Online Shopping Behaviour of Young Adults in Higher Education Sector: How Brand Matters

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the online shopping behaviour of Sri Lankan young adults with special emphasis on brand loyalty. Building and maintaining brand loyalty is a vital part of establishing sustainable competitive advantage. Consumers become committed to a particular brand and make repeat purchases over time if they are loyal to that brand. In online shopping environment, consumers have no physical touch to the products and services but prices among different brands can be easily compared with each other. For this study, a structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 100 young adults from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Four products that young adults frequently purchase were selected. This paper assesses the relationship between brand loyalty and brand satisfaction. A clear relationship could be established between proposed factors of brand loyalty and brand satisfaction. Further, this study attempts to establish a relationship between the average price paid and brand loyalty. However, a clear relationship could not be established between them. In addition, the relative importance of "brand" when purchasing the selected products online is assessed.