“A STUDY ON CONSUMER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING

WITH REFERENCE TO KODUVAYUR PANCHAYATH”

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF
COMMERCE.
SUBMITTED BY SHOBA KUMAR S
(CHAOMCM014)
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
Sri RADHAKRISHNAN.G
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMMERCE,
GOVERNMENT COLLEGE CHITTUR
POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, CHITTUR
JUNE 2016

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Chapter 1

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Marketing concept is a philosophy of business. Today, marketing is not a mere physical process of activities
concerning exchanging of goods.Modern marketing is primarily concerned with creation of consumers in other
words, identification of the needs of consumers and then organizing the business activities to satisfy the
consumers’ needs. The present day business men aim at ‘consumers delight’ rather than consumer satisfaction.
In fact modern marketing enhances all the activities involved in identifying the needs of present and potential
consumers’ for goods and services, in procuring the goods from production centre and distribution through
transfer of ownership. Marketing is in brief supplying what the consumers’ want, when they want, at the place
they want, at the price they can afford and thereby resulting in the creation of a satisfied consumers’.

E-Commerce Technology
Electronic commerce has become one of the essential characteristics in the Internet era. Internet and Web
technologies have fundamentally changed the way businesses interacted, transacted and communicated with
consumers. It has become a dynamic virtual medium for selling and buying of information, products or
services because, the growth and development of retail brands has experienced considerable change over the
last few decades. For many retailers the strategy of offering lower quality and lower price on brand alternative
has changed to a policy of directly competing with manufacturer brands in terms of quality, design and
packaging. The Internet has also changed the way we consume products and our means of satisfying the
demands for our comfort. The Internet has made it easier for us to acquire the goods. Internet commerce
exploded and became a normal part of day to day life of consumers. It provides both organizations and
consumers, with endless options to choose from, for various transactions. Online commerce has many
advantages when compared to regular shopping. The most fundamental advantage is the convenience. The
Internet was popularized in the 1980s when Microsoft and IBM came out with the
personal computers. The era of online shopping totally transformed the computer in ways few would have
imagined in the early 1980s. The first bank was opened in 1994 and a Pizza Hut website also went online. In
the late 1990s and early 2000s online shopping became more accessible for a lot of people and its popularity
surged the consumers. In today’s society, people are doing all kinds of their financial transaction ranging from
buying holiday gifts to buying cars and paying their bills over the net. According to UCLA Center for
Communication Policy (2001)1, online shopping has become the third most popular Internet activity,
immediately following e-mail using/instant messaging and web browsing. Online shopping can be done at
home and one need not have to worry about traffic congestion, long lines and other traditional aspects. The
term “Electronic commerce”2, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, or e-business consists of the
buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer
networks.

Internet Marketing

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The continuous and rapid revolution in the advancement of modern era has made every thing so comfortable
for everyone and that is the reason why most of the people have fancy to use Internet because of its reliability,
speed and performance. Along with message delivering through e-mail, seeking information through searching
and browsing, a lot of people are using Internet for online shopping or e-commerce, which has evolved the
field of Internet marketing and internet marketing experts have found a proficient way to find their potential
customers. The term “Internet marketing”3 also referred to as i-marketing, webmarketing, online-marketing or
e-Marketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet.

Online Shopping
Online shopping is a major part of the overall electronic commerce, or e-commerce, industry which consists of
all the buying and selling of goods and services over electronic systems such as the internet and other
computer networks by households, businesses and other agencies. With the spread of the internet, the amount
or trade that is conducted electronically has seen extraordinary growth; and has led to innovations and
development in areas such as electronic funds transfer, electronic data interchange and internet marketing.
Before the widespread introduction of the internet to the general public in 1994, the term electronic commerce
referred to the use of technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Fund Transfer
(EFT), introduced in the late 1970’s, to facilitate business practices. With the rise of the World Wide Web
many predicted that e-commerce would soon become a major economic sector, but security protocols such as
HTTPS did not become secure enough for widespread use of such transactions until 1998. During the dotcom
bubble, which saw the emergence of the internet asa new economic sector, companies catering to consumers
seeking to make use of this new tool to buy and sell emerged, many of which collapsed when the bubble burst
in 2000 and 2001. Despite this, many traditional, brick-andmortar retailers recognized the valuable markets
these companies had identified, and took steps to add e-commerce capabilities to their own websites. New
methods of sending payments, such as e-shopping carts, electronic payment services and secured credit card
payment authorizations became more widely used.The emergence of e-commerce as a viable alternative to
traditionalretailing models has also had other effects. By significantly reducing the barriers of entry for the sale
of many types of products, e-commerce has allowed sellers to enter the market who may not have had this
ability prior to the advent of the internet. For example, online auction sites such as eBay, or large online
retailers such as Amazon, have allowed small, home-based sellers to bypass much of the costs faced by the
new entrants into the market, and allowed them to take advantage of those companies’ exposure The term
“Online shopping”4 is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller in real-time,
without an intermediary service, over the Internet.

Internet Marketing and Online Shopping

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Internet marketing and online shopping are directly related to one another. Internet or online marketing is the
most effective way to brand the product line or services and to increase the visibility on line. It follows that a
properly marketed and visible online business will experience a growth of shoppers and a higher conversion
rate. In order to be truly successful online, a website must use all of the tools available to increase their
visibility and their rankings. The most effective manner of increasing the visibility of a website is through the
process of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The higher a website ranks, the more likely that the site is to
receive ‘hits’ or visitors. Internet marketing and online shopping, when considered together, naturally lead a
website owner to perform optimization on their site. This process, whether handled by the business owner or
by a qualified consultant, is often a simple matter of determining the most effective keywords, changing
website design and content and engaging in activities that will organically grow a list of links for a site. Online
reputation or branding must also be considered. While theInternet has made it considerably easier for an
average person to start a small business and succeed, it has also made it easier for every consumer to find any
piece of information imaginable.

Online Shopping: An Indian Perspective

A few years back, when online shopping was at its nascent stage, there were very limited sales as well as
purchases on the online shopping arena. This was due to many reasons such as lack of internet friendly
population, low penetration of computers and internet connections in India, low percentage of credit and debit
cardholders, as well as non willingness of people to use their credit card on the internet due to the fear of being
scammed. But with the passage of time, this scenario has improved tremendously as people have started
gaining confidence about purchasing products through online and it has become an integral part of modern life
across the world. In India, with abundance and diversity of information, easily found and conveniently shared
facilities, Internet usage has grown exponentially by reshaping peoples’ informational and social needs. There
are around 71 million Internet users in India (IAMAI, 2009)5. Consumers on one hand have the ease of choice,
the comfort of shopping from home and an endless variety of products, while saving time and money.
Organizations, on the other hand, are exploiting the unlimited shelf space the internet offers, operational
timings and geographical boundaries unconfined by them and the opportunity it created to cater to wide
markets at a comparative miniscule cost. As a result customers and organizations are having a much fuller
relationship than ever before. As Indian consumers turned to the Internet to tap into this explosion, Internet
commerce has become an important business initiative. Organizations have become more serious about their
Internet operations witnessing a sharp rise in online retailing activity. According to BMI India Retail Report6
third-quarter of 2010 indicates that the total retail sales will grow up from US$ 353 billion in 2010 to US$
543.2 billion by 2014. In addition to the tremendous potential of the Ecommerce market, the Internet provides
a unique opportunity for companies to more efficiently reach existing and potential consumers. The year 2007
has been declared as the ‘Broadband Year’ by Indian government7. Various initiatives have been undertaken to

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increase PC and Internet penetration. People have started to realize the importance of Internet in their lives
where it is not just a communication mode to email, chat and get information but has become an enabling tool
to perform various tasks over Internet like learning, networking, shopping, gaming and expressing themselves
in the form of blogs to the extent of establishing a virtual world for themselves.
TITLE OF THE STUDY
“A study on consumers’ attitude towards online shopping with reference to koduvayur panchayath”
NEED & IMPORTANCE OF STUDY
Due to the rapid development of the technologies surrounding the Internet, companies which are interested to
sell their products through their website even though buyers and sellers can be thousands of miles apart, may
belong to different parts of world, might speak different languages also. Since Internet is a new virtual medium
and so many potential consumers, the online retailers is most important to understand the wants and needs of
consumers. The importance of analyzing and identifying the factors influencing the consumer when he or she
decides to purchase on the Internet is vital because new virtual market will bring significant differences to the
consumers. Analyzing consumer behaviour is not a new phenomenon. Many theories have been used for many
years not only to understand the consumers’ attitude, but also create a marketing strategy that will attract the
consumer efficiently. However, some distinctions must still be made when considering traditional consumer
behaviour and online consumer behaviour. Even though there are many research topics in the field of business
to consumer in the context of Internet business, online retailing is a new retailing medium and online consumer
behaviour is diverse from traditional consumer behaviour, one must identify what influences the online
consumer. Therefore, if the consumers like to do shopping, what factors are influencing to purchase goods
through the Internet is quite meaningful. These factors need to be identified and taken into account by online
retailers in order to satisfy the consumer demands and compete in the online market. From this background the
researchers work is primarily to identify and get insight the main factors that affecting online consumer when
purchasing products and services through online.
Objectives of the study
The following objectives are drawn to fulfill the aim of the study:
1. To identify the factors influencing the consumers’ preference for online shopping.
2. To assess the attitude of consumers’ towards online shopping.
3. To analyze the consumers’ satisfaction towards online shopping.
4. To examine the problems faced by the consumers’ towards online shopping.

Research methodology

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Research methodology refers to theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to field of study or to the body
of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge.
Data sources
The studies make use of primary and secondary data. The primary data is collected from online shopping
consumers through a structured questionnaire. Secondary data are collected from various sources like articles,
websites, lecture books etc..
Period of study
The study is conducted for a period of 21 days
Research instruments
A well structured questionnaire was prepared with a view to collect information from online shopping
consumers. The questionnaire consists of 7 parts.
1. Demographic profile of respondents.
2. The items usually buy online.
3. Factors influencing online shopping
4. Consumer’s attitude towards online shopping.
5. Problems faced by consumers towards online shopping
6. Repurchase the product or services
7. Factors should be improved for create consumer confidence in online shopping
Population
Population comprises of all the consumers who were making online shopping in Koduvayur Panchayath.
Sample size
Based on pilot study (after conducting reliability analysis) the sample size was fixed statistically 103
consumers. The study is conducted on the basis of the responses of selectedsamplerespondents and findings
are drawn based on their responses.
Method of sampling
Quota sampling method is used for selecting the sample unit.

Tools used for analysis

1. Friedman test
It is a non parametric statistical test developed by the US economist Milton Friedman similar to the
parametric repeated measures ANOVA; it is used to detect differences in treatments across multiple test
attempts. The procedure involves ranking each row or (block) together, then considering the values of ranks
by columns applicable to complete block designs, it is thus special case of Durbin test.In this study, it is used

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for testing the variations of the rank preferences of the consumers toward theproblems faced while making
online shopping.
2. Two-way ANOVA
In statistics, the two-way ANOVA is an extension of the One-way ANOVA that examines the influence ofb
two different categorical independent variables on one continuous dependent variable. The two-way ANOVA
not only aims at assessing the main effects of each independent variable but also if there is any interaction
between them.In this study, two-way ANOVA is used to consumers attitude towars online shopping.

3. Kruskal-wallis Test
The kruskal-wallis one way ANOVAby rank (named after Wiliam kruskal and W. Allen wallis) is a non
parametric method for testing whether samples originate from the same distribution. It is used for comparing
two or more samples that are independent, and that may have different sample sizes and extends the Mann-
Whitney test to more than two groups. The parametric equivalent of the kruskal-wallis test is the one-way
ANOVA.Here, the test is used to test the mean rank preference of consumers regarding reasons for not willing
to repurchase he products or services through online.
4. MANOVA
The MANOVA( multivariateanalysis of variance) is a type of multivariate analysis used to analyse data that
involve more than one independent variable at a time. MANOVA allows us to test the hypothesis regarding
the effect of one or more independent variable on two or more dependent variables.it may be noted that some
variables may not be significantly different among groups when considered individually, but become
significant when considered along with other variables.
In this study ,the MANOVA model is used to test the variation of the mean scores of the responses of
consumers on the factors influencing to prefer online shopping.

Limitations of study
1.The data for the purpose of the study is collected from respondents in koduvayur panchayath, Palakkad
only.
2. The study concentrates only on selected factors relating to online consumer’s purchasing behaviour. There
may be other influencing factors too, Which have not been considered due to time and data constraints.
3.Theprimary data for the study is collectedthrough questionnaires and the results of the study may suffer
from inherent drawback of such instruments. Consumer’s preferences and opinion are supposed to change
from time to time.

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 Chapter 2
Review ofLiterature

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 A brief literature would be of immense help to the researcher in gaininginsight into selected
problem. The researcher would gain good backgroundknowledge of the problem by reviewing certain
studies. A reference to these entire studies will be related in the contest of the shaping the present study.
There are very limited studies, which are directly relevant to the study concerned. They have been taken from
journals, articles, PhD thesis and unpublished research work.
Weber, K. and Roehl, W. S. (1999)1, conducted a study on those whosearch for or purchase
travel products through on-line with the age group of 26 to 55 years. Results on the basis of the study
concerns about credit card security, evaluation of product quality, and privacy issues are the main problems
faced while on-line purchase of travel products, were made.
Vellido et al. (2000)2, pointed out in his research, that there are ninefactors associated with
user’s perception of online shopping. Among those factors the risk perception of users was demonstrated to
be the main
discriminator between people buying online and people not buying online.Other discriminating factors were
control over, and convenience of, theshopping process, affordability of merchandise, customer service and
ease of use of the shopping site.

According to the study by Armstrong and Kotler, (2000)7, a person’sshopping choices are
influenced by four major psychological factors:motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitude. This
means that,
through motivation and perception, attitudes are formed and consumers make decisions. Attitudes serve as
the bridge between consumers’ background characteristics and the consumption that satisfies their needs.

Goldsmith and Bridges (2000)8, found that consumers who felt that it was easy to buy over
the web were more likely to buy, implying thatconfidence leads to greater purchase likelihood. A positive
relationship between Internet experience/confidence and amount of shopping is thusfound in his study.

David (2000)12, in his research report made an attempt to project theworld wide sale of goods
and services and the amount of goods tradedthrough online. It was found that by 2004 about 8.6 percent of
worldwidesales of goods and service are traded on the internet and the amount ofgoods traded would be
worth $6.8 trillion. The study concluded that onlinesales will not be uniform across the world but will differ
from country to country and region to region.

Goldman Sachs (2001)13, found in his study price, quality of serviceand information, speed
and reliability of delivery, ease of on-line ordering, and trust towards vendors are important factors for
consumers considering online purchases that will increasingly determine their propensity to engage in
ecommerce.

Sang Yong Kim and Young Jun Lim (2001)14, examine that therelationship between
consumers' perceived importance of and satisfactionwith Internet shopping. They find that the factors of
entertainment,convenience, reliability, information quality and speed are important forchoosing shopping
sites and also find that the factors of entertainment, speed, information quality, and reliability are related to
consumers' satisfaction with Internet shopping. Among the above factors, the results indicate that
'information quality' of the importance and 'reliability' of the satisfaction is statistically significant for
distinguishing buyers from non-buyers.

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 Verhoef and Langerak (2001)16, also employed the theory of reasonedaction in a study of
415 Dutch internet shoppers and found that outcomebeliefs had a significant influence on the intention to
shop online. They found that this intention was positively influenced by the perceived 'relative advantage' of
shopping online, compared to other forms of shopping, and negatively influenced by the degree of
complexity which these consumers perceived would be involved in the process.
.
Volk and Ferderick Allen (2001)18, made an internet survey of 201 people using the internet
worldwide. The Internet has evolved from acommunications tool for a select group of scientists to a
commercialjuggernaut that is predicted to change the way people buy and sell thingsacross a number of
industries. The study focused on the consumerbehaviour. The Consumer Decision Process can be categorized
into five subprocesses such as motivation and need recognition, information search, alternatives evaluation,
purchase decision and purchase and purchase outcomes. Internet user attitudes and intention to use the
internet for each of the behaviors were studied within the theoretical constructs of the theory of reasoned
action. It was found that the attitudinal component of the theory of reasoned action was consistently
predictive of the users' intention to participate in all nine of the consumer behaviors during the year 2000
holiday shopping season.

Kanokwan Atchariyachanvanich (2006), has analyzed what keepsonline customers

repurchasing through the Internet. By expanding the existing customer satisfaction/continuance model based
on the expectationconfirmation model identifies the factors involved in online repurchasing. The results of an
online questionnaire of 1,215 Japanese online customers pointed out that not only basic factors of
confirmation, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and perceived incentives, but a new factor, customer loyalty,
are factors significantly influencing the online customers’ intention to repeat purchase through the Internet.

Venkatesh (2008), is his article analyzed the new trends in marketingand observed that several
developments in technology have completelytransformed the world and made life easier for people on the
transactions of business and work. Notable among these is called “Internet and OnlineMarketing”. In
essence, this activity enables buyers and sellers of goods andservices to get their task accomplished without
the necessity to travel. Ininternet marketing, the users access the products of their choice but it is notpossible
to trace and test all aspects of the marketing campaign.

Chih-Chien Wang (2009), analyzed that knowledge is one importantfactor influencing the
level of trust. The results revealed that knowledge ispositively associated with trust and online shopping
activities. In other words, people who know more about online shopping will trust and go shopping more
online. Online retailing practice should make the public knowledgeable about online transaction security
mechanisms to build users’ trust in online shopping.

Leva Andersone (2009), has examined the differences in behaviorbetween online and
traditional shopping of Latvian consumers. According to the study the consumers are looking for information
about product, shopping frequency, about pricing, buying volume and time. Most important benefits of the
shopping process at traditional buying process are buying process, contact with equal and for e-shopping
money saving, time saving, conveniences and all around a clock. The study concludes that average size of
purchase in traditional shopping still is larger than in the internet shopping and friends are main sources of

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information to search the products. The author also pointed out that one can expect changes towards the
internet as a main source in the nearest future and no special time or day for purchasing.

Amar Cheema and Purushottam Papatla (2009), made an attempt tostudy the relative
importance of online information versus offline information for internet purchase. The study found that
relative importance of online information is higher for utilitarian products such as computer hardware and
software than for hedonic products such as books, music and movies, the relative importance of online
information decreases with increasing consumer internet experience and consumers' trust of online search
engine information decreases with increasing internet experience.

A study has conducted by Feng Zhu (2010), indicates that howproduct and consumer
characteristics moderate the influence of onlineconsumer reviews on product sales using data from the video
game industry. The findings reveal that online reviews are more influential for less popular games and games
whose players have greater Internet experience.

Ainin Sulaiman (2005), focused on Internet users working in an urbanarea of Malaysia. It was
found that out of 123 respondents 65.9 % of themhave transacted online. They bought air tickets and books
as well pay theirutility bills online. The study concludes that guarantee, confidentiality ofidentity, product
information and product variety were the main factors will be considered while doing online purchase.

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 Chapter 3
Theoretical framework

CONSUMER ONLINE SHOPPING – AN OVERVIEW

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Consumer
A consumer is an individual who purchases or has the capacity to purchase goods and services offered for sale
by marketing institutions in order to satisfy personal or household needs, wants or desires.

According to a statement made by Mahatma Gandhi1, ‘consumer refers to the following, “A consumer is the
most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an
outsider to our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a
favour by giving us an opportunity to do so”.

Consumer Behavior (or Buyer Behaviour)

Consumer behaviour is an attempt to understand & predict human actions in the buying role. It refers to the
selection, purchase and consumption of goods and services for the satisfaction of their wants. There are
different processes involved in the consumer behavior. Initially the consumer tries to find what commodities
he would like to consume, then he selects only those commodities that promise greater utility. After selecting
the commodities, the consumer makes an estimate of the available money which he can spend. Lastly, the
consumer analyzes the prevailing prices of commodities and takes the decision about the commodities he
should consume.

Consumer behaviour defined as “all psychological, social & physical behaviour of potential customers as they
become aware of, evaluate, purchase, consume, & tell others about product & services”.

Consumer behaviour can be modeled from a number of perspectives. As pointed out by Kotler and Armstrong
(2010, p.161)2, consumer purchases are influenced by major forces such as:

Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior

1. Cultural: the set of basic values, perceptions, wants and behaviour learned by an individual from being a
member of society 2. Social: the influences of social factors such as the consumer’s relation to small groups,
family and social roles 3. Individual: the characteristics of the individual such as the consumer’s age,
economic situation and occupation 4. Psychological: the motivation, perception and beliefs and attitudes of
the consumer 5. Personal: It can also affect the consumer behavior. Some of the important personal factors
that influence the buying behavior are: lifestyle, economic situation, occupation, age, personality and self
concept.

Consumer Attitude
According to marketing terms consumer attitude refers to the, mental position or emotional feelings about
products, services, companies, ideas, issues, or institutions. Attitudes are shaped by demographics, social
values, and personality. As the consumer attempts to evaluate a product, service, or the like, he or she will
develop an attitude about the thing being evaluated.

Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s

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(1) beliefs (2) feelings & (3)behavioral intentions toward some object--within the context of marketing,
usually a brand or retail store. These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent
and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will react to the object.

Beliefs: The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward an object (e.g.,
coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and stains papers). In addition,
some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may differ in valance depending on the person or the
situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates--good on a cold morning, but not well on a hot summer evening
when one wants to sleep). The beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork contains little
fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g., that a historical figure was a good
person but also owned slaves).

Affect: Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Sometimes these feelings are
based on the beliefs (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger because of the
tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be feelings which are relatively independent of
beliefs. For example, an extreme environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but
may have positive affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these trees with
the experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.

Behavioral Intention:

The behavioral intention is what the consumer plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not buy the
brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a logical consequence of beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes
reflect other circumstances--e.g., although a consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there
because it is a hangout for his or her friends.

E-COMMERCE
Electronic commerce or e-commerce refers to a wide range of online business activities for products and
services. It also pertains to “any form of business transaction in which the parties interact electronically rather
than by physical exchanges or direct physical contact.” E-commerce is usually associated with buying and
selling over the Internet, or conducting any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use
goods or services through a computer-mediated network

Evolution of E-Commerce
The evolution of e-commerce can be attributed to a combination regulatory reform and technological
innovation. Through Internet (which played an important role in the evolution) appeared in the late 1960s, e-
commerce now took off with the arrival of the World Wide Web and browsers in the 1990s.

E-Commerce was first developed in the early 1970s with innovations like:

•Electronic funds transfer (EFT) - funds can be routed electronically from one organization to another.

• Electronic data interchange (EDI) – used to electronically transfer routine documents that expanded
electronic transfers from financial transactions to other types of transaction processing.

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 • Inter-organizational system (IOS) – a system which allows the flow of information to be automated
between organizations in order to reach a desired supply-chain management system, which enables the
development of competitive organizations.

Development of E-Commerce
Electronic commerce or e-commerce refers to a wide range of online business activities for products and
services. It also pertains to “any form of business transaction in which the parties interact electronically rather
than by physical exchanges or direct physical contact.” E-commerce is usually associated with buying and
selling over the Internet, or conducting any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use
goods or services through a computer-mediated network. Though popular, this definition is not
comprehensive enough to capture recent developments in this new and revolutionary business phenomenon. A
more complete definition is: E-commerce is the use of electronic communications and digital information
processing technology in business transactions to create, transform, and redefine relationships for value
creation between or among organizations, and between organizations and individuals.

With the advent of the Internet, the term e-commerce began to include:

Ø Electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information.

Ø All the steps involved in trade, such as on-line marketing, ordering payment and support for delivery.

Ø The electronic provision of services such as after sales support or on- line legal advice.

Ø Electronic support for collaboration between companies such as collaborative on-line design and
engineering or virtual business consultancy teams.

Key drivers of e-commerce

It is important to identify the key drivers of e-commerce to allow a comparison between different countries. It
is often claimed that e-commerce is more advanced in the USA than in Europe. These key drivers can be
measured by a number of criteria that can highlight the stages of advancement of e-commerce in each of the
respective countries. The criteria that can determine the level of advancement of e-commerce can be
categorized as:

1. Technological factors – The degree of advancement of the telecommunications infrastructure which

provides access to the new technology for business and consumers.

2. Political factors – including the role of government in creating government legislation, initiatives and
funding to support the use and development of e- commerce and information technology.

3. Social factors – incorporating the level and advancement in IT education and training which will enable
both potential buyers and the workforce to understand and use the new technology.

4. Economic factors – including the general wealth and commercial health of the nation and the elements
that contribute to it.

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Types of e-commerce
• Business -to -Business (B2B)

• Business- to- Customer (B2C)

• Business to Employee (B2E)

• Consumer-to-Business (C2B )

• Consumer- to -consumer (C2C)

• M-commerce (Mobile Commerce)

Business to business is one in which a company deals with another company for business and exchanging of
goods, products, services. Some of the examples of b2b e-commerce sites are a company's official site,
brokering sites etc.

Business to customer is one where the company sells its goods to the customer or trades with the customers.
This is electronic retailing and called as e-tailing in common. One of the best examples is amazon.com.

Business to Employee refers to the requisitioning of supplies by employees for use in their jobs, but this
really has grown to encompass much more. For example, B2E makes it very easy for an employee to
requisition a new toner cartridge and printer paper - the order is entirely electronic, and supervisors are asked
to approved the requisition in the event that the total order exceeds preset limits for that particular employee

Consumer to business is when a customer works for a certain company for business and the company buys
it, here the consumer has to price the trade. Example for such a site is priceline.com

Consumer to consumer is more like auctioning, bartending, etc... Where a consumer places bid and the other
buys it. Here the websites acts an intermediate for the business. Example for such sites is eBay.

M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless
technology-i.e., handheld devices such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Japan is
seen as a global leader in m-commerce.

Benefits of E-Commerce
The benefits of e-commerce can be seen to affect three major stakeholders: organizations, consumers and
society.

Benefits of E-Commerce to Organizations

International marketplace: What used to be a single physical marketplace located in a geographical area has
now become a borderless marketplace including national and international markets. By becoming e-
commerce enabled, businesses now have access to people all around the world. In effect all e-commerce
businesses have become virtual multinational corporations.

Operational cost savings: The cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing and retrieving paper-based
information has decreased.

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Mass customization: E-commerce has revolutionized the way consumers’ buy good and services. The pull-
type processing allows for products and services to be customized to the customer’s requirements. In the past
when Ford first started making motor cars, customers could have any colour so long as it was black. Now
customers can configure a car according to their specifications within minutes on-line via the www.ford.com
website.

Lower telecommunications cost: The Internet is much cheaper than value added networks (VANs) which
were based on leasing telephone lines for the sole use of the organization and its authorized partners. It is also
cheaper to send a fax or e-mail via the Internet than direct dialing.

Impact of electronic commerce

E-commerce and e-business are not solely the Internet, websites or dot com companies. It is about a new
business concept that incorporates all previous business management and economic concepts. As such, e-
business and e-commerce impact on many areas of business and disciplines of business management studies.

Marketing – issues of on-line advertising, marketing strategies and consumer behaviour and cultures. One of
the areas in which it impacts particularly is direct marketing. In the past this was mainly door-to door, home
parties (like the Tupperware parties) and mail order using

catalogues or leaflets. This moved to telemarketing and TV selling with the advances in telephone and
television technology and finally developed into e-marketing spawning ‘eCRM’ (customer relationship
management) data mining and the like by creating new channels for direct sales and promotion.

Computer sciences – development of different network and computing technologies and languages to support
e-commerce and e-business, for example linking front and back office legacy systems with the ‘web based’
technology.

Finance and accounting – on-line banking; issues of transaction costs; accounting and auditing implications
where ‘intangible’ assets and human capital must be tangibly valued in an increasingly knowledge based
economy.

Economics – the impact of e-commerce on local and global economies; understanding the concepts of a
digital and knowledge-based economy and how this fits into economic theory.

Production and operations management – the impact of on-line processing has led to reduced cycle times. It
takes seconds to deliver digitized products and services electronically; similarly the time for processing orders
can be reduced by more than 90 per cent from days to minutes. Production systems are integrated with finance
marketing and other functional systems as well as with business partners and customers.

Production and operations management (manufacturing) – moving from mass production to demand-
driven, mass customization customer pull rather than the manufacturer push of the past. Web-based Enterprise
Resource Planning systems (ERP) can also be used to forward orders directly to designers and/or production
floor within seconds, thus cutting production cycle times by up to 50 per cent, especially when manufacturing
plants, engineers and designers are located in different countries. In sub-assembler companies, where a
product is assembled from a number of different components sourced from a number of manufacturers,
communication, collaboration and coordination are critical – so electronic bidding can yield cheaper

18
components and having flexible and adaptable procurement systems allows fast changes at a minimum cost so
inventories can be minimized and money saved.

Management information systems – analysis, design and implementation of e-business systems within an
organization; issues of integration of front-end and back-end systems.

Human resource management – issues of on-line recruiting, home working and ‘intrapreneurs’ are working
on a project by project basis replacing permanent employees.

Business law and ethics – the different legal and ethical issues that have arisen as a result of a global ‘virtual’
market. Issues such as copyright laws, privacy of customer information, legality of electronic contracts, etc.

E-Business
It is widely acknowledged today that new technologies, in particular access to the Internet, tend to modify
communication between the different players in the professional world, notably:

• Relationships between the enterprise and its clients,

• The internal functioning of the enterprise, including enterprise- employee relationships,

• The relationship of the enterprise with its different partners and suppliers.

The term e-Business therefore refers to the integration, within the company, of tools based on information and
communication technologies to improve their functioning in order to create value for the enterprise, its clients,
and its partners.

E-Business no longer only applies to virtual companies (called click and mortar) all of whose activities are
based on the Net, but also to traditional companies (called brick and mortar).

The term e-Commerce (also called Electronic commerce), which is frequently mixed up with the term e-
Business, as a matter of fact, only covers

one aspect of e-Business, i.e. the use of an electronic support for the commercial relationship between a
company and individuals.

With the change in technology, customers now have a choice. In the old days, based on location and
availability, you only had a few menu options. Nowadays, if you have an internet connection, you have an all
you can read and access buffet, anytime, anywhere.

Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing in its simplest terms refers to the marketing and selling of goods and services using the
Internet as the sales and distribution medium. It allows ordinary individuals to apply basic marketing
techniques to the internet and ultimately generate a profit. In contrast to a brick and mortar business, internet
marketing has very low barriers to entry and relatively little risk. However, in order to succeed with internet
marketing it’s still necessary to understand the basic rules that govern the internet marketing process. Failure
to grasp these rules could lead to total disaster.

19
“Internet marketing3 also referred to as i-marketing, web-marketing, online-marketing or e-Marketing, is the
marketing of products or services over the Internet.”

Digitization of products and processes: Particularly in the case of software and music/video products, this can
be downloaded or e-mailed directly to customers via the Internet in digital or electronic format. No more 24-
hour-time constraints. Businesses can be contacted by or contact customers or suppliers at any time.

Benefits of E-Commerce to Consumers

24/7 access: Enables customers to shop or conduct other transactions 24 hours a day, all year round from
almost any location.

More choices: Customers not only have a whole range of products that they can choose from and customize,
but also an international selection of suppliers.

Price comparisons: Customers can ‘shop’ around the world and conduct comparisons either directly by
visiting different sites, or by visiting a single site where prices are aggregated from a number of providers and
compared (for example www.moneyextra.co.uk for financial products and services).

Improved delivery processes: This can range from the immediate delivery of digitized or electronic goods
such as software or audio-visual files by downloading via the Internet, to the on-line tracking of the progress
of packages being delivered by mail or courier.

Online Shopping
A process in which images or listings of goods and services are viewed remotely via electronic means, e.g., a
vendor's Web site, items are selected for purchase, and the transaction is completed electronically with a
credit card or an established credit account. Various encryption schemes may be, and usually are, used to
reduce the risks of sending sensitive information, such as credit-card numbers, over the Internet or other
telecommunications facility.

I NA wallet is a small software program used for online purchase transactions. Many payment solution
companies, such as Cyber Cash, offer free Wallet software that allows several methods of payment to be
defined within the wallet (for example, several different credit cards). Here's how it works: When you order
something, the order is sent to the merchant. The merchant (actually, the merchant's server) sends back an
invoice and asks the consumer to launch the Wallet in his computer (or to download it quickly if the consumer
doesn't have it yet).When the consumer selects "Pay," the Cyber Cash software on the merchant server sends a
message back to the consumer's PC that activates the "Wallet" software. The consumer selects one of the
cards defined in the Wallet and clicks. The transaction includes real-time credit card authorization. Cyber
Cash says" Soon we will incorporate an electronic "Cash" and "Coin" system to use for transactions that are
considered small for credit cards.

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An
online shop, e-shopping, e-store, internet shop, web shop, web store, online store, or virtual store evokes the
physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and mortar retailer or in a mall. The metaphor of
an online catalog is also used, by analogy with mail order catalogs. All types of stores have retail web sites,
including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogs. Online shopping is a type
of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions
20
Trends in Online Shopping
One third of people that shop online use a search engine to find what they are looking for and about one
fourth find websites by word of mouth. Word of mouth has become a leading way by which people find
shopping websites. When an online shopper has a good first experience with a certain website, sixty percent
of the time they will return to that website to buy more. Books are one of the things bought most online.
However, clothes, shoes, and accessories are all very popular things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition
products, and groceries are increasingly being purchased online. About one fourth of travelers buy their plane
tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a purchase. Online
shopping provides more freedom and control than shopping in a store.

From a sociological perspective, online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to shop. One knows
exactly what website to go to, how much the product will cost, and how long it will take for the product to
reach them. Online shopping has become extremely routine and predictable, which is one of its great appeals
to the consumer.

Attitude towards Online Shopping

Consumer’s attitudes toward online shopping have gained a great deal of attention in the empirical literature.
It is believed that consumer attitudes will affect intention to shop online and eventually whether a transaction
is made. It refers to:

1. The consumer’s acceptance of the Internet as a shopping channel

2. Consumer attitudes toward a specific Internet store (i.e., to what extent consumers think that shopping at
this store is appealing).

Changing Attitude towards Online Shopping

“Awareness, Future Demand Focus for Emerging Markets & Current Issues” Malls springing up everywhere
and yet people are E-shopping! And not in small numbers either. Consumers are more rational nowadays and
have ability to get the choices from the market. Awareness among the consumers is spread through internet.
The number of internet users is increasing day by day which attracts people who have an option to buy online.
It was never thought that Indians would go in for e-shopping in such a big way. Ticketing, travel bookings
and even books and movies seem fine to buy online. Knowing that in India sizes vary from brand to brand and
quality is inconsistent, even of some electronic items, how is it that there are people buying these items
online? In India there are some segments of people who have not yet tried purchasing over internet.

Online Shopping decision making

Online shopping decision-making includes information seeking, comparison of alternatives, and choice
making. The results bearing on this factor directly influence consumer’s purchasing behavior. In addition,
there appears to be an impact on user’s satisfaction. Though it is important, there are only five studies that
include it.

According to Haubl and Trifts (2000)5, potential consumers appear to use a two-stage process in reaching
purchase decisions. Initially, consumers typically screen a large set of products in order to identify a subset of
promising alternatives that appears to meet their needs. They then evaluate the subset in greater depth,
21
performing relative comparisons across products based on some desirable attributes and make a purchase
decision.

Importance of Consumer Satisfaction

The needs to satisfy customer for success in any commercial enterprise is very obvious. The income of all
commercial enterprise is derived from the payments received for the products and services supplied to its
customers. If there is no customer there is no income and there is no business. Then the core activity of any
company is to attract and retain customers. It is therefore no surprise that Peter Drucker the renowned
management Guru, has said “to satisfy the customers is the mission and purpose of every business”.

Factors that boost online shopping in India

Ø Rapid growth of cybercafés across India

Ø Access to Information

Ø The increase in number of computer users

Ø Reach to net services through broadband

Ø Middle-class population with spending power is growing. There are about 200 million of middle-class
population good spending powers. These people have very little time to spend for shopping. Many of them
have started to depend on internet to satisfy their shopping desires

Satisfaction of customer is essential for retention of customer’s and for continuous sales of the products and
services of the company to customers. This establishes the needs for and the importance of customer
satisfaction. The satisfaction of consumers is different from one to another. So, the marketers to satisfy the
consumer, he must very well know the behaviour of consumer.

The future of Online Shopping

Online shopping is quickly evolving as more compelling Internet tools enhance online purchasing sites. The
convergence of maturing Internet technologies in the ecommerce space will lead to a more integrated,
intuitive, empowering shopping experience across many mainstream shopping destinations.

As the younger generations become more familiar with computers, online shopping is getting popular among
the young ones as well. By using their ability, they can shop for price comparisons and other competitive data
of the specified desired product. There is a decrease trend in shopping in malls, markets because of the
security reasons and wastage of time.

Online buyers establish the habit of online shopping keeping in view the above mentioned facts.

Furthermore, sellers of the low mass products like small books, DVDs, CDs, light weight clothing are pretty
much happy for having the online shopping as shipping is relatively low in cost. Therefore, many vendors are
also switching to online shopping from conventional market shopping. In addition, the sellers do not have to
pay rent for the store, staff, parking lots, utilities etc. The inlay payment they will have to pay is the payment
of the storage and shipping the selling items to the desired locations. Overall, the estimate if done, it will be

22
rather much cheap as compared to the items stored in the market or stores. Therefore, it can be concluded that
young generation and even sellers are switching towards the online shopping trend.

most popular Online shopping websites are:

Ø www.fabmart.com

Ø www.skumars.com

Ø www.indiagifts.com

Ø www.indiastores.com

Ø www.indbazaar.com

Ø www.indiashop.com

Ø www.malamall.com

Ø www.chennaibazaar.com

Ø www.futurebazaar.com

Ø www.indianpurchase.com

Ø www.buy.com

Ø www.ebay.com

Ø www.americangreetings.com

Ø www.amazon.com

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 Chapter 4
Analysis and interpretation

24
 Consumers’ attitude towards online shopping

The result of the survey conducted as a part of the research study has been presented and analyzed in this
chapter. Analysis of data is the most skilled task in the research process. Analysis of data is the most skilled
task in the research process. Analysis of data means studying the tabulated material in the order to determine
inherent facts or meanings. In other words the analysis means the computation of certain indices measure or
coefficients along with search for pattern of relationships that exist among data group

The analyses are presented in seven parts:

1. Demographic profile of respondents
2. The items usually buy online.
3. Factors influencing online shopping
4. Consumer’s attitude towards online shopping.
5. Problems faced by consumers towards online shopping
6. Repurchase the product or services
7. Factors should be improved for create consumer confidence in online shopping

25
 TABLE 4.1.1 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF CUSTOMERS

Category No. Of respondents Cumulative frequency

Upto 20 10 10
21 to 30 42 52
31 to 40 22 74
41 to 50 10 84
Age group Above 50 19 103
Male 52 52
Gender Female 51 103
12th 15 15
UG 43 58
Education PG 22 80
qualification PD 23 103
Govt. employee 20 20
Pvt. employee 38 58
Self employee 22 80
Business 21 101
Occupation Homemaker 2 103
< 1l 33 33
1l to 2l 27 60
2-3l 11 71
3-4l 12 83
Annual income >4l 20 103
Home 39 39
Office 36 75
Access internet Cafe 28 103
< 1hr 13 13
1-2hr 47 60
2-3hr 21 81
Time spend for 3-4hr 17 98
online shopping >4 hr 5 103
Self 31 31
Husband 6 37
Wife 17 54
Person/factors Children 25 79
influenced Friends & relatives 24 103
Credit./debit card 25 25
Online transfer 31 56
Cash on delivery 26 82
Method of payment Moneytransfer 21 103
Source: Primary data

Table 4.1 exhibit the profile of the sample respondents selected for the study. The majority of the consumers
belong to the age group between 21 to 30.gender wise classification shows that out of 103
respondents,majority (52percent)are male. As to Education Qualification 42 percent are undergraduate and
15 percent are schooling (up to 12th). From the table it can be seen that majority (38 percent) are belong to

26
private sector followed by self employees & business. The annual income classification of the respondents
reveals that majority of them falls under the income group below 1 lakh and almost 33 percent are receiving
below less than 1 lakh as annual income. The table shows that 39 percent of consumers are access internet in
their home and followed by office and café. From the table it can be seen that 47 percent of consumers
spending 1 to 2hrs for online shopping. The table shows based on the sample 31 percent of respondents are
influenced by themselves and followed by friends & relatives and children. The table shows most (31
percent) of the consumers are using online bank transfer as method of payment for online shopping.

4.2 Items usually buy through online

Consumers usually buys books,garments, travel tickets etc through online. The table shows that how often
they buy these types of products

Train/
products Travel Electronic Flight Entertainment
Garments
Packages Devices Tickets Tickets
Periodicity Jewelries Books
Daily 2 9 0 10 0 16 14
(1.9) (8.7) (0) (9.7) (0) (15.5) (13.6)
Weekly 32 25 0 19 30 24 14
(31.1) (24.3) (0) (18.4) (30.1) (23.3) (13.6)
Monthly 26 35 28 22 8 19 23
(25.2) (34.0) (27.2) (21.4) (7.8) (18.4) (22.3)
Quarterly 15 19 26 28 27 20 23
(14.6) (18.4) (25.2) (27.2) (26.2) (19.4) (22.3)
Bi-Annually 11 5 15 12 7 8 20
(10.7) (4.9) (14.6) (11.7) (6.8) (7.8) (19.4)
Yearly 17 10 24 12 21 16 9
(16.5) (9.7) (23.3) (11.7) (20.4) (16) (8.7)
Total 103 103 103 103 103 103
103
Source: Primary data

From the table it is clear that most of the consumers buys products such as books, garments, and travel tickets
on weekly basis.In case of jewels, purchase is mostly in monthly and quarterly basis. None of the respondents
buy jewels & travel tickets on daily basis.

4.3 Factors influencing you to prefer online shopping

There are some important factors which influence consumers for online shopping .Those factors are
categorized on the basis of products, price, time, and others. To explain the possible variations in the mean
scores of these four factors across the four tools ( gender, age, education qualification and occupation ) under
study, MANOVA has been used. Here the four variables are taken together believing that the variables are
more meaningful if taken together than were considered separately.

MANOVA is used to test the following hypothesis.

H0: There isno significant variation in the mean scores of the set of variables describing factors influencing
online shopping

27
H1: There is a significant variation in the mean scores of the set of variables describing factors influencing
online shopping.
The multivariate test table which provides the actual result of the MANOVA is given below.
Table 4.3.1 MANOVA – general linear model
Multivariate Tests
Effect Value F Hypothesis DF Error DF Sig.
Gender Pillai's Trace 1.331 43.758 8.000 176.000 0.000*
b
Wilks' Lambda .001 617.733 8.000 174.000 0.000*
Hotelling's Trace 576.417 6196.485 8.000 172.000 0.000*
Roy's Largest 575.919 12670.214 4.000 88.000 0.000*
c
Education Root
Pillai's Trace 1.227 15.407 12.000 267.000 0.000*
Wilks' Lambda .139 21.231 12.000 230.472 0.000*
Hotelling's Trace 3.543 25.296 12.000 257.000 0.000*
Roy's Largest 2.492 55.455c 4.000 89.000 0.000*
Root Trace
Occupation Pillai's 1.379 11.834 16.000 360.000 0.000*
Wilks' Lambda .136 15.343 16.000 266.427 0.000*
Hotelling's Trace 3.175 16.965 16.000 342.000 0.000*
c
Roy's Largest 2.059 46.321 4.000 90.000 0.000*
AGE Root
Pillai's Trace 1.258 10.322 16.000 360.000 0.000*
Wilks' Lambda .137 15.243 16.000 266.427 0.000*
Hotelling's Trace 3.805 20.334 16.000 342.000 0.000*
Roy's Largest 3.182 71.592c 4.000 90.000 0.000*
Source: Primary Root
data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance
Table4.3.2 Test between – subject effects
Source Type I Sum of DF Mean Square F Sig.
Model Price factor 26861.887
Squares 13 2066.299 661.539 0.000*
Product factor 26929.060 13 2071.466 621.564 0.000*
Time factor 25933.432 13 1994.879 1250.553 0.000*
Other factors 29270.322 13 2251.563 1040.901 0.000*
Gender Price factor 26359.313 2 13179.657 4219.550 0.000*
Product factor 26466.915 2 13233.458 3970.834 0.000*
Time factor 25736.653 2 12868.327 8066.913 0.000*
Other factors 28907.911 2 14453.955 6682.086 0.000*
Education Price factor 225.164 3 75.055 24.029 0.000*
Product factor 108.085 3 36.028 10.811 0.000*
Time factor 104.438 3 34.813 21.823 0.000*
Other factors 40.983 3 13.661 6.316 0.001*
Occupation Price factor 241.286 4 60.322 19.312 0.000*
Product factor 297.772 4 74.443 22.337 0.000*
Time factor 42.450 4 10.613 6.653 0.000*
Other factors 95.856 4 23.964 11.079 0.000*
Age Price factor 36.124 4 9.031 2.891 0.027*
Product factor 56.288 4 14.072 4.222 0.004*
Time factor 49.891 4 12.473 7.819 0.000*
Other factors 225.572 4 56.393 26.071 0.000*
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance

28
 Table 4.3.3 Estimated marginal means

Dependent variable Mean Std. Error 95% confidence interval

Lower bound Upper bound
Price factor 14.794 .358 14.082 15.505
Product factor 15.810 .370 15.075 16.544
Time factor 16.865 .256 16.357 17.374
Other factors 16.632 .298 16.040 17.224
Source: Primary data

Table 4.3.4Gender wise estimated marginal means

95% confidence interval

Lower
Dependent variable Mean Std. Error bound Upper bound
Price Male 13.197 .442 12.318 14.076
factor Female 16.390 .477 15.443 17.337
Product Male 14.671 .457 13.763 15.579
factor Female 16.949 .492 15.971 17.927
Time Male 16.802 .316 16.174 17.431
factor Female 16.928 .341 16.251 17.605
Other Male 15.030 .368 14.298 15.761
factors Female 18.235 .397 17.447 19.023
Source: Primary data

Table 4.3.5 Education qualification wise estimated marginal means

Std. 95% confidence interval

Dependent variable Mean Error Lower bound Upper bound
Price 12th 15.886 .706 14.483 17.289
factor Under Graduate 16.124 .439 15.251 16.997
Post Graduate 15.825 .532 14.767 16.883
Professional Degree 11.340 .581 10.185 12.494
Product 12th 15.646 .729 14.197 17.095
factor Under Graduate 17.867 .454 16.965 18.769
Post Graduate 15.327 .550 14.234 16.420
Professional Degree 14.399 .600 13.206 15.591
Time 12th 17.732 .505 16.730 18.735
factor Under Graduate 16.713 .314 16.089 17.337
Post Graduate 18.386 .381 17.630 19.142
Professional Degree 14.629 .415 13.804 15.454
Other 12th 16.581 .588 15.413 17.748
factors Under Graduate 16.777 .366 16.050 17.503
Post Graduate 16.323 .443 15.442 17.203
Professional Degree 16.848 .484 15.887 17.809
Source: Primary data

29
 Table 4.3.6 Occupation wise estimated marginal means

95% confidence interval

Dependent variable Mean Std. Error Lower bound Upper bound
Price Govt. Employee 14.059 .547 12.973 15.146
factor Pvt. Employee 17.456 .329 16.802 18.109
Self employee 15.253 .455 14.349 16.157
Business 15.888 .506 14.883 16.893
Home maker 11.313 1.396 8.540 14.086
Product Govt. Employee 15.668 .565 14.546 16.790
factor Pvt. Employee 15.756 .340 15.081 16.431
Self employee 16.164 .470 15.231 17.098
Business 12.102 .523 11.064 13.140
Home maker 19.359 1.442 16.494 22.223
Time Govt. Employee 16.864 .391 16.088 17.641
factor Pvt. Employee 15.284 .235 14.817 15.751
Self employee 16.469 .325 15.824 17.115
Business 15.661 .362 14.943 16.380
Home maker 20.047 .998 18.065 22.029
Other Govt. Employee 14.516 .455 13.612 15.420
factors Pvt. Employee 17.582 .274 17.039 18.126
Self employee 16.528 .379 15.776 17.280
Business 16.151 .421 15.315 16.988
Home maker 18.382 1.162 16.074 20.690
Source: Primary data
Table 4.3.7 Age estimated marginal means
95% confidence interval
Dependent variable Mean Std. Error Lower bound Upper bound
Price Up to 20 16.001 .734 14.543 17.460
factor 21 to 30 15.385 .507 14.378 16.393
31 to 40 13.747 .474 12.804 14.689
41 to 50 15.259 .708 13.852 16.665
Above 50 13.577 .595 12.395 14.760
Product Up to 20 15.026 .758 13.520 16.533
factor 21 to 30 17.471 .524 16.430 18.511
31 to 40 15.533 .490 14.559 16.506
41 to 50 15.562 .731 14.109 17.016
Above 50 15.456 .615 14.235 16.677
Time Up to 20 17.683 .525 16.641 18.725
factor 21 to 30 16.408 .362 15.688 17.128
31 to 40 16.034 .339 15.360 16.707
41 to 50 15.804 .506 14.799 16.810
Above 50 18.397 .425 17.552 19.242
Other Up to 20 12.896 .611 11.683 14.110
factors 21 to 30 17.083 .422 16.244 17.921
31 to 40 15.708 .395 14.923 16.492
41 to 50 18.659 .589 17.488 19.830
Above 50 18.815 .495 17.831 19.799
Source: Primary data

30
 The estimated means and MANOVA table 4.3.1 to 4.3.7 indicates that the mean score of the four factors
variables vary over four factors such as gender,age, occupation& education qualification. The table
estimated marginal mean shows that the mean score of time factor is higher than that of others (16.865).
When the four factors based on four tools are taken independently, difference for variables can be found
statistically significant in the test of between subject effects (P= .000<.05).While considering all four tools
as a whole, found that time and others are the important factors which influences consumers to prefer
online shopping as their mean values are 16.632,16.865 respectively . The gender wise estimated marginal
mean shows that mean score of female is higher than that of male. And education wise marginal mean
shows that the post graduates are highly influenced to the factor time(18.386). And the occupation wise
estimated mean shows that home maker have the highest mean score of 20.047 towards the time factor.
4.4 consumer’s attitude towards online shopping
4.4.1 Two-way ANOVA of price factor by income and access internet
The variation of price factor with regard to income and access internet of respondents isanalyzed with
Two-way ANOVA and the output is presented in the following table.
Table 4.4.1.1 Income Wise Estimated Marginal Mean- Price Factor
Dependent Variable: price factor
95% Confidence Interval
Income Mean Std. Error Lower Bound Upper Bound
< 1l 3.508 .071 3.366 3.650
1l to 2l 3.360 .083 3.196 3.524
2-3l 2.468 .127 2.216 2.719
3-4l 2.833 .135 2.565 3.100
>4l 2.899 .092 2.716 3.081
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.1.2 Access internet Estimated Marginal Mean- Price Factor

Dependent variable: price factor

Std. 95% Confidence Interval
Access internet Mean Error Lower Bound Upper Bound
Home 3.297 .070 3.159 3.436
office 2.924 .077 2.772 3.076
cafe 2.819 .089 2.642 2.996
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.1.3 Two-way ANOVA: price factor

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent variable: price factor
Type I Sum
Source of Squares DF Mean Square F Sig.
Model 1058.389a 7 151.198 920.379 0.000*
income 1055.389 5 211.078 1284.878 0.000*
Access to internet 3.000 2 1.500 9.131 0.000*
Error 15.771 96 .164
Total 1074.160 103
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance
The above table shows that the consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on price factor based on
income and access to internet. Two-way ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for price

31
 factor between the income level and access to internet. It is found that income wise and access internet
classification variations of the mean scores are statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f=
920.379 and 1284.878 with p =0.000). Table shows that consumers having the income less than Rs.
100000 have the high mean score. So it signifies that low income consumers are mostly influenced by
price factors.

4.4.2 Two-way ANOVA of product factor by income and access internet

The variation of product factor with regard to income and access internet of respondents is analyzed with
Two-way ANOVA and the output is presented in the following table.

Table 4.4.2.1 Income Wise Estimated Marginal Mean- Product Factor

Dependent variable: products
Std. 95% confidence interval
Income Mean Error Lower bound Upper bound
< 1l 3.625 .057 3.513 3.737
1l to 2l 3.183 .065 3.053 3.313
2-3l 2.746 .101 2.546 2.945
3-4l 3.410 .107 3.197 3.622
>4l 3.134 .073 2.989 3.279
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.2.2 Access internet Estimated Marginal Mean- Product Factor

Dependent variable: products
Access 95% confidence interval
internet Mean Std. Error Lower bound Upper bound
Home 3.143 .055 3.033 3.253
Office 3.430 .061 3.309 3.551
Café 3.085 .071 2.945 3.225
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.2.3 Two-way ANOVA: product factor

Tests of between-subjects effects
Dependent variable: products
Type i
sum of
Source squares DF Mean square F Sig.
Income 1130.897 5 226.179 2188.833 0.000*
Access to internet 2.103 2 1.052 10.176 0.000*
Error 9.920 96 .103
Total 1142.920 103
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance
The above table shows that the consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on product factor based on
income access to internet. Two-way ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for product factor
between the income level and access to internet. It is found that income wise and access internet classification

32
variations of the mean scores are statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f= 1566.360 and
2188.833 with p =0.000). Table shows that consumers having the income less than Rs. 100000 have the high
mean score. So it signifies that low income consumers are mostly influenced by product factors.

4.4.3 Two-way ANOVA of other factor by income and access internet

The variation of product factor with regard to income and access internet of respondents is analyzed with
Two-way ANOVA and the output is presented in the following table.

Table 4.4.3.1 Income Wise Estimated Marginal Mean- other Factor

Dependent variable: others factor
Std. 95% confidence interval
Income Mean Error Lower bound Upper bound
< 1l 2.759 .070 2.620 2.897
1l to 2l 2.858 .081 2.697 3.018
2-3l 3.677 .124 3.430 3.923
3-4l 2.720 .132 2.458 2.982
>4l 2.369 .090 2.190 2.548
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.3.2 Access internet Estimated Marginal Mean- other Factor

Dependent variable: others new factor
95% confidence interval
Access internet Mean Std. Error Lower bound Upper bound
Home 3.053 .068 2.917 3.188
Office 2.677 .075 2.528 2.826
Cafe 2.900 .087 2.727 3.073
Source: Primary data

Table 4.4.3.3 Two-way ANOVA: product factor

Tests of between-subjects effects
Dependent variable: others new factor
Type i sum of
Source squares DF Mean square F Sig.
Income 823.208 5 164.642 1046.751 0.000*
Access to internet 2.068 2 1.034 6.573 0.002*
Error 15.100 96 .157
Total 840.375 103
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance

The above table shows that the consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on other factor based on income
access to internet. Two-way ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for other factor between the
income level and access to internet. It is found that income wise and access internet classification variations of

33
the mean scores are statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f= 749.557 and 1046.751 with p
=0.000). Table shows that consumers having the income between Rs. 200000-300000 have the high mean
score. So it signifies thatconsumers are mostly influenced by other factors.

4.5Problems faced by consumers duringonline shopping

There are some problems faced by consumers while making online shopping. Some of them were Difficult to
contact Seller, Received damaged goods or wrong goods, Difficult to change defective product etc..

Friedman test is used to test the following hypothesis.

H0: There is no significant difference in the problems faced by the consumers towards online shopping.

H1: There is significant difference in the problems faced by the consumers towards online shopping.

The test results are presented in the following table.

4.5.1 Mean ranks obtained for the problems faced by consumers

Contact Damaged Defective No Long Visual Complex Theft of Inefficient
seller goods products guarantee delivery difference order information service
time payment
Ranks
Mean 4.78 4.18 3.52 3.47 4.92 5.27 6.11 6.30 6.45
Rank
Source: Primary data
The mean rank obtained for the problem faced by the consumers towards online shopping are stated above.
The lower the rank higher will be the preference. As per table the highest preference is given to the problem
of product guarantee not assured (mean rank 3.47) followed by difficult to change defective product (mean
rank 3.52).

4.5.2 Friedman test

Test Statistics
N 103
Chi-Square 141.993
DF 8
Asymp. Sig. 0.000*
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance
The chi-square static provide a value of 141.993 which is significant at 5 percent level of
significant(.000<.05). Therefore the null hypothesis of “there is no significant difference in the problems
faced by the consumers towards online shopping” is rejected.This indicates there is a variation in the
problems faced by the consumer towards online shopping.

4.6Reasons for not willing to buy the products

34
 Following are the reasons for not willing to buy the products through onlineSecurity on payments, worrying
about the deal is a cheat,difficult to judge the product quality,risk of late delivery, inability to touch or
examine the goods, higher cost compared with traditional shopping, problems in goods return, fraudulent
suppliers, high delivery charge, releasing personal information ,hidden charges andservice quality not up to
the mark

Kruskal Wallis test is used to find the reasons for not willing to buy the products or service through online.
H0: There is no difference in median responses offactors contributing to unwillingness to buy the products or
service through online.
H1:There is no difference in median responses of factors contributing to unwillingness to buy the products
or service through online.

4.6.1 Education qualification wise mean ranks on the reasons for not repurchasing
12th UG PG PD
Factors
15 43 18 23
N
36.5 57.9 52.75 41.89
Security on payments
36.5 58.59 51.36 41.67
Worrying about the deal is a cheat
36.5 57.9 53.03 41.67
Difficult to judge the product quality
36.5 59.81 48.44 41.67
Risk of late delivery
36.5 59.99 48.58 41.24
Inability to touch or examine the goods
36.5 60.64 47.19 41.11
Higher cost compared with traditional shopping
36.5 60.1 48.58 41.02
Problems in goods return
36.5 60.05 49.83 40.15
Fraudulent suppliers
36.5 60.1 49.97 39.93
High delivery charges
36.5 60.92 48.31 39.72
Releasing personal information
36.5 60.57 49.14 39.72
Hidden charges
36.5 58.59 53.31 40.15
Service quality not up to the mark
Source: Primary data

35
 4.6.2 Kruskal Wallis test
Chi-Square DF Asymp. Sig.

Security on 13.93 3 0.003*

payments
Worrying about the 14.87 3 0.002*
deal is a cheat
Difficult to judge 14.14 3 0.003*
the product quality
Risk of late delivery 16.821 3 0.001*
Inability to touch or 17.405 3 0.001*
examine the goods
Higher cost 18.87 3 0.000*
compared with
traditional shopping
Problems in goods 17.772 3 0.000*
return
18.367 3 0.000*
Fraudulent suppliers
High delivery 18.669 3 0.000*
charges
Releasing personal 20.4 3 0.000*
information
Hidden charges 19.74 3 0.000*
Service quality not 16.44 3 0.001*
up to the mark
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance

The education wise mean rank table shows that mostly the UG consumers have the highest mean rank in all
reasons mentioned above. It is found that all the reasons for not repurchasing the product or services are
statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance ( p<= 0.000). Therefore, it can be concluded that
based on education wise qualification, there is significant differences. Hence null hypothesis is rejected.

4.7Factors consider to improve consumer confidence in online shopping

The section presents the factors consider to improve the consumer confidence in online shopping. The
factors may be ofImprovement in payment system,Awareness,Consumer rights, regulated body,Better
delivery method etc….

4.7.1One- way ANOVA of various factors byeducation wise classification

36
 The variations of the various factors considered to improve the consumer confidence in online
shopping with regard to education wise classification of respondents are analyzed with one-way ANOVA
and the output is presented in the following tables.

Table 4.7.1Descriptive statistics

N Mean SD Std. 95% Confidence Interval for

Error Mean
Lower Bound Upper Bound
12th 15 4 0 0 4 4
Under Graduate 43 3.93 0.828 0.126 3.68 4.19
Improvementi Post Graduate 22 4.77 0.429 0.091 4.58 4.96
n payment Professional Degree 23 4.04 0.767 0.16 3.71 4.38
system Total 103 4.15 0.746 0.074 4 4.29
12th 15 5 0 0 5 5
Under Graduate 43 3.16 1.396 0.213 2.73 3.59
Post Graduate 22 3.18 0.395 0.084 3.01 3.36
Professional Degree 23 4.09 1.083 0.226 3.62 4.56
Awareness Total 103 3.64 1.243 0.123 3.4 3.88
12th 15 2 1.464 0.378 1.19 2.81
Under Graduate 43 3.28 0.934 0.142 2.99 3.57
Information Post Graduate 22 3.32 1.171 0.25 2.8 3.84
about vendor Professional Degree 23 3.3 1.063 0.222 2.84 3.76
company Total 103 3.11 1.179 0.116 2.88 3.34
12th 15 2.67 0.976 0.252 2.13 3.21
Under Graduate 43 4.02 0.859 0.131 3.76 4.29
Post Graduate 22 3.27 1.352 0.288 2.67 3.87
Consumer Professional Degree 23 2.74 1.711 0.357 2 3.48
rights Total 103 3.38 1.337 0.132 3.12 3.64
12th 15 4 1.464 0.378 3.19 4.81
Under Graduate 43 2.95 1.396 0.213 2.52 3.38
Post Graduate 22 4.45 0.51 0.109 4.23 4.68
Professional Degree 23 4 1 0.209 3.57 4.43
Penalties Total 103 3.66 1.325 0.131 3.4 3.92
12th 15 3 1.464 0.378 2.19 3.81
Under Graduate 43 3.33 1.375 0.21 2.9 3.75
Post Graduate 22 4.41 0.734 0.157 4.08 4.73
Regulated Professional Degree 23 3.7 1.49 0.311 3.05 4.34
body Total 103 3.59 1.375 0.135 3.32 3.86
12th 15 3.67 0.488 0.126 3.4 3.94
Under Graduate 43 2.98 1.123 0.171 2.63 3.32
Better Post Graduate 22 3.05 0.722 0.154 2.73 3.37
delivery Professional Degree 23 3.26 0.864 0.18 2.89 3.63
method Total 103 3.16 0.937 0.092 2.97 3.34
Source: Primary data

37
The hypotheses can be stated as follows:

H0: There is no significant variation in the mean scores obtained for the variable factors which will create
consumer confidence among the education wise classification of respondents.

H1:There is significant variation in the mean scores obtained for the variable factors which will create
consumer confidence among the education wise classification of respondents.

Table 4.7.2 ONE-WAY ANOVA

Sum of DF Mean F Sig.

Squares Square
Between
Improvementin 11.205 3 3.735 8.107 0.000*
Groups
payment
Within Groups 45.611 99 .461
system
Total 56.816 102
Between
46.749 3 15.583 13.904 0.000*
Groups
Awareness
Within Groups 110.959 99 1.121
Total 157.709 102
Between
Information 21.532 3 7.177 5.907 0.001*
Groups
about vendor
Within Groups 120.293 99 1.215
company
Total 141.825 102
Between
35.125 3 11.708 7.879 0.000*
Consumer Groups
rights Within Groups 147.108 99 1.486
Total 182.233 102
Between
39.745 3 13.248 9.411 0.000*
Groups
Penalties
Within Groups 139.362 99 1.408
Total 179.107 102
Between
23.244 3 7.748 4.522 0.005*
Regulated Groups
body Within Groups 169.630 99 1.713
Total 192.874 102
Between
5.815 3 1.938 2.293 0.083
Better delivery Groups
method Within Groups 83.699 99 .845
Total 89.515 102
Source: Primary data
*Significant at 5 percent level of significance

38
 The result of one way ANOVA for the factors which will create consumer confidence among
the education wise classification of respondents give f values8.107,13.904,5.907,7.879,9.411,4.522with
P=0.000,0.000,0.001,0.000,0.000, 0.005 which is found to be significant at 5 percent level(p >=0.05) hence
the null hypothesis is rejected. This implies that there is no difference in the mean scores obtained for the
factor better delivery method among the education wise classification of respondents.

39
 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND
CONCLUSION

FINDINGs

40
1. Demographic profile of consumers using online shopping
The majority of the consumers belongs to the age group between 21 to 30.gender wise classification shows that
out of 103 respondents, majority (52 percent) are male. As to Education Qualification 42 percent are
undergraduate and 15 percent are schooling (up to 12th). It can be seen that majority (38 percent) are belong
to private sector followed by self employees & business. The annual income classification of the respondents
reveals that majority of them falls under the income group below 1 lakh and almost 33 percent are receiving
below less than 1 lakh as annual income. 39 percent of consumers are access internet in their home and
followed by office and café. 47 percent of consumers spending 1 to 2hrs for online shopping. Based on the
sample 31 percent of respondents are influenced by themselves and followed by friends & relatives and
children. (31 percent) of the consumers are using online bank transfer as method of payment for online
shopping.

2. The items usually buy online & how often do you buy
Through online shopping Consumers not only have a whole range of products that they can choose from and
customize, but also an international selection of suppliers. Consumers usually buys books, garments, travel
tickets etc through online. most of the consumers buys products such as books, garments, and travel tickets on
weekly basis. Study shows that consumers buys jewels mostly in monthly and quarterly basis. None of the
respondents buys jewels & travel tickets on daily basis

3. Factors influencing you to prefer online shopping

Online shopping decision-making includes information seeking, comparison of alternatives, and choice
making. The results bearing on this factor directly influence consumer’s purchasing behavior. In addition,
there appears to be an impact on user’s satisfaction Here, those factors are categorized mainly under product,
price, time & other factors. Price factor is one of the important factors which influence the consumers to
prefer online shopping. Time & other factors also influencing the consumers for online shopping while
studied under the basis of education qualification & occupation.

4. Consumer’s attitude towards online shopping

Consumer’s attitudes toward online shopping have gained a great deal of attention in the empirical literature. It
is believed that consumer attitudes will affect intention to shop online and eventually whether a transaction is
made. Consumer’sattitude towards online shopping is analyzed under the variations of price, products, and
other factor with regard to income and access internet of respondents.

41
4.1price factor by income and access internet

The consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on price factor based on income access to internet. Two-way
ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for price factor between the income level and access to
internet. It is found that income wise and access internet classification variations of the mean scores are
statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f= 920.379 and 1284.878 with p =0.000).
Consumers having the income less than Rs. 100000 have the high mean score. so it signifies that low income
consumers are mostly influenced by price factors.

4.2 product factor by income and access internet

The consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on product factor based on income access to internet. Two-
way ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for product factor between the income level and
access to internet. It is found that income wise and access internet classification variations of the mean scores
are statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f= 1566.360 and 2188.833 with p =0.000).
Consumers having the income less than Rs. 100000 have the high mean score. So it signifies that low income
consumers are mostly influenced by product factors.

4.3 Other factor by income and access internet

The consumer’s attitude towards online shopping on other factor based on income access to internet. Two-way
ANOVA is used to test the mean variation of scores for other factor between the income level and access to
internet. It is found that income wise and access internet classification variations of the mean scores are
statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance (f= 749.557 and 1046.751 with p =0.000).consumers
having the income between Rs. 200000-300000 have the high mean score. So it signifies that consumers are
mostly influenced by other factors.

5. Problems faced by consumers towards online shopping

There are some problems faced by consumers while making online shopping. Some of them were Difficult to
contact Seller, Received damaged goods or wrong goods ,Difficult to change defective product etc.. The mean
rank obtained for the problem faced by the consumers towards online shopping are stated above. The lower
the rank higher will be the preference. The highest preference is given to the problem of product guarantee not
assured (mean rank 3.47) followed by difficult to change defective product (mean rank 3.52).

6. Reasons for not willing to buy the products

42
Sometimes consumers may, not willing to make repurchaseonline. From the study it is found that 74 percent of
consumers are willing to repurchase online. Only 26 percent of consumer are not willing for repurchase oline ,
due to following reasons such as security problems, higher cost, fraudulent suppliers, problems in goods
return etc Here, the highest preference is given to the problem of product guarantee not assured (mean rank
3.47) followed by difficult to change defective product (mean rank 3.52).Also It is found that all the reasons
for not repurchasing the product or services are statistically significant at 5 percent level of significance ( p =
0.000).

7. Factors consider to improve consumer confidence in online shopping

There are certain factors considered to improve the consumer confidence in online shopping. The factors
may be of Improvement in payment system, Awareness, Consumer rights, regulated body, Better delivery
method etc…. The result of one way ANOVA for the factors which will create consumer confidence among
the education wise classification of respondents give f values8.107,13.904,5.907,7.879,9.411,4.522 with
P=0.000,0.000,0.001,0.000,0.000, 0.005which is found to be significant at 5 percent level(p >0.05) implies
that there is no difference in the mean scores obtained for the factor better delivery method among the
education wise classification of respondents.

SUGGESTIONS

• As there are no proper laws for online purchases, they have to be implemented to prevent the
anonymous intruders. This will help maintain security and private information properly concerning the
respondents. So the website developers and service providers shouldtake necessary steps to overcome this
problem.

• One of the major drawbacks that the respondents have felt is no properreturning policy to the product.
After getting opinion from therespondent if the above said problem occurs, then they should beguided in a
proper way to return the product. This will create a goodwebsite reputation and repurchasing power of the
respondents.
• The vendors and service providers should avoid hidden charges. Thiswill help to avoid increase in price
of product.
.
• Website design and quality creates a positive impact on onlineshopping satisfaction. So the vendor
companies should concentratemore on the designing part of the websites

43
• In most of the websites the given information, features about theproduct on the website and product
received from the online vendorare different. This will create lack of customer satisfaction. So theonline
vendor should take necessary steps before despatching theproducts to the consumer site. It creates good
opinion about the onlinevendor and creates repurchasing power of the respondents.
• The respondents face major problems on theft of credit cardinformation, and lack of security on online
payments. Implementingprecautionary steps to solve these problems shall create consumerconfidence on
online shopping.
• The reliability and responsiveness of the delivery system is the keysuccess factor for any online
business and this will attract theconsumers repurchase intention.Normally most of the vendors focuses on
delivery of products or services in urban areas so vendors should concentrate on efficient delivery system ie,
they should widen their area of operation to rural areas also.

• Even though the consumers have a basic knowledge about onlineshopping, they are unable to
implement it because the languagebecomes a barrier. Developing regional language oriented websiteswould
help new comers to enhance their knowledge and also toincrease the online purchasers.

CONCLUSION

Online shopping is a major part of the overall electronic commerce, or e-commerce, industry which
consists of all the buying and selling of goods and services over electronic systems such as the internet and
other computer networks by households, businesses and other agencies

With the advances in the technology of networking, multimedia, data processing, electronic commerce brings
new business opportunities for companies. Companies are spending millions of time and money in building
new Internet business models and finding new channels for their revenues. Ecommerce, at the same time,
offers specific benefits to online shoppers. Consumers not only have a more convenient way of shopping and
have more choices, but also could interact with others and exchange ideas, views through online communities.

In the past, consumers had sufficient time to visit shopping centers,searching for various products. Many
consumers prefer bargaining and decidethe purchases after physical examination of the commodities. The
entireprocess can range from a few hours to weeks depending on the product,quantity, quality and source of

44
purchase. Today there is radical change in theentire scenario. Everything in today’s world is Internet oriented
like ElectronicData Interchange, E-Mail, E-Business and E-Commerce.
E-Commerce is exchange of information using network-basedtechnologies. In the present high cost situation,
e-Commerce can be used asa competitive strategy. It successfully includes the entire online process
ofdeveloping, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for productsand services.

Online shopping is a vast growing technology. If it is properly utilized withassured safety and security for the
transactions, it will thrive into a highlycompetitive and dynamic environment.

45
 Appendix

QUESTIONNAIRE

“A STUDY ON CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING WITH

REFERENCE TO KODUVAYUR PANCHAYATH”

46
1. Age :

2. Gender
a. Male [ ] b. Female [ ]

3. Educational Qualification

a. schooling (up to 12th) [ ] b. Under Graduation [ ]

c. Post Graduation [ ] d. Professional Degree [ ]

4. Occupation

a. Govt. Employee [ ] b. Private Employee [ ]

c. Self Employee [ ] d. Business [ ]
e. Home Maker [ ]

5. Annual Income

a. Less than 1 lakh [ ] b. Between 1 to 2 lakh [ ]

c. Between 2 to 3 lakh [ ] d. Between 3 to 4 lakh [ ]
e. More than 4 lakh [ ]

6. Please specify the place which you mostly access internet…

a. Home [ ] b. Working place / Office [ ]

c. Cyber Café [ ] d. School/ College/ University[ ]

7. please specify the time you spend for online shopping per day on average

a. Less than 1 hour [ ] b. 1-2 hours [ ]

c. 2-3 hours [ ] d. 3-4 hours [ ]
e. More than 4 hours [ ]

8. please choose the factor/person most influenced you to purchase products/ service through
Online…

a. Self [ ] b. Husband [ ]
c. Wife [ ] d. Children [ ]
e. Friends & Relatives [ ] f. Others pls. Specify: [ ]

9.please specify the method of payment did you use to make your purchase over online
Shopping..

a. Credit card / Debit card [ ] b. Online Bank Transfer [ ]

c. Cash on Delivery [ ] d. Online Money Transfer (Papal, Alert Pay…)[ ]

10.please specify the items you usually buy online & how often do you buy…

Products Daily Weekly Monthly Quarterly Bi-Annually Yearly

47
 Garments

Jewelries

Books

Electronic devices

Travel Packages

Train tickets /Flight

tickets

Cinema
/Entertainmenttickets

11.State the factors influencing you to prefer online shopping

11.1 price SA A N DA SDA

11.1.12 It always provides Attractive discounts
11.1.2 Transaction cost is very low in online shopping
11.1.3 It provides different choices of payment method
11.1.4 It assures the security of payment
11.1.5 It takes reasonable Home delivery charges
11.2 product
11.2.1 It assures the reasonable Quality of the product
11.2.2 It always gives sufficient information about the
product
11.2.3 It always provides the wide range of options to us
11.2.4 Its provides the option to return products in case of
damaged or wrong goods
11.2.5 I t provides latest items that suits to current trend
11.3 Time
11.3.1 I can take my own time to select the product without
any limitations
11.3.2 I can carefully plan my purchase before buying
theproducts online
11.3.3 It always takes speedy actions & take less time to
choose the product
11.3.4 I can save my time to search product information
11.3.5 It takes less time to get delivery than retail stores
11.4. others
11.4.1 I get positive feedback and support from vendors
11.4.2 I have more trust in online stores as compared to
retail stores

48
 11.4.3 There is no crowded shopping environment as like as
retail stores
11.4.4 Advertisements provided by the online stores are very
attractive
11.4.5 I got positive opinions from my friends and families

12.Consumers’ attitude towards online shopping…..

12.1 SA A N D SDA
price
12.1.1
I cannot bargain or negotiate on price
12.1.2 In online the price is higher but its quality is
better
12.1.3 I carefully plan my purchase before buying
theproducts online
12.1.4 I always compare prices before buying
theproducts online
12.1.5 I always get good value when I purchase
productsor services online
12.2 products

12.2.1 Quality of other products are comparable in

online
12.2.2 Products purchased in online consistently
performbetter than other products
12.2.3 I am not sure about product quality
12.2.4 I can purchase many branded products in online

12.2.5 Difficult to decide based only on description

orview of products/ services
12.3 others
12.3.1 I have saved lot of money by shopping online
12.3.2 It takes less time to get delivery than retail stores
12.3.3 I can avail prompt delivery of products
12.3.4 I have to wait for a long time to take delivery
ofproducts

13.Problems faced by consumers’ towards online shopping: (Please rank...1, 2, 3)

RANK
1.Difficult to contact Seller
2.Received damagedgoods or wrong goods
3.Difficult to change defective product

49
 4. Products guarantee is not assured
5. Delivery time too long for purchased product
6. Visual differences between picture and received goods
7. Complex process of order/payment
8. Theft of credit card information / Privacy Information
9. No after sales service or inefficient after sales service

14.Do you repurchase the products/services through online?

a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ]

15.If ‘No’, please select the reasons for not willing to buy the products/ services
Through online.(please rank 1,2,3…)

a. Security on payments [ ]
b. Worrying about the deal is a cheat [ ]
c. Difficult to judge the product quality [ ]
d. Risk of late delivery [ ]
e. Inability to touch or examine the goods [ ]
f. Higher cost compared with traditional shopping [ ]
g. Problems in goods return [ ]
h. Fraudulent suppliers [ ]
i. High delivery charges [ ]
j. Releasing personal information [ ]
k. Hidden charges [ ]
l. Service quality not up to the mark [ ]

16.Please select the factors should be improved to create consumer confidence in online shopping….
(SA-Strongly Agree, SDA- Strongly Disagree)
SA A N D SD
a. Improvements in security of online payment
systems
b. Creating awareness of online security
c. Detailed information about vendor company
d. Better consumer awareness of their rights
e. Harsher penalties for fraud
f. Regulated by recognized bodies/ Tighter
regulations
g. Delivery Methods

Bibliography

Varsheny; Guptha.S.L, Marketing Management, Sulthan Chand and Sons, New Delhi, 1st edition, 2005.

David L. and Albert J.D., Consumer Behaviour, Tata McGraw-Hill publications, New Delhi, 2002.

50
C.S.V. Murthy E-commerce -Concepts, Models, Strategies, Himalaya Publishing House Pvt.Ltd, 2010.

Websites

www.internetworldstats.com
www.iamai.in
www.nasscom.org
www.allbusiness.com
www.itu.int
www.ebscohost.com
www.ebay.com
www.financialexpress.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.icube.nsitonline.in

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