Socio-Demographic Differences in Consumer Behavior and Purchase Intentions: The Role of Sustainability in Online Shopping

Research background: With consumers becoming more environmentally conscious, sustainability has emerged as a crucial element in the online shopping landscape. The demand for eco-friendly products and brands is steadily increasing. Various socio-demographic factors also influence the online purchasing decisions and behavior of consumers, based on which it is also possible to divide consumers into different market segments. Purpose of the article: The research aimed to explore disparities in consumer behavior and purchase intentions related to sustainability in the context of online shopping, considering specific socio-demographic factors. The focus was on specific socio-demographic characteristics, particularly education and net monthly income. Methods: Sources of secondary data were international scientific and statistical databases. The research employed a questionnaire survey as the primary data collection method, targeting 506 Slovak consumers as the sample. Socio-demographic differences among the respondents were examined using the Kruskal-Wallis H test, utilizing the IBM SPSS Statistics 26 program. Findings & Value added: The findings from the study revealed noteworthy variations in environmentally sustainable consumer behavior and purchase intentions when shopping online, which were found to be influenced by their educational background and net monthly income. Significant differences in future purchase intention were found, with consumers holding the 1st degree university education scoring the highest. The results indicate that by supporting the increase of consumers' environmental awareness, it is possible to achieve their pro-environmental online shopping behavior. These results provide valuable insights for online sellers to develop targeted marketing strategies that take into account the socio-demographic differences among consumers.