Supplements purchase intention: young consumer’s perspective

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the factors that influence young consumers’ purchase intention towards dietary supplements (DS) in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – The supplement industry in Malaysia has been growing rapidly recently due to a paradigm shift in healthcare management, from curative to prevention. Thus, it has sparked interest to conduct a study on the factors that influence young consumers’ purchase intentions towards DS. With a response rate of 74.5%, a survey questionnaire was used to elicit data from 149 Gen-Y respondents who consume supplements on a regular basis. Findings – The results revealed that the influencing factors towards purchase decisions among these Gen-Y respondents aged between 17 and 25 are based on product knowledge and product quality. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are outlined at the end of this paper. Originality/value – This study offers empirical insights from the perspective of an emerging digital economy on the factors that influence young consumers’ purchase intentions towards DS in Malaysia.