The present paper aims to find out the relation of brand engagement and materialism with consumer shopping behavior. Brand engagement considers the importance consumers give to brands (Sprott et al., 2009). The relation of materialism (intrinsic and extrinsic values) with brand engagement is represented by considering the importance a person gives to his possessions or acquisitions to achieve the desired end result. Finally, the impact of these two constructs is checked with shopping activity of both male and female. This research is based on field survey responses received from student consumers in two universities in Jammu. The findings demonstrate that brand engagement in self-concept and materialism are positively linked to liking for shopping. The different dimensions of materialism appear in consumers differently, and they influence the relationship between brand engagement and shopping activity. The study also reveals that there is a difference in shopping motivation between male and female consumers.

Markets motivate consumers to shop. For some consumers shopping is a necessity, but for some it is a recreational activity (Eisenberg, 2009). Till date, there is no exact definition of shopping. However, on Wikipedia, it is stated that shopping is an opportunity to inspect goods and services which retailers have, with an intention to purchase them. In some situations, shopping is considered as a leisure activity, while in others it is considered as an economic activity. Kotler and Keller (2009) describe that shopping goods are compared on the basis of their price, quality and suitability. Shopping can be both an in-store and an out-store activity (searching catalogs and online buying) (Goldsmith and Flynn, 2005). For consumers, shopping is an intentional self-exposure towards products available in the market for purchase.

Shopping is also of significant interest for marketers and retailers, and plays an important role in consumer behavior theories. There is a variety of literature on shopping available from scholars and their focus was mainly on information acquisition and decision making. There are also researchers who focused on shopping through neurophysiology (Tan, 2008). There is difference in every individual on the basis of his needs, wants and motives. There are differences by way of hedonic shopping motivation (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003) and various shopping styles which influence shopping behavior (Korgaonkar and Wolin, 1999). Shopping includes both bargaining and browsing activity, but browsing is much more common in hedonic shopping (Kim and Kim, 2008). Shopping motivation can be classified in different ways (Cowart and Goldsmith, 2007). Shopping motivation can be utilitarian, hedonic, social and cognitive (Babin et al., 1994).

Brand Management Journal, Brand Engagement, Materialism, Gender Differences, Age Differences, Study Design, Results and Discussion, Attitude Towards Shopping.