Facebook Commerce Issues in Thailand and Precautionary Benchmarks

This research proposes precautionary benchmarks for addressing Facebook purchasing issues. Motivated by the increasing reliance on e-commerce and the prevalence of online purchasing problems in Thailand, this study adopts qualitative methodologies. It begins with in-depth interviews to gather data from two distinct groups of buyers: “experienced” frequent buyers who have never encountered issues, and “inexperienced” buyers who have faced problems. With narrative analysis and analytical methods integrating the customer journey, decision-making process, and hierarchical decomposition, key insights and precautionary measures are identified. The findings indicate that experienced buyers tend to directly search for products, thoroughly investigate sellers, compare with other platforms, and prefer pre-payment methods. However, inexperienced buyers often respond to ads or direct sales without detailed checks, focus on low prices, and use both pre/post-payment methods. The hierarchical decomposition classifies Facebook purchasing issues into three main sub-issues: shipping delays, incorrect products/characteristics, and shipment absences, further categorized into seven causes. The synthesis from systematic variation and induction approaches yields preventive measures for buyers, such as verifying seller credibility, checking product details, and selecting secure payments. Additionally, the study offers suggestions to improve Facebook's system to enhance buyer confidence. The comprehensive knowledge from this research can be disseminated for public benefit.