Consumer Use of the Internet in Shopping for Unique Products

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that may be related to the desire for unique consumer products and discover if there is a relationship between the desire for unique consumer products and online shopping. Data collection was conducted during scheduled university classes and each participant was asked to complete a paper questionnaire. A total of 141 usable questionnaires were obtained. The data collected for this study was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Simple, multiple and multivariate regression analysis were employed to test the hypotheses. Among the proposed eight hypotheses in the research model seven hypotheses were statistically significant. Need for uniqueness, status aspiration, materialism, and innovativeness were significant predictors of desire for unique consumer products. In addition, the findings showed that desire for unique consumer products was related to frequency of visiting online shopping sites, amount of money spent in online shopping, and attitudes toward online shopping. However, no relationship was found between desire for unique consumer products and the amount of time spent on online shopping.