Northern, southern Thais top shoppers for Loy Krathong

Dunnhumby's analysis of Thais' shopping behaviour during the Loy Krathong period in 2014 found that shopping occurred most heavily the day before the festival, accounting for around 35 per cent of Loy Krathong-related sales.

As one might expect, Thais in tourist-friendly areas in the southern and northern regions are the most likely to shop for items related to the festival. Perhaps surprisingly Bangkokians are the least likely to shop during this period.

The most popular Loy Krathong-related products was also revealed, with natural-made krathongs No.1, particularly in northern, southern and northeastern regions where they accounted for more than 50 per cent of sales.

In fact, the natural-made krathong proved to be the most popular purchase in all areas of Thailand, with the exception of Bangkok, where bread krathongs were the choice selection, accounting for 45 per cent of sales.

Overall the bread krathong |contributed to 34 per cent of |sales nationally.

There is no surprise for the other popular products around this period including candle krathongs (7 per cent of sales).

Perhaps more surprisingly was VCDs and CDs featuring Ramwong (Thai traditional dance) accounting for 0.4 per cent of sales.

"It is pleasing to see eco-friendly products dominating buying habits at this time of year, and [it is] |perhaps understandable that areas populated by tourists lead the |way in sales," said Teeradet Dumrongbhalasirt, head of Connect Media from dunnhumby Thailand.

"While sales from the Bangkok region were the highest in volume, it is clear that a higher proportion of Thais in northern and southern regions are the most likely to buy Loy Krathong-related products."

-- The Nation 2015-11-21