A Study of Consumer Decision Making in the Purchasing of Cosmetics Products in the Thai market: Online Product reviews / Social platforms

Nowadays the influence of online social networks is beginning to affect consumer\u92s purchasing decisions, particularly due to the trust gained among users by electronic word of mouth. Due to the change in the way people communicate, consumers have begun to share their experiences about products, brands or services through the Internet. Recently, using digital marketing to spread information through social media platforms is booming in Thailand. There are lots of producers, marketers or even celebrities who have chosen this alternative to promote and review their products via different social platforms. The precise relationships between consumer decision making in purchasing products and its effectiveness in searching for online reviews through different social platforms are unclear. This paper explores this issue; critically discusses the concept of influencing consumer decision-making in cosmetics after receiving information from online reviews on social platforms. In this study the primary data was gathered using a questionnaire and there were 166 respondents who answered the questions. All of them were asked about their lifestyle and how that related to decision making in purchasing cosmetics products. The findings show that most of them are familiar with searching online and used to reading online reviews before making a purchase decision for cosmetics products. They stated that it can give them more confidence to buy a product. Some respondents watched videos of product reviews for entertainment. They gained knowledge about how each product works and were able to absorb the information unconsciously