Evaluating the Influence of Consumer Demographics on Online Purchase Intention: An E-Tail Perspective

Abstract

The article is aimed to investigate the influence of an individual’s demographic characteristics such as gender, age, income, marital status and family type on online purchase intention. For accomplishing objectives, the study has adopted a survey by questionnaire methodology for collection of data from a sample of 234 respondents in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Quota sampling technique was adopted for drawing a sample from a population of consumers with some experience and knowledge about online shopping. Hypothesis testing was performed by employing multivariate regression. The results depict that there exists a significant difference in the perception of consumers across various groups of gender, age, marital status and family structures towards online purchase intention. Young, male consumers who are single were found to have a higher score for e-shopping intention than old, female-married consumers. Further consumers belonging to joint families were found to have a positive intention towards online shopping than nuclear family consumers. Online retailers can apply present research findings to renovate their business operations, consumer support services and marketing tactics. Positioning and segmentation strategies require clear understanding about consumer’s needs, characteristic and requirements. Demographic characteristics of an individual have scarcely been studied in the internet shopping literature. Therefore, it is crucial to understand various drivers which compel Indian consumers to shop online in order to frame various marketing strategies that cater their changing needs.