The Effect of Usage Intensity and Promotions on Shopee E-Commerce on Consumer Behavior Students at the Al-Hilal Sigli College of Tarbiyah, 2025

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FORMOSA NEWS - Medan - App Habits Drive Student Overspending More Than Flash Sales, Study Reveals. A groundbreaking study published in 2026 investigates how frequent engagement with the Shopee e-commerce platform fuels consumerism among college students. Conducted by researchers Ayu Maulida Fitri, Yosie Gabriela Panjaitan, Siti Maisyarah, and Nurmasyahyati from Universitas Senior Medan, the research evaluated shopping behaviors during the 2025 academic period. The findings provide critical insights into how digital platform habits reshape young consumer finances, offering a timely roadmap for financial literacy education and digital well-being.

Understanding the Digital Spending Shift

The rapid expansion of digital commerce has fundamentally transformed modern spending habits, removing traditional barriers of time and space for college students. With platforms like Shopee recording massive monthly user traffic, online shopping has shifted from basic necessity fulfillment into an immersive lifestyle activity. While digital accessibility brings unmatched convenience, it also exposes young adults to excessive purchasing patterns where spending decisions bypass rational budgeting. Understanding these behavioral triggers is essential for developing effective financial education programs and fostering mindful digital consumption among youth.

Research Methodology
The research employed a quantitative causal-associative design to measure the direct relationships between app usage intensity, promotional strategies, and student consumer behavior. Data was gathered through structured Likert-scale questionnaires administered to 86 student respondents. The sample size was determined using the Slovin formula and purposive sampling techniques from a total population of 603 students at the Tarbiyah Al-Hilal Sigli College of Sciences. Researchers verified instrument validity and reliability before analyzing the data using multiple linear regression modeling, t-tests, F-tests, and coefficient of determination calculations.

Key Research Findings
The empirical analysis revealed clear patterns regarding what drives student spending:

• App Usage Dominates: The frequency and duration of Shopee application usage have a powerful, positive, and statistically significant impact on consumerism, yielding a t-value of 6.495 and a significance level of 0.000. Every incremental increase in app usage directly escalates consumptive behavior.
  
• Promotions Play a Secondary Role: Interestingly, promotional strategies such as discounts, vouchers, and flash sales did not show standalone statistical significance in partial testing, registering a significance value of 0.054. While promotions attract attention, they do not act as the primary standalone driver of excessive spending.
  
• Combined Impact: Simultaneous testing proved that usage intensity and promotional strategies work together to significantly influence consumer behavior, achieving an F-value of 63.252. Together, these factors explain 60.4% of the variability in student consumerism (R-squared of 0.604), with the remaining 39.6% driven by external lifestyle and psychological factors.
  

Real-World Implications and Impact
These insights carry significant practical implications for academic institutions, financial advisors, and policymakers. Rather than focusing solely on commercial marketing regulations, efforts to curb excessive spending must address daily digital habits and app interaction routines. Educational institutions can utilize these findings to implement targeted financial literacy workshops that encourage students to establish strict personal spending limits and critically evaluate digital purchases against real financial constraints.

Author Profile
Ayu Maulida Fitri – Researcher in Economics and Business, Universitas Senior Medan.
Yosie Gabriela Panjaitan – Researcher in Applied Sciences and Consumer Behavior, Universitas Senior Medan.
Siti Maisyarah – Lecturer and Author in Micro and Macroeconomics, Universitas Senior Medan.
Nurmasyahyati – Researcher in Business Administration and Digital Commerce, Universitas Senior Medan.

Source
Ayu Maulida Fitri, Yosie Gabriela Panjaitan, Siti Maisyarah, Nurmasyahyati. The Effect of Usage Intensity and Promotions on Shopee E-Commerce on Consumer Behavior Students at the Al-Hilal Sigli College of Tarbiyah, 2025 (Judul Bahasa Indonesia: Pengaruh Intensitas Penggunaan dan Promosi pada E-Commerce Shopee terhadap Perilaku Konsumtif Mahasiswa Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Tarbiyah Al-Hilal Sigli Tahun 2025). Formosa Journal of Applied Sciences (FJAS), Vol. 5, No. 9, 2026, hlm. 2043–2060.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/fjas.v5i9.113.
URL Resmi Jurnal: https://journalfjas.my.id/index.php/fjas.