A STUDY ON CONSUMER AWARENESS AND POTENTIAL OF ERETAILING IN SOUTH GUJARAT REGION

Author Dr. Hormaz D.Patel Assistant Professor, The S.P.B College of Business Administration, Udhna Surat. Affiliated to Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. Mobile: 09033346271 E-mail:patelhormaz@gmail.com Address: Shirin Meher, Tarota Bazaar, Lashkariwad, Navsari: 396445 Qualification : PhD. (Retailing) , MBA ( Marketing) Number of Paper Published in International Journals: 04 Number of Paper Published in National Journals: 03 Number of Paper Presented in International and National Conference : 03

A STUDY ON CONSUMER AWARENESS AND POTENTIAL OF ERETAILING IN SOUTH GUJARAT REGION

Abstract Retail Industry of India contributes to 12 percent of GDP of India. The Indian retail sector is highly fragmented with 95 percentage of its business being dominated by unorganized retailers present huge opportunity to organized players to grow. The categories of e-commerce are B2B, B2C and so on. B2C includes retail transactions of products or services from businesses to individual customers, and is also called e-tailing (Turban et al. 2006,). The objective of the study was to study the awareness and potential of e-retailing website in South Gujarat Region. The researcher has used probability sampling. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Retail Industry of India contributes to 12 percent of GDP of India. According to the report of IBEF 2010, Indias retail market, valued at US$ 353 billion in the year 2010, is projected to grow at a rate of 12 per cent per annum and is projected to reach at US $ 543 billion by year 2014 The Indian Retail Industry is divided into organized and unorganized retail. The Indian retail sector is highly fragmented with 95 percentage of its business being dominated by unorganized retailers like traditional family run stores. The rapid growth of the internet and e-commerce provide new opportunities for Indias retailers, and a new battle for Indias retail industry has begun. According to the Internet Usage Statistics of India A 2010 report, there are 88 million active internet users in India and India has 10.52 million broadband users till October 2010, constituting 6 percent of population. Also 85 percent of internet users are from age group of 18 to 24 years.

The categories of e-commerce are B2B, B2C, C2C and so on. B2B e-commerce is a transaction between two business online, while B2C includes retail transactions of products or services from businesses to individual customers, and is also call e-tailing (Turban et al. 2006,). The objective of the study was to study the awareness and potential of e-retailing website in South Gujarat Region. Along with that the study also focuses on the major reason from purchase of e-retailing in South Gujarat Region. The probability sampling has been used and the survey of 1502 respondents has been done. The study revealed that the awareness of e-retailing is high in South Gujarat Region but only 35 percent of respondents purchase from e-retailing website. While major reason for not purchasing through e-retail website were lack of trust on service provider followed by concern about product quality. Appropriate suggestions have been made. Key Words: Retailing, E-Retailing, E-commerce, Potential, Awareness

1. INTRODUCTION TO RETAILING
Retailing is a set of business activities that adds value to the product and service sold to the consumer for the personal or family use. Mason et al. (1994) provided a comprehensive classification of retailing and suggested that retailing can be described in several ways: (1) in terms of activities; (2) as part of a process; (3) as having structure; and (4) as an intermediary in a channel of distribution. Berman (2005) argued that retailing could be viewed from multiple perspectives, including tangible and intangible items, and a distribution channel. Table 1.1 presents various definitions based on categories of retailing from the classification provided by Mason et al. (1994). For example, Berman (2005) and Dunne (2005) describe retailing as an intermediary in a channel of distribution, and Ogden (2005) defines retailing as the process of purchasing and selling goods and services to the consumer. Table 1.1:- Classification of Retailing Definitions Categories In terms of activities Definitions Kotler (2003).: retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for personal non-business use. As part of a process Ogden (2005).: the sale of goods or commodities in small quantities directly to consumers. (Source: Weibing Xuan 2007)

Global Retail Industry Table 1.2 shows various statistics pertaining to global retail sales. The data shown in the table depicts growth between the year 2005 to 2007 while it clearly indicates decline in growth during the year 2008 and 2009 (recessionary period). The recession period has been a chaotic period for the global retail industry. The factors which contribute to the retail sales such as purchasing power and consumer confidence were at bottom during the period of recession. Table 1.2:- Global Retail Sales and contribution of online retail sales (Year2005-2009) 2005 Retail Sales ( USD billion) Retail Growth Rate (In percentage) (Source: EIU, August 2010) According to IMAP Retail Report 2010, Global retail sales in the year 2009 declined by 3.7 percent and reached at US $ 13.9 trillion. Profitability also decline due to the heavy promotional activities. The profitability of the 200 largest retailers in the world fell to 2.4 to 4.1 percent during fiscal year ended the year 2009 while more than 30 retailers have reported operating loss. Even though retail sales exhibited signs of recovery towards the beginning of the year 2010, but still the outlook was mercy as Western Europe remain depressed, Spain and UK faced problems regarding unemployment, high government borrowing and household debt. North America was showing some recovery but growth was subdued due to more jobless claim. Though number of 7.2 10.9 9.8 - 4.1 11,000 2006 11,900 2007 13,200 2008 14,500 2009 13,900

stores closures in the year 2010 was lower compared to the year 2009. However still global retail sales growth is expected to be 7.3 percent in the year 2010 and 5.8 percent in the year 2011 and again will rise to 7.4 percent in the year 2012. Introduction To Indian Retail Industry The Indian retail industry is emerging from a multitude of unorganized family-owned businesses to organized modern retailing. The Indian retail market, over the last decade, has shown greater acceptance for organized retailing formats. The Indian retail industry has grown at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.3 percent for the period year 2006-2010. Rapid urbanization, changes in shopping pattern, demographic dividend and pro-active measures by the Government are abetting the growth of the retail sector in India. The Indian retail industry is classified into organized and unorganized sector. Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers. These includes the corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, also the privately owned large retail business Figure 1.1:- Penetration of Organized v/s Unorganized Indian Retailing

6% Organised Retail 94% Unorganised Retail

(Source CRIER Report and BMI Retail Report)

Unorganized retailing refers to traditional format of low cost retailing such as kirana stores, own managed general stores, paan/beedi stores, convenience shop, hartcart etc. CRIER Report and BMI Retail Report 2010 has revealed that the organized retail constitutes 94 percent of Indian Retail Industry, while organized have humble contribution of just 6 percent. Present Scenario and Future Trends of Indian Retail Market Indias retail market, valued at US$ 353 billion in the year 2010, is projected to grow at a rate of 12 per cent per annum and is projected to reach at US $ 543 billion by the year 2014 according to the report of IBEF 2010. Further Q111 BMI India Retail Report forecasts that total retail sales will grow from INR18.85 trn (US $392.63 bn) in the year 2011 to INR 26.64 trn (US $674.37 bn) by 2014 to US$ 785.12 billion by the year 2015. Figure 1.2:- Indian Retail Market Growth (Year 2002-03 to 2015E)

900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2002-03 2004-05 2007-08 2010 2011 (P) 2014(P) 205.4 261.8 385 353 392.63 543

786

2015(P)

(Source: IBEF Retail September -2009 and November -2010)

According to Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), the retail sector is expected to contribute to 22 per cent of India's GDP by the year 2010. A McKinsey report, 'The rise of Indian Consumer Market', estimates that the Indian consumer market is likely to grow four times by the year 2025. India's overall retail sector is expected to rise to US$ 833 billion by the year 2013 and to US$ 1.3 trillion by the year 2018, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent. The Indian retail industry is divided into two segments which are organized retail and unorganized retail. Organized retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers. That means they have to register for sales tax, income tax etc. These include the corporate backed hyper markets and retail chains and also the privately owned large retail business. The organized retail is at an emerging stage with the current penetration of 5 percent compare to 85 percentage of USA. Though the figure of 5 percent is not impressive but on the other side it also represents that India Organized retail industry is having huge potential to grow in near future. While The term unorganized retailing refers to the traditional formats of the retail industry involving examples, the local kirana stores, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors etc. The unorganized retail sector has also continued to grow at about 10 percent per annum with sales rising from $ 309 billion in the year 2006-07 to $ 496 billion in the year 2011-12. The unorganized retail sector employees about 33 million people.

Major Retail Players in India Table 1.4: Major Retail Players in India GROUP K Raheja Group Retail Shoppers Stop, Homestop HyperCITY Tata Group Future Group Reliance Group Westside , Star Bazaar, Landmark, Croma, Titan Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Ethnicity, Future Bazaar , Central Reliance Fresh , Reliance Mart Reliance Super, Reliance Digital ,Reliance Trend Landmark Group RPG Group Spencers, Music World SPAR, Max, Life style Department Store

2. Introduction to E-Retailing E-tailing which is also known as etailing is the selling of retail goods on the internet. E-retailing is a common and widespread class of applications used by retailers to sell products and services to users on the web. E-retailing is synonymous with business to consumer (B2C) transaction. A classic definition is used as the conceptual framework for e-tailing provided by Turban et al. (2006, p.83) is as followed: Retailing conducted online, over the internet Definitions given by other researchers are as followed: According to Kritisundar Paul and Anand E-retailing uses internet as a medium for customers to shop for the goods or services., while Tobias Gunnesson and Klas Soderlund defined as "Eretailing is a sub-genre of B2C where the core offer is a product and not a service and where the core product is a physical good. This definition excludes services and information goods but includes physical goods bundled with accompanying services, for example warranty. Types of E-Retailing E-retailers are classified into two categories which are: Pure-play e-retailers: They sell directly to consumer over the internet without maintaining a physical sales channel. All of their business transactions and processes are completed online. This type of online retailers usually forms the strategic partnership with other companies in order to provide better customer service. The example of pure-play e-retailer is eBay.

Click and mortar retailers: Their business uses both the online as well as offline channel for selling products. These players have some advantage over pure play retailers such as established brand image, existing complete distribution channel, established brand awareness and customer loyalty. Global E-Retail Global e-commerce, including travel and auto purchases as well as online retail sales will increase 13.5 percent annually for the next four to five years and reach an estimated US $ 1.4 trillion in the year 2015 according to Cisco Systems Incs Economic & Research Practice. The global retail online sales grow by 14.5 percent in the year 2009 and reached at US $ 348.6 billion USD. Electronics was the largest segment in global retail sale contributing around 22.6 percent. Figure 2.1: Comparison of Growth of Traditional V/S Online Retail (Year 2006-2009)

25.00% 22.70% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 7.20% 5.00% 0.00% 2006 -5.00% -10.00% 2007 2008 2009 -3.70% 10.90% 12.40% 9.40% 14.50% Traditioal Retail Growth Online Retail Growth 22.10%

(Source: EIU, Datamonitor, IMAP)

While the online retail sales sector continues to outperform, its magnitude remains small with 2.5 percent of total global retail sales. On an average basis, globally, online sales accounts for 6.6 percent of total sales for the top 100 retailers in the year 2009. As per IMRG the global e-retail sales increased by almost 25 percent to 591bn euro in the year 2010. Indian E-Retail According to Digital Route LLC estimates, in India the retail e-commerce market in 2008 was tiny fraction of the total retail market which was 0.1 percent and is expected to reach S 4bn by the year 2013. Retail e-commerce share will increase rapidly due to much faster growth compared to overall retail market. As per the prediction, retail E-commerce will touch $ 4bn by the year 2013 from $ 450 million in the year 2010 which means its penetration will achieve 0.6 percent which is far below US at 6 percent and China at 7 percent. A study conducted by ASSOCHAM found that 65 percent of Mumbai residents shop online. The rising fuel price is keeping most of the shoppers indoor and encouraging them to embrace the new online mode of shopping. The study conducted in 10 Indian cities also claims that the online retail industry in India is likely to be worth Rs. 7000 crore by the year 2015. The Nielsen Company has also announced findings of its Global Online Shopping Report conducted in September 2010. In India they have done survey of 502 samples. The findings of survey revealed that out of total respondents 23 percent had never shopped online.

Component Share of E-Tailing of India Table 2.1:- Component share of E-Tailing Component Market Size Percentage 36 25 19 13 4 3

Computer, Accessories, Storage and peripheral 560 Camera and Mobile Personal Items ( Apparels, Jewellery ) Electronic Durable Home and Kitchen Appliances Other Products ( Gifts, Toys, Flowers) 389 296 203 62 40

(Source: Report of Online Commerce: March 2011, IAMAI) At present, PCs, laptops, computer peripherals, accessories and storage, contribute the most 36 percent (INR 560 crores) to e-tailing followed by cameras & mobiles contributing 25 percent (INR 389 crores). Personal items such as jewellery, apparels, cosmetics, apparels, shoes and watches contribute 19 percent (INR 296 crores) whereas Electronic items like TV, Audio systems & other accessories account for 13 percent (INR 203 crores) Balance 7 percent is contributed by Home & kitchen appliances (4 percent) and other online buying (toys, gifts, flowers etc.)

Benefits of E-Retailing Table 2.3: Benefits of E-Retailing Benefits Organization Example Increased Sales Opportunity, Decrease transaction Cost, Ability to operate 24*7, Ability to maintain customer relationship with direct interaction, Enhancing Brand Image, Reduction of Marketing and Advertising Costs Customer Wider Product Availability, Ability to shop 24*7, Easy Comparison Shopping, Ability to create one-on-one relationship with seller, Time Saving, Cheap Products and So On. Society Improved quality of living

Limitation of E-Retailing Table 2.4: Limitations of E-Retailing Limitation Organization Example Rapidly changing technology, Insufficient telecommunication capacity in some areas, Problems reliability, Global market issue of language, Currency and policies, Increase instances of fraud Buyer Concern privacy, Lack of trust for unfamiliar sites, Inability to touch and feel the product before purchase with Transaction security & maintaining security and

What is Consumer Awareness Consumer awareness refers to a buyer's knowledge of a particular product or company, allows the buyer to get the most from what he buys. Consumers know more about their choices when they have product information and benefit from knowing their rights, hearing about alerts and warnings and finding out about safety issues. Measuring consumer awareness requires more than just approaching a consumer and asking, "Have you heard of our product?" It requires measuring

sales, tracking consumer preferences, and determining a show of interest for the product or service. Each stage of awareness is one of the main pieces Eugene Schwartz discussed in his book Breakthrough Advertising Eugene gives the stages of Awareness in Customers as follows: 1. The most aware: Customer knows your product, knows what it does, and knows he wants it. 2. Customer knows of your product, but doesnt yet want it 3. New Product: Customer knows or recognizes that they want what the product does. But doesnt know that there is a product, yours, that will fulfill their want. 4. New products that Solve Needs: Customer has a need they want fulfilled but isnt aware of the connection between their need and your product. 5. The customers are completely unaware about the market

Studied revealed that knowledge related to product/service will increase awareness and awareness has direct impact on the behavior of individual. Companies usually set a target for the degree of awareness they intend to achieve, and then plan a promotional campaign to reach that target. Companies are using advertising, sales promotion, publicity, personal selling, social media and other marketing activities to increase awareness amongst potential customers.

3. Literature Review Persson, C. (2001). studied Strategies for enhancing consumer interaction in electronic retailing. The objectives of his study were to examine the potential for e-commerce by identifying and analyzing factors that are important for the consumers in making use of the new medium. The results of the studies indicate that all three strategies can give important contributions to the establishment of ease-of-use in e-commerce. The Multi-Channel Retailing strategy seems to be the most useful strategy in the short run. The Analytical technology strategy and the Hypermedia interface strategy have the potential to become important strategies in the future of e-commerce. Gunnesson, T., Soderlund, K. (2001). completed work on Creating competitive advantage in mature e-retailing market. The purpose of the study is to know the sources of advantage that make e-retailer offering better than competitors e-retail offering. They have collected data by taking interview of five consultants from three consultancy firm. They found that the company should transfer the advantages gained in the e-retail arena to strengthen competitive position in retailing as a whole. Chiang and Dholakia (2003). carried out a survey amongst 147 adults to examine consumers' intention to shop online during the information acquisition stage. The study incorporated three essential variables that were likely to influence consumer intentions: a) convenience characteristic of shopping channels, b) product type characteristics, and c) perceived price of the product. They found that convenience and product type influence consumer intention to engage in online shopping. When consumers perceived offline shopping as inconvenient, their intention to shop online was greater.

Rotem-Mindali, O., Salomon, and I. (2006). have studied The impacts of E-retail on the choice of shopping trips and delivery: Some preliminary findings. The objective of the study was to develop a conceptual model of the decisions households make with regard to information gathering, purchase transactions and delivery mode. To collect data, they have developed a structured questionnaire and respondents were asked to assess a large variety of aspects concerning their shopping habits, preferences as well as attributes concerning their accessibility to and usage of IT-based applications. They found that a number of respondents use internet to collect the information before purchasing product. Study also revealed that the major reason to purchase online was the cheaper price of the product followed by busy schedule. Araghchi, S. (2007). studied Service quality, customer satisfaction, customer experience and behavioral intention in Iranian retail store. The objective of the study was to investigate and determine the nature of service quality construct and its relationship with these of Customer Satisfaction, Customer Experience and Behavioral Intention. The study also aim to identify which dimension that is best predictor of service quality, in terms of generating the outcome that identifies the dimension regarding service quality in Irani Retail store. The researcher has done the survey of 500 respondents with the help of questionnaire as a data collection tool. The major findings were reliability of the store and its service plus responsiveness are the most important dimensions in compare with other three dimension. Brown, B., Oleksik, G., Bisdee, D (2007). studied Consumer attitude review internet shopping. The aim of the research was to establish how consumers perceive the internet as a sales channel, the reasons for using it or not using it, how consumers use the internet to purchase goods/services and their experiences of such use. The study investigates the factors affecting

internet purchasing behavior such as consumer attitude, belief, personality, nature of website and so on. Devendra P.S (2007). has done study on Is Retailing in India Boon or Bane. He has done the study with the help of secondary data. He found that rising disposable income in the middle class and lower middle class with an increase in employment opportunities for young adults in IT and IT enable sectors are the major reasons for growth in retail sector in India. He added that along with serving the needs of upper class people, organized retailers should also focus on satisfying needs of lower class people too. Akash (2009). says that Retail business in India, as anywhere else in the world, plays a crucial role in an economy. Retail in India has the potential to add value over Rs 2,00,000 crore ($45billion)business by the year 2010 generating employment for some 2.5 million people in various retail operations and over10 million additional workforce in retail support activities including contract production and processing, supply chain and logistics, retail real estate development and management. Gibson, CEO Retail Association of India opines (2007) that modern retailing today is growing faster than expected while the current growth rate is around 30 percent, the sector is expected to grow at 40- 50 percent on a year basis. Zaveri, B. (n.d.). has done study on Online versus offline shopping activities of female internet users in selected cities of Gujarat. She has conducted her study in four major cities of Gujarat which are Ahmadabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot with 650 respondents participating in it. The findings of the study revealed that female shoppers in Gujarat prefer to buy books, flowers, computer software, book railway tickets and do banking through internet. When it comes to products like clothes, accessories or shoes, female buyers use internet to collect primary details only, but opt to buy them from the store instead of placing an order online.

4. Research Methodology Objective of Study 1) To study the awareness of e-retailing in South Gujarat Region. 2) To study the potential of e-retailing in South Gujarat Region. Data Collection Method For the study purpose, the researcher has used descriptive research design. Data has been collected through both primary and secondary source. The researcher has used survey method to collect primary data and has prepared a schedule. The researcher has used probability sampling method for the collection of primary data from South Gujarat Region. Major cities selected were Surat, Navsari, Bharuch, Valsad, Vapi and Vyara. The pilot testing has been done and sample size for pilot testing was 305. And on the basis of pilot testing necessary changes have been made in questionnaire and the final sample size was 1502. The data and information required for the study were collected from various secondary sources. The data were collected from various books on the research related topic, research journals like Marketing Mastermind, The IUP Journal of Marketing Management, Analysis, IIMB Management review, Indian Journal of Marketing, Footfalls. Annual reports of various retail players like Future Group, Shoppers shop, research agencies like Technopak and IBEF, ICRIER and BMI reports, Indian Retail Report 2009, AT Kearney reports for understanding retail scenario

Respondents Profile Out of total respondents 76 percent of respondents were male while 24 percent of respondents were female. While age wise 67 percent of respondents were in the age group of 26 to 40 while 20 percent of respondents were in the age group of 41 to 55. 56 percentage of respondents were highly educated followed by 27 percent of respondent were from H.S.C. Out of total respondent 78 percent of respondents were aware about computer while out of computer users 80 percent of respondents were internet users. Out of total internet users only 35 percent of responds have purchase from e-retailing website. Majority of respondents prefer to use internet form home and office and spent between Rs.1000 to 10,000 on internet. Age, Income and Occupation have impact on purchasing from e-retailing website. Hypothesis Testing H0A: There is no significant relationship between age group and e-retailing. H1A: There is significant relationship between age group and e-retailing. H0B: There is no significant relation between education level and e-retailing. H1B: There is significant relation between education level and e-retailing. H0C: Income of respondents has no significant relation with e-retailing. H1C: Income of respondents has significant relation with e-retailing. H0D: Occupation of respondents has no significant relation with e-retailing. H1D: Occupation of respondents has significant relation with e-retailing.

H0E: The preference for e-retailing does not depend on the gender of the person. H1E: The preference for e-retailing depends on the gender of the person. Table 4.1: Summary Table of Hypothesis Testing of Impact of Demographic Factors on ERetailing Demographic Factor Age Education Income Occupation Gender 8.604 11.590 94.608 128.555 0.005 Chi Square Value P-value @ 5 % significant level 0.035 0.003 0.000 0.000 0.945 Hypothesis Status H0A is rejected. H0B is rejected. H0c is rejected H0D is rejected H0E cant be rejected

FINDINGS 1. Out of total internet users only 35 percent respondents purchased online and 65 percent of respondents did not purchase online. 2. The preference for purchasing online was independent of the gender of the respondents. 3. Majority (78 percent) of the online purchasers were from higher education group. While that of less than H.S.C were 18 percent and less than S.S.C was 4 percent. 4. Out of total online shoppers 35 percent respondents belong to income group Rs.3, 00,000 to 5, 00,000 per annum while 28 percent of online shoppers belonged to income group of Rs Above 5, 00,000. While 31 percent of online shoppers belonged to income group of

Rs. 1, 50,000 to 3, 00, 00 and 6 percent of online shoppers belonged to income group of Less than 1, 50,000. 5. 58 percent of online shoppers were from Business class while 28 percent of respondents were from service class. Along with that 10 percent of online shoppers were self employed and 4 percent of online shoppers were students while the contribution from unemployed was almost negligible. 6. The respondents ageing between 26 to 40 yrs (78 percent) purchased online more than any other age group. While 14 percent of respondents from age group of 41 to 55 purchased online and 7 percent of respondents from age group of 18 to 25 years purchased from website. While only 1 percent of respondents from age group of 55 and above purchased online. Findings Related To Awareness of E-Retailing in South Gujarat Region The awareness related to e-retailing has been measured on the basis of six categories developed for the researches by the researcher are as followed. 1. Aware e-retailing and Purchased Regularly. 2. Aware about e-retailing and Purchased frequently. 3. Aware about e-retailing but not purchased. 4. Heard about e-retailing but dont know procedure to purchase 5. Not aware about e-retailing. 6. Not aware about internet operating.

Table 4.2: Awareness of E-Retailing in South Gujarat Region Categories Related to Awareness of E-Retailing Aware about e-retailing and Purchased Regularly Aware about e-retailing and Purchased frequently Aware about e-retailing but not purchased Heard about e-retailing but dont know procedure to purchase Not aware about e-retailing. Not aware about internet operating Total 12 75 946 Frequency 169 79 311 300

Interpretation: It is found that 18 percent of respondents were aware about e-retailing and purchased regularly from internet while those of 8 percent of respondents purchased frequently. 33 percent of respondents were aware about e-retailing but not purchased from internet while 32 percent of respondents heard about e-retailing but did not know the procedure to purchase online. 1 percent of respondents were not aware about e-retailing while 8 percent of respondents were not aware about operating internet.

CONCLUSION

The awareness about e-retailing is high in South Gujarat region from consumer perspective but the retailers perceive that the knowledge related to e-retailing is less among these consumer.

Potential of e-retail can be understood with the help of three categories of factors viz. consumer related factor, e-retail website related aspects and retailers perspective towards e-retail as a format of retailing. On the basis of the present study consumer related aspect such as age, income, occupation, education of consumer and hours spend by consumer on internet has statistically significant impact on the decision of purchase through e-retail format. The analysis of the data gathered shows that the people from age group 26 to 40 make significantly more purchase compared to others, while it has been proven that the people falling in the income range of 3 lakh to 5 lakh prefers to purchase from e-retail compared to their other counter parts. Also it is seen that e-retailing is more popular with Business as occupation and higher educational background. The purchase from e-retail website is directly proportional to time spent on internet.

The growth of internet and change in lifestyle is presenting a lot of potential to the eretailing in South Gujarat. Though majority of respondents are using internet but those who purchase online is less which indicate that there is huge untapped market available for e-retailers.

Thus on the basis of the above discussion it may held that the potential target market for the e-retail is businessman and service class people having higher educational

qualification who are of age group 26-40 years, having income range of 3 to 5 lakh and spending more than 6 hours on the internet in a week. MODEL OF E-RETAILING The factors affecting the success of e-retailing are shown in model.

Model of E-retailing

Trust

Age

Income Decision to Purchase Online

Occupation

Internet Usage in Hours Systems Quality

Educational Qualification Content Quality

SUGGESTION Brick and Mortar retailers can tie-up with communication service providers and launch a plan like shop and surf in which if a customer purchases from physical retail store, he/she will get reward balance to access internet. E-retail service providers should focus on targeting young generation in the age group of 26 to 40. This can be done through sponsoring those programmers which are targeted to age range of 26 to 40 as majority of online respondents are in the above mention age range. E-retailers must undertake systematic research to understand what value shopper is looking for and also try to deliver customize products too.

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