Online shopping in the context of hedonic consumption and utilitarian consumption tendencies: A study on Fırat University students

People in their daily lives; spend most of their time in consumption and consumption-related activities. Consumers shop according to their own wishes. Their purchase is to meet their needs and wants. They decide according to the decision criteria they have developed and evaluate their choices at the end of consumption. Consumers make many purchasing decisions. Researchers analyze consumers' purchases to find out what they buy, where they buy it, and how much they buy. The most fundamental and important motives among consumers' online shopping and traditional shopping habits are utilitarian and hedonic motives. It is known that hedonic consumption is made at the point of meeting emotional needs, and shopping made by displaying rational behaviors is also valued in terms of utilitarian consumption. In this study, a total of 472 survey results obtained from Fırat University students were examined. In this context, with the data obtained from the students studying at Fırat University, the effect of the students' hedonic purchasing motivation and utilitarian purchasing motivation on the online shopping behavior was determined. For this purpose, correlation and regression analyzes were performed to examine the relationship between the variables of the study, and suggestions were presented to online retailers in line with the findings. In addition, a difference analysis was made according to the demographic characteristics of the collected data. In the analysis of the data, t-test and ANOVA, test and correlation relationship, regression effect analyzes were used to test the difference between groups in samples with normal distribution. In the frequency of online shopping, female students shop more than male students. Male students prefer the option of paying at the door more in the use of credit cards. Male students mostly prefer technological products, while women are shoes, clothes, jewelry, etc. preferred their products. Capturing opportunities in Hedonic Purchasing Behaviors of women, students with 401TL-800TL (mid-level) income level, using credit cards, who shop once a month or a few times a week, have higher Hedonic Purchasing Behaviors. It was concluded that the option of paying at the door was preferred in the motivation of adventurous shopping. There was no significant difference according to the gender of the students' Utilitarian Purchasing Behaviors. It has been observed that the Utilitarian Purchasing Behaviors of students with an income level of 801 TL and above, students studying at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, and students using credit cards who make a few purchases a month or a week are higher. It has been concluded that the students shop for the convenient choice and to reduce the cost in the use of credit cards. Keywords: Hedonic Consuption, Utilitarian Consuption, Online Shopping, University Students.