Online Compulsive Buying Behavior of Young Consumers in India – Examining the role of Smartphone Addiction, Social Media Addiction, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and Impulsive Buying Behavior

Abstract

There are a lot of reasons why young people nowadays spend so much time on social media and their phones. Their vulnerability to the persuasive marketing tactics used by online retailers leads them to engage in compulsive shopping, which in turn strains their mental and financial resources. Young consumers are more likely to suffer from compulsive buying disorders as a result of the increased pressure to shop online frequently brought on by factors such as increased impulsiveness, greater smartphone and social media use, and the fear of losing out on online rewards. This article aims to examine the impact of impulsive buying, social media addiction, smartphone addiction, FOMO, and other factors on the compulsive online shopping behaviour of young Indian consumers. Primary data was gathered from 164 young consumers who have shopped online before using an online survey. For this study, we used non-parametric tests to examine our hypotheses, and the results showed a positive and statistically significant correlation between smartphone addiction, social media addiction, FOMO, impulsive buying, and online compulsive buying. The study's findings suggest that e-commerce company marketers might boost their bottom lines by catering to the tech-savvy and trendiest tastes of India's youth. Also, they need to be more reasonable and do what's right by promoting responsible consumption among young consumers. They should do this because they believe that if they use responsible marketing methods, young consumers will follow suit, and they will become industry leaders.