roadside shops or fresh markets will meet the needs of consumers under the current economic situation.     
    
          KResearch projects that Bangkok residents’ spending throughout the 2020 Kin Jae festival will amount to THB 3.93 billion, or a 17.4% drop compared to the 2019 festivities, due to reduced participation and reduced spending for each meal per person.  

           KResearch views that the marketing strategies for businesses this year should focus on keeping vegan food prices within the same range as other types of food, and those set in the previous year – corresponding with the state of the economy and customers’ purchasing power. At the same time, their marketing strategies should be adjusted in ways that appeal to both regular buyers and new-generation shoppers – each with their own consumption patterns – in order to satisfy the demands of a wider range of customers.