DISSERTATION ON

“A Study on Consumer Perception towards Online

Shopping in Lucknow”

Submitted To:
Department of Journalism & Mass Communication
University of Lucknow
2016-18

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

Mr. Pintu Joarder Sir Dr. Mukul Srivastava

SUBMITTED BY:
Pranjal Chaurasia
MJMC Semester- IV
ROLL NO: 17001013038
 DECLARATION

I, Pranjal Chaurasia the undersigned, hereby declared that the Research project report
titled “A Study on consumer perception towards online shopping In Lucknow” is written and
submitted by me to the Lucknow University in award of degree of Department of Journalism &
Mass Communication under the guidance of Mr. Pintu Joarder This is my original work and
conclusion drawn there in is based on the material collected by Pranjal Chaurasia.

Date: Signature

Pranjal Chaurasia
MJMC Semester- IV
ROLL NO: 17001013038
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure to present this report on “A study on consumer perception

towards online shopping in Lucknow”. The Research project has brought out signification of
sincere efforts, teamwork, guidance and support that makes a project successful. I take
opportunity to acknowledge the guidance and encouragements of all those with whom I have
interacted during the course of this project. I would like to thank our mentor my project guide
Mr. Pintu Joarder for her valuable suggestions during the project work. I would also like to
thank our Director, Dr. Mukul Srivastava and my colleagues for their support.
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Sr. Content Page No.

No.

1. INTRODUCTION

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

3. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY

4. THEORIES OF THE STUDY

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

6. DATA ANALYSIS

7. FINDING

8. RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

10. ANNEXURES
INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION
Internet is changing the way consumers shop and buys goods and services, and has

rapidly evolved into a global phenomenon. Many companies have started using the

Internet with the aim of cutting marketing costs, thereby reducing the price of their

products and services in order to stay ahead in highly competitive markets. Companies

also use the Internet to convey, communicate and disseminate information, to sell the

product, to take feedback and also to conduct satisfaction surveys with customers.

Customers use the Internet not only to buy the product online, but also to compare

prices, product features and after sale service facilities they will receive if they

purchase the product from a particular store. Many experts are optimistic about the

prospect of online business.

In addition to the tremendous potential of the E-commerce market, the Internet

provides a unique opportunity for companies to more efficiently reach existing and

potential customers. Although most of the revenue of online transactions comes from

business-to-business commerce, the practitioners of business-to-consumer commerce

should not lose confidence. It has been more than a decade since business-to consumer

E-commerce first evolved. Scholars and practitioners of electronic

commerce constantly strive to gain an improved insight into consumer behavior in

cyberspace. Along with the development of E-retailing, researchers continue to

explain E-consumers’ behavior from different perspectives. Many of their studies

have posited new emergent factors or assumptions that are based on the traditional

models of consumer behaviour, and then examine their validity in the Internet context.

Online shopping is definitely a great way to shop with everything available on the

websites. From clothes, gift items, food, home needs, medicines, and many more, this

mode of shopping allows one to shop conveniently without hassle on spending hours

in a supermarket or shopping areas. The Internet with its wide array of information

nooks, allows the customer to go through various reviews of the product or service

before actually heading for purchases. These online shopping websites also have daily

deals for the customer looking for discounts and store offerings.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

In recent years, online shopping has become very popular. The growth of technology has made

these a part and parcel of everyday lifestyle. The advent of plastic money or the debit /credit card

and the smooth access to the World Wide Web has brought the shops from around the world to

the desktop. We personally have seen many of our friends surfing through various online

shopping sites and purchasing things. Student community has become so strong that even the

parents seek the help and advice of their children before conducting big purchases. This is solely

because of their exposure to web and social media. Moreover, while it comes to personal

purchases, students are very particular that they get best products available in the market and

seek all the possible ways to secure the best products.

The study is very relevant because it can give a clear picture of the future of online markets in

India and the emerging trends in this particular field. The various factors that influence online

shopping habits and its merits and demerits are also dealt with.The study also tries to have a

comparison of online shopping habits among different age group as well as income group.

Objective of the Study

The objective of this research study is to investigate online consumer behavior, which

in turn provides E-marketers with a constructional framework for fine-tuning their E

businesses’strategies. The specific objectives of this research are:

1. To know the consumers awareness and perception about the products and services provided on

internet.

2. To know how it provides products and services and satisfies their customers.

3. To know how it reduces the uncertainty in purchase decision process.

Scope of the Study

The theoretical scope of the study includes the popularity of online shopping, the need

of virtual markets, their role in influencing the consumption pattern and habits, merits

and demerits of e-markets, major players in online retailing etc.

We can listed the scope as below :

1. The Study was conducted among the Internet users.

2. The Geographical area covered was Lucknow.

3. The Study was based on a Schedule of Questions.

4. The scope of internet shopping

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

1. To analyse the consumer interest on online marketing.

2. To determine the factors affecting online buying.

3. To evaluate the growth of online marketing.

4. To forsee the demand of online shopping in india.

5. To study the impact of traditional retailer over the online retailer.

6. To gather information regarding growing sector for online purchasing.

7. To understand the barriers of online marketing.

8. To know the consumers awareness and perception about the products and services provided on

internet

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Utmost care has been taken with regard to the collection, classification and analysis of

data. However, the study is subjected to the following limitations:

There were hardly any previous studies on the topic and it was a great challenge to deal with a

fresh topic.

1. Lack of environmental support for the study on the topic.

2. Less sample size, as it is just survey with 130 respondent

3. Basically based on primary data , hence we cannot argue that the research is

applicable in each condition, time & place.

4. Short time duration, with in such short span of time it is too much difficult to
analyse the topic.
5. Lack of customer support, while asking the consumer they were behaving rudely and least
responding to the questions.
LITRETURE REVIEW
REVIEW OF LITRETURE

A literature review is a select analysis of existing research which is relevant to your topic,

showing how it relates to your investigation. It explains and justifies how your investigation may

help answer some of the questions or gaps in this area of research.

A literature review is not a straightforward summary of everything you have read on the topic

and it is not a chronological description of what was discovered in your field.

Rajeev Kamineni (2004) in his study finds that World Wide Web can change humanbehaviour

and human interactions to a very large extent. Web based shopping

behaviour is one major example to point out the trends in this direction. This study is

of a very exploratory nature and it intends to establish the differences between several

web-based shoppers from different parts of the world. Several critical factors associated with

online shopping behavior have been explored. A cross cultural data set has been collected and an

illustrative description of the shoppers has been provided. As a final step the cross cultural

differences between several shoppers explored.

ArchanaShrivastava, Ujwal Lanjewar, (2011) in online buying, the rate of diffusion

And adoption of the online buying amongst consumers is still relatively low in India. In view of

above problem an empirical study of online buying behavior was undertaken.

Based on literature review, four predominant psychographic parameters namely attitude,

motivation, personality and trust were studied with respect to online buying.

The online buying decision process models based on all the four parameters were designed after

statistical analysis. These models were integrated with business

intelligence, knowledge management and data mining to design Behavioral Business Intelligence

framework with a cohesive view of online buyer behavior.

For better understanding the factors of internet and consumer shopping behaviors

towards internet shopping, this chapter would provide academic research reviews and relative

ideas expressed in the literature that associated with this subject. Furthermore, a number of

hypotheses will be tested to answer the research questions that mentioned

already in the introduction. Due to the recent research shows that internet shopping becomes a

full and effective business model (Black, 2005), therefore there are several

studies that already investigated more or less related on internet shopping and consumer

behaviour. In the following chapter, some point of view will be taken from literatures, and needs

careful review to achieve them as the basis of the subsequent research investigation.

J.SINHA 2010 The number of people engaged in various online activities is increasing

every day. While the number of online shoppers is increasing, it is not proportional to

that of brick-and-mortar shoppers. Research has tried to explain the dismal performance of

online shopping as compared to the physical shopping format.

Reasons for the lower level of Internet sales have been cited as being perceived risk in

carrying out an online transaction, socio-psychological factors (Like - influence of friends and

relatives) and infrastructural limitations (Availability of Internet, computers, credit-cards, cyber

laws etc.). Under the purview of aforementioned factors this study tried understanding the online

shopping behavior of Indian consumers. Socio-psychological factors and infrastructure have

been found influential factors while the perceived risk surprisingly is not significant as a whole

but at gender level there was significant difference between the online behavior of male and

female due to risk perception.

Lal studied the determinants of adoption of Information Technology (IT) in India. The study

was based on 59 electrical and electronic goods manufacturing firmssituated in NOIDA. Semi-
structured questionnaire were used to collect the data. The study examined the factors

influencing the degree of IT adoption by firms. The factors included are entrepreneur

characteristics measured by entrepreneur’s qualification, importance given to market share, R&D

and quality consciousness, firm’s international orientation factors measured by import and export

intensity, work force skill and firm size. The sample firms were divided into four categories

depending on their intensity of IT.

E-Business probably began with electronic data interchange in the 1960s (Zwass, 1996).

However, (Melao, 2008) suggests that it was only in the 1990s, primarily via the Internet, that e-

Business has emerged as a core feature of many organizations. In his opinion, the hope was that

e-Business would revolutionize the ways in which organizations interact with customers,

employees, suppliers and partners. Some saw e- Business as part of a recipe to stay competitive

in the global economy.

Christy M. K. Cheung, Lei Zhu, Timothy Kwong, Gloria W.W. Chan,

Moez Limayem,(2002) The topic of online consumer behavior has been examined under

variouscontexts over the years. Although researchers from a variety of business disciplines have

made significant progress over the past few years, the scope of these studies is rather broad, the

studies appear relatively fragmented and no unifying theoretical model is found in this research

area. In view of this, provide an exhaustive review of the literature and propose a research

framework with three key building blocks (intention, adoption, and continuance) so as to analyze

the online consumer behavior in a systematic way. This proposed framework not only provides

us with a cohesive view of online consumer behavior, but also serves as a salient guideline for

researchers in this area.

Burke, R.R. (2002), Trust is a key factor that determines the success of Business to Consumer

(B2C) e-commerce transactions. Previous researchers have identified several critical factors that

Influence trust in the context of online shopping. This research focuses on available security

measures which assure online shoppers safety and great sales promotions and online deals which

stimulate customers to shop online.

Abel Stephen (2003) in his paper represents the findings of research studies that address e-

commerce design and associated consumer behavior. The innovation of e-commerce has affected

not only the marketplace through the facilitation of the exchange of goods and services, but also

human behavior in response to the mechanisms of online services. Researchers have identified

and hypothesized on relevant subject matters ranging from Web usability, marketing channels

and other factors influencing online buying behavior. Though researchers have focused on what

appear different aspects of online buying behavior, their studies may be shown to be interrelated

and interdependent, even to the extent of revealing constructs upon which e-commerce, in terms

of future design and research, could be built.

Balasubramanian, S., Konana, P. and Menon, N.M. (2003), In this environment,

sometraditional service quality dimensions that determine customer satisfaction, such as

thephysical appearance of facilities, employees, and equipment, and employees_ responsiveness

andempathy are unobservable. In contrast, trust may play a central role here in enhancing

customer satisfaction. Model trust as an endogenously formed entity that ultimately impacts

customer satisfaction, and we elucidate the linkages between trust and other factors related to the

performance of the online service provider and to the service environment. The classic consumer

purchasing decision-making theory can be characterized as a continuum extending from routine

problem-solving behaviors, through to limited problem solving behaviors and then towards
extensive problem-solving behaviors [Schiff man et al., 2001]. The traditional framework for

analysis of the buyer decision process is a five-step model. Given the model, the consumer

progresses firstly from a state of felt deprivation (problem recognition), to the search for

information on problem solutions. The information gathered provides the basis for the evaluation

of alternatives. Finally, post-purchase behavior is critical in the marketing perspective, as it

eventually affects consumers’ perception of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the product/service.

This classic five stage model comprises the essence of consumer behavior under most

contexts. Nevertheless, the management of marketing issues at each stage in the virtual

environment has to be resolved by individual E-marketers. Peterson et al. [1997] commented that

it is an early stage in Internet development in terms of building an appropriate dedicated model

of consumer buying behavior. Decision sequences will be influenced by the starting point of the

consumer, the relevant market structures and the characteristics of the product in question.

Consumers' attitude towards online shopping is a prominent factor affecting actual buying

behavior. (Source: Jarvenpaa Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, VOL. 6, and NO.2,

2005)

Todd [1997] proposed a model of attitudes and shopping intention towards Internet shopping in

general. The model included several indicators, belonging to four major categories; the value of

the product, the shopping experience, the quality of service offered by the website and the risk

perceptions of Internet retail shopping. In the research conducted by Vellido et al. [2000], nine

factors associated with users' perception of online shopping were extracted.

Among those factors the risk perception of users was demonstrated to be the main

discriminator between people buying online and people not buying online.
Other discriminating factors were; control over, and convenience of, the shopping process,

affordability of merchandise, customer service and ease of use of the shopping site. In another

study, Jarvenpaa et al. [2000] tested a model of consumer attitude towards specific webbase

stores, in which perceptions of the store's reputation and size were assumed to affect consumer

trust of the retailer. The level of trust was positively related to the attitude toward the store, and

inversely related to the perception of the risks involved in buying from that store. Jarvenpaa et al.

[2000] concluded that the attitude and the risk perception affected the consumer's intention to

buy from the store.

Consumer risk perceptions and concerns regarding online shopping are mainly related to

aspects involving the privacy and security of personal information, the security of online

transaction systems and the uncertainty of product quality. Trust is interwoven with risk

[McAllister, 1995]. One of the consequences of trust is that it reduces the consumer’s

perception of risk associated with opportunistic behavior by the seller [Ganesan, 1994]. Lack of

trust is frequently reported as the reason for consumers not purchasing from Internet shops, as

trust is regarded as an important factor under conditions of uncertainty and risk in traditional

theories.

Mayer et al. [1995] developed a model which combines traditional marketing philosophy on

consumer motivation to buy and the trust model. In this model, trust propensity; which is a

personality trait possessed by buyers; is an important antecedent of trust. In Internet

shopping, there is not much information available to the buyer regarding the seller, prior to

purchase. A buyer with a high propensity to trust will more likely be a potential customer than a

buyer with a lower propensity.

Purchase decisions are ultimately guided by consumers' perceptions of the product or service. Of

course, the critical nature of perceptions as they relate to purchase behaviour has been repeatedly

demonstrated in advertising and marketing research. Negative perceptions of the product,

service, brand, or company almost always translate to a lost sale or, at a minimum, expressed

lower intentions to purchase the advertised product or service. If the goal is to increase online

spending among consumers, particularly female consumers, then consumers' perceptions of

online shopping are ultimately matters the most. Presumably, the more positive consumers

perceive the online buying experience the more likely they will make online purchases. The

primary construct that we believe will have a bearing on perceptual differences between male

and female internet shoppers is emotion. Related to emotion are two additional constructs, trust

and convenience. (Robertson , Zielinski and Ward, 1984)

OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY
OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY
ONLINE SHOPPING IN INDIA

The birth and growth of Internet has been the biggest event of the century. E-commerce in India

has come a long way from a timid beginning in the 1999-2000 to a period where one can sell and

find all sorts of stuff from a high end product to a meager peanut online. Most corporations are

using Internet to represent their product range and services so that it is accessible to the global

market and to reach out to a larger range of their audience.

Computers and the Internet have completely changed the way one handles day-to-day

transactions; online shopping is one of them. The Internet has brought about sweeping changes in

the purchasing habits of the people. In the comfort of one's home, office or cyber cafe or

anywhere across the globe, one can log on and buy just about anything from apparel, books,

music and diamond jewellery to digital cameras, mobile phones, MP3 players, video games,

movie tickets, rail and air tickets. Ease, simplicity, convenience and security are the key factors

turning the users to buy online.

E-commerce revenues in the country are projected to reach Rs 2,300 crore in the year 2006- 07,

growing at 95 per cent over 2004-05(Source: Internet and Mobile Association of India, IAMAI).

This pertains to the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment. It may be too early to do a comparison

with the e-commerce scenes in countries such as the US where billions of dollars are spent online

but the business in India is growing exponentially every year, albeit from a smaller base, the total

revenues have reached a respectful size.

Recent Developments

The number of users logging on to the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. The number of

Indians who are online is expected to touch to 100 million by 2007-08, from the present 38.5

million according to the research conducted by IAMAI. The numbers indicate a growing sense of

comfort with the use of Internet for shopping. Accompanying this growth, there is an increasing

maturity in the way people use the Internet. It's a classical curve. Online users typically start by

using e-mail, gradually move on to browsing for news, information and entertainment, and

finally graduate to shopping and conducting business online. Online sales have registered a huge

jump and what was a concept five years ago is now beginning to hit the mainstream levels.

Roughly 10 percent of the world's population more than 627 million people have shopped online

at least once, in India it is just sprouted and beginning to perish.

Internet is now going beyond the simple exchange of information to a shopping paradise.

This medium is far bigger than expected, but many retailers and marketers are not using it to its

full potential. Indian customers are increasingly getting comfortable with online shopping, and

there is a higher acceptability for the concept. India has 25 million Internet users and more is

now turning to online shopping. There has been an influx of online shopping sites in India with

many companies hitching onto the Internet bandwagon. The revenues from online shopping are

expected to more than double by 2006-07. According to IAMAI, the average number of

transactions per month in India has gone up from 2 lakh in 2003-04 to 4.4 lakh in 2004-05 and

has doubled to 7.95 lakh transactions per month in the year 2005-06. The online sales during the

festival season had increased rapidly especially during Diwali and Ramzan which recorded a

sales of Rs115 crore, a 117 per cent increase from the Rs53 crore in the year 2004- 05(source

IAMAI). These figures clearly show that online shopping has truly come of age and consumers
are keen to shop on the net. Effective customer communication on products plus reduced

shipping costs and timely delivery has helped online marketers to seize a slice of the Rs 115

crore sales. Online shopping has become the latest trend among shoppers. Indians are becoming

more comfortable with e-commerce. The consumer’s attitude has been evolving towards online

purchases. It has become increasingly positive over the years. The attitudes that drive people to

shop online, such as convenience, price comparison and choice are improving tremendously in

India.

Though a miniscule amount in the global context, the Indian online shoppers’ population would

make its presence felt quite remarkably. The potential of the Indian e-market can be gauged from

the fact that 16 percent of Indian consumers want to buy online in the next six months, making it

the third most online-potential country after Korea (28 percent) and Australia (26 percent)

(Source:IMRB). This is an indication of a growing breed of Indian consumers who are not only

better equipped but also more confident of the online transactions. Indian businesses have also

grown mature enough to move up the IT curve and they are considering Business to consumer

(B2C) e-commerce a viable revenue model. Some of the companies that have benefited are

baazee.com, indiatimes.com, rediff.com, indiamart.com, fabmart.com, traveljini.com and

sifymall.com. Indiamart.com has witnessed a growth of more than ten times in just two years in

its online gifts domain. In the online travel domain, the company was able to generate an average

$8,000 worth of room bookings/month for its premium client. It is expected to touch $15-

20,000/month/client by the year-end, which is over 100 percent growth (Source: Indiamart).

Brick-and-mortar businesses are also building up e-commerce revenues. In the year 2005

06Samsung India recorded a 120 percent jump in online buying from its site over the year 2004
05 (Source: Samsung). Nirula’s revenues in the year 2005-06 and is positive for the next one to

two years (Source: Nirula’s).

Companies like eBay India have seen a large increase in the number of sellers and buyers from B

and C cities and in a year the eBay community (buyers and sellers) base has increased to 1.7

million users, which shows that more Indians are shopping online (Source: eBay). Online sales

are currently marked by a single digit growth, but the leading garment retail like Pantaloon,

Shoppers’ Stop and Globus have already made business strategies to enter into the world of e-

retailing. Famous apparel brand Zodiac has already started online stores. The main motive of

these retailers through online sales is to reach the small towns where they do not have the outlets.

Thus the India's Internet shopping sector is preparing for a massive growth, which is fuelled by

increasing broadband usage and growing e-commerce.

GAINT PLAYERS IN INDIAN ONLINE- Looking for Best Online shopping sites in India

or Top 10 ten 2013 shopping website in India, here in this post we going to tell you top 20 Indian

online shopping sites. Online shopping has been growing very fast in India, only in 2012 online

shopping e-commerce site number has crossed 600 from 100 . Online shopping offers fast, easy,

money saving and interesting shopping experience, it has many advantages like 24 hours

shopping, Shopping with coupon to get discount, shopping from Home, rich product availability

and specifications etc. Also now many sites like Shopclues, Ebay, PayTm offers some great deals

eveyday or week which you can’t resisit like Jaw Dropping Deal, Sunday Flea Deal, PayTm

karo, Ebay, Amazon Lightning Deals, Snap deals, Homeshop18.com Superdeals,Flipkart offers,

Amazon Happy Hours etc.

  FlipKart.com-

Flipkart witnessed more than double growth in its B2C e ties the global markets and the

shoppingFlipkart.com is an e-commerce website founded by SachinBansal and BinnyBansal

in 2007. Both are from IIT Delhi Alumni and also worked in Amazon.com Flipkart.com

ranks #502 in world according to Alexa traffic rankings. In Google It forms advertising

revenue of $4.8 million. It receives 2.2 million page views in a day and generates $6,574 in

advertising revenue every day. Moreover it has certain losses 0.60% in traffic ranking.

Loading time of an average page 2.1 sec as it is much faster than 29% of sites around the

world. The mode of payments include Credit card, Debit card, Net banking, e vouchers, cash

on delivery. 2004- e-commerce retailers he page it ranks #6. .1 e-gifts

 EBay-
eBay is an online shopping website a consumer to consumer corporation which helps the people

and businessman to buy and sell products worldwide. It is operated to almost 30 countries. eBay

ranks #544 among Alexa traffic ranking. In Google it has page rank#6.Revenue inculcated was

about $4.4 Million. Moreover it receives 2 million page views per day which generates $6,066

in the advertisement revenue. Recently it has shown 15.13% growth in traffic rank. The page

loading time is upto 2 sec which is likely faster than 24% sites across the world.

 Snapdeal-

Snapdeal deals with online marketing of products including Mobiles, Electronics, Fashion

accessories, Apparel, Footwear, Kids, Home and Kitchen, Sports, Books; and services like

Restaurants, Spas & Entertainment. It was launched by Kunal Bahl, a Wharton graduate and

Rohit Bansal, alumnus of IIT Delhi, in February 2010. It ranks #576 in the world as per Alexa

traffic ranking.It ranks # 5 in Google Page Rank. The advertising revenue is about $4.2 receives

1.9 million page views in a day and generates $5,729 in advertising revenue. It has suffered loss

of 4.16 % in traffic ranking. The loading time of an average page is 1.6 sec which is faster than

46% of sites across the world.

It is an online shopping commerce for Home; Lifestyle & Fashion e-retailer founded in 2009

BigShoeBazaar.com has a user base of about 1.5 million people. Yebhi.com offers lifestyle &

Home products and products some 250 brands to its customers dealing in Shoes, Apparels,

Bags, Mobiles, Cameras, Sunglasses, Watches, Home furnishing, Home decor, Home ware,

Lingerie and Fragrances.It ranks #1,782 among Alexa traffic ranking. It ranks #4 in Google

page ranking. Advertising revenue is about $1.4 million. It receives 617,284 page views per

day generating $1,852 in advertising revenue. It has recently shown 6.70 Growth among

traffic ranking. The page loading is about 2 sec which is faster than 39% of s around the

world.

The International giant e Commerce retailer recently stepped into India with a Indian version site

www.amazon.in, since the launch, amazon.in has seen a nice growth in the number of customers.

Amazon.com too had a huge number of Indian customers even before it launched store in India.

The store hosts wide range of products like Electronics, Mobiles, Laptops, Books, Fashion,

Jewellery, Kitchenware and more.

  Shopclues.com-

A reputed online shopping retail website having headquarter in Gurgaon,Shopclues more than

12,000 merchants who are registered with the company. It is one of the top ecommerce websites

in India, which deals in more than 2 million products. They guarantee authenticity of products,

warranty and even ensure lowest price. They even have a record of catering to more than 42

million online visitors. The company has even more than employees across the country. They

offer wide range of branded products to consumers from every corner of the country.

Shopclues.com initiate free delivery services at the doorsteps of customers through reputed

courier services to nearly 10,000 cities across the country.They even initiate a 30-day return

guarantee if unable to meet customer satisfaction. One of the leading online shopping companies

Shopclues.com accepts online payment through major credit and debit cards, including net

banking services. The online shopping website service employs more than 400 personnel for

effective handling of the business and is even funded by national institutional investors.
  Myntra-

Myntra is an Indian ecommerce site. It

is regarded as India’s top 3rd online site to shop products. Myntra allows its users to

chose varieties of dress.One can choose any type of dress of any brand from Myntra.

Myntra is famous for its product quality and service .Now, Myntra is merged into Flipkart

to compete Amazon, but myntra.com is still running as a separate website and entity.

Buying clothes and gifts online can be best done via Myntra.

 Home shop 18-

HomeShop18 is the online & on marketing and distribution venture of Network18 Group

that was launched as India’s first 24 hour Home Shopping TV channel on April 9, 2008.

HomeShop18 offers innovative, differentiated and demonstrative retail experiences on

TV and internet and has emerged as the largest multimedia retailer in India with a user

base of 2.5 million users and some prestigious awards. HomeShop18 is a venture of the

Group, India’s fastest growing media and entertainment group that opera leading business

news television channels like CNN-IBN, CNBC TV18 Awaaz

THEORIES OF THE STUDY
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

The Internet has entered the mainstream consciousness over the past decade. This has happened

primarily because the web has got a graphical interface and Internet has moved from

governmental control to private hands. The activities which are happening on the Internet are

email and instant messaging, general web surfing or browsing, reading news, hobby searches,

entertainment searches, shopping and buying online, medical information searches, travel

information searches, tracking credit cards, and playing games.

Communication i.e. email, chat or instant message is the basic activity for which

Internet is used. It is the single most important reason for people to go online. E-mail

provides the opportunity to communicate more often with a much broader circle of people than

one can reach by telephone or by mail in a convenient way. In India too email constitutes the

major activity on the Internet. It was found that more elderly people are increasingly using email

as compared to the younger generations .In India the top five online activities are e-mail, surfing,

chatting, search and job search. Some of the sites, which are commonly used for these particular

activities, are:

 Yahoo -Most preferred communication portal, tops for email and chat

 Indiatimes –Best event and sports news provider.

 Naukri-Best recruitment portal

 Google-Best information domain

 Shaadi-Best for matrimonial services

 eBay-Best online shopping portal

 Rapid growth of cybercafés across India

 Access to Information
  The increase in number of computer users

 Reach to net services through broadband

 Middle-class population with spending power is growing. There are about 200 million of

middle-class population good spending powers. These people have very little time to

spend for shopping. Many of them have started to depend on internet to satisfy their

shopping desires.

The figures from IAMAI show that the internet users in India will grow to 200 million by 2010.

Around 25% of regular shoppers in India are in the 18-25 age groups, and 46% are in the 26-35-

year range.

 Indian online matrimonial sector is worth around $230 million.

 Worldwide e-commerce is only growing at the rate of 28%, since India being a younger

market, the growth of e-commerce is expected at 51% in the coming years.

 In line with global trends finally India has also started shopping online these days. As per

the study by IAMAI online shopping in India has rose from $11million in 1999-2000 to

$522 million in 2008 and it is expected to rise above $700 million by end March 2010.

 Indians are also Shopaholics like other Asians. There is a strong booming young adult

population in India with good levels of disposable income.

In India

Over $50 Billion and growing rapidly - Most popular online shopping products include: books

(45%), electronic gadgets (42%), railway tickets (38%), accessories apparel (35%), apparel

(35%), gifts (34%), computer and peripherals (32%), airline tickets (28%), music downloads
(21%), movie downloads (21%), hotel rooms (22%), magazines (18%), tools (16%), home

appliances (16%), toys (16%), jewelry (17%),movie ticket (15%), etc.

Payments

Online shoppers commonly use a credit card to make payments, however some systems enable

users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as:

 Billing to mobile phones and landlines

 Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores)

 Cheque/ Check

 Debit card

 Electronic money of various types

 Gift cards

 Postal money order

 Wire transfer/delivery on payment

Some sites will not accept international credit cards, some require both the purchaser's
billing address and shipping address to be in the same country in which site does its
business, and still other sites allow customers from anywhere to send gifts anywhere.
The financial part of a transaction might be processed in real time (for example,
Letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or might
be done later as part of the fulfillment process.

AIDA PRINCIPLE IN ONLINE

1. ATTENTION
2. INTREST
3. DESIRE
4. ACTION

 A – Attention (awareness): attract the attention of the customer.

 I – Interest of the customer.

 D – Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that
it will satisfy their needs.

 A – Action: lead customers towards taking action and/or purchasing.

Using a system like this gives one a general understanding of how to target a market effectively.

Moving from step to step, one loses some percent of prospects. AIDA is a historical model,

rather than representing current thinking in the methods of advertising effectiveness

PORTER 5 FORCE ANALYSIS

Porters Five Forces is a framework for describing factors that affect the profitability and

attractiveness of industries. Named after Michael E. Porter, this model identifies and analyzes 5

competitive forces that shape every industry and helps determine an industry's weaknesses and

strengths.

1. Supplier Power

2. Buyer Power

3. Competitive Rivalry

4. Threat of Substitutes

5. Threat of New Entry

1. Supplier Power-Here we assess how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven

by the number of suppliers of each key input, the uniqueness of their product or service, their

strength and control over us,on. The fewer the supplier choices we have, and the more we need

suppliers' help, themore powerful the suppliers are.

2. Buyer Power-This is driven by the number of buyers, the importance of each I one’s business,

the cost to them of switching from one’s products and services to those of someone else, and so

on. If you deal with few, powerful buyers, then they are often able to dictate terms to you.
3. Competitive Rivalry

What is important here is the number and capability of your competitors. If you have many

competitors, and they offer equally attractive products and services, then you'll most likely have

little power in the situation, because suppliers and buyers will go elsewhere if they don't get a

good deal from you. On the other hand, if no-one else can do what you do, then you can often

have tremendous strength.

4. Threat of Substitutes

This is affected by the ability of your customers to find a different way of doing what you do –

for example, if you supply a unique software product that automates an important process,

people may substitute by doing the process manually or by outsourcing it. If substitution is easy

and substitution is viable, then this weakens your power.

5. Threat of New Entry

Power is also affected by the ability of people to enter your market. If it costs little in time or

money to enter your market and compete effectively, if there are few economies of scale in place,

or if you have little protection for your key technologies, then new competitors can quickly enter

your market and weaken your position. If you have strong and durable barriers to entry, then you

can preserve a favorable position and take fair advantage of it.

Porter’s five forces for Online Retailer-

Supplier power-

Here, suppliers are the manufacturers of finished products. For any product, there are many

suppliers online, so they can’t show power on online retail companies. For example, if you take

computers category, there are many suppliers like Dell, Apple, Lenovo, and Toshiba everyone

wants to sell their products through online retails like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal etc. Selling

online saves a lot of money for the manufacturers, and as many people nowadays prefer

purchasing product through online stores, Companies cannot afford to lose this channel. So, in

this industry the supplier power is low.

Buyer power-

Buyers in this industry are customers who purchase products online. Since this industry is

flooded with so many players, buyers are having lots of options to choose.

With many competitors like Amazon.com, eBay, Snapdeal etc. Customers get a wide range of

choices. Customer would prefer the one who would provide goods at reasonable price, deliver
 it fast and provide them with other benefits like Cash on Delivery, EMI facilities, other offers

etc. Here Buyers have more power.

Competitive Rivalry-

Competition is very high in this industry with so many players like Jabong, Snapdeal, Amazon,

Homeshop18 etc. Many competitors means more choices for the customer to choose from. This

also increases the cost incurred by the company to stay in the customer’s mind i.e. on

Promotions and Advertisements etc. Giving the customer better deals, making customer’s

experience delightful and continuous innovation can help a company to stay at top even with

tons of competitors around.

Threat of New Entrants-

Threat of new entrants is very high in this online retail industry because of following reasons:

 Indian government has allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand online retail and 100% FDI in single

brand online retail. So, this means foreign companies can come and start their own online

retail companies.

 There are very less barriers to entry like less capital required to start a business, less amount of

infrastructure required to start business. All you need is to tie up with suppliers of products and

you need to develop a website to display products so that customers can order products, and a

tie up with online payment gateway provider like bill desk.

 Industry is also going to grow at a rapid rate. It is going to touch 76 billion $ by 2021. Industry

is going to experience an exponential growth rate. So, obviously no one wants to miss this big

opportunity.
With the new entrants like Jabong, Snapdeal etc. rapidly racing towards the top Position.

MARKETING MIX OF ONLINE SHOPPING

 MODELS OF ONLINE SHOPING
Online shopping area model

Intention to shop online

Consumer’s intention to shop online refers to their willingness to make purchases in an Internet
store. Commonly, this factor is measured by consumer’s willingness to buy and to return for
additional purchases. The latter also contributes to customer loyalty. Consumer’s intention to
shop online is positively associated with attitude towards Internet buying, and influences their
decision-making and purchasing behavior. In addition, there is evidence of reciprocal influence
between intention to shop online and customer satisfaction.

Online shopping decision making

Online shopping decision-making includes information seeking, comparison of alternatives,

and choice making. The results bearing on this factor directly influence consumer’s purchasing
behavior. In addition, there appears to be an impact on user’s satisfaction. Thoughit is
important, there are only five studies that include it.

According to Haubl and Trifts (2000), potential consumers appear to use a two-stage process in
reaching purchase decisions.

Initially, consumers typically screen a large set of products in order to identify a subset of
promising alternatives that appears to meet their needs. They then evaluate the subset in greater
depth, performing relative comparisons across products based on some desirable attributes and
make a purchase decision

Online purchasing

This is the most substantial step in online shopping activities, with most empirical research
using measures of frequency (or number) of purchases and value of online purchases as
measures of online purchasing; other less commonly used measures are unplanned purchases
Online purchasing is reported to be strongly associated with the factors of personal
characteristics, vendor/service/product characteristics, website quality, attitudes toward online
shopping, intention to shop online, and decision making (Andrade 2000; Bellman et al. 1999)

Consumer satisfaction

It can be defined as the extent to which consumer’s perceptions of the online shopping
experience confirm their expectations. Most consumers form expectations of the product,
vendor, service, and quality of the website that they patronize before engaging in online
shopping activities.

These expectations influence their attitudes and intentions to shop at a certain Internet store,
and consequently their decision-making processes and purchasing behavior. If expectations are
met, customers achieve a high degree of satisfaction, which influences their online shopping
attitudes, intentions, decisions, and purchasing activity positively. In contrast, dissatisfaction is
negatively associated with these four variables (Ho and Wu 1999; Jahng et al. 2001; Kim et al.
2001).
RESEARCH METHADOLGY
5.1Research Objective

To know and understand the consumer’s perception and awareness about internet marketing/

shopping. This will help to know the attitude and perception of consumers towards online

shopping and what are the factors which shape the consumer’s perception towards online

shopping. Also what are key concerns from the point of view of consumer while online

shopping.Determination of information needs and sources

The following was the information required:

 What is consumer’s attitude towards online shopping?

 What are the key concern areas for consumers while online shopping?
 Which factors shape the consumer’s attitude towards online shopping?
 How has been recent shift taking place in online shopping?

5.2Research Framework

Different factors were identified by studying the existing models of consumer attitudes that play

an important role in online purchase, then a model was proposed leading to online shopping.

The data was collected only through Questionnaires. The sample size was 100. And random

sampling was done among the internet users.

After examining the 10 empirical studies, we identify a total of eleven interrelated factors for

which the empirical evidences show significant relationships. These ten factors are perceived

usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, information on online shopping, security

and privacy, quality of internet connection, attitude towards online shopping, intention to shop

online, online shopping decision making, online purchasing, and consumer satisfaction.
Six (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, information on online

shopping, security and privacy, quality of internet connection )are found to be ordinarily

independent and five (attitude toward online shopping, intention to shop online, decision making,

online purchasing, and consumer satisfaction) are ordinarily dependent variables.

Consumer satisfaction is considered to be a separate factor in this study. It can occur at all

possible stages depending on consumer’s involvement during the online shopping process.

The relationships between satisfaction, attitude, intention, decision making and online

purchasing are proposed to be two-way relationships due to the reciprocal influences of each on

the other. In addition, three of the antecedents, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use,

perceived enjoyment , have been found to have direct impact on consumer satisfaction.

Perceived Usefulness

Perceived usefulness is defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular

system would increase his or her job performance. It is an important factor affecting acceptance

of an information system, because the ultimate aim of any person is the superior job

performance.

Perceived Ease of Use

This is an important factor that affects the acceptance of a particular information system. It is

defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular information system

would be free of effort. Hence an application perceived to be easier to use would more likely be

accepted by the user.

Perceived Enjoyment
Enjoyment refers to the extent to which the activity of using a computer is perceived to be

enjoyable in its own rights. This is seen as an intrinsic source of motivation to use a particular

application.

Amount of Information

Amount of information is defined as the information which is available for the product which a

person wants to buy through online shopping. This factor eases the decision of the user to

actually buy the product or not, or which product to buy. This factor becomes even more

important in case of High Involvement product.

Security and Privacy

Security and privacy are the main factors which hinder the growth of online shopping. The user

is concerned about his ID and Password which can be stolen by persons with wrong intentions

and then misuse it. At the same time they are concerned that their personal information may be

sold to the third party which poses a serious threat to their privacy.

Quality of Internet Connection

Not only is the presence of internet connection necessary but also its Quality is important to shop

online. This is an important factor which determines whether the user would shop online or not

because presence of internet is a basic necessity for this mode of shopping

Attitude and perception towards online shopping Consumer’s attitude and perception

toward online shopping have gained a great deal of attention in the empirical literature. It

is believed that consumer attitudes will affect intention to shop online and eventually

whether a transaction is made. It refers to:-

1) The consumer’s acceptance of the Internet as a shopping channel

2) Consumer attitudes toward a specific Internet store (i.e., to what extent consumers think that

shopping at this store is appealing).

5.3Data Collection Method-

Primary Data-It is original primary data, for specific purpose of research project. For this project,

I have to use following common research instrument or tool-

Questionnaire-

Questionnaire development is the critical part of primary data collection method. For this I will

prepare a questionnaire in such a way that it will be able to collect all relevant information

regarding the project. The questionnaire was designed using various scaling techniques. The

questionnaire was used mainly to test the model proposed for consumer perception towards

online shopping. The data collection was done over a period of 8 weeksThis was done by going

directly to the respondents.

Secondary Data-It will be collected to add the value to the primary data. This may be used to

collect necessary data and records by different websites, magazines, annual reports, journals,

reference books, and newspapers, etc.

5.4 Sample Design- I have prepared this project as descriptive type, as the objective of the
study.

5.5 Sample Unit-For studying consumer perception on online shopping, samples were

selected from Lucknow

5.6 Sample size- 100

5.7 Research place-Lucknow

DATA ANALYSIS
Q.1 How long have you been using Internet?

Less than 1 years

1 – 3 years

3 – 5 years

More than 5 years

Internet Users
Less than 1 year
17
1 – 3 years
31
3 – 5 years

28 More than 5 years

24

INTERPRETATION- 17 people who were using internet more than 5 year, 31 were

using from I year, 24 were from 1 to 3 years and 28 from 3 to 5 years.

Q.2 When did you shop for the first time?

1. Last 6 months 2. 6 months- 1year

3. 1-3 year 4. 3-5 year

5. More than 5 year

Purchase
Last 6 months
9
21
6 months- 1year

19 1-3 year

3-5 year

More than 5 year

29
22

Interpretation- 21 people told that they shop last six months, 29 told that they shop 6

months -1year, 22 people told that they shop 1-3year , 19 people told that they

shop 3-5 year and 9 told that they shop more than 5 years.
Q.3 On the average, how much time do you spend in surfing(in a day) the Web & Online

purchase?

1. 0 – 5 hour 2. 6 – 12 hours

3. 13 – 18 hours 4. 19 – 26 hours

5. More than 27 hours

Sales
9
15 0 – 5 hours

6 – 12 hours
21
13 – 18 hours

19 – 26 hours
29
more then 27 hours

26

INTERPRETATION-As more the regular online shopper are using the Internet it is seen
that they end up buying more also. This shows that Internet is becoming an integral part
of the daily activity of the regular online shopper. The regular online shoppers who have
been using Internet for more than 19 hours are more comfortable and confident as a
result they purchase more online as compared to who use Internet for less number of
hours.The study shows that the growing usage of Internet has lead to increase in online
shopping as seen above. There is a positive relation between increase usage of Internet
and online purchase. The marketers should capture this enormous growth, which can be
brought by the penetration of broadband and lowering the prices of computers. Thus
increase in usage of Internet over the years and the more time spent has lead to an
increase in shopping. But one needs to know whether online shopping is an integral part
of regular shoppers or not this understood as follows.

Q.4 Have you purchased anything online ever?

Purchase

42
Yes No

58

INTERPRETATION-The research showed that 42 of the Internet users had shopped

online while 58 had bought less anything. This is mainly because of the changing

lifestyle and taste patterns. As the life is getting more and more fast paced more people

are moving on to shop online mainly because of convenience. This shows that a more

Internet users are using it as a shopping medium and there is a huge potential in this

sector but one should not be carried away by this figures. There could be a possibility that

only a small section of the online shoppers are shopping or only a particular category of
good had brought about this huge number. As a result the entire analysis was done in case

of a regular online shopper to understand the shopping behavior of the online shoppers.

Q .5 How frequently did you purchase online?

1. Only once 2. 2-4 times

3. More than 5 times 4. More than 6 times

Sales

11

33 Only Once
2-4 Times
More than 5 times
29 More than 6times

27

Interpretation-Only 11 person purchase only once, 29 purchased 2 to 4 times,27 people

purchase more than 5 times and 33 person purchased more than six times.
Q.6. What according to you are the most important barriers to purchase online?

1. Cyber crime 2. Not familiar

3. Hassle of returning the product 4. Prices are too high

People

13

Cyber crime

16 I am not familiar
47
Hassle of returning
the product

Prices are too high

24

Interpretation-47 people told that they think that people are not purchasing online

because they have fear of Cyber Crime, 24 told that they were not familiar with this, 16

people told that they think hassle of returning the product and 13 told that they think that

price are too high.

Q.7.What is your motivation for buying through internet?

1. Convenience 2. Save time

3. Reasonable price 4. Superior selection / availability

Sales

13

35
Convenience

Save time
27 Reasonable price

Superior selection /
availability
25

Interpretation-13 people purchase online because of superior selection and availability,

35 purchase because of convenience, 25 for time saving and 27 because of reasonable

price.
Q.8.Where do you often access the internet?

1. Home 2. Cyber Cafes

3. Office. College 4. Any other

ACCESSS

18
Home
35 Cyber Cafes
Office . College

Any other ,specify

26

21

Interpretation-35 person use from home, 21 person from cyber café, 26 person from

office and 18 person from other places.

Q.9. Online Shopping & Gender

Gender

33
Male
Female

67

Interpretation-Among the online shopping, males (67)had purchased more as

compared to women (33)This shows that it is true that more males are shopping online as

compared to women. This is mainly because women still like to feel, see and touch the

product before buying. It was noticed that some of them felt shopping as a reason to go

out with the family and spend time together, which was not possible in case of online

shopping. As more and more Indian women are flocking to Internet there is a possibility

that they might end up in a purchase. Also an increase in the spending power in the hands

of the women might lead to an increase in the online shopping.

Q.10. Online Shopping & Educational Qualification?

Education Qualification

13
Post Graduate

Graduate
39
19 Metriculate

Non-Metriculate

29

Interpretation-Educational difference is a significant demographic variable, which

shows that regular shoppers who were better educated made more purchases online. 39 of

the shopping has been done by the regular shopper whose is educated with a graduate or

postgraduate degree. This shows that frequency of purchase is more in case of a higher

educated regular shopper as compared to a online shopping done by a regular online

shopper with matriculate 19 and non matriculate13.

FINDINGS
FINDINGS

The findings show that Internet usage has increased over the years and it is leading to an increase

in online shopping and also shows the consumers attitude and perception towards online

shopping. Communication still forms the major activity among the large number of online

shoppers as 32% of regular online shopper use Internet for communication as compared to

shopping (10%).

Online shopping is affected by demographics as it has been seen that more males are shopping

online as compared women online shoppers and there is a positive relation between education

and income levels with respect to the increased online shopping behavior.

The most important motivating factor, which influenced the online shopping, was convenience

followed by time saving and price. Regular online shoppers considered convenience as the main

motivating factor while buying and were less price sensitive. But the online marketers should

attempt to differentiate their products or services making the comparison easier. The marketers

should bring out innovative ways so that the consumers can do more online shopping while

taking the full advantage of rich information, easy access and convenience of the Internet.

One of the main concerns among the online shoppers was privacy and security. Another reason

that hindered online shopping was the touch factor. Consumers still preferred the experience they

get from traditional stores like feeling the store’s atmosphere, interacting with a salesperson, and

seeking sensory stimulation. This might hinder the use of certain goods like grocery and apparel,

as the touch factor is the main factor, which drives the shopping for these goods. The future of

online shopping is bright especially in the categories of travel, books, electronic gadgets and

gifts.
RECOMMENDATION
&
CONCLUSION
8.1 RECOMMENDATION

Online shopping in India is poised for greater acceleration as PC and Internet penetration grows.

It is becoming one of the top Internet activities and there is a huge growth in this business as

more manufacturers and providers are integrating the Internet into their sales model. But there

are many things that need to occur in online shopping to generate higher revenues and the key to

it lies in the hands of the marketers. To make online shopping a boom following methods can be

followed. India has a strong research and development (R&D) capability so companies should

innovate rapidly to take care of the security issues. Technology like text to speech softwares

should be innovated to take care of the security concern. In India the total ownership of credit

cards is small as compared to its population and there are also hesitant in using it as a mode of

online payment therefore alternative methods of payment like cash on delivery (COD) where the

end user pays cash after the product is delivered and debit cards where the bank accounts are

directly debited should be used. Other technologies like encryption technologies trusted third-

party certifications; digital ID systems and prepaid cards should be used. The consumers should

be made aware that one of the safety aspect of using credit cards online is that in case of disputed

credit card payments for online transactions the onus is on the merchants to prove that the

transaction actually took place, as online users don't physically sign a credit slip. As a result

online users are protected from fraudulent use of credit cards. There is a growth in the cellular

phone market in India, more merchants should make use of this device allowing the customers to

access the Internet and use it as mode of payment thereby obviating the need for PCs and credit

cards.

It is not only important to pay strong attention to the security issue and create new, innovative

safeguards that protect consumers but the merchants should promote these safeguards to the
marketplace and make the prospective consumers aware that the communications, personal data,

credit card accounts, and transaction information can be protected. One of the factors that hinder

Internet penetration in India is access. More companies should adopt click and mortar model

with the real world operations to complement its online presence for e.g. customers can walk to

the office to access its services. Merchants should provide goods and services that offer the right

value for money. There should be transparency in policies (returns, privacy, shipping, etc),

insurance against fraud and a good after sales services should be provided to consumers making

it an enjoyable experience.

Consumers today demand a better, more efficient and less cumbersome way to compare and buy

products online. Innovative service should be provided to consumers so that they can compare

products, which are available online using their mobile phones. Online shopping today is an

incomplete, fragmented, and sometimes frustrating process. Therefore merchants should set

themselves apart from their competitors by factors other than price, constantly innovate and

move towards creating customer confidence to trade online. They should provide massive

selection at lower prices, offer a personalized customer experience and their web sites should

deliver a shopping experience that addresses all of the consumer needs like recommendation

about the products, feedback from other customers, etc. Vendors should educate the customers

about e-commerce like educating them on safety tips like reading the item description, looking

for a seller’s feedback score and asking questions, detecting spoof mails and informing them

about the new online crimes which happen regularly. In India still the penetration of Internet has

not happened the way it should have been which hampers online shopping. Ecommerce

revolution can be brought about by providing more broadband connections at affordable prices.

There is a huge market for business in the rural India therefore efforts should be such that to
bring these people also into experiencing online shopping. Companies should create more Indian

language software or content as Internet still is a primarily

English language world and language could be a barrier in rural India. Only few language portals

like webduniya.com exist today. Most of the Indians still like to see the product before buying;

efforts should be made to change this mindset of the people by making them aware of the

benefits of online shopping. To make online shopping big the shopping web sites should give the

customers the convenience to shop anything on a single site like ordering pizzas, movie tickets,

groceries, etc rather than in scattered places. The site should not only provide information

content but also tools to navigate and evaluate this information. The information on the site

should be just sufficient for the consumers to make a decision and not to overload them with

information, which results in confusion.

Convenience and time saving are the main reason to shop online. Therefore Business to

Consumers (B2C) sites should be designed in such a way that consumers spend less time in

finding information they are looking for as delays in searching or loading a web page might turn

the consumers to other sites which have faster download and display times. Since consumers

control the experience they receive from shopping over the Internet, there is a need to find ways

of managing the amount of information available over the Internet. Sites that are able to offer this

information and present it in a simple way to understand will become the preferred destination

for online shopping. The key to selling to a customer which cannot be seen is to get the customer

to trust the website with which they have electronic transactions.

Active participation from consumer marketing companies to manufacturing industries is required

to make online shopping a booming sector. Some of the things, which the consumers should take

into considerations while online shopping, are:

Use a secure browser. The browser should comply with industry security standards, such as

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Consumers should shop with the known companies, as it is easy to

set up a shop online under any name. If they are not familiar with a merchant they should ask for

paper catalogue or brochure to get a better idea about the merchandise and services and should

find about the company’s refund and return policies. Consumers should also search for the

reviews of the company.

Read the privacy policy on the site of the companies before shopping as this helps to know what

information is being collected and how it would be used. Keep a print record of the transactions

this would come handy in case of any fraud. One should find out how the company secures the

financial and personal information before paying the bills.

The personal information should be kept private like address, telephone numbers, email, etc. One

should avoid using telephone numbers or date of birth for establishing a password instead should

use a combination of numbers, letters and symbols. Research should be done about countries

shopping laws and merchant when shopping from other countries.

8.2 CONCLUSION

This research shows that online shopping is having very bright future in India. Perception

towards online shopping is getting better in India. With the use of internet, consumers can shop

anywhere, anything and anytime with easy and safe payment options. Consumers can do

comparison shopping between products, as well as, online stores.

This study is mainly focus on the factors from the Internet and examines those factors that affect

the consumer’s online shopping behaviours. The research focus on the Internet shopping (include

the nature of Internet shopping, E-commerce website, and online security, privacy, trust and

trustworthiness) and online consumer behaviours (include background, shopping motivation and

decision making process). Those factors were looked at, and examined to reveal the influence at

online consumer behaviours. In addition, the previous researches were used to help researchers

understanding more comprehensively. Moreover, the customer’s purchase decision making

process was also examined to identify the potential factors. The information search is the most

important factor that helps the customers find the suitable products or services for their needs.

Therefore, the online retailers have to enhance and improve the information supporting such as

provide much detailed product information and use internal search engine in order to increase the

efficient of information search. For the evaluation stage, customers more think a lot of the

reputation from the E-commerce website, and the payment security for the purchase stage. At the

post-purchase stage, the factor of after services which is the most concerned about. Overall, the

factors from the Internet that influenced or prevented online consumer behaviors need to be

carefully concerned by the online retailers, who can utilize the appropriate marketing

communications to support the customer’s purchase decision making process and improve their

performance.
 BIBLOGRAPHY
1) Ramaswami&Namakumari, Marketing Management-Planning, Implementation and

Control, MacMillan India Ltd, New Delhi

2) Bhatnagar, A, Misra, S., and Rao, H. R., ‘Online risk, convenience, and Internet

shopping behavior,’ Communications of the ACM 2000

3) Alexandru M. Degeratu, ArvindRangaswamy and Jianan Wu (2000) Consumer

ChoiceBehaviour in Online and Traditional Supermarkets: The Effects of Brand Name,

Price, and other Search Attributes, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol.

17, No.1, p. 55-78. Available at:

http://www.smeal.psu.edu/ebrc/publications/res_papers/1999_03.pdf

4) Aron M. Levin, Irwin P. Levin, and C. Edward Heath (2003) PRODUCT

CATEGORYDEPENDENT CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR ONLINE AND

OFFLINE SHOPPING FEATURES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON MULTI-CHANNEL

RETAIL ALLIANCES, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, VOL. 4, No. 3.

Available at:http://www.csulb.edu/web/journals/jecr/issues/20033/paper1.pdf

5) Ali S S, Models in Consumer Buying Behaviour, Deep & Deep Publications.

6) Kothari C. R., Research Methodology Methods and Techniques, WishwaPrakashan,

New Delhi.

7) www.wikipedia.com

8) www.amzon.com

9) www.flipkart.com
 QUESTIONAIRE

1. How long have you been using Internet?

Less than 1 year 1 – 3 years

3 – 5 years More than 5 years

2. On the average, how much time (per day) do you spend in surfing the Web?

0 – 5 hours 6 – 10 hours

11 – 15 hours 16 – 20 hours

More than 20 hours

3. Have you purchased anything online ever?

Yes No

4. When did u shop for the first time?

Last 6 months 6 months- 1year

1-3 year 3-5 year

More than 5 year

5. How frequently did you purchase online?

Only once 2-4 times

More than 5 times More than 6 times

.6. What according to you are the most important barriers to purchase online?

Cyber crime Not familiar

Hassle of returning the product Prices are too high

7. Where do you most often access the Internet?

Home Office / College

Cyber-cafes Any other, specify……

8. Online Shopping & Gender

Male Female

9. Onlin shopping & Educational Qualification ?

Graduate Post graduate

Metriculate Non matriculate

10. What is your main motivation for buying through Internet?

1 Convenience 2 Saves time

3 Superior selection/Availability 4 Price

5 Product 6 Any other, specif…