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A Study On Consumer Perception On International Online Shopping
A Study On Consumer Perception On International Online Shopping
OF
(PGDM-IB)
Batch: 2017-2019
1
DISSERTATION REPORT
ON
(PGDM-IB)
Batch 2017-19
2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Deepanshu Chawla
09/PGDM-2017(IB)
2017-2019
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The growing use of Internet in India provides a developing prospect for online
shopping.
E-marketers know the factors affecting online international behavior, and the
relationships between these factors and the type of online buyers, and then they
can further develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into
active ones, while retaining existent online customers. This project is a part of
study, and focuses on factors which online Indian buyers keep in mind while
shopping online.
This research found that information, perceived usefulness; ease of use; perceived
enjoyment and security/privacy are the five dominant factors, which influence
consumer perceptions of online purchasing.
4
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 8
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE.................................................................................................... 24
RESEARCH FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................... 24
PROPOSED MODEL .................................................................................................... 24
DATA COLLECTION METHOD ......................................................................................... 28
SECONDARY DATA ..................................................................................................... 28
SAMPLE DESIGN ............................................................................................................ 28
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 44
BARRIERS TO THE GROWTH OF ONLINE MARKET ..................................................... 45
5
RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................... 46
LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................. 48
CHAPTER 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................... 50
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 50
WEBSITES ......................................................................................................... 50
QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................................................ 53
6
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
7
CHAPTER 1: 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.
8
HISTORY OF ONLINE SHOPPING
Online Shopping was invented by Michael Aldrich in the year 1979. In 1980,
Redfin’s Office Transformation was propelled by him, which empowered the
merchants, suppliers, consumers and operator to interface with the corporate
framework over the web and portable exchanges electronically. In 1990, Tim
Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser in UK. 1 It
opened for commercial use in 1991. In 1994 other advances took place, such as
online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut. 1 During that
same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which
has become essential for secure online shopping. Also, in 1994, the German
company Intershop introduced its first online shopping system. In 1995, Amazon
launched its online shopping site, and in 1996, eBay appeared.
In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee invented the Worldwide Web browser and transformed
an academic telecommunication network into a worldwide everyman everyday
communication system called internet/www. Commercial enterprise on the Internet
was strictly prohibited by NSF until 1995.2 Although the Internet became popular
worldwide around 1994 with the adoption of Mosaic web 4 browser, it took about
five years to introduce security protocols and DSL allowing continual connection
9
to the Internet. By the end of 2000, many European and American business
companies offered their services through the World Wide Web. Since then people
began to associate a word "ecommerce" with the ability of purchasing various
goods through the Internet using secure protocols and electronic payment
services.
Online retail is continuing to grow during the recent years as the result of
incredible breakouts of modern technology. The evolutions of mobile devices,
social networks, ecommerce platforms, etc. bring both advantages and
challenges to retailers, who need to prepare carefully to adapt with changes and
take the leads in the competitions. When the 2018 is coming to end, let’s see
which will change the game in the upcoming 2019 from the 22 predictions about
the new online retail trends
Have you ever heard about the term “voice commerce”, it refers to the transactions
that occur when customers purchase products by voice? Huge development of
voice technology allows people to search, select and purchase by talking with their
devices and it is used by 41% customers of Amazon Echo and Google Home in
the 2017. And there will be 50% of total searchers will use voice search in 2020.
SaaS stands for Software as a Service solutions, they are becoming the best
choice for online retailer because most of ecommerce platforms are not very
11
flexible, the operations are pretty slow and business owners would find it hard to
scale up their sale volume. SaaS solutions run separately on cloud and
independent from the on-premise system
Another ecommerce predictions for 2019 online retail trends is the transformation
in delivery services. Amazon starts to use drones to ship products in England, or
with traditional shipping methods, companies have some new options to operate
the services such as subscription-based delivery. Customer experience in delivery
services would be improved remarkably with 2-hours shipping or in-day shipping,
and cross-channel purchases are also served.
The principles about Mobile-First are popular for many years, and there is a
prediction for ecommerce in 2022, smartphones will account for 175.4 US dollar in
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sales and they will keep leading the retail trends. Therefore, if retailers want to
grow revenue, the most significant task is optimizing mobile experience, especially
the checkout process. The average cart abandonment rate for all devices in 2017
is around 79%, and 28% of cart abandonment is because of complicated checkout.
In 2019, the modern chatbots with AI integrations will help to improve conversion
rate significantly. They can talk to customer under different scenarios naturally by
the pre-configurations to consult, qualify leads, and close deals, as well as to
collect accurate insights for merchants to make right decisions.
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42% of retail customers continue to buy more after receiving good customer
services, and 52% of unsatisfied customer stop to return to the stores. Moreover,
with more channels to sell products with complicated delivery systems, there will
be huge pressure on customer services in 2019. That’s why technologies should
be applied to replace manual customer support. Prediction for ecommerce in 2020
is there will be 85% of customer interactions conducted without human.
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 jewelry 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.
India has an internet users base of about 450 million as of July 2017, 40% of the
population. Despite being the second-largest userbase in world, only behind China
(650 million, 48% of population), the penetration of e-commerce is low compared
to markets like the United States (266 million, 84%), or France (54 M, 81%), but is
growing at an unprecedented rate, adding around 6 million new entrants every
month. In 2016, about 69 million consumers purchased online and the number is
14
expected to cross 100 million by 2017 with the rise of digital natives, better
infrastructure in terms of logistics, broadband and Internet-ready devices to fuel
the demand in e-Commerce. In 2017, mobile commerce will become more
important as most of the companies are shifting to m-commerce. Mobile already
accounts for 30-35% of e-commerce sales, and its share will jump to 45-50% by
2017," adds the report-commerce is big business and getting bigger every day.
Online shopping has been embraced by Indians with close to 25-30 million adults
making a purchase via the internet in the last year. The year 2017 will see or is
seeing large scale growth in the Indian e-commerce sector with increased
participation from people across the country. India's e-commerce market is
estimated to be USD 33 billion in the financial year 2017 NASSCOM's latest
estimates. This industry will continue to drive more employment opportunities and
contribute towards creating more entrepreneurs through the e-commerce
marketplace model, noted the study.
INDIAN E-COMMERCE
15
The spread of e-commerce has led to the rise of several niche players who largely
specialize their products around a specific theme. As many as 1,06,086 websites
are registered daily and more than 25% are for niche businesses.
The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is
expected to surpass the US to become the second largest e-commerce market in
the world by 2034. The E-commerce market is expected to reach US$ 200 billion
by 2027 from US$ 38.5 billion in 2017. India's e-commerce market has the potential
to grow more than four folds to US$ 150 billion by 2022 supported by rising
incomes and surge in internet users. Online shoppers in India are expected to
reach 120 million in 2018 and eventually 220 million by 2025. Average online retail
spending in India was US$ 224 per user in 2017.
E-commerce industry in India witnessed 21 private equity and venture capital deals
worth US$ 2.1 billion in 2017 and 40 deals worth US$ 1,129 million in the first half
of 2018. E-commerce startups in India received US$ 786.87 million of funding in
the first half of 2018. Online retail sales in India are expected to grow by 31 per
cent to touch US$ 32.70 billion in 2018, led by Flipkart, Amazon India and Paytm
Mall. Online retail is expected to contribute 2.9 per cent of retail market in 2018.
Much growth of the industry has been triggered by increasing internet and
smartphone penetration. Internet penetration in India grew from just 4 per cent in
2007 to 34.42 per cent in 2017, registering a CAGR of 24 per cent between 2007
and 2017. As of September 2018, overall internet penetration in India was 42.87
per cent. The number of internet users in India is expected to increase from 560.01
million as of September 2018 to 829 million by 2021. Internet penetration in rural
India is expected to grow as high as 45 per cent by 2021 compared to the current
rate of 18 per cent. According to a report by Grant Thronton, as much as US$2.1
billion worth of mergers and acquisitions were inked in 2017 in the booming Indian
e-commerce industry. Here is the list of Some latest Mergers & Acquisitions which
happened in India over a period of time:
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PROJECT PROFILE
• To know the consumers awareness and perception about the products and
services provided on internet.
• To know how it provides products and services and satisfies their customers
and reduces the uncertainty in purchase decision process.
RATIONALE OF STUDY
Selling on internet has a large potential due to the very high targeting possibilities
as a result of this exceptional development, the online selling industry is becoming
interested in the use of internet to reach their customers. Hence a better
17
understanding of online shopping is critical to the effective use of this channel of
approach to the consumer. It is especially important to know what is the
consumer’s perception towards online shopping, benefits perceived by them and
what factors attract them towards online shopping.
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CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
19
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
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.
20
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 web base 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.
21
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. Mayer et al. [1995]
proposed that ability, benevolence and integrity constitute the main elements of
trustworthiness. Ability refers to skills, competencies and characteristics that a
seller has in a specific domain. In this context, sellers need to convince buyers of
the competence of their companies in the Internet shopping business.
Benevolence is the extent to which the seller is perceived by the buyer as wanting
to ‘do well’. Sellers have to convince buyers that they genuinely want to do good
things for buyers, rather than just maximize profit.
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CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
23
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH 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.
RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The data was collected only through Questionnaires. The sample size was 100.
And random sampling was done among the internet users.
PROPOSED MODEL
PERCEIVED USEFULNESS
AMOUNT OF INFORMATION
25
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.
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
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:
26
ONLINE SHOPPING DECISION MAKING
CONSUMER SATISFACTION
27
DATA 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-
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.
SAMPLE DESIGN
Sample Unit
Sample Media
28
Sampling Methods
Sample Design
I have prepared this project as descriptive type, as the objective of the study
29
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
30
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
DATA ANALYSIS
The objectives of the research were studied with respect to a regular online
shopper who shopped more than once because they would be the right respondent
to give an insight about the online shopping. Therefore, it is firstly important to
understand who is a regular online shopper. In the survey the respondents were
asked the following questions which helped to know about a regular shopper
NO
35%
YES
65%
The research showed that 65% of the Internet users had shopped online while
35% had not bought 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 figure. There could be a
possibility that only a small section of the online shoppers is shopping or only a
particular category of good had brought about this huge number. As a result, the
31
entire analysis was done in case of a regular online shopper to understand the
shopping behavior of the online shoppers.
80% 74%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20% 12%
9%
10% 5%
0%
Only Once 2-4 times 5-6 times More than 6
times
This helped to understand the purchasing behavior of the online shoppers. It was
seen that 14% of the online shoppers had shopped more than five times and 74%
had shopped 2-4 times. The frequency shows the acceptance of Internet as a
shopping medium. Though only a small amount of the online shoppers had
purchased more than 6 times but still there is a huge opportunity in the Internet
arena. The 65% of the online shoppers who had shopped more than once were
considered as regular shopper an entire analysis based on these regular shoppers.
32
ONLINE SHOPPING & INTERNET USAGE BY YEARS
90%
78%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20% 14%
10% 6%
2%
0%
Less 1–3years 3–5years More than
than1year 5years
The diagram shows that shopping has increased with the usage of Internet over
the years. Regular shoppers who have been using Internet for more than one year
had shopped to 98% and regular shoppers who have been using Internet for more
than five years have shopped to 78%. Internet is not a new concept for these
regular online shoppers and they have been using it for more than 5 years now.
The increased usage over the years has led to an increase in shopping, as these
regular shoppers are able to make use of the various e-commerce activities.
40% 36%
35%
30% 28%
25%
20%
20%
15% 12%
10%
4%
5%
0%
0-5 6 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 More
hours a hours a hours a hours a than 20
week week week week hours a
week
33
The research shows that 36% of the online shopping had been done who use
Internet for more than 20 hours a week and 96% of the shopping has been done
by regular shoppers who have been using Internet for more than 5 hours a week.
As more the regular online shopper is 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 20 hours are more comfortable and confident as a
result they purchase more online. The study shows that the growing usage of
Internet has led to increase in online shopping as seen above.
The following classifications are done to study the online activities in case of a
regular online shopper
ONLINE ACTIVITIES
10%
32%
Shopping
20% Communication
Finance
24%
14%
Inf ormation
Entertainment
Gathering
The Internet offers four basic services communication (socializing service with
peer group or core group (email) or with new groups of people (chat), information
34
services, entertainment services and commerce services and shopping. The
research shows 32% of the regular online shoppers use Internet for
communication while only 10% uses it for shopping which shows that
communication still forms the major activity among the regular online shoppers.
70%
35
ONLINE ACTIVITIES BY TIME
90%
80%
70%
60% Communication
50% Information
40% Entertainment
30% Finance
20% Shopping
10%
0%
0-5 hours 6-10 hours 11-15 16-20 more than
hours hours 20 hours
It is evident that regular online shoppers also spend a major part of their time in
communication unlike the occasional online buyers. In 0-5 hours, a week they
spend 77% of their time in communication, which includes email, and chat as the
major activity with shopping which does not seem to exist at all. Information search
constitute 20% of the time. The information search increases as the regular online
shoppers tries to figure out ways to surf the Internet and access the information
they require. It is true that more regular online shoppers use Internet shopping
sites to gather information about products rather than to make a direct purchase.
Among the 65% of the online shopping, males (72%) had purchased more as
compared to women (28%). 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.
36
28%
Female
72%
Male
Income and buying behavior are positively related. It was seen that a regular online
shopper with a higher income had purchased more online as compared to lower
income online shopper. This trend was seen in all segment of the population. It is
true that more the income in the hands of the population they would indulge in
shopping. The service class had done the major purchase in all the various levels
of income. It can be seen that hardly any purchase is done among the regular
online shopper whose income lies below Rs5000.
40 38
35
30
25 less5000
21
5000-10000
20
10000-25000
14 15
15 above25000
11
10 8
5 5
5 3 2 3
1 1 1 1 1
0
Student Service/Executive Business Others
37
ONLINE SHOPPING & EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION
3%
8%
Non
Matriculate
Matriculate
54% 35%
Postgraduate Graduate
38
7%
Product 32%
Comparison Convenience
26%
Saves Time
12%
Superior
23%
selection
Price
7% 33%
9% Others Privacy &
Unfamiliar
Security
14%
Hassle of
returning
16%
21%
Lack of
Inability to
Customer
touch & feel
Service
The main areas for concern in respect of the regular online shoppers while
shopping were privacy and security (33%). Most of them still preferred the
conventional method of shopping like the touch and the feel factor (21%). They felt
that it is possible to see, feel, touch and try the products before buying in a
shopping store as compared to Internet shopping. Other reasons that concern the
39
regular online shoppers were inability to reach the customer service (16%), hassle
of returning the product (14%).
SATISFACTION INDEX
2%
Highly
12%
Satisfied
Dissatisfied
31%
Neither 55%
Satified nor Satisfied
Dissatisfied
A 55% of the regular online shoppers were satisfied with 12% dissatisfied. An
important thing to be noted is that only 2% of the regular online shoppers were
highly satisfied while 31% of the regular online shoppers were neither satisfied nor
dissatisfied. This shows satisfaction level plays an important role in online
shopping with more regular shoppers falling under the category of satisfied. This
shows that they were overall satisfied by the experience of shopping online.
40
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.
41
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.
42
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
43
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
The e-commerce is one of the biggest things that have taken the business by a
storm. It is creating an entire new economy, which has a huge potential and is
fundamentally changing the way businesses are done. It is believed that electronic
commerce will become a huge industry in the coming years and online shopping
is now becoming a significant part of the consumers daily life to meet their never-
ending requirements in a convenient way.
CONSUMER BIAS
Consumers often display a bias for brands that they know well and have had a
good experience in the past. Thus, products of brands with a favorable bias will
score over the products of less popular brands. A few would risk buying expensive
jewelry from an unknown jeweler online.
The customer is not sure of the quality of the product unless it is delivered to him
and post-delivery of the product, it is sometimes a lengthy process to get a faulty
or the unsuitable product changed. Thus, unless the deliverables are as per the
customers’ expectations, it is hard to infuse more credibility in the e-Tailing market.
To attract customers, the competing online players are adopting all means to
provide products and services at the lowest prices. This has resulted in making the
consumers choice-spoilt, who in turn surf various websites to spot the lowest price
for the product. Thus, although the number of transactions is increasing, the value
of the products sold is continuously falling owning to high competition and leaner
margins.
SEASONALITY
Online frauds and breach are the biggest barriers to online sales. As a
result, prospective buyers prefer staying away from revealing their credit
card and bank details.
It might take a few minutes to search, book and pay for products and services
online, but the delivery of the product may take unreasonable time.
It is a challenge for E-marketers to convert low frequency online buyers into regular
buyers through successful website design and by addressing concerns about
reliable performance.
RECOMMENDATIONS
46
(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 should be used.
• The consumers should be made aware that one of the safety aspects 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.
• 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.
47
LIMITATIONS
Every study will have its problems and limitations at some point during the project.
This study is no different. The use of a non-probabilistic sample in the research
was a major limitation because there was no way to make sure that the sample
taken represented the total population of the Internet users. A non-probability
sample lacks the accuracy and precision that a probability sample might offer.
Though this samples provided a better insight about the online shoppers but there
could be a possibility that a respondent may have done online shopping but is not
a regular Internet user. It was seen that some respondents were biased towards
some questions. Another major limitation encountered doing the research
assignment was the issue regarding the time.
Limitation of the study is the selection of the existing studies. Owing to time
limitation, only a few numbers of journals were searched. This may leave some
other prominent empirical studies out. In addition, owing to the multidisciplinary
nature of online shopping, it would be very interesting to compare IS literature to
other disciplines that study online shopping attitudes and behavior.
48
CHAPTER 6
BIBLIOGRAPHY
49
CHAPTER 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES
WEBSITES
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/online_shopping
• www.iaciis.org/iis/2006_iis/PDFs/Changchit.pdf
• http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/CIBIMA/2010/854516/854516.pdf
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ANNEXURE AND APPENDICIES
This chart shows how consumer attitude toward online shopping can lead either to
approach coping (wanting to shop online) or to avoidance coping (deciding not to
search or shop online). Someone who is optimistic toward the benefits of online
shopping will develop approach coping. A person who is pessimistic toward online
shopping will think of the drawbacks to it and decide to purchase in physical stores
instead, which is avoidance coping.
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FRAMEWORK FOR CONSUMERS’ INTENTIONS TO SHOP ONLINE
By: Emerald
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QUESTIONNAIRE
Yes No
3. On the average, how much time (per week) do you spend in surfing the
Web?
0 – 5 hours 16 – 20 hours
11 – 15 hours
Yes No
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Accessories apparel Computer Software
Gifts Magazines
Last 6 months
6 months- 1year
1-3 year
3-5 year
Only once
2-4 times
Highly Satisfied
Satisfied
Dissatisfied
Highly Dissatisfied
Home Cyber-cafes
10. What are the activities that you use Internet for? (Kindly rank them between
1 to 5, with 1=most used, 2=used to a large extent, 3=used to a good extent,
4=used sometimes, 5=rarely used)
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Finance (Investment portfolio, financial research, online banking, check
stock/fund quotes, trading, etc.)
11. Which category (ies) of goods are you planning to buy through internet in
the near future?
Gifts Magazines
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12. What is your main motivation for buying through Internet?
Saves time
Superior selection/Availability
Product comparison
13. What, according to you, are the most important barriers to purchase online?
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Technical foul-ups prevent transactions from going through
Personal Details
14. Age:
Below 18 yrs.
18 - 30 yrs.
31 - 40 yrs.
41 – 50 yrs.
Above 50 yrs.
Non-Matriculate
Matriculate
Graduate
Postgraduate
16. Occupation:
Business/Self Employed
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Service/Executive
Student
17. Gender:
Male
Female
Name:
Contact No.:
City:
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