Young Indian Consumers Research Articles

Understanding the Factors Driving Indian Youth Engagement with Online grocery shopping motivations: An Empirical Study

In the digital marketing environment, the concepts of consumer shopping have undergone remarkable transformations. Online grocery buying is the newest trend among young people in India. The contemporary market-oriented lifestyle has changed as a result of the culture of internet purchasing. Online marketers now have an even greater task in trying to understand how the new generation of customers is changing their lifestyles. In order to ensure customer retention, this helps internet marketers provide higher customer value together with enhanced service. With the use of a suggested model, this study investigates the relationship between functional attributes, emotional bonds, and economic values in the development of brand engagement in the online retail marketplace. Three Indian cities, Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, and Hyderabad were the sites of a sample survey of young online shoppers. The present study's findings will clarify the possibility of developing an efficient online grocery retail platform for young Indian consumers, one that would improve consumer value and increase their inclination to purchase online.

The organic mindset: decoding the drivers of young Indian consumer’s purchase intentions

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to explore the factors affecting young consumers’ purchase intention towards organic food products (OFPs) and gain a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that influence how consumers perceive and respond to organic food. Therefore, this study frames and validates the measurement scale to examine the factors that may impact purchase intention among young consumers in India.Design/methodology/approachIn order to frame and validate the measurement scale for this investigation, sophisticated statistical procedures such as exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and other statistical measures utilizing SPSS v.26 and AMOS v.24 were used. This study utilized 307 samples to investigate.FindingsThe main findings of the study show that Indian consumers' intent to buy organic food items is strongly associated with factors such as “warm glow”, “cultural values”, “environmental cognition”, “natural experience”, “food safety concern”, “self-identity” and “environmental ethics”. These factors explained 69.14% of the overall variance in research variables.Practical implicationsThe present offers a novel measurement mechanism for exploring the green consumer behaviour. By applying it in real-world settings, marketers will gain insights and develop more effective, targeted strategies to promote OFPs among young Indian consumers.Originality/valueThe study brings together a diverse set of antecedents that have not been collectively analysed in the context of consumer purchase intention for OFPs. The emphasis on environmental ethics, green self-identity and related constructs aligns with the growing global emphasis on sustainability.

Exploring the determinants of fashion clothing rental consumption among young Indians using the extended theory of reasoned action

Purpose This study aims to explore the influence of external factors and the characteristics of young Indian consumers on their behavioral intention toward fashion clothing rental (FCR), using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) as a theoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach This study used quantitative research methods, collecting data from 396 Indian participants, and tested the proposed hypotheses using PLS-structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicated that young Indian consumers' favorable attitudes toward FCR are mainly driven by perceived usefulness, novelty-seeking, fashion orientation, narcissism and environmental consciousness. These drivers, together with subjective norms, further lead to their intention to rent fashion clothing. This study also found that perceived risk has a negative impact on consumers' attitudes toward FCR, but minimalism does not significantly affect consumer attitudes. Originality/value By integrating additional constructs into traditional TRA, this study contributes to existing literature and provides insight for fashion retailers on the role of consumer characteristics in the adoption of FCR in emerging markets.

Consumer Shift from Fast Fashion to Thrift Fashion: An Application of Goal Framing Theory

Thrift fashion represents the fastest-growing trend on Instagram. Although consumers are still skeptical about thrift, its increasing popularity among young Indian consumers remains under-researched. Thus, this article analyzes the responsible factors shaping consumers’ purchase intention toward Instagram thrift stores. Responses from 206 Instagram thrift store followers were received using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modeling in SPSS AMOS 21 tests the proposed research model. Six factors influencing consumers’ purchase intention were identified after reviewing relevant literature on the topic. Results indicate that the gain goal frame (economic value), hedonic goal frame (perceived concern and hedonic value), and electronic word-of-mouth significantly influence consumers’ purchase decisions. However, the impact of the normative goal frame (environmental concern) and fashion consciousness was insignificant. The findings of this study could help Instagram thrift store owners plan their communication strategies by identifying the motivating and demotivating factors of conscious consumers’ purchase intention. It is the first empirical article to understand the factors influencing the purchase intention of Indian consumers while purchasing from Instagram thrift fashion stores.

Effect of Product Evaluation on Purchase Intention toward White Goods: Mediating Role of Country of Origin

In the era of globalization, the significance of a product's Country of Origin (COO) in consumer behavior studies has gained prominence. COO serves as an intangible cue influencing consumers' purchasing decisions and product evaluations. Amidst the escalating trends of global trade and competition, COO emerges as a powerful determinant impacting the competitive positioning and business success of brands. Given this context, this study aims to elucidate the influence of COO on the purchasing behaviors of young Indian consumers in the context of white goods. Additionally, the study delves into the intricate interplay among COO, product evaluation, and purchase intention within the home appliances industry in India. Utilizing mediation analysis, the study reveals that product evaluation significantly mediates the relationship between COO and consumers' purchase intentions regarding white goods.

Green marketing practices and green consumer behavior: Demographic differences among young consumers

AbstractThe research was undertaken to study the influence of demographics, especially gender, age, education, and income, on the green purchase decisions of Indian consumers. The structured close‐ended questionnaire was distributed among millennials (graduate, post‐graduate, and doctorate students) in educational institutions in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 700 students participated in this study employing stratified random sampling. ANOVA and t‐tests were used to analyze the data. The study results show that education and income significantly influence while Age and gender do not significantly influence the green consumer behavior of young Indian consumers. The insights in this study will be helpful to green marketers as they develop strategies for Indian consumers of various genders, age groups, educational backgrounds, occupations, and socioeconomic levels. Future academics and researchers might adopt this work as a starting point to further explore the idea of green marketing in India.

An integrated machine learning and DEMATEL approach for feature preference and purchase intention modelling

This article models the purchasing intention of young Indian consumers for branded smartphones by analysing their individual preferences for the different features of the smartphone. This article selects thirteen features for analysis, and the respondents are asked to rate, which are further used to model the mentioned purchasing intention. The features are selected using three quantitative methods: uncertainty calculation, correlation and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). The uncertainty indicates the variance in the respondents’ preference for a particular feature. So, the features with highly uncertain preference values are undesired. The correlation analysis indicates the feature preferences impacting the buying intention of a branded smartphone. The hierarchy and the causality for the impact of feature preferences on the branded smartphone preference are identified based on DEMATEL. The selected features are used to model the purchasing intention based on K nearest neighbour (KNN), a machine learning technique. The result is compared with the other three machine learning techniques for classification, namely, C4.5, CART, and logistic regression. The result indicates the superiority of KNN based model, which is further used for building a brand switching intention model.

Understanding the Impact of Situational Factors on Green Purchase Intention in Retailing: A Study of Young Consumers

Much research has been devoted to understanding sustainable consumption using factors from the theory of planned behaviour. However, very few researchers have studied the role of situational factors in this context. The present study is aimed to analyse the impact of preference of retail store and transportation mode on green purchase intention, which in turn affects sustainable consumption behaviour among retail consumers. A survey by questionnaire method was used to collect data from young Indian consumers from Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Delhi. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, data was collected through online mode from 280 respondents by adopting quota sampling. Linear regression analysis was performed to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings of the study reveal that the preference for retail stores have a significant positive effect on green purchase intention while transportation mode has a significant negative impact on green purchase intention. The two situational factors explain more than 27% of the variance in consumers' intention to purchase green products. The study also reported a significant positive impact of green purchase intention on sustainable consumption among young retail consumers. Finally, green purchase intention explained a 63% variance in sustainable consumption.

Managing Electronic Waste: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Behaviour of Young Indian Consumers

The exponential increase in the usage of electronic devices by young consumers in India has added to the menace of e-waste. With legislation and some remarkable initiatives already in place, the pro-environmental behaviour of the young generation is efficacious. The present qualitative study investigates the factors that affect e-waste recycling behaviour. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts, based on virtual interactions with the young students, supports the role of knowledge acquired through social and print media and educational institutions, concern for the environment and responsibility assumed by different stakeholders on recycling behaviour. The dual dimensions, internal and external, explain the perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms also affect the intention. Awareness is revealed to be playing a pertinent role. The recycling behaviour is manifested in four forms, namely giving away in charity, reselling, reusing and discarding. An interesting outcome of the study is the function of the hidden values that an individual puts on the e-waste, impacting the disposal behaviour. The values can be categorized into three segments, namely economic value, emotional value and future value. The study offers logical implications for electronic device manufacturers, marketers, government and other stakeholders while making a significant contribution to the extant literature in the form of a comprehensive conceptual model explaining the e-waste recycling behaviour of the Indian youth.

Omnichannel retailing: does it empower consumers and influence patronage?

PurposeThis study analyzes how omnichannel integration influences customer patronage intention, highlighting the moderation effect of consumer service experience consciousness. Additionally, it also examines the sequential mediating role of consumer empowerment and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a survey method to collect data from 336 young Indian consumers, having experienced omnichannel retailing. Data were analyzed using SPSS PROCESS macro to examine both the mediating and moderated relationships.FindingsThe results confirm that a customers' perceived online–offline channel integration increases their patronage intention directly and through the mediating role of consumer empowerment and satisfaction. Additionally, as a moderator, consumer service experience consciousness does not necessarily impact consumer patronage interest through the mediating role of consumer empowerment. Nevertheless, it does have a negative impact through the mediating role of consumer satisfaction.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights into designing online–offline retailing integration, based upon which, proposes several recommendations for increasing customer satisfaction and patronage intention.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is among the first studies to highlight the theory of consumer empowerment in the context of omnichannel retailing. Thus, it contributes to the extant literature on omnichannel retailing while investigating the moderating role of consumer service experience consciousness.

What Motivates Young Indian Consumers to Buy Organic Food?

Young people in India might be expected to contribute substantially to the demand for organic food. Yet little empirical research has been undertaken on the factors that drive organic food purchase of young Indians, and how organic food purchase intentions translate into purchase behavior. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and informed by consumer behavior literature, this paper presents a model with five antecedents of organic food purchase intention and its relationship with purchase behavior. Survey data were obtained from 401 students at higher education institutions in North India. Through structural equation modeling attitude toward organic food purchases and subjective norms were found to significantly influence organic food purchase intention. Organic food purchase intention was found to strongly predict organic food purchase behavior. The research findings may assist Indian and international organic food producers and marketers in fine-tuning their strategies toward the particular demographic of young Indian buyers.

What Drives the Eco-Friendly Tourist Destination Choice? The Indian Perspective

Although eco-friendly (pro-environmental) behaviour in tourism has attracted interest among practitioners and scholars, little is known about the influence of these attitudes on the choice of eco-friendly destinations, especially in the context of emerging tourist markets such as India. Thus, this article aims to verify a model of the relationships between attitudes towards the environment and eco-friendly tourism, social and personal norms regarding environmentally responsible behaviour, perceived behavioural control, behavioural intentions regarding eco-friendly destinations and the willingness to pay for such trips using the theory of planned behaviour. The study used an online survey conducted with 598 Indians. The relationships between the variables were analysed using PLS-PM. The most important results indicated that (1) there are significant relationships between the attitude towards the environment, the attitude towards an eco-friendly destination, social and personal norms and behavioural control and intentions regarding travelling to eco-destinations and (2) well-educated young Indian consumers expressed a positive attitude towards eco-friendly destinations; however, there was only a very weak relationship between this attitude and willingness to pay more for trips to them. These findings are valuable for pro-environmental planning and the growing green market/economy, as well as for the discussion on the future of pro-environmental tourism development.

Understanding the luxury purchase intentions of young consumers: a qualitative analysis

PurposeThe study intends to investigate the key purchase drivers of luxury brands in India. Given that a major segment of this target audience is the young consumers, the study focuses on determining these antecedents of luxury purchase from a young Indian consumer lens.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an interpretive research position, employing qualitative techniques in the form of in-depth interviews. In total, 62 respondents were interviewed, and later the transcribed interviews were analyzed using content analysis.FindingsThe study identifies the three main value dimensions that contribute to the final purchase decision: functional, social and emotional. The study also highlights the importance of Internet and web for luxury brands and how young Indian consumer consumes luxury online.Originality/valueResearch on luxury brands is still at a nascent stage. Though variables such as economic value, brand origin, social identity, prestige, self-congruity and so on have been examined in the context of luxury brands in prior studies. However, these studies are restricted because either they were product-specific or actual users of luxury brands were not approached as the sample. Most importantly none of these studies reflect the purchase behavior of young consumers in an emerging market, especially India. Given the growth of luxury brands in India, it would be worthwhile to investigate the factors influencing the customer purchase intention of luxury brands in emerging markets.

Instagram Advertising among Young Consumers in Wearable Fitness Trackers: The Moderating Role of Technology Acceptance Factors

The main focus of research studies assessing consumers’ attitudes toward advertising has shifted to social media platforms, replacing traditional advertising. In this regard, Instagram is considered one of the most popular social media platforms, with a global user base of 700 million active users. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key factors that affect young consumers’ attitudes toward the digital advertising of fitness trackers on Instagram. The study is based on the self-administered survey questionnaire responses collected from young Indian consumers. Structural Equation Modeling has been used to analyze direct and moderating effects. The obtained results found that variables such as informativeness of Instagram advertising, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use of fitness trackers play a central role in developing respondents’ attitudes. This study pioneers in providing empirical evidence revealing the moderating effect of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on the relationship between advertising value factors and consumers’ attitudes toward advertising. The present study also offers valuable insights for marketers to design social media communication strategies on Instagram, showcasing the ease of use and utility of fitness trackers while delivering entertaining values.

Green Marketing: An Analysis of Consumer’s Perception and Willingness to Pay

There has been a gush in the usage of the term ‘Green’, since people worldwide is becoming more concerned about their environment. Green marketing is an emerging strategy which encompasses the marketing of the products that are assumed to be environmentally safe. Rising environmental concern has persuaded consumers and manufacturers towards green marketing. This paper attempts to study the environmental orientation of the young Indian consumer and their perception about green marketing. Primary data collected from 100 consumers with the help of an online questionnaire was used for the study. The results revealed that consumers were having a high orientation towards the environment and the majority preferred green products over conventional products. More than half of the respondent consumers were willing to pay an additional 2-5 per cent of their actual price in case of green products. Consumers need to be made more aware about the issues that the product attempts to address. Green marketing should not be thought of as another approach for making profit. Rather it should be trailed with vigour, because of its ecological and social dimension.

An exploratory study identifying motives and barriers to ethical consumption for young Indian consumers

In recent times, there has been a huge uproar in the media about ethical consumerism. Ethical products can help corporations to build positive brand image and improve bottom line and can help consumers feel proud by contributing to the well-being of people, planet and animals. The purpose of this study is to check the drivers and the barriers of ethical consumption. The study incorporates focus group discussions (FGDs) for learning about the factors propelling the growth of the consumption of ethical products, as well as those that are hindering the growth. We identified personal values, habit, social guilt, separate categorisation of ethical products in retail stores, need for a certification, source credibility and government policies as the motivators of ethical consumption. We identified dearth of knowledge, wilful ignorance, high price, and green scepticism (or cynicism), tragedy of commons, quality of the product and the product category as barriers to ethical consumption.

Determinants of luxury purchase behaviour: a study of young Indian consumers

Determinants of luxury purchase behaviour: a study of young Indian consumers

Perception and purchase behavior of young Indian consumers towards Chinese products under the backdrop of their economic and political rivalry

ObjectiveThis study examines the impact of perceptions of young Indian adults about Chinese products in Indian markets upon their purchase behavior, especially after the border conflict in Doklam.MethodologyWe have analyzed data collected from a randomly selected sample of 339 educated urban individuals (18–40 years). Binary logistic regression was conducted to estimate the likelihood of buying Chinese products given their level of acceptance among those respondents who are aware of the Indo‐China conflict.FindingsYoung Indians mainly focus on quality and price while purchasing a product, and not the country‐of‐origin (COO). Those who took the social media messages to ban Chinese products seriously, concerned about the dominance of Chinese products in the Indian market, and check if the COO is China demonstrate significantly aversive purchase intention towards Chinese products. On the contrary, the odds of purchase decision making getting influenced by Indo‐China conflict is significantly lower for them who have some preference for Chinese products over its Indian substitutes.ConclusionsFeeling of animosity does not result in considerable hostility against the willingness to buy Chinese products, when price, quality, brand awareness, and non‐availability of appropriate Indian substitutes matter more. However, if the sense of animosity is utilized well, Indian manufacturers, especially the MSME sectors, can gain entrepreneurial opportunities and mileage.

An Exploratory Study Identifying Motives and Barriers to Ethical Consumption for Young Indian Consumers

In recent times, there has been a huge uproar in the media about ethical consumerism. Ethical products can help corporations to build positive brand image and improve bottom line and can help consumers feel proud by contributing to the well-being of people, planet and animals. The purpose of this study is to check the drivers and the barriers of ethical consumption. The study incorporates focus group discussions (FGDs) for learning about the factors propelling the growth of the consumption of ethical products, as well as those that are hindering the growth. We identified personal values, habit, social guilt, separate categorisation of ethical products in retail stores, need for a certification, source credibility and government policies as the motivators of ethical consumption. We identified dearth of knowledge, wilful ignorance, high price, and green scepticism (or cynicism), tragedy of commons, quality of the product and the product category as barriers to ethical consumption.

Analyzing the “Mindfulness” of Young Indian Consumers in their Fashion Consumption

Consumption is a pleasurable activity associated with strong perceived sense of happiness. Fashion overconsumption is a common phenomenon due to high accessibility and affordability. Overconsumption has long-term negative consequences for individual consumers and society. Responsible consumerism is emerging, but there is a dearth of research analyzing mindfulness as a psychological and behavioral construct. Mindfulness has not been studied sufficiently in fashion consumption, with extant literature focusing only on consumer behavior toward sustainable fashion. Youth are proliferate fashion consumers; thus, examining their “mindfulness” is important. The study examined “Care” and “Temperance” as two aspects of mindfulness, depicted in the Mindful Consumption model of Sheth et al. Thirty-two respondents aged 18–25 years were personally interviewed. Data were analyzed with a repertory grid technique. Environmental consciousness and social empathy emerged as significant care aspects. Behaviorally, young consumers were tempted toward fast fashion and valued hedonism in fashion. However, they also appeared meditative in their fashion purchases. Misalignment was found in the care and temperance dimensions as young Indian consumers have a caring mindset, but notably “mindless” behavioral orientations. Emergence of “self” as an important care consideration can induce effectual mindfulness. Evoking temperance is also needed for more responsible and conscious fashion consumption.