Abstract:
This study aimed to examine factors influencing purchasing decision of Bangkokians in the digital era to shop online. The participants of 400 Generation-Y internet users (both males and females, aged ranging 17-36 years old) were randomly selected. A set of questionnaires was employed as a data collection tool. Statistics utilities used in the analysis include frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Multiple Regression method was used to test the 6P marketing-mix factors and psychological and social factors influencing purchasing decision of Bangkokians in the digital era to shop online. The significance level of 0.05 is specified as means to test the hypothesis.
The findings indicated that the majority of the participants were single females aged 21-30 years old, finished at least a Bachelors Degree, worked as private companies employees and generated an income of 10,000-19,999 baht per month. Factors that influenced their purchasing decision were the 6P marketing-mix factors, which ranked as privacy ( =4.53), followed by place ( =4.52), personal service ( =4.49), price ( =4.48), product ( =4.35), and promotion (4.34), respectively. Psychological and social factors influencing the participants purchasing decision ranked as follows: awareness ( =4.69), culture ( =4.59), cognition ( =4.58), persuasion ( =4.54), reference group ( =4.48), and family ( =4.18), respectively. Purchasing decisions for online channels ranked as follows: consumer research ( =4.61), after-sales behavior ( =4.51), awareness of problems and needs ( =4.44), final decision to purchase ( =4.43), and alternative determination ( =4.37), respectively.
The tested hypothesis identified that the 6P marketing-mix factors did influence Bangkokians purchasing decision in the digital era. Meanwhile, psychological and social factors affect purchasing decision of such group of participants at a significance level of 0.05.
Keywords: Purchasing decision, Online products, Digital consumers