Thais need to lower their prices: Starbucks coffee more in Thailand than Berlin

[webfact]

Thais need to lower their prices: Starbucks coffee more in Thailand than Berlin

 

Picture: Khao Phuket

 

A meeting on tourism at a Phuket university heard that tourism in the southern Thai province was increasingly suffering since 2017. 

 

The main reason for this was placed at the door of the strength of the Thai baht. 

 

Dr Chaiyanon Phucharoen said that the problem was not really the lack of visitors - arrivals at Phuket International Airport were actually 4% up this year. 

 

It was the strength of the Thai money and other factors such as increased competition especially from other places in the region offering holidays utilising natural environments. 

 

He suggested that Thais need to stop a slavish adherence to maintaining prices and make cuts based on the spending power of tourists these days in light of the baht strength and the world economy. 

 

As an example of this he told the Songkhla Nakharin Phuket campus that a latte in Berlin right now costs 3.97 Euros but the same drink in Phuket is 4.02 Euros in Thai money. 

 

Thais also need to reassess how they advertise especially to lure the Generation Y market and the government need to adopt measures and incentives to lure tourists. 

 

New places utilising the island's breadth of environmental possibilities also need to be found. 

 

Source: Khao Phuket

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-12-16

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[ezzra]

The people that set the pricing for starbuck products are under the impression that anyone who buys their product must be a well heeled type and can afford to pay they prices as there are million other places around to buy cheaper coffee should they choose to... 

[waynerooney]

Pretty much everything is more expensive in Thailand in comparison to the UK, with the exceptions being accommodation, THAI food and cigarettes.

[OneMoreFarang]

8 minutes ago, ezzra said:

The people that set the pricing for starbuck products are under the impression that anyone who buys their product must be a well heeled type and can afford to pay they prices as there are million other places around to buy cheaper coffee should they choose to... 

I get the impression that lots of Thais buy starbugs products to be able to run around with those containers and show everybody that they can afford that coffee. Kind of: Look at me, I can afford this (at least if I max out my credit card).

[OneMoreFarang]

I find it always hilarious how much fresh seafood cost in places like Phuket. They probably sell it with 1000% margin. And then they are somehow surprised that people don't buy it because they don't want to get ripped off. 

[LomSak27]

I assume Thailand does the same thing with coffee, that they do with wine, and for the same reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

[kotsak]

Starbucks over here are for the hi-so and for those who wanna be seen as hi-so.

 

[meechai]

Honestly we live in one of the most expensive US States

We stay in Thailand a few months every year

 

The only thing cheaper (for us) in Thailand is electricity

We don't rent/have a mortgage in either place

We don't really eat out in either place

 

Everything else is either same or more in Thailand

 

[bkk6060]

18 minutes ago, waynerooney said:

Pretty much everything is more expensive in Thailand in comparison to the UK, with the exceptions being accommodation, THAI food and cigarettes.

So it is housing, food, and your cigs are cheaper.

Don't forget gasoline, electric, water, transportation, and girls.

Geez, what is left tell us that is more expensive here then the UK??

Delicious Kidney pie?

 

[bkk6060]

17 minutes ago, kotsak said:

Starbucks over here are for the hi-so and for those who wanna be seen as hi-so.

 

Yes.

It is the highlight of a Thai females month to take a photo for Facebook drinking one of those 1000 calorie ice coffee drinks at Starbucks.  

They have arrived!

[Peterw42]

Not all Thais buy into the ridiculous pricing, my wife would actually not let me buy a coffee in SB. I can almost here her saying "you are not spending half a days wages on a cup of coffee", "you are the reason prices are stupid" etc. 

I watched a Thai family spend 3 days minimum wage in Burger king the other day, then all hop on one scooter for the trip home.

 

 

[scorecard]

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I find it always hilarious how much fresh seafood cost in places like Phuket. They probably sell it with 1000% margin. And then they are somehow surprised that people don't buy it because they don't want to get ripped off. 

100%, more like 500% at some restaurants, meanwhile labor on fishing vessels don't get paid.

 

Way out of any moral balance. 

[Jessi]

Last year my son was staying in Phuket for a week. He said Restaurants

in Phuket were more expensive than Australia, also with many other items.???? 

[Jessi]

4 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

What is this crying over money?  Are you in a prison?  No.  So, leave.  Go to another country where it is cheaper........it's an EASY fix.  Oh, the Thai Baht is too much for you .... OK, too bad, try Cambodia or Laos or another place.  You have options in this life:

 

1.  complain, cry, complain, get mad, complain, complain

2.  do

Please get back on your meds.????

[KC 71]

There is plenty of good quality coffee in Thailand

why bother with starbucks !

[scubascuba3]

The simple answer is don't buy if things are over priced. I avoid those products and services

[Lungstib]

If you want to live cheaply in Thailand you keep out of places like Starbucks, Mc.D's, 7-11, Tesco and frequent places selling whole meals for 40b. Its possible but not necessarily how you want to live.

[nev]

41 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I get the impression that lots of Thais buy starbugs products to be able to run around with those containers and show everybody that they can afford that coffee. Kind of: Look at me, I can afford this (at least if I max out my credit card).

Even me I am still using the same Starbucks cup even when drinking my beer tastes like **** but I look the part. 

[Orton Rd]

51 minutes ago, kotsak said:

Starbucks over here are for the hi-so and for those who wanna be seen as hi-so.

 

Yeah you have to have a Mac book and sit in the window playing games, sensible folk go to Amazon, 50 baht a cup

[Pravda]

I never drink Starbucks back home, but Starbucks latte in Thailand is the only coffee that doesn't give me acid reflux. 

[AhFarangJa]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

New places utilising the island's breadth of environmental possibilities also need to be found.

That should take all of 5 minutes then.

[4MyEgo]

45 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

What is this crying over money?  Are you in a prison?  No.  So, leave.  Go to another country where it is cheaper........it's an EASY fix.  Oh, the Thai Baht is too much for you .... OK, too bad, try Cambodia or Laos or another place.  You have options in this life:

 

1.  complain, cry, complain, get mad, complain, complain

2.  do

I take it from your tone that you haven't had your daily dose of caffeine yet, off to Starbucks then, and do try not to spill the coffee on yourself ????

 

Everyone else, please keep it up, reality is I wouldn't buy a coffee at Starbucks if it was in line with the rare 29 baht short black that I can buy anywhere else that takes the same, like s hit, so why would I spend 125 baht for the same product, same taste, rip off price. 

 

To conclude, at a recent trip to Sydney, both my wife and I found clothes to be far cheaper than here and better in quality, Some food items where cheaper, some on par, a couple of others a little more expensive, the above said it if wasn't for house prices or rents back in Oz, one could pretty much survive as one does here IMO 

[Olmate]

47 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Yes.

It is the highlight of a Thai females month to take a photo for Facebook drinking one of those 1000 calorie ice coffee drinks at Starbucks.  

They have arrived!

Why do you begrudge someone such a simple pleasure, seems you haven,t quite arrived!

[OneMoreFarang]

49 minutes ago, scorecard said:

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I find it always hilarious how much fresh seafood cost in places like Phuket. They probably sell it with 1000% margin. And then they are somehow surprised that people don't buy it because they don't want to get ripped off. 

100%, more like 500% at some restaurants, meanwhile labor on fishing vessels don't get paid.

 

Way out of any moral balance. 

Maybe you didn't see the 3 zeros in my original post. I am sure 1,000% margin in not unusual in Phuket.

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

46 minutes ago, Jessi said:

Last year my son was staying in Phuket for a week. He said Restaurants

in Phuket were more expensive than Australia, also with many other items.???? 

Took missus to Phuket she complained about prices compared to home Chiang Mai.

I explained to her it pricing for the tourists with fat wallets.

Think she mumbled something about silly fat farangs.

Lol

????❤????????

[Dumbastheycome]

On 12/16/2019 at 9:13 AM, Ventenio said:

What is this crying over money?  Are you in a prison?  No.  So, leave.  Go to another country where it is cheaper........it's an EASY fix.  Oh, the Thai Baht is too much for you .... OK, too bad, try Cambodia or Laos or another place.  You have options in this life:

 

1.  complain, cry, complain, get mad, complain, complain

2.  do

Your suggestion may have some validity for those who are present in Thailand as free agents. ie single people.

For the  very many  foreigners who are present in committed family responsibility not such simple advice to be accepted.

Dr Chaiyanon was presenting a very valid suggestion highlighting one issue problematic for Thai tourism.

Regardless of the price of a Star Bucks version of  coffee anywhere and  whatever motivates anybody to pay the asking price there remains the seemingly inexplicable steady increases  in food prices despite the high relative  value of the baht. Imported items included which in many cases  have risen rather than stayed  stable if not got slightly cheaper.

My wife often gets vocal  about the significant price increases of local product over the last 12 months because she is  very aware of the fact that so many Thais have had no equivalent increase in earnings.

That may seem to be an aside to the subject of tourism but if the strategy overall is to maintain profit by inflating prices and the result is tourists  are becoming resistant to spending to a negative degree it indicates that strategy is a mistake.

 

[xylophone]

I agree with most of the points raised in the thread, but as I don't drink coffee, when I do go to Starbucks I have a large cup of tea, then sit back and enjoy watching the world go by through the large window, including being able to appreciate good-looking females ambling by!

 

The food in the one I go to in Patong is unimaginative, bland and overpriced, and at one time I would eat there regularly, but now I don't. In fact I actually take in a Subway or some sushi to eat and when the manager asks me why I'm not eating their food, I simply point to what I am eating and say that it's better and healthier.

 

Thinking about it, the whole of Patong has gotten more expensive, and someone mentioned seafood and a few years ago I remember going to a seafood restaurant on the beach road, which has been there years (the restaurant that is) where you selected your seafood from the ice tray at the front of the place. So I selected five huge prawns, so big they were almost the size of lobsters, and I waited for them to be cooked and served with rice; oh and they were very expensive!

 

Well, when they were delivered to the table they looked nothing like what I had ordered and I wondered if they'd made a mistake, and yes I know that they do shrink when they cooked, but the change here was nothing short of miraculous. Never went back because it was a rip-off.

 

Even my regular Italian restaurant prices have crept up and I hadn't really paid much attention to it until just recently, but there again, it is my favourite Italian restaurant, I know the folks, the service is great and the food is tasty so I can't complain.

 

So in summary, yes the place is expensive and yes you can be ripped off, but it's up to the individual to decide what's value and what's not and if they are willing to pay the prices for what they get – – if not then go elsewhere to eat and drink. And I suppose it is the price one has to pay for living on an island, with vibrant nightlife, cheap accommodation (compared to the home country) and attractive women!

 

As a footnote, the Starbucks which was my regular haunt has seen a huge decrease in customer numbers, so they must realise that something is wrong, along with my continually pointing out that the food is cr@p and overpriced!
 

[Yinn]

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

I assume Thailand does the same thing with coffee, that they do with wine, and for the same reasons.

 

 

 

Starbucks Is US company. Up to them. There business, there price.

 

McDonald’s sell expansive junk food also. Up to them. If they make profit, why not? IMO is tasteless clown food. If some people like it, up to them. Not my business.

 

IMO the Thai coffee from North Thailand better than Starbucks. And cheaper. Up to me.

i like bun/frappe coffee the most. Because I like ice cream.

[LomSak27]

Just now, Yinn said:

Starbucks Is US company. Up to them. There business, there price.

IMO the Thai coffee from North Thailand better than Starbucks. And cheaper. Up to me.

i like bun/frappe coffee the most. Because I like ice cream.

 

STarbucks like any other company in Thailand has a 51 per cent controlling interest held by a thai national. 

 

Quote

Imported coffee beans are heavily taxed in Thailand, and some green beans can be taxed up to 90%! This is the second highest import tax in the world 

 

If Thailand had a coffee I really enjoyed I would buy it. As it is I buy coffee from Indonesia. US and Europe and bring it in my checked luggage when I return from trips. Less than half the price and better taste. BTW I think I have drank about every brand of coffee thailand produces. If you have a favorite post it up, I Certainly will try it if I have't already. 

[Yinn]

4 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

 

STarbucks like any other company in Thailand has a 51 per cent controlling interest held by a thai national. 

 I think USA companies not need 51% in thailand. “Amity”

 

maybe I wrong? Not sure.

https://www.siam-legal.com/Business-in-Thailand/US-Thai Amity.php

 

4 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

 

 

If Thailand had a coffee I really enjoyed I would buy it. As it is I buy coffee from Indonesia. US and Europe and bring it in my checked luggage when I return from trips. Less than half the price and better taste. BTW I think I have drank about every brand of coffee thailand produces. If you have a favorite post it up, I Certainly will try it if I have't already. 

 I agree. I like Vietnam coffee and Malaysia “white” coffee. 

In the south Thailand the Malaysia white coffee can get tax free (smuggle easy).

 

i like drink “fresh coffee” กาแฟสด. And frappe. Usually “southern Coffee” franchise. Also one “Brown Sugar”.

 

Good for frappe, maybe not good for hot coffee? I not know that.