Project Report

(Submitted for the Degree of B.Com. Honours

in Accounting & Finance under the University of Calcutta)

Title of the Project

E-COMMERCE AND ITS RELEVANCE- ONLINE SHOPPING
WITH RESPECT TO NYKAA

Submitted by
Name of the Candidate-: MEDHA DAS
Registration No- : 034-1221-0581-14
Name of the College-: SHRI SHIKSHAYATAN COLLEGE
College roll no-: 160

Supervised by
Name of the Supervisor-:Smt. SUCHARITA BASAK
Name of the College-: SHRI SHIKSHAYATAN COLLEGE
Month & Year of Submission-: FEBRUARY,2017
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am using the opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me

throughout the course of this project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance, invaluable
constructive criticism and friendly advice during the project work. I am sincerely grateful to
them for sharing their truthful and illuminating views on a number of issues related to this
project.

First of all, I would like to express my warm regards to our Head of the Department, Dr.
Indrani Saha, as well as my supervisor, Ms. Sucharita Basak for their untiring efforts and
devotion towards me to make this project. Without their advice and guidance, the project
would never been completed.

Thereafter, would like to acknowledge my parents, friends and all those people whose
continuous support, infinite belief and positive encouragement helped me to complete this
project in this manner.

With this, I would like to close myself project, was not made by me only for marks but to
enhance my level of knowledge to a higher level.

Thanks again to all those who helped me.

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Annexure- IA

Supervisor's Certificate

This is to certify that Ms. MEDHA DAS, a student of B.Com. Honours in Accounting &
Finance of SHRI SHIKSHAYATAN COLLEGE under the University of Calcutta has
worked under my supervision and guidance for her Project Work and prepared a Project
Report with the title E-COMMERCE AND ITS RELEVANCE- ONLINE SHOPPING
WITH RESPECT TO NYKAA.The project report, which she is submitting, is her genuine
and original work to the best of my knowledge.

PLACE: KOLKATA SIGNATURE:

NAME: SUCHARITA BASAK

DATE: DESIGNATION: LECTURER

NAME OF THE COLLEGE:

SHRI SHIKSHAYATAN COLLEGE

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Annexure- IB

Student's Declaration

I hereby declare that the project work with the title E-COMMERCE AND ITS
RELEVENCE- ONLINE SHOPPING WITH REPECT TO NYKAA submitted by me for
the partial fulfillment of the degree of B.Com. Honours in Accounting & Finance under the
University of Calcutta is my original work and has not been submitted earlier to any other
University /Institution for the fulfillment of the requirement for any course of study.
I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or in part has been incorporated in
this report from any earlier work done by others or by me. However, extracts of any literature
which has been used for this report has been duly acknowledged providing details of such
literature in the references.

PLACE : KOLKATA SIGNATURE

DATE: NAME: MEDHA DAS
ADDRESS: 22/281,JODHPUR
GARDENS,KOLKATA-45
REGISTRATION NO: 034-1221-0581-14

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 INDEX

Serial CHAPTERS Page

Number
No.
1. INTRODUCTION 6-7
1.1 Background 8
1.2 Literature Review 9
1.3 Objectives of Study 10
1.4 Research Methodology 11
1.5 Limitations 12

2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 13-14

2.1 Payment 15
2.2 Product Delivery 16-17
2.3 Fraud and Security Concerns 17-18
2.4 Information and Reviews 19
2.5 Price and Selection 20
2.6 Product Stability 20
2.7Effect of Denometisation 21

3. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 24

3.1 Description 24
3.2 Background 26
3.3 Funding 27
3.4 Acquisitions 27
3.5 Business Results 28
3.6 Working Procedures 29
3.7 Products 30
3.8 Payment 31
3.9 Analysis 32-41

5. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 42-44

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 45

 QUESTIONNAIRES 45-46

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 1. INTRODUCTION

'Electronic commerce', commonly known as 'e-commerce' or 'e-comm.', is the buying and

selling of product or service over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer
network. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one
point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies
such as e-mail, mobile devices and telephones as well. Electronic commerce is generally
considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to
facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business transactions.

TYPE OF E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS:

o B2B (BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS) - Companies sell their online goods to other

companies without being engaged in sales to consumers. In most B2B e-commerce
environment entering the web shop will require a log in.B2B web shop usually contain
customers specific pricing, customer specific assortment and customer specific discount.

o B2C (BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER) – In a business-to-consumer e-commerce

environment,companies sell their goods to consumers who are the end users of their
products or services.

o C2B (CONSUMER-TO-BUSINESS)- In a consumer-to-business e commerce

environment consumer usually post their product or services online, on which companies
can post their bids. A consumer reviews the bids and selects the company that needs its
price expectation.

o C2C (CONSUMER-TO-CONSUMER) – In a consumer-to-consumer e-commerce

environment, consumer sell their online goods to other consumer.
o B2G(BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT) - E-commerce can be considered yet another
type of e-commerce. For the purposes of this text, we subsume B2G e-commerce within
B2G e-commerce,viewing the government as simply a form of business when it acts as a
procurer of goods and/or services.

o INTEGRATED E-COMMERCE- In integrated e-commerce,a part of the software

solution is installed inside the back end system. This means that the connection between

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 the business logic and database of a back end system is configured automatically.
Information that is available in the back of the system is being re-used and displayed in
the front/ back end of the e-commerce system. An integrated E-commerce software
product thus doesn’t require to invest in recreating a separate database or business logic.
Instead it reuses those of the back end system. Integrated software is mostly used in B2B
E-commerce

o INTERFACED E-COMMERCE- In Interfaced E-Commerce, the software solution is

installed on top of the back end system. This means that the connection between the
business logic and data base of a back end system is setup manually. Information that is
available in the back end system is being duplicated into the e-commerce software an
interfaced e-commerce software product thus has their own database and business logic
that are being synchronized constantly through a connection to a certain back end system.
Interfaced E-commerce is mostly used in B2C scenario.

o G2G (Government-to-Government), G2E (Government-to-Employee), G2B

(Government-to-Business), G2C (Government-to-Citizen), C2G (Citizen-to-
Government) are other forms of ecommerce that involve transactions with the
government from procurement to filing taxes to business registrations to renewing
licenses.

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 1.1BACKGROUND

Since about 1990, online shopping has emerged into every corner of life, linking people to
the culture of capitalism in frequent and daily ways. Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce)
can be defined loosely as doing business electronically(European Commission 1997). E-
Commerce includes electronic trading of physical good and of intangibles such as
information.

Online Social-Shopping Website is where people can recommend their favorite products for
others to discover and purchase online. Social shopping websites are bridging the continents
of offline media, brand advertising and e-commerce by building a media platform that
supports the marketing lifecycle – awareness, consideration, trial and consumption. Online
social shopping blends two powerful elements of real-world shopping otherwise lost for
online consumers: word of-mouth recommendations from trusted sources and the ability to
browse products in the way that naturally leads to discovery.

There are two major types of online shopping relationships. These include two business’s
working together, or a business functioning as its main goal to serve the consumer. Sites such
as eBay, Amazon, or buy.com, snapdeal, flipkart are the reason we have such these stable
relationships between our business and consumers today. These sites are some of the most
successful online business running at the time. Snapdeal, for example, has given customers
the opportunity to take part in auctions which encouraged people to participate in online
shopping. Others have even enabled people the chance to make profit from their own
personal belongings. They are truly successful as they offer an outstanding customer service.
It is quite evident that these sites made shopping one of the easiest tasks possible.

1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW

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o SHEIKH (2009):In the recent years, electronic commerce has become an important
alternative or additional sales and marketing channel. Many companies are only selling
through this channel while many others are using it as an additional channel for boosting
their sales.

o PRADEEP (2011):An attempt to explicitly consider information quality, system quality,

and service quality as the key dimensions of consumer satisfaction with Internet
shopping. I believe the research outline and research propositions serve as salient
guidelines for researchers with special reference to consumer satisfaction in internet
shopping.
o BALASUBRAMANIAN, S., KONANA, P. AND MENON, N.M. (2003): In this
environment, some traditional service quality dimensions that determine customer
satisfaction, such as the physical appearance of facilities, employees, and equipment, and
employees‟ responsiveness and empathy 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
o ARCHANA SHRIVASTAVA, 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.

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 1.3OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary aim of this project is to demonstrate that with better interactive features, online
shopping is becoming more popular nationwide. The objectives of the project are as follows:

o To learn about the Online Shopping industry.

o To investigate potential problems with Online Shopping

o To provide a detailed study about the procedure of buying products online..

o To study about the various attributes of online shopping..

o To study the awareness of online shopping among customers.

o To be able to easily save money and compare prices from website to website.

o To see the strategies of the Online resellers who sells their product at lower price due to
less overhead expenses.

o Effect of demonetization on e-commerce and how people respond to the paper currency
crunch.

This project mainly aims at focusing and throwing light on online shopping, its operating
system and findings, case study on an online shopping company. The objective is to learn and
find out the problems and growth, the features, etc.

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 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.THE AREA OF STUDY: The area of study is in the field of commerce where we are
taking up e-commerce, under which case study on online shopping and empirical study on
Snapdeal under this field. The geographical area of study is Kolkata, West Bengal, India and
other internet websites.
2.SAMPLE SIZE: Background, collection of data suitability, limitations, survey, case study
on online shopping, empirical study of Snapdeal, are the sample collected for the project. 50
respondents have been taken up as sample size. Statistical representation is also done.
3. TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION: There are two ways of data collection- primary
data and secondary data:

 PRIMARY DATA : Primary data for online shopping has been collected from
sources like online shopping company Snapdeal’s branch at Kolkata, data on
online shopping as whole collected from own experience, observations from
people’s views on the different attributes of online shopping which are all
authentic, reliable and valid. Telephonic conversation with customer care
executive about procedures from the online shop- Snapdeal.
 SECONDARY DATA: Secondary is collected from books on e-commerce
which has widely described online shopping and its features, from journals and
magazines, electronic sources like the internet.
4. METHOD OF ANALYSIS: Method of analysis is from case study, survey, magazines,
journals which helped to know the system and working of online shopping and how an online
shop works on daily basis like 24*7 format. Explanations through charts, diagrams and
pictures on the same gave a better view on the report and helped understanding it better.
Survey helped to know customer reviews and case study helped in knowing online shopping
process better. Telephone conversation with the customer care officer helped to know the
features and other things about the company

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 1.5 LIMITATIONS

1. Primary data over telephonic conversation with an executive of the company on

which the case study is done was bit tough as the lines was not clear and they
were in a hurry to attend customers rather than answering questions. Secondary
data was though easy to find but we cannot depend on it completely and the data
from websites are not relevant .
2. Data on online shopping was less as the sector is huge and fast growing, a lot
could be written about this but all of it was not possible to discuss in a project
report moreover there are numerous types of online shop but all could not be
discussed as it is a vast topic. Customer review was not easily available but
generous help was provided.
3. Secondary data is not always correct, sometimes it is limited and not the data what
we look for. Analysis and findings in the form of primary data was less. Websites
sometimes delete data online and further reference or proof becomes unavailable.
Error occurs while opening certain pages on internet which is also problem with
secondary data.
4. Primary data is more accurate and upto the mark on which we can depend fully
but less available. In this project there is more of secondary data than primary
data.
5. Time is a major barrier to conduct a detailed analysis of all the data gathered
during the course of the project.

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 2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce which allow consumers
to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without intermediary service.
Other names for an online shop are: e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store,
online store, and virtual store. The concept of an online shop evokes the physical analogy of
buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center; the process is
called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case where a business buys from
another business, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The
largest of these online retailing corporations are E-Bay and Amazon.com, both of which are
based in the United States.

B2C ONLINE SHOPPING: Business-to-consumers (B2C) e-commerce is a system of

buying and selling of goods and services on online basis. It involves an individual intending
to purchase and a shop intending to sell goods and services. Such internet based shops are
popularly known as virtual shops or cyber shops or e-stores or dot-com-shops. Business-to-
consumers e-commerce offers consumers the competence to browse, select and buy
merchandise online, choosing from a wider variety of products and at better prices. It applies
to any business organization that sells its products or services to consumers over the internet.
These sites display product information in an online catalogue and store it in a database.

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The top categories of Online Sales according to comScore Networks, (Freedman, 2002) are:

o Computer Hardware and Software

o Apparel and Accessories
o Office Supplies
o Books, Music and Movies
o Consumer Electronics
o Home and Garden
o Health and Beauty
o Gifting
o Sporting Goods
o Toys and Games

2.1 MODES OF PAYMENT

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ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER: Electronic funds transfer (EFT) can also be called
electronic payment (e-payment) is the electronic exchange , transfer of money from one
account to another or payment through different electronic forms online, either within a
single financial institution or across multiple institutions, through computer based systems.
Online shoppers commonly use a credit card, debit card or paytm etc in order 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.)
 Cheque
 Debit card
 Direct debit in some countries
 Electronic money of various types
 Gift cards
 Postal money order
 Wire transfer/delivery on payment
 Invoice, especially popular in some markets/countries, such as Switzerland
Some online shops will not accept international credit cards. Some require both the
purchaser's billing and shipping address to be in the same country as the online shop's base of
operation. Other online shops allow customers from any country to send gifts anywhere.
The financial part of a transaction may be processed in real time (e.g., letting the consumer
know their credit card was declined before they log off), or may be done later as part of the
fulfillment process.

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2.2PRODUCT DELIVERY
Once a payment has been accepted, the goods or services can be delivered in the following
ways:
DOWNLOADING:The method often used for digital media products such as software,
music, movies, or images.
DROP SHIPPING: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor, who
then ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailer's physical location to save
time, money, and space.
IN-STORE PICK-UP:The customer selects a local store using a locator software and picks
up the delivered product at the selected location. This is the method often used in the bricks
and clicks business model.
Printing out, provision of a code for, or emailing of such items as admission tickets and scrip
(e.g., gift certificates and coupons). The tickets, codes, or coupons may be redeemed at the
appropriate physical or online premises and their content reviewed to verify their eligibility
(e.g., assurances that the right of admission or use is redeemed at the correct time and place,
for the correct dollar amount, and for the correct number of uses).
SHIPPING: The product is shipped to a customer-designated address.Will call, lCOBO (in
Care Of Box Office), or "at the door" pickup: The patron picks up pre-purchased tickets for
an event, such as a play, sporting event, or concert, either just before the event or in advance.
With the onset of the Internet and e-commerce sites, which allow customers to buy tickets
online, the popularity of this service has increased.

2.3FRAUD AND SECURITY CONCERNS

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Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk
of fraud. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit cards or fraudulent
repudiation of the online purchase. However, merchants face less risk from physical theft by
using a warehouse instead of a retail storefront.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card
numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However, one
must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit card information
subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass the information to others. Also, hackers
can break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers.
Identity theft is still a concern for consumers.
Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent
assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these
seals is to increase the confidence of online shoppers. However, the existence of many
different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain extent. A
number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using
online retailer services.
These include:
Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews of their
experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact information on the website
before using the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry oversight programs
such as a trust mark or a trust seal. Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy
posted. For example note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private
information with others without consent. Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with
SSL when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card
information entry screen will start with "HTTPS". Using strong passwords, without personal
information. These are difficult to hack, and provides a variety of upper, lower, and special
characters and could be site specific and easy to remember.

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2.4 INFORMATION AND REVIEWS
Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas
in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be
available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other
experimentation).

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Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions,
safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background
information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to
buy.
Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated
review sites that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and even some blogs give
customers the option of shopping for cheaper purchases from all over the world without
having to depend on local retailers.
In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online
stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mails or phone calls to handle customer
questions.

2.5 PRICE AND SELECTION

One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services
provided by many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help
consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison
services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product
or service.
Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though
depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this.
Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more expensive
than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially

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those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large
orders.
Another major advantage for retailers is the ability to rapidly switch suppliers and vendors
without disrupting users' shopping experience.
2.6 PRODUCT SUITABILITY
Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information
storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education,
communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Other successful
marketers use drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of
tangible goods without maintaining real inventory.
Some non-digital products have been more successful than others for online stores. Profitable
items often have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases, they
may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shut-ins as their typical
purchasers. Items which can fit in a standard mailbox—such as music CDs, DVDs and books
—are particularly suitable for a virtual marketer.
Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for
industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online.
Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at
consumer outlets—in such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with retail
stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor for success in this niche can consist of
providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number their particular
version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial number.
Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight ratio,
products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial fittings—most
notably clothing—and products where colour integrity appears important.

2.7 EFFECTS OF DEMONETISATION

India is one of the key growth

countries for the company, with e-
commerce in the region at a
nascent stage and a huge potential
for growth. However, economic
policies in the country can
impact this growth for e-

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commerce. In a sudden and unprecedented move, on November 8, 2016, the Indian
government announced that high value currency notes (Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000) will no longer
be legal tender, eliminating nearly 86% of the currency in circulation, creating a huge cash
crunch in the economy. In a country where nearly 90% of transactions are carried out in cash,
a bold move to transform the region into a “cashless” economy has created chaos. The move
is intended both to reduce untaxed “black” money and rampant corruption in the country, and
to bring more accountability in cash-based informal industries.
Experts believe that demonetization could impact the country’s economic
growth significantly in the short term. Ambit Capital, a reputed research company in India,
has revised its FY18 GDP growth estimate to 5.8% as opposed to the 7.3% figure earlier. The
cash crunch has impacted business of several industries and can have a significant impact on
the “Cash on Delivery” model of e-commerce companies in India. About 70% of online
shoppers in India, opt for cash while buying a product. Cash payments are more frequent for
high value products where the unaccounted “black” money is spent on luxuries.

Reduction In Cash On Delivery – Short Term Pain But Long Term Gain
COD is considered as a necessary evil in the Indian e-commerce market. While it boosts sales
of online companies, it obstructs their cash flows and makes it difficult to scale operations.
There are several additional costs involved with this payment method and the risk of returns
and thefts with this form of payment are higher. The recent government push towards a
cashless economy will encourage more online payments and reduce the total share of COD in
e-commerce sales from the current high of nearly 80% of total transactions.

Slowdown In Economic Growth

The goal of the demonetization move in India is to make the economy stronger and eliminate
the parallel cash economy which is unaccounted and untaxed. While this can impact the GDP
negatively in the short term, it should have positive long term consequences. For e-commerce
companies such as Amazon which already have a digital payments system in place, it should
lead to higher online payment and eventually eliminate the painful cash on delivery option.

HOW HAS DEMONETIZATION IMPACTED THE E-COMMERCE

INDUSTRY?
Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and many other online shopping sites are ruling the retail
segment. These e-commerce sites, however, took an unplanned spike in their revenue soon
after the implementation of the ban on the higher denomination currency notes.
 UNDELIVERED ORDERS: Most of the orders that were placed with the cash on
delivery option could not be delivered because the online retailers could not accept
old notes. All the overheads and the costs incurred in shipping the orders go a waste
in case of undelivered orders. This is indeed a significant loss for the e-commerce
players.

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  SUSPENSION OF COD ORDERS: Some of the retailers temporarily suspended the
option of paying with Cash on delivery (COD).

 REDUCTION IN A NUMBER OF ORDER:As a major chunk of orders placed on

the online sites is paid with cash on delivery, demonetization had a detrimental effect
on the number of orders placed. People only had to wait to get their old currencies to
be exchanged and few of the customers are skeptical about online payments. This lead
to a notable surge in the number of orders placed on the online shopping sites.

 SHORT-TERM IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE PARTNERS: Stagnant goods,

returned undelivered orders, reduction in the cash flow, all together came as a severe
blow for the e-commerce partners. But economists, as well as the e-commerce
business sectors, believe that this effect is a temporary one and that the long-term
impact is going to make things better for them.

 PATCHING UP THE VOID: Though the situation cannot be fully rectified in one
go, e-commerce retailers could take certain steps to make it easy for the customers to
make their payments and thus, in turn, help their own businesses as well.

 EXPAND THE PAYMENT OPTIONS AVAILABLE: Besides payment through

internet banking and debit or credit cards, mobile wallet payments are great too. E-
commerce sites can start adding more options of payments and payment through
popular mobile wallets too.

 INCREASE THE NUMBER OF POS TERMINALS: Currently, the number of

POS devices are pretty low in relation to the number of online orders made. By
increasing the number of POS devices, e-commerce players can make it convenient
for the customers by allowing them the security and convenience of COD orders.
This, in turn, would reduce the number or undelivered orders for the online retailers
thus making it a win-win situation.

 LUCRATIVE DISCOUNT OPTIONS:Several retailers also ran attractive

promotions and discounts so as to encourage people to place orders.

 GO CASHLESS TO MAKE PAYMENTS: Online retailers also have introduced

impressive discounts for all the cashless payments. This encourages more customers
to choose a payment method other than COD and claim their discounts and in turn
helping the e-commerce businesses retain a reasonable cash flow.

THE IMPACT ON ONLINE PAYMENTS:

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If there is one thing that has been growing at a good pace after demonetization, it is online
payments. Rather than being tied up in the cash crunch and standing in the never ending
ATM queues, more people switched to online payments. There has been a rise in the number
of debit and credit card transactions. Even smaller vendors have introduced cashless payment
methods.
Tackling the cash crunch by tapping the potential of online payments:

 There has been a significant growth in the mobile wallet sector. Transferring money as
well as making payments for online orders is easy with mobile wallets. More people have
begun to fill up their mobile wallets resulting in the growth of the mobile wallet providers
like Paytm, Mobikwik and more.
 Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will see a steady growth. The support of the
government has also been in favor of promoting UPI for online payments.

DEMONETIZATION IMPACT ON ONLINE SHOPPING

(INFOGRAPHIC)

 78% agreed that they have started to shop online more since demonetization and
because of cash crunch
 Going Cashless is the new norm: 35% of the respondents have started using ‘Plastic
Money’ even while shopping at local vendors for daily needs and consumables.
Others prefer the below sites for buying groceries and daily items:
 Amazon.in – 25%
 BigBasket.com – 15%
 Flipkart – 7%
 Grofers.com – 7%
 Snapdeal – 5%
 Paytm has become the undisputed leader when it comes to being the preferred
payment wallet with 50% user share. Freecharge ranks second with 35% with
Mobikwik, Citrus Pay and Oxigen follow thereafter.
 Preferred payment method used after demonetization of Rs 500 & Rs 1000 notes
when shopping online
 Using Wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik etc. – 59%
 Net Banking – 23%

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  Cash on Delivery (CoD) – via using Debit/Credit card – 18%
 Cash on Delivery (CoD) – via Cash – 1%

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 3. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

SNAPDEAL

URL www.snapdeal.com

Slogan Dil Ki Deal

Commercial? Yes

Type of site Online shopping

Registration Optional (required for buying Digital Content)

Available language(s) English

Owner Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal

Launched February 2010

3.1 DESCRIPTION

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Snapdeal is an online marketplace, featuring a wide assortment of products across categories
like Mobiles, Electronics, Laptops, Cameras, Fashion accessories, Apparel and Footwear,
Kids, Home and Kitchen, Sports, Books etc.

With over 20 million members, Snapdeal.com is the shopping destination for millions of
internet users across the country. Headquarter in New Delhi,India,the company was started
by Kunal Bahl, a Wharton graduate, and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus of IIT Delhi in February
2010. In march 2015, snapdeal brought actor Amir Khan for the promotion of its website in
india.

3.2 BACKGROUND
Snapdeal.com was started in February 2010 as a daily deals platform but expanded in
September 2011 to become an e-commerce company via a marketplace model.With 20
million registered users, Snapdeal is one of the first and largest online marketplaces in
India offering an assortment of 4 million+ products across diverse categories from over
20,000 sellers, shipping to 4,000towns and cities in India.

3.3 FUNDING

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 Snapdeal has received 7 rounds of funding:

 Round 1: In January 2011, Snapdeal received a funding of $12 million from Nexus
Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital.
 Round 2: In September 2011, the company received $45 million from Bessemer Venture
Partners, along with existing investers, Nexus venture patners and Indo-US venture
partners
 Round 3:In April 2013, Snapdeal then raised a 3rd round of funding worth $50 million
from eBay and recruit holdings.
 Round 4 :In February 2014, snapdeal received its 4th round of funding worth $133
million. The 4th round of funding was led by eBay with all current
institutionalinvestors ,including Kalaari Capital, Nexus venture partners, Bessemer
venture partners intel capital.
 Round 5 :In May 2014, Snapdeal received its 5th round of funding of $105 million. The
5th round included investment by Blackrock, Temasek holdings,Premji invest and others.
 Round 6: In October 2014, Snapdeal received its 6th round of funding from Softbank
with investment worth $647 million in fresh capital. This makes Soft Bank the largest
investor in snapdeal.
 Round 7: In August 2015, snapdeal received its 7th round of funding from Alibaba Group,
Foxconn and SoftBankwith investment worth $500 million in fresh capital.
 Round 11:One of the world's largest pension funds, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and
Singapore- based investment entity Brother Fortune Apparel have led the 11th round
of funding in online marketplace player Snapdeal. The latest investment is $200 million
(Rs 1,367.6 crore) in Jasper Infotech-owned company

 3.4 ACQUISITIONS
 In June 2010, Snapdeal acquired Bangalore-based group buying site, Grabbon.com.

 In April 2012, Snapdeal acquired esportsbuy.com, an online sports goods retailer based
out of Delhi.
 In May 2013, Snapdeal acquired Shopo.in, an online marketplace for Indian handicraft
products.
 In April 2014,Snapdeal acquired fashion products discovery site, Doozton.com.

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 In December 2014, Snapdeal acquired gifting recommendation site, Wishpicker.com
 In January 2015, Snapdeal acquired a stake in product comparison website
Smartprix.com
 In February 2015, Snapdeal acquired luxury fashion products discovery site,
Exclusively.in
 In March 2015, Snapdeal acquired 20% stake in Gojavas.com
 Again in March 2015, Snapdeal acquired e-commerce management software and
fulfillment solution provider, Unicommerce.com. Snapdeal also entered into the financial
service marketplace by acquiring a major stake of RupeePower which provides a digital
platform for financial products to customers.
 In September 2015, Snapdeal acquired Reduce Data, a programmatic display advertising
platform.

3.5 FINANCIAL RESULTS

In the year 2012-13 Snapdeal had said that it expected revenues of about  6
billion (US$88 million). Betting big on the growth of mobile commerce, Kunal Bahl, the
CEO of Snapdeal, said at present 15-20 per cent of the sales on Snapdeal comes through
m-commerce. Snapdeal.com expects the total sale of products traded on its platform to
cross  20 billion (US$290 million) in the fiscal year 2013-14 helped by its robust growth
in the past two years and the growing popularity of e-commerce in India. In June 2014,
Snapdeal announced that it had achieved the milestone of 1000 sellers on its platform
getting sales of over Rs. 1 crore.

3.6 BUYING PROCEDURES

o REGISTERING: First the customer has to register an account for oneself and give their
address where they want the product to be delivered and other relevant information. The
customer needs to give e-mail id for reference and keep a log in password to keep the
account safe and prevent misuse by others.
o CHOOSING A PRODUCT: The customer needs to choose the product he/she wants to
buy. Then review the features according to his personal convenience.
o PLACING AN ORDER: After selecting the product the customer needs to place an
order to buy the product.
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o PAYMENT OPTION: Once the order is placed the operator asks to select a payment
method, the customer needs to select it as per his convenience like cash on delivery,
credit or debit card, EMI, etc. then shipping charge is added if any.
o CONFIRMING ORDER, PAYMENT MODE and ADDRESS: The customer needs to
confirm the mode of payment and agree to terms and conditions after reviewing them.
Also have to confirm the shipping address.
o PACKING AND DESPATCHING: The company packs the products according to its
durability and despatches it through their courier services for delivery to the customer.
o CONFIRMATION AND ESTIMATED DELIVERY TIME BY THE
COMPANY :The company sends a message or mail confirming that the order has been
accepted and giving details of product number, estimated delivery time and shipping
company details.
o TRACKING AN ORDER: A customer can log in with the registered account and trace
the status of the order placed.

3.7 PRODUCTS
Snapdeal started with selling books. In 2011, they added to their catalogue media (including
music, movies and games) and mobile phones and accessories. In 2012, product launches
included cameras, computers, pens & office supplies, computer accessories, home and

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kitchen appliances, personal care, health care, gaming consoles, audio players and televisions.
In 2012, product launches includes health & beauty products, Life style products which
includes watches, belts, bags & luggage.
In November 2011, Snapdeal launched a new Electronic Wallet feature that allows shoppers
to purchase credit to their Snapdeal account using credit or debit cards, and can subsequently
be utilized to make purchases on the site, as and when required. From June 2012, Snapdeal
allowed people to buy toys, posters and from October 2012, Snapdeal entered into apparel
retailing.

3.8 PAYMENT

Snapdeal offers multiple payment methods. Whatever online mode of payment, customer can
rest assured that Snapdeal’s trusted payment gateway partners use secure encryption
technology to keep the transaction details confidential at all times.

One can pay by all major credit cards (including American Express) and debit cards
(including Maestro cards) issued by Indian banks. Customer can also use Internet Banking
(covering 44 banks), E-Gift Voucher, Cash on Delivery to make the purchase.

CASH ON DELIVERY (C-O-D) ORDER: All items that have the "Cash on Delivery
Available" icon are valid for order by Cash on Delivery.

Customer has to add the item(s) to the cart and proceed to checkout. When prompted to
choose a payment option, the customer has to select "Pay by Cash on Delivery" and enter the
CAPTCHA text as shown, for validation. Once verified and confirmed, the order will be
processed for shipment in the time specified, from the date of confirmation. It will be
required to make a cash-only payment to the courier partner at the time of delivery of the
order to complete the payment.

Terms & Conditions:

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  The maximum order value for C-o-D is ₹500
 e-Gift Vouchers or Store Credit cannot be used for C-o-D orders
 Cash-only payment at the time of delivery.
o EMI PAYMENT OPTION: The Snapdeal EMI payment option is available for Citibank,
HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and Standard Chartered credit cards only. One can choose
to pay in 3, 6, 9 or 12 month installments. Citibank credit card holders cannot avail the
12-month installment plan. The minimum order value to avail the EMI payment option is
4,000.
Generally, a flat EMI processing fee is charged by Snapdeal unless mentioned otherwise
(special product promotion). The fee is 150 for the 3-month plan | 200 for the 6-month
plan | 1,000 for the 9-month plan | 1,200 for the 12-month plan
Select products are sometimes marked for the Zero Processing Fee EMI offer. In line with
the offer, the EMI processing fee is waived off on select monthly installment plans. One
will notice that the Credit Card (EMI) payment option will show the Snapdeal EMI
processing fee as 0 for the respective installment plan.
o USING A CREDIT CARD: Snapdeal accepts all VISA, MasterCard and American
Express credit cards issued in India. Snapdeal cannot currently process international
credit cards.
To pay using the credit card at checkout, it will need the card number, expiry date, three-
digit CVV number (found on the backside of your card). After entering these details, it
will be redirected to the bank's page for entering the online 3D Secure password.
o USING A DEBIT CARD: Snapdeal accepts debit cards issued by all banks in India.
Snapdeal cannot currently process international debit cards. To pay using the debit card at
checkout, it will need your the number, expiry date (optional for Maestro cards), three-
digit CVV number (optional for Maestro cards). It will then be redirected to the bank's
secure page for entering the online password (issued by your bank) to complete the
payment.

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 4. ANALYSIS
On the basis of analysis and findings it was found that online shopping has its advantages as
well as its disadvantages.

A group of 50 customers have been taken up as sample size and their views on certain
question has been shown.

Q1. Review On Snapdeal’s product quality?

Particulars Result Percentage

Good 30 60%
Average 15 30%
Bad 5 10%

% of Customers review on the basis of qual-

ity
70%

60%

50%
customers review on the basis of
quality
40%

30% 60%

20%
30%
10%
10%
0%
Good Average Bad

INTERPRETATION:
Out of 100% approx 60% customers reviewed that that product was of good quality. They
said that the products were same as displayed on the website. 30% customers said that the
product quality was average. 10% customers did not like product quality , as it was of
different quality than what they expected.

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Q2. Review on Snapdeal’s product pricing?

Particulars Result Percentage

High Price 20 40%

Reasonable price 30 60%

% of Customers review on the basis of

product price
70%

60%

50%
Customers review on the
product price
40%

30% 60%

20% 40%

10%

0%
High Reasonable

INTERPRETATION:
60% Customers reviewed that the prices were reasonable as per the quality standard. While
on the other hand 40% customers felt that some product were highly priced as compared to
the market price of a particular product.

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Q3. Which payment mode do you generally consider ?

Particulars Result Percentage

Cash on delivery (COD) 30 60%
Credit card/ Debit card 10 20%
Internet Banking 5 10%
E.M.I 5 10%

% of customers using which payment mode

% of customers using which payment mode
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%
60%
10% 20%
10% 10%
0%
Cash On Delivery Credit Card/Debit Card Internet banking E.M.I

INTERPRETATION:

60% people uses cash on delivery as payment option as they do not get to test the product
before they buy it. Sometimes looks it can be deceiving. People worry about fraud or theft
with credit cards purchases .Although online shopping continues to grow, there are problems
why consumers hesitate to make advance payment as they thinks whether accurate product
will reach on time or not. Some people prefers to pay by debit/ credit cards. 20% people
prefers payment by cards as they are convenient. Demonetization had a major impact on the
payment mode. Nowadays people are shifting to online payment due to paper currency
crunch. 10% people opts for E.M.I option.

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Q.4 Is snapdeal shopping site user friendly?

Particulars Result Percentage

Yes 40 80%
No 10 20%

% OF CUSTOMER WHO THINKS SNAPDEAL

SHOPPING SITE IS USER FRIENDLY
90%
80%
70%
60% % OF CUSTOMER WHO THINKS
SNAPDEAL SHOPPING SITE IS
50% USER FRIENDLY

40% 80%
30%
20%
10% 20%
0%
yes no

INTERPRETATION:

80% customers think that snapdeal shopping site is user friendly. Its easy to understand as
various categories are given so that one can quickly look upon his/ her desired product. The
modes of payment options are convenient. Snapdeal also provides ‘SORT’ and ‘FILTER’
options so that the customers find the right product according to their requirement.

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Q5. Review on Snapdeal’s delivery service?

Particulars Result Percentage

Satisfied 35 70%

Unsatisfied 15 30%

% of customers review on the delivery

service

80%

70%

60%
% of customers review about the
50% delivery service

40%
70%
30%

20%
30%
10%

0%
Satisfied Unsatisfied
I

INTERPRETATION:
70% customers were satisfied with the quick delivery provided by snapdeal . Snapdeal
delivers the product at customer’s door-step without any extra delivery charge. Snapdeal also
provides the option of re-scheduling the delivery dates and time as per customer’s request.
30% customers were not satisfied with the delivery services, as the products were not
delivered within the expected time.

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Q6. Did you receive any damaged/ broken or duplicate product?

Particulars Result Percentage

Yes 12 24%
No 38 76%

% of customers received damaged/ broken or

duplicate product

Yes
24%

No
76%

INTERPRETATION:

24% Customers has received damaged/ broken or duplicate product as the products are
delivered from the warehouse , which are generally in the outskirts of the cities, in transit the
product gets damaged or broken. Sometimes the products gets damaged because of
negligency of the courier partners. On the other hand 76% people have received the product
in good conditions ,rather they were happy with the product as well as the packaging.

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Q7. Did you find snpadeal’s return policy convenient?

Particulars Result Percentage

Yes 30 60%

No 20 40%

% of customers review on return policy

No
40%

Yes
60%

INTERPRETATION:
40% Customers says that the return policy is not convenient. After filing the return delivery
agents take long time to pickup the product. On the other hand 60% customers are satisfied
with the return policies. Snapdeal provides customer support 24*7 which helps customers
with their queries.

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Q8. Does online shopping saves time?

Particulars Result Percentage

Yes 40 80%

No 10 20%

% of Customers who thinks online shopping

saves time
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
YES; 80%
10% NO; 20%
0%
YES NO

INTERPRETATION:
80% of the respondants thinks online shopping saves time. They say that instead of driving
around or spending hours in travel one can sit back and visit all the stores they want. This
eliminates time going from store to store to see what is available, and at what price. But 20
% thinks that online shopping does not save time as they have to wait for the delivery of the
order after placing it. They say that if the commodity is needed urgently ,then online
shopping is not preferable.

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Q 9. Were you satisfied with your last purchase?

Particulars Result Percentage

Yes 35 70%

No 15 30%

% of customers review about their last

purchase
80%

70%

60%

50% % of customers review about

their last purchase
40%

30%

20% 70% 30%

10%

0%
Yes No

INTERPRETATION:
70% Customers are satisfied with their last purchase on snapdeal. And they would love to
shop with snapdeal in near future as they are satisfied with the products and services provided
with it. On the other hand 30% customers were not satisfied with their last purchase as they
had a bad shopping experience.

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Q10. Rate Snapdeal on the basis of overall performance?

Particulars Result Percentage

19 38%

12 24%

8 16%

7 14%

4 8%

% of customers ratings on overall per-

formance
40%

35%

30%
% of customers ratings on
25% overall performance
20% 38%
15%
24%
10%
16% 14%
5% 8%
0%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star

INTERPRETATION:
38% Customers gave 5-star rating on the overall performance of snapdeal as they are highy
satisfied with the product’s quality, price and delivery services. The customer care services
were available 24*7 and resolved all the queries of the customers. Some rated it with 4 and 3
stars as they are expecting snapdeal to improve its services more in near future. Some rated it

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with 2 and 1 stars as they are not at all satisfied with the services of snapdeal because of
issues relating to delayed delivery, damaged products, inferior quality products etc.

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 5. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

 CONCLUSION

To conclude, business model is significantly important for a successful online shopping

website.
The business model is a fundamental factor for the success of a company. Any online
shopping company has to design their business model carefully before start their business.
The four pillars of business model inter-relate each other and together make a successful
business model.
 Product Innovation should be made according to the core value proposition based
on what the end target customers need and willing to pay. User centered design
methods could be applied for the product feature design. The products features
directly influence what kind audiences attracted by the website.
 Infrastructure Management especially the partnership network, is also vital for an
online social shopping company as B2B business is the main revenue streams for
online social shopping companies.
 Customer Relationship Management is significant for an online social shopping
company because the active customer community is the essential resource to
online social shopping.
 Financial Aspects The time for return of investment is relative long for an online
social shopping company. When looking at the profit and cost in different parts of
online social shopping business, B2C service is free of charge in order to gain as
much as consumers to participate in the community. C2C services is a cost for the
websites as the company need to compensate the consumers who made good
recommendations in order to keep the online community active. B2B business is
the main revenue stream of the online social shopping websites.

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  SUGGESTIONS

There are areas of improvements in online security and other aspects. More customers should
be familiar for broader concept findings and analysis. More primary data should be available.
Customers should be familiar with the concept of online shopping. Problems and advantages

should be carefully observed and the scope of improvement should widen and public,
government and corporate sectors should take part to improve the condition of online
shopping. People should be recommended and suggested to shop online by existing
customers they should be told the working system and everything else relating to online
shopping. Suggesting about buying things and coming up with new concepts in the online
shopping sector is needed.
Online shopping sites must create a place where people can drop off and buy used packaging
at huge discount.
Online shopping sites must send an email or text message to the customers the day before
their package is scheduled to be delivered so that they could take the delivery of the product
accordingly.
Shopping sites must clearly give the product description which can be easily understood. This
protects the customers from frauds and manipulation and builts up a good customer
relationship.
Online stores must create a special department , in order to take regular feedback from the
customers.

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  BIBLIOGRAPHY

The relevant information for the entrepreneurship development project, topic- e-commerce
and its relevance- online shopping is taken from:

Books and magazines:

o Rajaraman,V., “Analysis and design of information system”, 2

o Kalakota,R., and Whinston,B., “ Frontier of electronic commerce”
o Information from magazines like “India Forbes E-Commerce’s second bloom”,
Business Today February 3, 2016 edition.

Websites:

o m.snapdeal.com
o www.forbesindia.com
o www.wikipedia.org

Primary source: Telephonic conversation with customer care executive about procedures
from the online shop- Snapdeal.

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 7. QUESTIONNAIRES

NAME:

GENDER: MALE FEMALE

AGE:

OCCUPATION:

1. Review on Snapdeal’s product quality.

a. Good b. Bad c. Average

2. Review on Snapdeal’s product price?

a. High b. Reasonable

3. Which payment mode do you generally consider?

a. Cash On delivery b. Debit Card/Credit Card
c. Internet banking d. E.M.I option

4. Is snapdeal shopping site user friendly?

a. Yes b. No

5. Review on Snapdeal’s delivery service?

a. Satisfied b. Unsatisfied

6. Did you ever receive any damaged / broken/ tampered or duplicate product?
a. Yes b. No

7. Did you find Snapdeal’s return policy convenient?

a. Yes b. No

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 8. Does online shopping saves time?
a. Yes b. No

9. Were you satisfied with your last online purchase?

a. Yes b. No

10. Rate snapdeal on the basis of overall performance?

a. 5 stars b. 4 stars
c. 3 stars d. 2 stars
e. 1 star

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