EFFECT OF CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHICS ON ADOPTION OF ONLINE SHOPPING AMONGST UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MACHAKOS COUNTY
Josephine Muthoki Nthullih - Masters in Business Administration, St. Pauls University, Kenya
Wanjiku N. Kinyanjui - Lecturer, Faculty of Business & Communication Studies, St. Pauls University, Kenya
Dr. David Kabata - Lecturer, Faculty of Business & Communication Studies, St. Pauls University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Online businesses have gone from their simple initial stages to becoming a threat to the more established, big retail businesses. The study was aimed at assessing the effect of consumer demographics on adoption of online shopping amongst university students in Machakos County. The study was based on the theory of cognitive dissonance and technology acceptance theory. A descriptive research design was used in the study. The study target was 150 business students from St. Paul’s university, Machakos University, Scott Christian University, South Eastern Kenya University and Daystar University in Machakos County. Purposive sampling method was applied to sample all the 150 university students. Data was collected using questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis using SPSS. The data was presented in statistical tables. All ethical considerations were strictly observed. Findings established a positive correlation between consumer demographics and online shopping behavior (r = 0.701, p-value=0.000). Findings revealed that there was gender difference in consumer preference of online shopping since more female 68.6% (72) shop online more as compared to men 31.4% (33), the students of youthful age 20-40 years 87.6% (92) preferred online shopping as compared to the students over 40 years 12.4% (13), students who were employed 60% (63) were most likely to prefer online shopping as compared to students who are self-employed 25.7% (27) and the students 55.2% (58) allocate just a small portion (budget of less than 3000) of the shopping budget for online shopping. The researcher concludes that consumer demographics influence online shopping behaviour. Hence, online marketers must not generalize the shoppers. While making plans for marketing activities, the retailers should consider all consumer demographics to identify suitable potential consumers.
