ABSTRACT

Those days are over when customers had to stand and wait in queues in front of retail
outlets or ticket counters to buy books, groceries or movie tickets, railway tickets etc.
The advancements in Internet technologies have moved people from physical markets
to virtual markets, where they can buy from home or while on the go with much
convenience. This has further been supported by advancements in mobile
technologies and telecom sector as well. Today a number of e-commerce brands are
available which help the consumers make orders online and receive the products at
their doorsteps. The present study in this view aims to put light on some of the major
e-commerce brands operating in India, viz., Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal. The
research design used is descriptive in nature, wherein, comparative study was done to
know consumer preferences towards e-tailer brands on the basis of various
characteristics or services offered by them. The analysis has been done with the help
of simple statistical techniques like frequency counts, averages and percentages. As
per the findings, Amazon takes the first place followed by Flipkart and Snapdeal.
However, neck-to-neck competition exists among these e-tailers. Suggestions from
various respondents might help the brand managers or marketers to find out where
their respective companies excel and where they need to work hard and improve.
The rapid pace of life today has affected the lives of people in many
ways. To keep up with the speed, people these days resort to the things
that tend to save time and can be done more conveniently. Even for
shopping, consumers are turning towards digital / virtual markets where
they can now buy almost everything easily without having to visit the
stores physically. With the evolution of web-based technologies, mobile
technologies and telecommunication services, India has witnessed a
fanatical growth in e-commerce over the past few years and is further
prospering at a fast pace.

E-Commerce in India is one of the fastest growing & emerging

economies of the world, having a very huge consumer base & a big
mass connected to Internet (approx. 100 million). The E-business trend
have been catching up in the country with the increasing rates of local&
domestic firms using the E-business model to do business which is very
different from the traditional way of doing business in India, it has lead
to a interesting trend in the market for the online shopping starting right
from ordering food, grocery, vegetables, fruits, taxis, electronics & so on
.
We have selected two main e-commerce websites of India for our Study,
i.e. “Flipkart and snap deal”. We would try to analyse and compare both
e-commerce portal on various aspects . We would be studying the
strategies that the portal have used to attract Indian masses, so as to
give them the total online shopping experience, the portal offers an
unique strategy to masses to make payment modes like Cash & Card on
delivery. Since portals are giving a customized offering to the masses
i.e. rite from the wider product portfolio to payment options, its making
very convenient for the users to have a online shopping experience
hassle free.

The Delhi-headquartered snapdeal is in close competition

with south-based Flipkart at the peak of what was
aggressive play by both companies for a larger wallet share
of customers, where size is what mattered. 
LITERATURE REVIEW
E-commerce refers to the marketing, buying and selling of products and
services in virtual markets. Also known as business-to-customer (B2C) e-
commerce, online shopping is the most familiar form of e- commerce. A
number of e-tailers are present today in the e-commerce space, Amazon,
Jabong, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues, Craftsvilla, to name a few.
Customers can buy almost everything on these digital stores, be it
electronics, apparels, baby products, beauty products, movie tickets,
books and what not. People are overwhelmingly turning to these spaces
for shopping seeking enormous variety in very short time while getting
huge discounts from one place. Thus, consumer buying processes are
changing that brings in the necessity to understand their purchase
behaviour towards these electronic retailers.
Many researchers have conducted various studies on online shopping and
the consumer buying behaviour towards digital markets. For example,
Pradeep Kumar Tiwari[4] in his dissertation on “online shopping
behaviour” mentioned that online shopping has a very bright future in
India. People increasingly prefer shopping online as it tends to save their
time and money, and also they get to gather and compare information
regarding various products very conveniently. Also they find buying
through e-commerce sites secure enough. Dr. Rina[5] in a recent study
discusses various challenges and the future scope of e- commerce in
India. She concludes that though the future of e-commerce in India cannot
be predicted with much accuracy but at present it is definitely increasing
at a very rapid pace. Certain parameters like competitive prices, easy
return and refund policies, fast delivery, easy and secure payment
options, m- commerce applications/services etc. are very essential for the
growth of the industry. Puja Gupta (2015)[6] did comparative study on
online and offline shopping in Rourkela, Odisha. The findings of the study
revealed that the people in the age group of 18-25 years seem to be
indulging in online shopping more as compared to rest of the age groups.
The reasons for people of age 35 years or more, not much interested in
virtual markets were found to be either the lack of awareness of Internet
and digital markets or even if they know about them, the fear of getting
cheated in terms of fake products stops them to move towards digital
stores. However, youth segment was found to be actively involved in
buying online. Iyer and Eastman (2014)[7] in their research examined the
attitude of senior citizens towards internet usage and its influence on
comparison shopping. They found that those elderly people who are quite
tech savvy tend to indulge in shopping online and do comparison
shopping. However, their knowhow regarding internet usage cannot be
correlated with their online shopping experience. Gao et al. (2012)[8] in
their study emphasised that growth of online shopping has made e-
commerce players to continually engage in providing rich information to
E -COMMERCE IN INDIA
1.The e-commerce introduced to India in mid-1990s, many of them were
either matrimonial or job portals, the major reason behind the slow response
to e-commerce in India was,
1. 1)  Limited availability of internet
2. 2)  Weak online payment system
3. 3)  Lack of awareness in customers
2.Due to the above reasons the e-commerce progressed very slowly in Indian
market.
3.In mid-2000 the e-commerce industry in India grown rapidly offering online
services like travelling, many airline companies started providing the travel
services online to customers, even today online travel booking holds a major
share of e- commerce space. Today almost everything is sold online in India.

Six of the top 10 fastest-growing ecommerce countries in 2019 hail from the
Asia-Pacific region, led by India and the Philippines at more than 30% growth
and rounded out by China, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea. Latin
America boasts the top-growing overall ecommerce market—Mexico at 35.0%
—and No. 8 Argentina. Even more mature regions for ecommerce like North
America (Canada, 21.1% growth) and Europe (Russia, 18.7% growth) claimed
spots in the top 10.
FLIPKART
Flipkart was founded in 2007, by Sachin and Binni Bansal, students of IIT
Delhi who were the ex-employees of Amazon.com. Flipkart is an e-
commerce company based in Singapore, it operates in India. According to
alexia internet, Flipkart is one of the most popular website visited in India.
Flipkart sells goods in India through a company called WS retail. The other
third-party traders or companies can also sell goods through the platform
of Flipkart. Initially in 2008 Flipkart sold books but soon it established itself
wide and started selling products like consumer electronics, clothing,
home decoration products, appliances, beauty and fashion products etc.
Due to the powerful network all over India and effective customer
relationship management, Flipkart has earned a topmost position in India.
Flipkart allows payment methods such as cash on delivery, net banking,
debit or credit card transactions, e-gift voucher and card swipe on delivery
The founders of Flipkart Sachin and Binny Bansal, now has taken the
combined net worth in excess of $1 billion, reaching closer to that of
Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys. The value of Bansal’s
combined stake has crossed over Rs. 6000 due to the fresh $1 billion fund
raise. The Murthy family has a net worth of near Rs. 8,700 crore being
India’s second largest it services company, while the Nilekani family's net
worth holds at Rs 6,500 crore.
Infosys took about four decade to reach market cap of about $30 billion
while Flipkart raised the valuation of $7 in just seven years, and according
the Flipkart officials the company has a set future goal of becoming $100-
billion e-commerce Company.
Pricing

Flipkart Snapdeal
Subscription Fee free free
Listing Fee free free
Payment Gateway none none
Fee
Commission 5-15% 4-20%
(depends upon
product category)

Payout period Dispatch date + 7 Dispatch date + 3

business days weeks

Flipkart snapdeal
Self shipping no no
Provides shipping Yes,ekart yes
Assistance
Cost of shipping 30-60/500gm 50/500gm
(approx.)
Provides packaging yes yes
Cost of packaging NA NA
 Packaging
Flipkart

Carton Box Security Bag Flipkart Fragile Cylindrical Festive

Tapes Packaging Rolls Packaging
material 

Snapdeal

Snapdeal shipments delivers in solid red boxes as opposed to the standard

brown corrugated boxes – a feature Snapdeal’s been highlighting in all its
campaigns. On the face of it, the change comes as a breath of fresh air. It fits
in with Snapdeal’s branding, makes Snapdeal’s packaging stand apart from the
others, and has had some users gushing about the change. A normal
corrugated box costs anywhere between Rs. 10 to Rs. 150 depending on the
size.
 Big Deals
Flipkart will kick-start the fourth edition of its Big Billion Days sale right past
midnight on September 20, which will continue till September 24. Flipkart is
planning to roll out some deals from the second day of Big Billion Days sale,
on September 21.
Snapdeal, meanwhile, will begin its Unbox Diwali Sale from September 20,
which is before both the other market leaders in online shopping in India. It
will also be hosting the longest festive sale, with flagship sale continuing for
six days till September 25. Meanwhile, Snapdeal is also offering extensive
range of products under fashion, electronics and accessories on lucrative
prices with focus on the ongoing festive mood.

Under its Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart is offering discounts up to 90 per
cent on various categories ranging from apparel, small and large electronic
appliances, home furnishing and more. On the first day of the sale, buyers
can avail discount of fashion, cookware, home furnishing and appliances,
among others. From the second day of Big Billion Days sale, Flipkart will
offer discounts on smartphones, laptops, and accessories too.
During its Unbox Diwali Sale, Snapdeal will be offering 60 per cent off on
men's fashion, 80 per cent off on women's fashion, 70 per cent off on
smartphones, 80 per cent off on electronics and more.

Smartphones are expected to be the centre of attraction for flagship sales

across online shopping companies. Flipkart has always depended on its
smartphone section to get an edge over the competition and this year will
not be different. While sale for smartphones will begin from the second day
of Big Billion Days sale, it is expected to include popular smartphones and
smartphone brands.
Samsung Galaxy S7, Huawei P9, Lenovo K8 Plus, Lenovo Phab 2, Moto C
Plus, Panasonic P85, Honor 8 Pro, ZTE Blade A2 Plus, Xiaomi's Redmi 4A and
recently launched Mi A1 will be among the smartphones that will be up for
sale during Big Billion Days sale with attractive price tag.

Flipkart
Flipkart

Snapdeal Snapdeal
 conclusion
Flipkart has higher customer friendliness index than Snapdeal it means it
has higher level of customer friendly environment which gives customers
more trust towards it and they are more willing to purchase from flipkart
rather than snapdeal. Flipkart offers better payment system than
Snapdeal which has multiple options to pay and has various promotional
options like 0% interest EMI potions, large number of credit and debit card
acceptance,5-10% discounts on paying through e-wallets like paytm,
phonepe etc. Flipkart has higher standard of quality checks throughout the
entire product cycle like catalogue Management, product quality,
packaging, Logistics feedback, Return Management etc. It runs a program
called Flipkart Assured in which It store sellers product inventory in their
warehouse and deliver to customers, in which product undergoes 6 quality
checks and then deliver product to customers. So customers have few
complaints about products and have greater trusts towards Flipkart but
snapdeal does not have such type of assured quality checks which gives
customer higher level of quality assurance. Flipkart has fastest Logistics
service in the e-commerce industries. It has it's own Logistics service
called E-kart enabling it to have better control over Logistics operation and
customer feedback. It offers next day delivery plan for metro cities in
which product can be deliverd to customer next with in a day while
Snapdeal depends on third party courier services like Bluedart, Ecom,
Fedex, etc That's why it doesn't have close control over logistics
operations.

Flipkart has higher social media presence by online service like facebook,
twitter, instagram, and google ads etc and also It invests more in
advertisement on television and other advertisement media resulting it to
have more direct connections with customer and has greater penetration
in e commerce market. Snapdeal doesn't invest that much in
advertisement and that is one of the biggest reason why it lagging behind
the flipkart in terms of market share.
Customer loves deals and Discount promotion while purchasing onling and
Flipkart offers more deals and promotion than Snapdeal to customers so
that customer has more choice and better saving on their purchasing. It
runs best- in- industries promotion program Big Billion Day sale every year
around Festival season which is biggest in the industry and offers large
variety of deals and promotion to customers but snapdeal's promotion
programs are not that much big. The most critical aspect of online
purchasing is return and refund of the product, according to customers.
Because if customers did not like the product they ordered , they have
easy option to return the product and get refund in quick time then they
have little hesitation while ordering and have trust towards company and
higher level of customer satisfaction and flipkart has very easy
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