Digital Consumer Transformation: Digital Literacy, Digital Payments, and Their Impact on MSME Product Purchases Among Gen Z Students

Abstract

The development of digital technology has driven significant changes in consumption behavior, particularly among Generation Z students who are known as digital natives. This study aims to analyze the influence of digital literacy on the purchase of MSME products, as well as to examine the mediating role of digital payments in this relationship. The research method used is a quantitative approach with purposive sampling techniques on 165 Generation Z student respondents in Purwokerto. Data collection was conducted through an online questionnaire and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assisted by SmartPLS 4. The results show that digital literacy has a positive and significant effect on digital payments, as well as a direct effect on the purchase of MSME products. In addition, the digital payment variable was found to significantly mediate the effect between digital literacy and the purchase of MSME products. These findings confirm that digital literacy competencies not only improve students' ability to access product information but also encourage confidence in the use of digital payment services, which ultimately increases the purchase of MSME products. This study has implications for MSME players to maximize the integration of digital payments to increase competitiveness in the digital economy era.