Abstract
As night market in Taiwan becomes increasingly diverse, acting as the mixer of entertainment, leisure and the assembly of local gourmet, it therefore stands a prominent position for domestic as well as international tourists. This study is intended to explore and analyze the rationale behind consumers’ factors/motives of consumption in the night market, by undertaking a thorough investigation on consumers with different annual incomes, ages, occupations, types of consumption and past experiences of consumption, and finally deliver a conclusion on the frequency and content of consumers’ behavior in each respective target group. This study firstly adopts the questionnaire conducted by the Academia Sinica. And yet the abovementioned questionnaire presents only limited factors in night market consumption activities, also it neglects to precisely and effectively consider the rationale behind consumers’ behavior on going to night market or not by arbitrarily using only “YES/NO” questions. In hoping to derive a more accurate deduction, another questionnaire was designed for the purpose of this study, specifically focuses on night market industry in detail (hereafter “ the night market questionnaire.”) Aside from targeting “total frequency for going to night market per month” and “average spending per visit to night market” two dimensions, this questionnaire also includes factors such as motives for visiting and consumer experiences, supplements with additional variables that might have influence on night market consumption behavior. According to the Acadamia Sinica questionnaire, the annual income, gender, age, education, and frequency of outside food will affect night market consumption behavior. Whilst the night market questionnaire, on the other hand, reveals that education, gender, occupation, location of residence, quality and type of consumption are influential factors. Analysis derives from different questionnaires and dimensions delivers distinct results. Based on the night market questionnaire, level of education reflects certain consumer behavior in night market. As those with higher level of education tend to stand a more superior social status, and thus have a comparably higher income; consequently they are more likely to be selective on the merchandise they purchase, thus subsequently affect the average spending per visit in night market. Following by the level of education, the quality of consumption shall bethe second most crucial factor that might influence the average spending per visit for consumers. Therefore, this study is seeking to define the prominent factors in night market consumption behavior.