This study entitled “online and traditional clothes shopping practices by young adults in the coastal region of Cameroon”. Taking into consideration the notion of online shopping and the reasons that impede its practice from the perspectives of young adults will be the center of discussion. Based on the fact that online shopping is something that is gaining ground in general terms everywhere, this is a very substantial issue. This implies that more internet access increases the tendency for people to execute buying online. For this reason, it is important for businesses to offer this kind of activity to consumers. They should try to understand the conditions necessary for online shopping. Also, by extension, they must focus on selling and buying using the traditional way.
To understand the factors which deter this practice and the possible ways for the government and sellers to encourage this practice, a qualitative method was employed. The primary data was collected from young adults selected within the three chosen cities in the coastal region of Cameroon. With a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions to describe their experiences concerning online shopping. The findings prove that limited accessibility and availability of internet access, inadequate delivery address, insufficient bank accounts, high cost of transportation, inadequate availability of online shops, and previous online shopping experience were found to be the major aspects hindering the practice of shopping online in the coastal region of Cameroon. A comparative study with an interpretive iterative approach permitted the realization of the said findings. Before arriving at the findings, existing literature and theoretical considerations were conceived to form the conceptual framework which was used as an instrument for the thematic analysis of the findings.
The main findings were discussed referring to what has been found in other emerging economies. The study ended up presenting the key factors hindering the practice of online shopping and what could be done by the government and sellers to encourage this practice in the study area. This study will improve the researcher’s understanding connected with the notion of consumer decision-making towards purchasing online. The findings cannot be generalized for online shoppers across the study context and other countries due to the specific sample group. Further research may talk about the demographic variables of the respondents and a different sample of respondents may alter the outcomes.