Factors Affecting Online Purchase Intention: A Case Study of Malaysian Consumers

Online purchase is chosen as an easy step to spend on getting our essentials without having to line up at the counter. The objective of this research is to study online purchasing practices and the factors that influence them. In addition, the study also aims to examine the differences in online purchasing practices by selected background factors (gender, stratum, generation, ethnicity, home income, education level and zone). The population of this study consisted of users over the age of 17 who were selected by convenience through the 'mall intercept' method. T-test results showed significant differences (t = -3.156, p = 0.001) for online purchase practice scores between male and female respondents. ANOVA test results also show significant average score differences in terms of generation [F (3, 1298) = 3,475, p = 0.016], ethnicity [F (4, 1291) = 3,678, p = 0.006], and income [F (4, 1227) = 6,935, p = 0.000] while no differences are reported for the level of education, zone and stratum when p > 0.05. The findings also show that only five key factors were the consumer choice before make online purchases, which are safety factors, products offered, risks, can trusted and user experience.