E-commerce platforms and social media tools: The impact on Malaysian young adults' buying behaviour

The advent of e-commerce has substantially changed the nature of business. From traditional brick- and-mortar shops to online shops, online businesses today allow people to sell and buy things anytime, anywhere. Online shopping has become more common and preferred by consumers because purchases can be done without the need to be physically present in stores as the transaction of goods and services are made via channels of the internet. In Malaysia, e-commerce has been growing rapidly and is not anticipated to slow down anytime soon, particularly with the help of social media platforms. E-commerce platforms have also grown in popularity and recognition among its users. As a result of this trend, researchers have begun to focus their research exclusively on Malaysian consumers, as prior studies have been largely focused on the purchasing habits of people in industrialised countries. To add to this literature, the present study explores the impact of e-commerce platforms towards young adults' buying behaviour in Malaysia. This study employed a quantitative approach where a 4-section questionnaire was used to collect data on two constructs: the convenience of e-commerce platforms and design of e-commerce websites. The questionnaire was distributed to Malaysian young adults and yielded 160 valid responses. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used to guide the study and the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was used in analysing the collected data. The convenience of using e-commerce was found to have the most impact on young adults' buying behaviour.