“A STUDY ON PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF

E-COMMERCE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS”

A project report submitted to the Farook College (Autonomous), in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

MASTERS OF COMMERCE (M.COM)

2018-2020

Submitted by

AREEJ LATHEEF.V.P

REG NO: FKASMCM003

Under the guidance and supervision of

Dr. T.MOHAMMED NISHAD

(Assistant Professor of Commerce)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES,
FAROOK COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)

KOZHIKODE
 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES
FAROOK COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)
KOZHIKODE

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled “A Study on Problems and Prospects
of E-Commerce Women Entrepreneurs” prepared by Areej Latheef.V.P (Reg
No: FKASMCM003) submitted to Farook College for the award of the Masters
of Commerce, Farook College (Autonomous) is a record of bonafide project
work carried out under the supervision and guidance of Dr. T.Mohammed
Nishad Assistant Professor Department of Management Studies, Farook College.

PROF.K. MAMMOOTTY
(Head of Department of commerce
& Management studies)

PLACE: FAROOK COLLEGE

DATE:
 DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES,
FAROOK COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)

KOZHIKODE

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled “A Study on Problems and Prospects of
E-Commerce Women Entrepreneurs” prepared by Areej Latheef.V.P (Reg No:
FKASMCM003) submitted to Farook College for the award of the Masters of
Commerce, Farook College (Autonomous) is a record of bonafide project work
carried out under my supervision and guidance. No part of this project has been
submitted for any degree, diploma, fellowship or other similar title or recognition
before.

Dr. T.MOHAMMED NISHAD

(Assistant Professor of Commerce)

PLACE : FAROOK COLLEGE

DATE :
 DECLARATION

I, AREEJ LATHEEF.V.P, M.COM student of Department of Commerce And

Management Studies Farook College (Autonomous), Kozhikode, hereby declare
that the project titled “A Study on Problems and Prospects of E-Commerce
Women Entrepreneurs” under the guidance and supervision of Dr.
T.MOHAMMED NISHAD, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Department of
Commerce and Management Studies is a record of bonafide project work done by
me and that no part of the project had been presented for the award of any degree,
diploma, fellowship or other similar title or recognition before.

AREEJ LATHEEF.V.P

PLACE:

DATE:
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study would not complete without acknowledging my sincere gratitude to all
those who helped me morally, socially in kind to bring out this project report
successfully.

Firstly I wish to express my sincere thanks to God who showered blessing on me

and provided me with physical strength, confidence, courage, inspiration and
interest throughout the period of my study.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Mammootty, Head of the

Department of Commerce and Management Studies for his able direction constant
encourage and support.

My heartfelt thanks to Dr. T.Mohammed Nishad for his guidance in every aspect
of the project work and his whole heartfelt co-operation and also express my
thanks to the rest of my dear teachers in our department for their beloved advices
and kind co-operation.

I am thankful to all respondents who helped me by filling the questionnaire,

without whom I would not able to complete my project. I would also wish to thank
my parents and friends those who helped me for the successful completion of my
project.
 TABLE OF CONTENT
SL.NO PARTICULARS PAGE NO:
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 General introduction 2
1.2 Statement of the problem 3
1.3 Scope of the study 4
1.4 Objective of study 4
1.5 Hypothesis of the study 4
1.6 Research methodology 4
1.7 Period of the study 5
1.8 Limitation of the study 6
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 7-15
3 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 16-26
4 DATA ANALYSIS AND 27-43
INTERPRETATION
5 FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS, 44-47
CONCLUSIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY 48
APPENDIX 52
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NAME OF THE TABLE PAGE NO:

NO:
4.1 RESPONDENT’S AGE GROUP 28

4.2 RESPONDENT’S AREA OF ONLINE 29

BUSINESS

4.3 RESPONDENT’S CAPITAL INVESTED 30

4.4 RESPONDENT’S NATURE OF PRODUCT 31

4.5 RESPONDENT’S DURATION OF ONLINE 32

BUSINESS

4.6 RESPONDENT’S OPINION REGARDING THE 33

USAGE

4.7 THE PERSON BEHIND TO START BUSINESS 34

4.8 COMPELLING RESON FOR BECOMING AN 35

ENTREPRENEURS

4.9 MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS FOR WOMEN 37

ENTREPRENEURS

4.10 LEVEL OF PROMOTIONAL MEASURES 38

USED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENUERS
4.11 GIVING UP BUSINESS AT ANY POINT 39

4.12 THE PROBLEM WHILE DOING THE E- 40

COMMERCE BUSINESS
4.13 THE SATISFICATION LEVEL OF WOMEN 41
ENTREPRENEURS
4.14 ANOVA OF NATURE OF PRODUCT AND 42
TOTAL SATISFACTION
4.15 FISHER’S EXACT TEST FOR AREA OF 43
BUSINESS AND NATURE OF PRODUCT
 LIST OF CHARTS

CHART NAME OF THE CHARTS PAGE

NO: NO:
4.1 RESPONDENT’S AGE GROUP 28

4.2 RESPONDENT’S AREA OF ONLINE 29

BUSINESS
4.3 RESPONDENT’S CAPITAL INVESTED 30

4.4 RESPONDENT’S NATURE OF PRODUCT 31

4.5 RESPONDENT’S DURATION OF 32

ONLINE BUSINESS

4.6 RESPONDENT’S OPINION REGARDING 33

THE USAGE

4.7 THE PERSON BEHIND TO START BUSINESS 34

4.8 COMPELLING RESON FOR BECOMING 35

AN ENTREPRENEURS

4.9 MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS FOR 37

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

4.11 GIVING UP BUSINESS AT ANY POINT 39

 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1
1.1. INTRODUCTION

Technology is advancing and rapidly growing. It is often changing our lives to

make things easier and better for them. Most of the people are now connected to
internet, either through their computers or smart phones. This is causing to the
development of online businesses and organizations migrate their advertising
and customer care to the online world, where it is easier and faster to reach
customers. One of the main reasons for this shift is the enhanced use of social
media Platforms. Social media platform helps the business to reach out the
customers very easily and cost effectively.

A country may be rich in material resources and capital. But if entrepreneurship

is lacking, the utilization of resources would not be as expected. The
entrepreneur is a part of industrial society and as he or she should be considered
as an asset. A change in Indian society’s social fabric has increased women’s
aspiration for better lifestyle and education status. They have managed to
succeed in such tough and competitive patriarchal society with their
perseverance, hard work and diligence. Women’s persuasiveness, ability of
learning quickly, open and free style of problem solving, ability to encourage
people, ability to take chances, know the ways of winning and losing gracefully
are the real strengths of women entrepreneurs in India.

The aspect of big international brands using social platforms to their

advantage through online social networking and designing e-marketing
campaigns through very relevant online strategies have been documented and
validated to be effective, and has enabled women entrepreneurs globally to
adopt these e-marketing campaigns to understand customer behavior, through
current and tested digital campaigns and adopted in real time to target their
social network connections. With massive communities online, there are
abundant opportunities to identify and meet the needs of a wide and engaged

2
consumer base. Beyond the easy buy-in of starting an internet business, social
sharing and networking sites have created an utterly unique data. People are
declaring what they want, who they are, what they like etc. Social Media has
enabled modern entrepreneurs to be more in charge of the affairs as far as
information is concerned. They also have control over market procedures and
vital disputes and problems affecting them. Social Media has been recognized
as the new tool in strategic marketing that offers a lot of different tactics for
women entrepreneurs globally to advertise market and attract clients, which
leads ultimately to transactions taking place. Employing these tactics has
allowed these women entrepreneurs to survive by creating economic advantages
that enable them to prosper in this modern environment.

Last but not least, the most essential benefit is creating a communication
bridge between the brands and the customers. These benefits are usually
reflected in the sales figures. And also women entrepreneur tend to be more
successful because of their trusted status in the community. Thus there is a need
to analyze the best practices in the community to be sustainable in the market
through social media promotion. The problems faced by the entrepreneurs too
are important and need to be analyzing the internal factors that motivate to
become women entrepreneurs.

1.2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

E-commerce business has its own advantage with limitations. This research is to
find the problems and prospects of women entrepreneurs in this new era, and to
find their perception towards the online promotional measures for the success of
their business. And it is necessary to find the internal factors that motivate the
women to become entrepreneurs.

3
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The present study is conducted to analyze the e-commerce women

entrepreneurs in Calicut area. It covers the perception of 60 women
entrepreneurs among this city. The study attempts to find out the entrepreneur’s
perception towards online promotional measures for their business success. It
analyzes how the women entrepreneurs faced the challenges while doing the
online business. And the study also includes the internal factors which motivate
the women to become an entrepreneur.

1.4. OBJECTIVES
• To identify the various promotional measures taken by women
entrepreneurs.
• To understand the challenges faced by e-commerce women
entrepreneurs.
• To identify the internal factors that motivates to become entrepreneurs.

1.5. HYPOTHESIS
• H0: There is no significant difference in the overall satisfaction of the
present condition among different product entrepreneurs.
• H1: There is a significant difference in the overall satisfaction of the
present condition among different product entrepreneurs.
• H0: There is no association between nature of product and area of
business.
• H1: There is an association between nature of product and area of
business.

1.6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is the systematic way to solve problems. The

study is based on primary data as well as secondary data. The majority of
the data is collected through questionnaires and the same is used for

4
 analysis. The questionnaire was distributed to 55 women entrepreneurs in
Calicut city.
1.6.1. SOURCES OF DATA:
• PRIMARY DATA
Primary data was collected through questionnaires which were
distributed entrepreneurs and to find out the objectives of the study.
• SECONDARY DATA
The secondary tool is used in some parts of the study which were
gathered from books, journals and websites.
1.6.2. SAMPLING DESIGN

Area of study

For this study, sample was collected from E-commerce women entrepreneurs
from Calicut district.

Sampling size

60 samples were taken for the purpose of study. It includes women ageing
below 18 to above 32 aged women entrepreneurs.

Sampling method

Sampling method used for selecting sample from the target population is
convenient sampling.

1.6.3. TOOLS OF ANALYSIS

Data collected from primary data secondary sources are processed

systematically applying method of classification, tabulation and analysis .Tools
used for analysis of data collected are

• Weighted average analysis

• ANOVA

5
 • Fisher’s test
1.7. PERIOD OF THE STUDY
This study is conducted during the period of December 20 2019 to
January 8 2020.
1.8. LIMITATIONS
• The area of the study is limited to Calicut district only.
• The sample size is limited to 60.
• Primary data was collected through questionnaire. So the limitations of
the questionnaire will reflect in the study.
• Time limit for conducting the study is yet another problem.

6
 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

7
General description

This chapter is based on the previous study and the problems, challenges
occurred in the area in the past year. The aim of this chapter is to provide the
reader with a literature review concerning the research area and the topic
selected for the present research. The researcher is trying to find out the gap
between earlier researches published and unpublished work. The researches in
the area were carried on the basis of characteristic of women entrepreneur
involved in online business. The chapter provides literature review on women
entrepreneur, online business etc.

1. Dr.M.Sumathy and Mr.K.Nagendran (2007): This article is about; the

women of today certainly play a vital role in the development of the
society. By sharing time, appreciation, knowledge and ideas, friendship,
kindness and experience women manages the busy world today. Their
success is mainly because of their ability to relax optimistically, listen
deeply, feel empathetically, respond carefully, synchronize co-
operatively, act authentically and acknowledge generously. After all that
is the essence of women empowerment.
2. Ms. Sweety Gupta, Ms.Ananchal Aggarwal: In this article they
portrayed about the “opportunities and Challenges faced by Women
entrepreneurs in India”. The main objective of the study is to discuss the
problems faced by women entrepreneurs in India, to discuss the major
factor affecting the development of women entrepreneurship among
various countries and to discuss the measures needed to improve the state
of women entrepreneurs in India. For this study they took 260 women
entrepreneur as sample. They used chi square test, percentage analysis
and average as tools of analysis. The main findings were the attitudes and
mindset of society is the main obstacles for their development.

8
3. Jawaharlal Nehru, Shubhra Bhardwaj (2013): This article is about
women entrepreneur in India: issues and problem “You can tell the
condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.” The main
objectives of the study were to explore the reasons why women starts
business of their own, to study the characteristics of women entrepreneur,
to critically examine the types of issues and problems they encounter in
order to reach the level of success, to suggest different remedial measures
in helping and accelerating women entrepreneurs. They selected 200
women entrepreneurs as sample size. They use chi square test and
average as tool of analysis. The specific findings of the studies were India
has a male dominated culture and women entrepreneurs are facing many
challenges from family and society. There should be effort from all
sectors to encourage the economic participation of women along with
adequate training, institutional and financial support as a composite
package needs to be encouraged.
4. Dr. Pankajakshi.R, Ms. Manasa (2016): This article is about “The state
of women entrepreneur in India: Educate-Enrich-Empower”. This
conceptual paper presents the issues and challenges faced by women
entrepreneurs in order to sustain the highly competitive environment. It
also focuses on the role of women contributing for the economic
development of the country through a conceptual model, discussing the
factors influencing where Educating women Enriches ones knowledge
leading to women Empowerment. The paper highlights the steps taken by
the government in encouraging women entrepreneur, NGO’s support
given to women through various schemes to become a successful
entrepreneur.
5. Meenu Goyal and Jai Parkash (2011): According to the authors the
reasons which lead to change in the life style of Indian women was the
transformation of social status of the Indian society, in terms of increased

9
 educational status of women and varied aspirations for better living. This
paper talks about the concept of women entrepreneur, reasons for women
to become entrepreneurs and slow progress of women entrepreneur in
India with a suggestions for the growth of women entrepreneurs and has
discuss about the schemes for promotion and developments of women
entrepreneurship in India.
6. Manjula R Iyer (2016): The main topic of this article is about “A study
on problems faced by women entrepreneurs in Ernakulam district, Kerala.
The main objectives of the study were to study the socio-economic
background of the women entrepreneurs in Ernakulam District, to analyze
the factors that influence the women to became entrepreneurs in
Ernakulam, to examine the major strength and weakness of women
entrepreneurs, environmental opportunities and the threats which promote
the entrepreneurship, to offer suggestions to improve the satisfaction of
women entrepreneurs and to framework for the promotion of women
entrepreneurship in Ernakulam. They opted 100 women entrepreneurs as
sample size. The statistical tool applied for the studies were percentage
analysis and chi square test. The main findings of this study were women
are ready to face the challenges associated with setting up of business.
The important problems of women entrepreneurs are the socio
background including factors, type and mode of business, training
programs.
7. Unnikrishnan. P, Bhuvaneswari (2016): This article is about the topic
“a study on the issues and problems of women entrepreneurs in Kerala
with special reference to Malappuram District.” The main objective of
this study were to study the problems in starting and running the women
entrepreneurs in Malappuram District, to study whether adequate
promotional schemes are offered by government for women
entrepreneurs, to study the method by which women entrepreneurs are

10
 raising funds, to study the attitude of family and others towards women
entrepreneurs in Malappuram District, to check whether adequate training
and marketing facilities are available for women entrepreneurs in
Malappuram District, to analyze the socio-economic status of the women
entrepreneurs in Malappuram District, to provide suggestions for the
improvement for the functioning of women enterprise. They chose 125
women entrepreneurs from Malappuram District as sample size and their
main tools used foe analysis are percentage method and weighted ranking
method. His major findings were no government assistance were gained,
local self-government is bad and problems of inadequate finance.
8. Meeta Jethwa, Chaaya Mishra: This journal is about the topic “A study
on status of women entrepreneur in E-commerce environment in India”.
The aim to carry present study is to know the status of women
entrepreneurs and significance in the E-commerce environment in India.
They also focus to list out the successful women entrepreneurs in E-
commerce sector. The present paper is purely based on secondary data
collected through literature survey, journals, and research papers,
summery of souvenirs, websites, newspaper and published articles on this
particular topic.
9. Tanjela Hossain (2018): This paper is about “Empowering women
through E-business”. It tries to evaluate the effectiveness of e-business on
the empowerment of women. He collected data through a semi-structured
questionnaire from a sample of 100 women entrepreneurs operating
online businesses located in Dhaka city. 15 employees personally
interviewed and other 85 respondents were surveyed through e-mail and
social network sites. The findings of study indicate various factors about
women empowerment. The result reveals that indicators of women
empowerment are mainly (1) Economic freedom, (2) Greater social
independency and acceptability, and (3) Sense of self-worth.

11
10. Eman Wally, Swapna Koshy (2014): They conducted an exploratory
study about the use of instagram as a marketing tool by Emirati female
entrepreneurs. The main objectives of the study were to identify
instagram as a viable market tool and rang of social marketing in the
UAE. The participant’s age were ranged from 40-45 years. The major
findings were the reason behind opting instagram as a viable tool because
of user friendliness and wide exposure. The study also finds that the study
efficiently used mostly by home based business and it provides privacy
for them as part of religious culture.
11. Celestine Lugaye Ukpere, Andre D.Slabbert, Wilfred I Ukpere
(2014): The study was on “Raising trends in social media usage why
women entrepreneurs across the globe to unlock their potential to
business success.” The main objectives of the study to establish the
potential benefit of social media usage by women entrepreneur globally,
to establish the women have to overcome the stereotype that they are
technologically challenged. The findings were both formal and informal
women owned ventures have been observed to adopt social media
platforms to grow their communities as a medium for keeping in touch
and current ground feedback on products or services from existing and
prospective client.
12. Francesca Maria Cesroni, Paola Demartini, Paola Paoloni (2016):
This study is about “Women in business and social media: state of the art
and research agenda.” The aim of this paper is to carried out a literature
review on women in business and social media in order to know the state
of art and to understand whether and to what extent studies conducted so
far have addressed these issues: how and why women entrepreneurs and
mangers are using social media, do they use social media for marketing,
networking or personal reason.

12
13. Ziaul Deependra Sharma, Amrita Grewal (2017): This study is on the
topic building digital women entrepreneurs: A study on women
entrepreneur’s use of social media to help sustain their businesses. The
objectives of the study were to explore and enquire whether women
entrepreneurs find social media platforms as an effective marketing tool
to help them in the sustenance of their businesses. The study adopts a
qualitative approach based on extensive review of literature available on
women entrepreneurs and social media platforms and personal interviews
of women entrepreneurs of Gurgaon. The major findings were social
media platforms have created a new generation of women entrepreneurs,
allowing their businesses to be set up and be promoted with a very low
cost, giving everyone an equal opportunity to succeed. The sector which
is most benefited are those offering products which are tangible.
14. Oke,Dorca.F (2013): This article is about “The effect of social network
on women entrepreneur in Nigeria :A case study of Ado-Ekiti Small
Scale Enterprise. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of
social networks on the women entrepreneur’s business growth. The paper
is also aimed at find the effective use of social networks by women
entrepreneurs with particular reference to small scale businesses in
tailoring firms in Ado-Ekiti, one of the state capitals in South Western
part of Nigeria. Chi square method and descriptive statistics are the main
methods use for analyzing the responses and testing the hypothesis. The
present study provides the bases for further research questions that will
survey individual differences among women that is, inter-personal
relationship, enthusiasms, values, and so on, that may affect their
effectiveness in social networking.
15. Shikha Mahajan (2013): This study is on the topic “Women
Entrepreneurship in India”. The primary objective of this paper is to find
out the status of women entrepreneurs in India and also studies the

13
 success story of Hina Shah the most successful women entrepreneurs of
India in plastic packaging and founder of ICECD. The main finding of
the study were the basic requirement in development of women
entrepreneurship is to make aware the women regarding her existence,
her unique identity and her contribution towards the economic growth
and development of country. The basic instinct of entrepreneurship
should be tried to be reaped into the minds of the women in childhood.
16. Hemantkumar P.Bulsara , JyothiChandwani, Shailesh Gandhi
(2014):The study is on the topic “Women Entrepreneurship in India: A
case study of Rink’s Creation of Rinku Lakdawala”. The primary purpose
of the paper is to study the journey of one woman entrepreneur in fashion
industry and the challenges faced by her in the garment sector in the city
of Surat, India. The sample size was 450 women entrepreneurs. The main
tools of analysis were weighted score method. The main findings were
women are important milestone in the development of the country as a
whole and high potential to go to greater heights. Women in such
category represent true mark of respect and progress.
17. Santha S (2013): This article is on the topic “Women entrepreneurship
in Kerala- A comparative study with Tamil Nadu.” The main objective is
to identify socio-economic status in Kerala and Tamilnadu, to know the
role and involvement of government agencies and financial institutions in
the women entrepreneurship in Kerala and Tamilnadu. 300 women
entrepreneurs chose as sample size. Average is used as tools of analysis.
The main findings are women entrepreneurship has gained momentum in
the last 3 decades with the increase in the number of women enterprises
and their substantive contribution to their extensive growth. Women
development is closely associated with national development.
18. J.Shyla, S.Natrajan, Hari Priya, Jithu James, Ancy Varghese,
ShiniVijayan and AliberMarshell(2014): These person has conducted

14
 their study on the topic “A study on the problems of women
entrepreneurs in urban area with special reference to Thiruvanathapuram
in Kerala. The main objective of the study is to identify the problems
faced by the women. Statistical tools used are percentage analysis,
stackes cone, bar of pie, pie of pie, exploded doughnut. The sample unit
is 100 and sample technique is random sampling. The findings are the
main problem faced by them is financial problem and that is due to credit
facilities.
19. Dina Mellita, Widya Cholil (2012): This article is about “E commerce
and women empowerment: Challenges for Women owned small business
in Developing country”. This paper conducted to describes the aspects
and role of e-commerce for gender empowerment in developing
countries. It is also discusses the main challenges and obstacles faces by
women, suggest practical strategies to address those challenges and goes
on to suggest ways to improve the conditions leading to women’s
empowerment.
20. Sonu Garg, Dr. Parul Agarwal (2017): This article about “The
problem and prospects of women entrepreneurship”. Article discuss about
the number of socio-economic hurdles faced by the women while they
attempt to venture into setting up and running their own enterprises.
Hence this paper discuss about the status of women entrepreneur and
their importance. Also attempt to identify the challenges faced by these
women entrepreneurs.

15
 CHAPTER 3

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

16
General description

Marketers are realizing the power of the Internet, as a communication platform

and a way of following conversation since the past two decades. In marketing,
strategy starts on the outside, considering the needs and expectations of the
consumer and moving inwards to the root of the brand’s identity, to see where
the business can gain advantage and add value. The study of Social Media
Platforms and their impact in unlocking the financial success of the women
entrepreneurs globally has been widely observed and quite vital to the new
generation based ventures that are digitally driven through the use of
technology. This type of development through which women adapt and utilize
Social Media platforms promotes the creation of a new revolution of modern
digital entrepreneurial culture, by changing the female society from a
technologically challenged to a technologically savvy one that changes their
mind-set from the job seeking culture to embrace a job creating one, through
opportunities that are made available by the use of Social Media Platforms and
the Internet. Both formal and informal women owned ventures have been
observed to adopt social media platforms to grow their communities as a
medium.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to allow
people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real time. Many people
define social media as apps on their smart phone or tablet, but the truth is, this
communication tool started with computer. This misconception stems from the
fact that most social media users access their tools via apps. The ability to share
photos, opinion, events, etc in real time has transformed the way we live and
also the way we do business. Retailers who use social media as an integral part
of their marketing strategy usually see measurable results. But the key to

17
successful social media is to not treat it as an extra appendage but to treat it with
the same care, respect, and attention you do all of your marketing efforts.

TOOLS AND PLATFORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA :

Face book: An extremely user friendly and social channel and one thing you
need to keep in mind is that the content you post needs to be light and friendly.
Simply set up a Face book page and update the page by posting offers and
upcoming events in them on a regular basis.

Twitter: Tweet interesting facts and figures related to your product and
provide a link to your products page in your site. Follow and track your
customers along with other industrial giants in the same field of business as
yours.

Google+: Similar to face book, here also you have the opportunity to upload
videos, content and images. Attractive features that Google + offers are the
concept of circles. You can utilize this feature to divide your user base into
different segments and share your content accordingly.

You Tube: Videos are an effective medium of communication and it helps you
to get your message to your users in the shortest span of time. Generally,
businesses post videos on their various products and services that they offer to
their customers. So keep in mind to use this as one of your promotional tools for
business.

LinkedIn: Create a profile and periodically update videos, links and content on
your page. Join into other groups on the network that are of interest to your
users and post reviews, comments and opinions.

WhatsApp: this helps us to get direct contact with the consumers. Marketing
can be done frequently by sharing images and information regarding the

18
products. This has gained more popularity and widely accepted by the women
entrepreneurs.

Instagram: this newly introduced app has wide marketing range. Its image
sharing feature has gained more popularity among the entrepreneurs. Most of
the growing female entrepreneurs use this tool widely. This requires us to create
and account like Face book and like others and consumers can directly contact
them.

E-COMMERCE

Electronic commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, or

transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet.
These business transactions occur either as business-to-business (B2B),
business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C). The terms e-
commerce and e-business are often used interchangeably. The term e-tail is also
sometimes used reference to the transactional processes for online shopping.

ENTREPRENEUR

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of

the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen
as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business or
procedures. Entrepreneurs play a key role in any economy, using the skills and
initiative necessary to anticipate needs and bring good new ideas to market.
Entrepreneurs who prove to be successful in taking on the risks of a startup are
rewarded with profits, fame, and continued growth opportunities. Those who
fail suffer losses and become less prevalent in the markets.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Women entrepreneur is any woman who organizes and manage any enterprise,
especially a business and who accepts challenging role to meet her personal

19
needs and become economically independent. Women entrepreneurs have
completely changed the face of business internationally. It has been observed
that one-third of the businesses in the world are managed by women. The
number of women entrepreneurs is steadily increasing in the Indian economy.
The presence of women can be seen mainly in service sector, HR related jobs
and IT Industry. On the contrary, their participation in hard-core jobs such as
marketing or production is considerably less. Today, women are entering in
many industries like fabrics, engineering, plastics, garment industry etc. Due to
emergence of women in the field of entrepreneurship, there has been a
considerable growth of the Indian economy. The look of Indian economy has
been changed by the women entrepreneurs, as the amount of employment and
revenue has increased to a great extent. Also, the number of enterprises run by
women is increasing at a faster pace.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

Women entrepreneurs in India are bringing about a lot of development in the

public and private sectors, a top member of the government’s think-tank Niti
Aayog has said here. More than two dozen Indian women entrepreneurs are
currently.

The educated Indian women have to go a long way to achieve equal rights and
position because traditions are deep rooted in Indian society where the
sociological set up has been a male dominated one. Despite all the social
hurdles, Indian women stand tall from the rest of the crowd and are applauded
for their achievements in their respective field. The transformation of social
fabric of the Indian society, in terms of increased educational status of women
and varied aspirations for better living, necessitated a change in the life style of
Indian women. She has competed with man and successfully stood up with him
in every walk of life and business is no exception for this. These women leaders

20
are assertive, persuasive and willing to take risks. They managed to survive and
succeed in this cut throat competition with their hard work, diligence and
perseverance.

Measures to Improve Women Entrepreneurship

Women entrepreneurship in India faces many challenges and requires a radical

change in attitudes and mindsets of society. Therefore, programs should be
designed to address changes in attitude and mindset of the people. Women of
the present times should be made aware regarding her unique identity and her
contribution towards the economic growth and development of the country.
Course Curriculum should be designed in a manner that will impart the basic
theoretical knowledge along with its practical implication and help impart skills
required to be an entrepreneur. At the same time, there are various schemes like
the World Bank sponsored programs that can be undertaken for such purposes.
Programs can be conducted in which established and successful women
entrepreneurs can advise and warn for the coming women entrepreneurs against
the challenges they will face against being entrepreneur to boost the morale and
confidence level of the upcoming entrepreneurs. Government should also play
an important role by setting up policies and plan that supports entrepreneurship
opportunities. Setting up good infrastructure is also required to build
entrepreneurship opportunities. It is not easy to promote women
entrepreneurship in India as it requires elimination of various obstacles that
includes changing the traditional attitudes and mindsets of people in society
towards women. To provide opportunities of women entrepreneurship in India
one needs to make aware the women regarding her position towards the value
she can add towards economic growth and development of country. Education
can play a crucial role in promoting women entrepreneurship and promotion of
women entrepreneurship can be achieved by designing course curriculum that
will impart the basic knowledge along with its practical implication regarding

21
setting up of your own enterprise. Vocational training can also help by training,
motivating and assisting the upcoming women entrepreneurs in setting up &
managing of a new enterprise. Apart from vocational training sessions women
can be trained on Information Technology to take the advantage of new
technology in running their startups. Education has been instrumental in
increasing the participation of women in entrepreneurial activities. Proper
education not only helps in acquisition of requires knowledge but also imparts
knowledge about the different opportunities available in different sectors. Good
education makes women confident in dealing with problems in business in an
effective manner. Also women entrepreneurs who have successfully set up their
enterprises can act as advisors for the upcoming women entrepreneurs. The
advices taken from successful entrepreneurs can prove beneficial for the
upcoming women entrepreneurs by resulting in better involvement of women
entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurship.

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR IN INDIA

Every year new women leaders are emerging and setting a trend of their own.
Their stories and achievement will inspire millions others in the country. There
are many women corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and several other inspiring
women who braved all problems to move ahead and achieve success.

Some of the women entrepreneurs who are matching ahead in the domain of e-
commerce are

E-entrepreneurs Position Start-up

Aditi Avasthi CEO& Founder Embibe, It is Mumbai based startup that
combines data sciences and technology
helping students prepare for all kinds of
competitive exam.
Swati Bhargava CEO& Founder CashKaro, her 1st online venture.

22
Neeru Sharma Co-Founder& Inflbeam, an Indian online shopping
Director portal.
Richa Kar CEO& founder Zivame.com, an online lingerie shopping
portal.
Sabina Chopra Co-Founder& Yatra.com and shaped it into one of
EVP Operator India’s most popular travel portals.

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURES, SOCIAL MEDIA & NEW BUSINESS

ENVIRONMENT

Female entrepreneurs have adopted social media rapidly and emerged as clever
social media marketers that use social media with a business purpose. It is
essential to take in account the opinion of an expert since the technological
environment is dynamic and the process of communication has become rapid
with reflexive bound. Women Micro entrepreneurs are proactively using the
social networks to advertise their goods and services and then make use of this
mobile technology, which work for them in terms of client payments and
banking. This is beneficial because all it requires is for one to have a mobile
phone and basic literacy to operate the phone. Other benefits derive from the
fact that the system does not rely on any physical infrastructure such as phone
wires and is accessible to a large segment of the population. Women
entrepreneurs have been noted to focus on increasing their social media, while
men entrepreneurs focus on investing in staff training than digital technology. It
is noted that women use more social media than men. This online dominance
has resulted in great online influence, which enables women to have enormous
power in influencing online opinions that drives e-commerce (online shopping).
It is possible that women through their willingness to embrace social media
marketing stems from the same impulses which make the more likely to
embrace the greater web. This has enabled them to continue to drive the

23
commercial side of online activity and more likely to use social media to share
and educate, thereby resulting in their willingness to embrace more new
technologies. All these contribute to women entrepreneurs being pro-active in
enabling their business to venture in the international business space and
environments. Thus more women entrepreneurs are being encouraged to
embrace and operate in social media platforms and spaces especially in today’s
digital age and revolution using them to their advantage. Many E-commerce
areas have observed women entrepreneurs gaining a strong grip. There is no
doubt that social media marketing has been a boom to small and medium-sized
businesses. It is both effective and inexpensive. It is possible their willingness to
embrace social media marketing stems from the same impulses which make
them more likely to embrace the greater web. Women continue to drive the
commercial side of online activity; are more likely to use social media to share
and educate and more likely to embrace new technology. Incorporating
technology by women entrepreneurs has long been observed to apply to both the
informal and formal business spaces. This phenomenon has been made possible
for these women entrepreneurs to start their ventures informally and through the
profits made by their efforts they gradually turn these ventures into formal ones.
The process of doing this has been made possible through Social Media
platforms used as tools to drive these ventures and the availability of faster,
cheaper internet speeds and data being offered by the major telecommunications
companies has worked to their advantage in connecting them to their existing
and future clienteles. This has enabled many women entrepreneurs take
advantage of these social platforms resulting in women entrepreneurs to starting
a business informally before formalizing it with the profit obtained through the
informal structure before thinking of expansion plans. Social Media platforms
have also encouraged and resulted in women entrepreneurs forming forums for
advice and networking that make expert advice available in real
time/instantaneously at the same time making use of the same for interacting

24
with existing as well as meeting prospective clienteles. Female business owners
globally have proven to be leading the SME social media revolution, as their
male counterparts fall behind in terms of embracing and investing in these new
channels. At the moment globally women entrepreneurs remain the first to
embrace new Social media platforms and the most likely to find a way to
leverage these new Social media platforms and the tools associated with them to
their own advantage.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS OF WOMEN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The business environment for female in India reflects the complex interplay of
many factors.

• Socio- Demographic Factors

The socio demographic features of women entrepreneurs play an
important role on ensuring the success of business. The age, education
qualification, religion, caste, marital status, family type, family size and
number of earning members in the family have greater impact on
entrepreneurial intension and endeavor, personal qualities and traits
which in turn influence the starting up and the level of success of
business.
• Motivational Factors
Motivation is the driving force that causes the change from desire to
trying to achieve in life. Motivation has been shown to have roots in
physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social areas. Motivation may be
rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical pain
and maximize pleasure. Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in
certain manner. Entrepreneurship being in the fourth level of Maslow’s
pyramid (self esteem) there by complementing women to establish

25
 economic needs and their inner conditions such as wishes, desire and
goals, activate to move in a particular direction in behavior.
• Personal factor
Personal factors like self fulfillment and achievement are important
factors female across the globe. The success of the entrepreneurship is
likely to reflect a combination of the personal characteristics and
attributes of the entrepreneur together with their reasons for surviving in
the business. Whenever efforts are made to induct people to
entrepreneurial career, the entrepreneurial qualities such as innovation,
creativity, risk taking, perseverance are generally found lacking in
women entrepreneurial career. This basic requirement is a much needed
force to drive people to their new venture.
• Promotional strategies
Promotional strategy is the element of a firm’s decision-making
concerned with choosing the most appropriate mix of advertising, sales
promotion, personal selling and publically foe communication with its
target market. The fast-paced environment of digital media presents new
methods for promotional to utilize new tools now available through
technology. With the rise of technological advances, promotion can be
done outside of the local contexts and cross geographic borders to reach
a greater number of potential consumers. The goal of a promotion is then
to reach the most people possible in a time efficient and a cost efficient
manner.

26
 CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

27
 TABLE NO: 4.1

RESPONDENT’S AGE GROUP

NO. OF
AGE RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
BELOW 20 1 2%
20-25 40 72%
26-30 12 22%
ABOVE 30 2 4%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO: 4.1

AGE
2%
4%

22% BELOW 20
20-25
26-30
ABOVE 30
72%

INTERPRETATION

Out of 55 respondents, 72% of people are the age group belonging to 20-25 and
23% of people are the 26-30 age group. Only a small portion is belongs to
below20 and above30 age group. It is clear that most of the women
entrepreneurs are the new generation people who belonging to 20-25 category.

28
 TABLE NO: 2

RESPONDENT’S AREA OF ONLINE BUSINESS

NO. OF
AREA RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
KERALA 37 67%
INDIA 14 26%
OUTSIDE INDIA 4 7%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO: 4.2

AREA

7%

26% KERALA
INDIA
OUTSIDE INDIA
67%

INTERPRETATION

From the above details it is clear that 67% of the women entrepreneurs are
conducting their online business in Kerala. It is also clear that very few are
conducting outside India among the women entrepreneurs.

29
 TABLE NO 4.3

RESPONDENT’S CAPITAL INVESTED

NO. OF
CAPITAL RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
BELOW 10000 32 58%
10000 TO 1LAKH 16 29%
ABOVE 1LAKH 7 13%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO 4.3

CAPITAL

13%

BELOW 10000
10000 TO 1LAKH

29% ABOVE 1LAKH

58%

INTERPRETATION

As per the above graph it is clear that women entrepreneurs needed

comparatively little fund to start their business. The result said that there are
58% of women entrepreneurs needed only below 10000 rupees for starting their
business. Very few women entrepreneurs needed above 1 Lakh for starting their
venture. These are not a dead capital, its cost incurred by the each women
entrepreneur.

30
 TABLE NO 4.4

RESPONDENT’S NATURE OF PRODUCT

NO. OF
PRODUCT RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
ART& CRAFT 18 33%
ACCESSORIES 7 13%
CLOTH 14 25%
CAKES 7 13%
MEHENDI 9 16%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO 4.4

PRODUCT
33%

25%

16%
13% 13%

ART& CRAFT ACCESSORIES CLOTH CAKES MEHENDI

INTERPRETATION

The study stated that about 33% of the women entrepreneurs are chosen art and
craft as their product another slight different from the number size 25% of
women entrepreneurs are selected cloth as their business product. Remaining
16% selected mehendi and final 13% chosen accessories and cakes as their
product

31
 TABLE NO 4.5

RESPONDENT’S DURATION OF ONLINE BUSINESS

DURATION NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

BELOW 1 YEARS 29 53%
1-3 YEARS 23 42%
3-5 YEARS 3 5%
ABOVE 5 YEARS 0 0%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO 4.5

DURATION
BELOW 1 YEARS 1-3 YEARS 3-5 YEARS ABOVE 5 YEARS

0%

5%

42% 53%

INTERPRETATION

Here most of the women entrepreneurs are doing this business below 1 year. So
it is clear that the emergence of women entrepreneurs in e-commerce is
recently. Very few are conducted the business in 3 to 5 years. No one was
conducted the business above 5 year. May be later year there is a chance to
enhance the number of women entrepreneur in e-commerce.

32
 TABLE NO 4.6

RESPONDENT OPINION REGARDING THE USAGE

SOCIAL MEDIA RANK 1 RANK 2 RANK 3

FACEBOOK 18 7 30
WHATSAPP 15 33 7
INSTAGRAM 23 15 17

CHART NO 4.6

SOCIAL MEDIA
RANK 1 RANK 2 RANK 3

7
17
30

33 15

23
18 15

FACEBOOK WHATSAPP INSTAGRAM

INTERPRETATION

As per the above graph each social media are ranked according to the each
entrepreneur’s priority. Instagram is the most used social media for conducting
their business. They least preferred the facebook for their business.

33
 TABLE NO 4.7

THE PERSON BEHIND TO START BUSINESS

PARTICULARS NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

HER OWN IDEA 30 55%
FAMILY 12 22%
MEMBERS&
RELATIVES
FRIENDS 10 18%
GOVT AGENCIES 3 5%
Total 55 100%

CHART NO 4.7

35
30
NO. OF RESPONDENTS

25
20
15
10
5
0
HER OWN IDEA FAMILY FRIENDS GOVT AGENCIES
MEMBERS&
RELATIVES
PERSON BEHIND

INTERPRETATION

The study state that more than half of the women entrepreneurs are started their
venture according to their own idea. Remaining are started their venture on the
advice of family, relative and friends. Very least percentage of women
entrepreneurs are started their venture according to the insisting of the
government.

34
 TABLE NO 4.8

COMPELLING REASON FOR BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR

NO.OF
REASONS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENT
UNEMPLOYMENT 5 9%
DISSATISFACTION OF JOB 2 4%

TO FULFILL THE
AMBITION OF 17 31%
YOURS/PARENTS/SPOUSE
TO MAKE USE OF IDLE
7 13%
FUND
TO MAKE USE OF
TECHNICAL& 24 43%
PROFESSIONAL SKILL
Total 55 100%

CHART NO 4.8

REASONS

TO MAKE USE OF TECHNICAL&

24
PROFESSIONAL SKILL

TO MAKE USE OF IDLE FUND 7

TO FULFILL THE AMBITION OF

17
YOURS/PARENTS/SPOUSE

DISSATISFACTION OF JOB 2

UNEMPLOYMENT 5

35
INTERPRETATION

From the above analysis gives us the clear picture that 43% of the women
entrepreneurs are said the reason behind to starting their business is for making
the use of technical and professional skill. Other greater category conducted
their business to fulfill the ambition of parents, spouse and their own. The least
category included in the reasons like unemployment and dissatisfaction of job.

36
 TABLE NO 4.9

MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR

SKILL NO.OF RESPONDENTS

INNOVATION 24
CHALLENGING 18
DREAMING 15
PERSONAL& SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 21
EXPERIMENTING 17

CHART NO 4.9

SKILLS

EXPERIMENTING
INNOVATION

PERSONAL& SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
CHALLENGING

DREAMING

INTERPRETATION

According to the study, most of the women entrepreneurs selected innovation

and personal & social responsibility as a skill needed for the women
entrepreneurs in 21st century. Dreaming is the less preferred skill among women
entrepreneurs. All the skills are needs for the survival of women entrepreneurs
in 21st century.

37
 TABLE NO 4.10

TABLE SHOWING THE LEVEL OF PROMOTIONAL MEASURES

USED BY WOMEN ENTREPRENUERS

(Always-5, Often-4, Sometimes-3, Rarely-2, Never-1)

OPINION NO.OF RESPONDENTS MEAN RANK

VALUE
5 4 3 2 1
Tag a friend 13 17 24 1 0 3.76 2
Combo offers 5 21 16 7 6 3.22 6
Free shipping 13 12 16 8 6 3.33 5
Discount sales 7 19 22 2 5 3.38 3
Buy1 get1 5 15 15 11 9 2.93 7
Cash on delivery 13 17 9 8 8 3.35 4
Like, share& comment 22 21 11 1 0 4.16 1

INTERPRETATION

From the table 4.10 it is been identified that the mostly preferred promotional
measure is like, share and commenting technique. And the very least preferred
promotional measure is buy1get1.

38
 TABLE NO 4.11

GIVING UP BUSINESS AT ANY POINT

NO. OF
GIVING UP RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
YES 14 25%
NO 41 75%
TOTAL 55 100%

CHART NO 4.11

GIVING UP

YES
25%

NO
75%

INTERPRETATION

Majority of the women entrepreneurs are not ready to giving up their business
in any point of time. Only 25% of women are thinks about to give up due to the
personal as well as business problems.

39
 TABLE NO 4.12

TABLE SHOWING THE PROBLEM WHILE DOING THE E-

COMMERCE BUSINESS

(Always-5, Often-4, Sometimes-3, Rarely-2, Never-1)

PROBLEMS NO.OF RESPONDENTS MEAN RANK

VALUE
5 4 3 2 1
Return of orders 1 5 32 8 9 2.65 4
Government 0 9 15 10 21 2.22 5
regulation
Continuous up 8 20 12 7 8 3.24 2
gradation& technology
Widespread of 2 13 18 9 13 2.67 3
duplicate page
Misconception 0 17 15 10 13 2.65 4
Keen competition 14 17 15 5 4 3.58 1
from relative page

INTERPRETATION

From this table 4.12 it is been identified that the main challenging problem
faced by the women entrepreneurs while conducting online business or e-
commerce is keen competition from the relative page. And the least problem
faced by the entrepreneurs is government regulations.

40
 TABLE NO 4.13

TABLE SHOWING THE SATISFICATION LEVEL OF WOMEN

ENTREPRENEURS

(Highly satisfied-5, Satisfied-4, Neutral-3, Dissatisfied-2, Highly

dissatisfied-1)

SITUATION NO.OF RESPONDENTS MEAN RANK

VALUE
5 4 3 2 1
Present business status 10 24 18 2 1 3.73 4
Profit 4 26 22 2 1 3.55 5
Cost of maintenance 5 24 21 4 1 3.51 6
Customer satisfaction 24 26 5 0 0 4.35 1
Potential growth 12 24 17 1 1 3.82 3
Customer service 17 27 11 0 0 4.11 2

INTERPRETATIO N

From this table 4.13 it is been identified that the women entrepreneurs are
highly satisfied with the customer satisfaction and customer service. The least
satisfied situation is the cost of maintenance incurred by them.

41
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE OF PRODUCT AND TOTAL
SATISFACTION

Analysis of variance is used to find the relationship between nature of product

and the total satisfaction.

H0: There is no significant difference between nature of product and total

satisfaction.

H1: There is a significant difference between nature of product and total

satisfaction.

TABLE NO 4.14.1

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Std.
N Mean Deviation Std. Error
ART&CRAFT 18 21.61 4.031 .950
ACCESSORIES 7 24.57 3.457 1.307
CLOTHS 14 22.86 2.445 .653
CAKES 7 24.43 4.756 1.798
MEHENDI 9 24.00 1.871 .624
TOTAL 55 23.05 3.509 .473
TABLE NO 4.14.2

ANOVA TABLE

Sum of Mean
Squares df Square F Sig.
BETWEEN 75.416 4 18.854 1.599 .189
GROUPS
WITHIN 589.421 50 11.788
GROUPS
TOTAL 664.836 54

INTERPRETATION

As per test the accessories have greater mean 24.57 with a standard deviation
(3.457). Then art& craft have the least mean of 21.61. Here the sig value (0.189)
is greater than 0.05. Therefore we accept Null Hypothesis (H0). And conclude
that there is no relationship between nature of the product and total satisfaction.

42
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AREA OF BUSINESS AND NATURE OF
PRODUCT

Fisher’s test is used to find the relationship between the area of business being
conducted and the nature of the product.

H0: There is no association between area of business and nature of product.

H1: There is an association between area of business and nature of product.

TABLE NO 4.15.1

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

AREA OF BUSINESS
NATURE OF
PRODUCT KERALA INDIA OUTSIDE INDIA
ART&CRAFT 11 4 3
ACCESSORIES 4 2 1
CLOTHS 10 4 0
CAKES 7 0 0
MEHENDI 5 4 0

TABLE NO 4.15.2

FISHER’S EXACT TEST

df Calculated value Asymp sig

Fisher’s exact test 8 8.228 0.333

INTERPRETATION

Here the sig value 0.333 is more than 0.05, therefore we accept the Null
Hypothesis. And conclude that nature of product and the area of study are
independent. There is no association between nature of the product and the area
of business.

43
 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

44
5.1. FINDINGS

• Out of 55 respondents, 72% of people are the age group belonging to 20-
25.
• 67% of women entrepreneurs are conducting their online business in
Kerala.
• The women entrepreneurs needed comparatively little fund to start their
business. There are 58% of women entrepreneurs needed only below
10000 rupees for starting their business.
• 33% of women entrepreneurs are chosen arts and craft as their product.
• Most of women entrepreneurs are doing their business below 1 year. So
it is clear that the emergence of women entrepreneurs in e-commerce is
recently.
• Instagram is the most used social media for conducting their business.
• More than half of women entrepreneurs are started their venture
according to their own idea.
• 43% of women entrepreneurs are said the reason behind to starting their
business is for making the use of technical and professional skill.
• Most of the women entrepreneurs selected innovation and personal&
social responsibility as a skill needed for the women entrepreneurs in 21st
century.
• Mostly preferred promotional measures is like, share and commenting
technique.
• Majority of the women entrepreneurs are not ready to giving up their
business in any point of time.
• Main challenging problem faced by the women entrepreneurs while
conducting online business or e-commerce is keen competition from the
relative page.
• Women entrepreneurs are highly satisfied with the status of customer
satisfaction and customer services.
• By applying ANOVA, it is found that there is no relationship between
nature of product and total satisfaction.
• By applying Fisher’s test, it is found that there is no significant
difference between the nature of product and the area of online business
conducted.

45
5.2. SUGGESTIONS

• Entrepreneurship development clubs should be formed in educational

institutions.
• Proper care should be taken to train and develop students into
entrepreneurs from their school going age.
• Proper awareness and motivation should be provided to women
entrepreneurs.
• Established entrepreneurs must ensure that they encourage and
develop young and upcoming entrepreneurs.
• It is better to collaborate between two individuals and form a venture
so that they can combine their talents and be successful.
• New ideas and creativity should be brought out to their business
pages so that they can stand out and invite attention.
• It will be better to bring out women in to main frame of the society so
that will bring out some tremendous changes in the society.
• It will be better to bring out some business oriented programs of
instapreneurs like Calicut flea market, WOK, instapreneurs world,
aspire to inspire, etc.
• Government should take more roles to insist women entrepreneurs.
• Women entrepreneurs must expand their product line in innovative
way.
• Programs should be designed to address changes in attitude and
mindset of the people to develop more entrepreneurs.

46
5.3. CONCLUSION

No one can replace the role of a woman; today they try to conquer all the new
areas of world. Women entrepreneurs are known to multitask in a lot of roles
that incorporate their daily lives, such as procreators, home managers and lastly
entrepreneurs running their own ventures. The use of social media platforms by
women entrepreneurs globally has been seen as a very positive and progressive
step for women to do what they like to do in a best way. Social Media has
enabled them the luxury of being able to adequately manage their time and daily
tasks enabling them to represent in all aspects of daily developments of their
family and business spaces. It has been observed on a global scale that woman
entrepreneurs seem to have actively embraced social media to unlock their
potentials for business success. Women entrepreneurship in Calicut faces many
challenges, but still now requires a radical change in attitudes and mindsets of
society. Today they were facing more problems in social media area like the
keen competition of related pages. Therefore, programs should be designed to
address changes in attitude and mindset of the people and technological
advancement. It is important to promote entrepreneurship among women to
improve the economic situation of the women. This can be made possible with
the help of education as education is a powerful tool in bringing out the
entrepreneurship qualities in a human being. Not only the women every person
should educate some entrepreneurial qualities in their school level itself.

47
BIBLIOGRAPHY

48
WEBSITES

• www.journalijdr.com/women-entrepreneurs-india-emerging-issues-and-
challenges
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com
• www.rroij.com/open.../women-entrepreneurs-problems-of-
womenentrepreneurs-php...
• www.businessdictionery.com
• www.pinterest.com

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49
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entrepreneur’s use of social media to help sustain their businesses.” 2017
14. Oke, Dorca.F Department of Entrepreneurship Management
Technology titled as “The effect of Social Network on Women
Entrepreneurs in Nigeria: A case study of Ado-Ekiti Small scale
Enterprise.” Published in International Journal of Education and
Research Vol.1 November 2013
15. Shikha Mahajan published 2013 titled as “Women Entrepreneurship in
India”

50
16. Hemantkumar P.Bulsara, Jyothi Chandwani, Shailesh Gandhi titled
as “Women Entrepreneurship and Innovations in India: An Exploratory
Study” in International Journal of Innovation February 2014.
17. Santha S published in Journal of Health and Social Science titled as
“Problems of Women Entrepreneurs in Kerala and Tamilnadu in January
2014.
18. J.Shyla, S.Natrajan, Hari Priya, Jeethu James, Ancy Varghese,
Shiny Vijayan and Aliber Marshel Journal of Research in Business and
Management Vol.2 Issue 5- 2014 titled as “A Study on Problems of
Women Entrepreneurs in Urban Area with special reference to
Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
19. Dina Mellita and Widya Cholil article published in 2012 titled as “E-
Commerce and Women Empowerment: Challenges for Women Owned
Small Business in Developing Country.”
20. Sonu Garg, Dr. Parul Agarwal in February 2017 “Problems and
Prospects of Woman Entrepreneurship- A review of literature.

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APPENDIX

52
QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear participant,

Thank you for participating in this brief survey. The purpose of this survey is
“A STUDY ON ONLINE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS”. This project is a
part of M.COM course and this data will not use for any other purpose. I request
you to kindly fill the questionnaire below.

1. Which age group do you belong to?

 Below 18
 18-25
 25-32
 Above 32
2. Area of online business being conducted?
 Kerala
 India
 Outside India
3. Capital invested?
 Below 10000
 10000 to 1Lakh
 Above 1Lakh
4. Nature of product offered?
 Art & crafts
 Accessories
 Cloths
 Cakes
 Others (please specify):……………………………….
5. How long you have been running online business?
 Below 1years
 1-3years
 3-5 years
 Above 5 years
6. Rank the following from highest to lowest based on your usage?
Particulars Rank
Facebook
Whatsapp
Instagram
Others (please
specify)…………….
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7. Who advice entrepreneur to start business?
 Her own idea
 Family members& relatives
 Friends
 Government agencies
 Others (please specify)……………………………
8. What are the compelling reasons for becoming an entrepreneur?
 Unemployment
 Dissatisfaction of job
 To fulfill the ambition of yours/parents/spouse
 To make use of idle fund
 To make use of technical & professional skill
 Others (please specify)………………………………
9. Which of the following skills do you think are the most important for women
entrepreneurs in 21st century?
 Innovations
 Challenging
 Dreaming
 Personal &social responsibility
 Experimenting
 None of the above
 Others (please specify)……………………….
10. Rate the level of promotional measures used by users?
Particular Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never
• Tag a friend
• Combo offers
• Free shipping
• Discount sales
• Buy1 get1
• Cash on
delivery
• Like, share&
comment
11. Have you ever think of giving up business at one point?
 Yes
 No
12. Are you faced the following problem while doing your business activities?
Particulars Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

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 • Return of orders
• Government
regulations
• Continuous
upgradation &
technology
• Widespread of
duplicate page
• Misconception
• Keen competition
from relative
page
13. How far you satisfied with the following conditions?
Particulars Highly Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly
satisfied dissatisfied
• Present
business
status
• Profit
• Cost for
maintenance
• Customer
satisfaction
• Potential
growth
• Customer
services

55