ECOMMERCE in the Indian

context
 First and foremost, we must express our deep sense of gratitude towards
WE School, Mumbai for providing us the opportunity and the leeway to realize
that the journey to unknown is not always without specific destination ,to work
as freely as our mind, to reach out for what we were unsure was untouchable
and to fly when we were afraid we might be bounded by invisible walls, both
around ourselves and our mind.

We would like to express our gratitude to our guide Prof. Victor

Manickam, for his unflagging support throughout the tenure of our project
without whom research methodology would have been just another subject with
just another exam

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the various bureaus

and individuals who aided in the development of our project.

We would also like to express our gratitude to each and every participant
of our surveys, who knowingly or unknowingly have contributed in their own
ways in the successful completion of this project.

Last but not the least the active and enthusiastic participation of each and
every member of the group is appreciated.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
India has changed dynamically over the last decade.It is no longer considered a third world
country,recent development has brought india to the center of the world.Over the last few
years the old methods of business have become history.E-commerce has completely changed
the geography in which the businesses use to operate.

India, one of the fastest growing economies presents a world of opportunities to

entrepreneurs, investors, and researchers with an interest in the global economy. India’s e-
Commerce industry is on the growth curve and experiencing a spurt in growth. With this
increased interest comes a surge in demand for facts, trends and indicators. Highly
concentrated urban areas with very high literacy rates, a vast rural population with fast
increasing literacy rate, a rapidly growing internet user base, technology advancement and
adoption and such other factors make India a dream destination for ecommerce players. E-
commerce combines web technology with business economics. As of the last 10 years, online
visibility for such online enterprises now heavily rely on the relationship between the own
online sales platform and Search Engines for improved traffic consisting of presumable
customers with the intent of acquiring products or services related to the customers’ needs. In
2008 an Internet behavioural analysis showed that over 90% percent of internet users make
use of search engines at least once a week, stating that online visibility through the use of
search engines now is a crucial business marketing aspect.

Logo of e commerce

The eCommerce industry continues to grow at a rapid pace translating the rules of traditional
retailing and enabling merchants to tap into customer segments, demographics and regions
that were difficult to access through the traditional retailing methods. As the rapid Internet
Penetration, the widening network of online payment solutions, the progressively wider
acceptance of online commerce and the maturity in fulfilment solutions provide a robust
backbone for wider and rapid adoption of eCommerce, merchants today are also faced with
some of the most unique challenges retailing has ever witnessed. ECommerce business
houses small or big, generic or specialized, today need to deal with fierce global competition
right at the doorstep. Rapid loss of differentiation, extremely price sensitive fickle customer
loyalty, evolving global regulations, short product lifecycles and dropping margins are just
some of the significant business challenges that eCommerce business today need to deal with
upfront. These challenges require merchants to develop unique strategies to liaison with
partners & service providers and adopt radical strategies for eMarketing, Internet
Advertisement, Brand identity management, pricing, fulfilment, payments, channel
convergence, customer behaviour analysis & personalization and an online as well as offline
shopping experience besides core commerce that is beyond the realms of traditional
eCommerce.

Manas modi is the final year student of HR college in Mumbai,who loves travelling and uses
travel website like makemytrip.com, indianrailways.com etc for his annual holidays to
Goa,Bangkok,Dubai etc.He uses these sites for booking for the ease and convenience.He is
avid buyer of diesel denims,Marc Jacob shirts,Aldo shoes etc inspite of all products available
online he prefers them to buy from store.He also loves collecting gizmos and recently got
myself iphone 4G from a friend coming from US.However he was reluctant about buying
kindle’s ebook reader from the kindle online store.Besides this from ticket to music,from
bride to job,from products to payments everything is done through electronically.However
the growth of e-commerce in india is different from rest of the world.Such observation
inspired us to study e-commerce in Indian context.

We started off by defining what we wanted to look for under the broad definition of ‘e-
commerce in Indian context’. Having set our objectives, we started fishing the Internet and
research papers from EBSCO for some data as part of our Secondary Research. The findings
from our secondary research set the tone for our primary research. We had numerous sessions
of brainstorming that led us towards various aspects of the impact of music on person’s life
that further attracted our attention. We came up with questions that reflected our curiosity.
These questions cover various target group audience such as:-

 Internet users
 Comprising of yuppies,working class and females(housewives)

With these target audience in mind, we set the tone for our primary questionnaire. We
formulated and reformulated the questionnaire until we were satisfied that it could not be
perfected further. The task of administering the questionnaire was divided among individual
members. For the sake of convenience, we conducted the survey on people close to our
residences. So the areas we have covered include:-

 Andheri
 Bandra
 Cst and churchgate
 Thane and mulund
 Bkc
 Dadar

Once the survey was conducted, we all had our individual experiences to share. Experiencing
the way people look at ecommerce at life astonished us, while the reasons for which they
used or were reluctant were justified and this inspired us to find more about it. We drew
different diagrams and pie charts and we have tried to collate their responses into percentages
and pie diagrams which facilitated the inferences. Some of the observations that the numbers
can’t speak of have been presented separately
GROUP MEMBERS

Ravi Chavda

A very creative person who does not shy away from work and holds the group
together and acts as a team leader.

Berchmen mathews

The silent soul of your group who is intense and very involved in his work making the
given task very precise and crisp.

Ritam sinha

The task master of our group who helped in the pioneering the project and also helps
in detail analysis.The task was completed with ease due to his presence.

Seemit Naik

The group equalizer who helps in dividing the work equally and makes sure that we
never compromise in quality.The task would have never been complete without his presence.

Ankur dekate

The techie of our group who is a good team player .Whenever he takes up a
responsibility he fulfills it.

Jagannath shetty

An easy going guy with warm nature and good team spirit.

Vishal shah

A vital player in the group who motivates everyone and co-ordinates with everyone to
make sure that the given work is completed in time.
INTRODUCTION
PROJECT

Brainstorming about the topic for the project, we started discussing how our life is
incomplete without internet these days.It has opened door for us to explore the world and has
even opened doors for the new forms of crime.This was the moment when the idea of this
project was conceived. With this project we intend to know the future trend and growth of
ecommerce in india.

Our interest in this project is to understand and analyze:

 Produced purchased using e-commerce.

 Services bought using e-commerce.
 Preferences for using e-commerce
 Reluctance for using e-commerce.
 Industry and sector booming because of e-commerce
 How e-commerce can be used to make our life easy?
 Problems related to e-commerce
 Role of other factors:
o Credit cards.
o Trust and security.
o Internet avaibility
 Uses of e-commerce
 Other industry and sectors where e-commerce can be used
 Future trends.
 Growth of e-commerce in india.

Lastly Prof. Victor Manickam had given us the freedom to choose any topic that
interested us, & unlike other courses we wanted to do something that may have an impact
on our day to day life , something that we experience everyday but still are not aware
about the reasons for it.something that changed the geography of business & this topic
gave us all that & hence we went ahead with the project.

We carried out the research over the last four months (October 2009 to febuary 2010).
This included secondary research followed by primary research, which was conducted in
tune with the findings of the secondary research.
OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT
What we would like to know about the household helps?
 Produced purchased using e-commerce.
 Services bought using e-commerce.
 Preferences for using e-commerce
 Reluctance for using e-commerce.
 Industry and sector booming because of e-commerce
 How e-commerce can be used to make our life easy?
 Problems related to e-commerce
 Role of other factors:
o Credit cards.
o Trust and security.
o Internet avaibility
 Uses of e-commerce
 Other industry and sectors where e-commerce can be used
 Future trends.
 Growth of e-commerce in india.

How do we look at them?

How can we reach them?
Secondary Research
1. Internet.
2. Research papers of other researchers.

Primary Research
1. Will come once analysis is done.
2. Dfdf
3. Df
4. dff

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?

1. Statistics relating to e-commerce in india and abroad.
2. Distribution of e-commerce activities in various sectors.
3. E-commerce in products and services.
4. Online retail.
5. Credit card and internet penetration rate.
6. Other problems in using e-commerce.

Which are the areas can we cover?

1. Andheri
2. Bandra
3. Cst and churchgate
4. Thane and mulund
5. Bkc
6. Dadar
7. Sion and matunga
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Type of Research
Both descriptive and exploratory research was used in compiling this report. While the
descriptive research was used to study the form the micro-segments within the larger target
audience and conduct a psychographic analysis to establish their behavior. This has been
done with the target audience kept in mind.

Research Design
Considering the time constraints descriptive research is the most suitable design for this
research since descriptive studies seek to portray accurately the characteristics of the
population. These studies attempt to make generalizations about the attributes of that
population by studying a small sample of the population.

Descriptive Research
This research is designed to describe characteristics of a population. This research is used
when the researcher has a general understanding of the situation, the conclusive evidence that
answers questions of facts necessary to determine a course of action has yet to be collected.
For the purpose of our research project we have used a Descriptive Research Methodology.

Sampling Design
Target Population: We targeted a cross section of people, across sexes, across various age
groups and across different work areas.

Sampling Frame: We mainly conducted the surveys at the various places in Mumbai
covering the vicinities of Andheri,bandra,Cst,Churchgate,Bkc, mulund, thane,sion,matunga
and dadar to gather responses from diverse set of population sensitivities. In addition to this,
we visited a few Bureaus and few companies whose large operation is on e-commerce.

Sample Size: A sample size of 80 people was chosen, as, the trends being highly variable and
differential amongst different age and work groups required a relatively considerable sample
size, in order to facilitate the analysis.

Primary Data
For collecting Primary Data, questionnaires were administered to the samples in order to
segment the target group based on their response to the questions pertaining to their
psychographic profiles.

Limitations of Primary Research

The respondents which were selected mainly comprised of people living in mumbai, this
phenomenon has caused the data to be geographically biased with all of the respondents
being from Mumbai which is urban india.

Secondary Data
After the research problem in marketing has been identified and selected, the next step is to
gather the requisite data. Use of various publications, journals, articles and the Internet was
made to garner various statistics and insights about e-commerce in Indian context.

Method of Data Collection

The primary method of data collection was through the medium of questionnaires. A single
questionnaire was designed to be administered and it was posed to the target audience The
questionnaire was suitably designed to filter out the non-applicable respondents. Therefore,
screener question was incorporated in the beginning itself.

Screener Questionnaire
This questionnaire was very short and simply was in order to qualify the respondent to the
next level (Main Questionnaire).
Main Questionnaire
This questionnaire was designed to judge the perception of the people regarding E-
commerce?What do they prefer buying online?why are they reluctant using e-
commerce?which service they prefer buying online?which attributes makes people
use e-commerce?etc

SECONDARY RESEARCH AND FINDINGS

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?
1. E-commerce in india as compared to the world.
2. What product or service people prefer buying online?
3. What are the issues which makes people reluctant of using e-commerce?
4. Triggers and barriers for e-commerce in india.
5. Factors that can lead to the growth of e-commerce.

Source:

 All the top 10 ecommerce companies in india are service relates including ASA
systel communication pvt.ltd,candid info etc.web designing,e-business
solutions,IT solutions etc are the most preferred online services.82% of e-
commerce business in india comprises of service business.
Inference: service is most preferred form online.

Source:

 Of the 9210 crore total e-commerce business in 2008-2009 7000 crore was
from online travel industry.IRTC is the most visites e-commerce
site.makemytrip started its website for Indian travelers in 2005 and in 2010 it is
the largest travel company in india. quick survey of average Indians who have
access to Internet showed that most of them hardly could recall 1-2 on-line
retail portals and most of their responses were travel site. In comparison an
average Indian settled in America could recollect more than 5 on-line portals.
Inference: travel is the most preferred service online.

Source:

 Recent development in the IT sector,web developing,online consulting and

solutions,travel & tourism has lead o the development in these service doing
exceptionally well online.
Inference: development in a particular industry and e-commerce development
of the industry is interrelated.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
As we found out the inferences from the secondary data, our primary research is divided into
two kinds, confirmatory primary research and exploratory primary research.

The purpose or motive of working will form the part of our confirmatory research.

The following points will come under the exploratory primary research as we would like to
know more in detail regarding the house-help. Also this data is not available in our secondary
research.

 Preference of touch and feel.

 Frequency of using e-commerce.
 Services and products bought online
 Their preference in terms of
o Time saving
o convenience
o Unavailability of the product or service in the local retails
 Issues they face while using e-commerce.
 Preferences in the mode of payments.
 Security and user-friendliness as the factors.

TYPE OF PRIMARY RESEARCH AND SAMPLING

 The type of primary research used is Quantitative in nature.
 Convenience sampling: No sampling technique was employed in arriving at a sample
size. Therefore we followed convenience sampling.
 The respondents were not segregated as male/female and both their views were taken
together
 Respondent sample size: 100
 Precondition: Screener
 Source of data:
o The data is basically primary in nature
o It is obtained from colleges,business hubs and popular locations located in
Mumbai
 Methods:
o The questionnaire we prepared for the project is a close ended- structured
questionnaire. The close ended nature of the questionnaire ensures that we get
the appropriate/ relevant answer from the respondent.
o Our method of conducting primary research was single stage personal
interview.
OBSERVATIONS ,FINDINGS AND KEY
INFERENCES

1) Are you comfortable with online goods or do you prefer touch and feel the goods before
purchasing them?

4%
14%

Both Inference:-when it
6%
Depends Upon comes to
Necessity product,people prefer
Prefer Online touch n feel
Prefer Touch & Feel
76%

2) Have you used e commerce for buying goods online?

5%

Never
Sometimes
41%
54% Always
3) Which are the product and services you wish to buy online?

Travel Tickets

Movie Tickets

Gifts

Electronic Goods

Books

Bill Payments

Banking Services

Apparels

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

4) Do you think there is sufficient variety found in online stores

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
ee ee ee ee ee
gr gr gr gr gr
ly
A A si a si a si a
lly D D D
ong r tia or lly gly
St
r Pa e N
r tia ro
n
re Pa St
r Ag
the
e
Ni
5) What kind of product do you prefer to buy online?

20% 23%

Branded
Non Branded
Both
Depends Upon The
Necessity
18%

40%

6) Is there any service/facility available globally but not available in India that you
would want to have

10%

40%
Free Shipping
Import Fee Deposits
Others

50%
7) What is the main driver of e commerce business?

45

40

35

30
Time Saving
25 Convenience
Price
20 Unavailability of products
in local retails
15 Faster delivery
10

0
1 2 3 4 5

8) What amongst the following would you prefer for products available in close vicinity

5%

15%

Personal Visit
Telephonic Order
E-commerce
Other
20% 60%
9) Would a customer grievance centre in your locality or town help building trust
towards such websites?

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
re
e
re
e ee ee re
e
g g agr agr g
A A s s sa
ly lly Di Di Di
ng tia r ly lg y
r o
Pa
r No al n
St ee arti ro
r P St
r Ag
the
e
Ni

10) What kind of issues do you face while using e-commerce?

Security

Product Authenticity

Not User Friendly

Long Delivery Time

Lack Of Knowledge

Internet Availibility

Credit Card Availibility

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
11) Is it possible to attract more people to e commerce by launching more government
services online e.g. post office service?

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
e e ee ee ee
gre gre gr gr gr
A A sa sa sa
ly lly Di Di Di
ng tia r ly lg y
r o
Pa
r No al n
St ee arti ro
r P St
r Ag
the
e
Ni

12) Do you think the payment mechanism used is easy and secured?

29%

43%
Secured
Easy
Both
None

19%

10%
13) Which portal do you use for buying goods online?

10%

30%

Any Website
Commonly Known
Websites
Depends On Need

60%

14) How do you check the authenticity of the secured website?

Never check the authenticity

Checking owners site seal

Checking the SSL certificate

Checking the “Lock icon” in the status bar

Checking “https” on address bar

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
15) With online payment options like Paypal coming up and also the options like ITZ
prepaid cards, are you feeling more confident in dealing with online transactions?

28%

It does make me feel

comfortable
I still feel they are at par
with other payment
options with regards to
security
58%
I'm not aware of these
payment mechanisms
15%

16) Is language a barrier when it comes to accessing e-commerce sites?

8%
5%

No, I’m comfortable with

English
I’m not able to access e-
commerce sites solely
because of language
barrier
I’d be able to better
understand options in my
local language

88%
17) Do you think passwords are a tedious measure of security and should be replaces by
something more simplistic?

15%

A single sign on feature for

all the sites would be a
better option
Biometrics would be more
23% simplistic & secure
No, passwords assure
63% secure login and access

18) If you have used e-commerce which is the website that you visit the most number of
times?

13% 10%

15%
Amazon
E-Bay
IRCTC
Others

63%