Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Acknowledgement
1
An endeavor over a period can be successful only with the advice and
support of well-wishers. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and
appreciation to all those who encouraged me to complete this project.
I express my profound and sincere thanks to Mrs. Neha Suri who acted as
a mariner’s compass and steered me throughout my project voyage through his
excellent guidance and constant inspiration.
Thanks to the almighty god for keeping me strong with high spirit till
the end of the project.
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STUDENT’S DECLERATION
Ranjit Kumar
PGDM (2K82A34)
PREFACE
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The PGDM curriculum is so designed that student get enough practical knowledge of business
world which helps them to explore their skills in the corporate world in future.
The PGDM training helps the students to understand and gain knowledge about the industry and
The study of consumer buying behavior in online shopping consists of following chapters.
1) The first chapter will discuss the research questions, limitations and background of the
problem.
2) Second chapter will discuss the literature review of in the area of online consumer behavior.
3) Third chapter will present the theories behind consumer behavior. It will discuss online
consumer behavior in order to continue with the identification of the factors that
influence consumers. The theories of consumer behavior will also be used in order to
identify consumer segments that will show whom the identified factors affect.
4) The fourth chapter will illustrate the way the research has been conducted by presenting the
5) The next chapter will present and discuss the results from the questionnaire and how the
6) The sixth chapter will present the analysis and conclusions of the conducted research.
Executive Summary
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The project titles “A comprehensive study of consumer buying behavior in online shopping” is
undertaken at ASIA PACIFIC INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT. The project is related to the
study of consumer buying behavior in online purchasing and what are the factors that influence
this behavior.
The project titles “A comprehensive study of consumer buying behavior in online shopping “is
mainly divided into 5 phases:
• Research methodology.
Online shopping is the process consumers go through when they decide to shop on the Internet. The
Internet has developed into a “new” distribution channel and the evolution of this channel, e-
commerce, has been identified to be the most significant contribution of the information
revolution. Using the Internet to shop online has become one of the primary reasons to use the
Internet, combined with searching for products and finding information about them. Consumers
have never had access to so many suppliers and product/service opinions. Therefore, the Internet
has developed to a highly competitive market, where the competition over the consumer is fierce.
The study is related to analyzing the consumer behavior during online purchases so, that marketers
can benefit from this study and sells their product online according to the consumer purchasing
behavior.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1 Introduction
The introduction chapter will be explaining the purpose of our research. The research questions,
Background
The invention of the Internet has created a paradigm shift of the traditional way people
shop. A consumer is no longer bound to opening times or specific locations; he can become active
at virtually any time and place and purchase products or services. The Internet is a relatively new
medium for communication and information exchange that has become present in our everyday
life. The number of Internet users is constantly increasing which also signifies that online
purchasing is increasing . The rapid increase is explained by the growth in the use of broadband
The Internet is considered a mass medium that provides the consumer with purchase
convenient for the consumer, compared to the traditional way of shopping, such as the ability
to at any time view and purchase products, visualize their needs with products, and
discuss products with other consumers . The primary reason people shop over the Internet is
the convenience.
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Online shopping is the process consumers go through when they decide to shop on the Internet. The
Internet has developed into a “new” distribution channel and the evolution of this channel, e-
commerce, has been identified to be the most significant contribution of the information
revolution. Using the Internet to shop online has become one of the primary reasons to use the
Internet, combined with searching for products and finding information about them. Consumers
have never had access to so many suppliers and product/service opinions. Therefore, the Internet
has developed to a highly competitive market, where the competition over the consumer is fierce.
identify certain influencing aspects when purchasing online, these can be regarded as factors.
Problem
At any given time there are millions of people online and each of them is a potential customer for a
company providing online sales. Due to the rapid development of the technologies surrounding the
Internet, a company that is interested in selling products from its web site will constantly has to
search for an edge in the fierce competition. Since there are so many potential consumers, it is of
the out most importance to be able to understand what the consumer wants and needs.
Analyzing consumer behavior is not a new phenomenon. The renowned marketing expert
Philip Kolter has published several works on the topic of consumer behavior theories. These
theories have been used for many years not only to understand the consumer, but also
create a marketing strategy that will attract the consumer efficiently. Hence, understanding and
identifying the consumer is closely related to the directions a company will take with their
marketing strategy. These theories can also be applied to identify the online consumer and to
create certain consumer segments. However, some distinctions must still be made when
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Since online retailing is a new retailing medium and online consumer behavior is diverse from
traditional consumer behavior, one must identify what influences the online consumer.
Analyzing the process that the online consumer goes through when deciding and making a
purchase over the Internet, shows some factors that consumers consider. These factors need to be
identified and taken into account by online retailers in order to satisfy consumer demands
and compete in the online market. To further understand how these factors influence different
types of consumers, we must identify segments which will enable us to make comparisons.
Research objective
1) To identify the factors that consumer takes into account while purchasing online.
2) To study the impact of the influencing factors on the customer buying behavior.
Limitations
There are a number of factors influencing the online consumer. However, this research will try to
identify the main factors influencing the online consumer and will, therefore, try to limit these to
Within the field of consumer behavior there are many theories and models that identify the
consumer. This research will limit itself to identifying the consumer through his/her consumer
Consumer behavior differs depending on what product or service is bought. Hence, different
factors are of different importance to consumers depending on the product or service. Therefore
this research will limit itself to some products like tickets, study material, electronic goods
and movies and music, since these are the product that is most widely bought on the Internet.
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We will also limit our research to peoples living in Delhi Ncr mainly students, as students are a
population that frequently has to buy course literature. This seemed to be the most appropriate
2 Literature review
The topic of consumer behavior while purchasing online has been examined under various
contexts over the years. Although researchers from a variety of business disciplines have made
significant progress over the past few years, the scope of these studies is rather broad. The
studies appear relatively fragmented and no unifying theoretical model is found in this research
area. In view of this, I try to give an exhaustive review of the literature and propose a research
framework with three key building blocks (intention, adoption, and continuance) so as to analyze
the online consumer behavior in a systematic way. This proposed framework not only provides
us with a cohesive view of online consumer behavior, but also serves as a salient guideline for
Abstract: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the online
consumer behavior constructs of attitude, motivations and information search in order to develop
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Findings - The results provide empirical support that attitude is an antecedent variable, and that
motivation variables have a significant causal relationship with information search variables.
Research limitations/implications - Two limitations are identified. Firstly, the data collected
further research is required. Secondly, the attitude measure could include more items to further
aid reliability.
Originality/value - This research advances the development of the Online Consumer Behavior
literature by adding knowledge on the nature of the relationships between online behaviors
constructs
Summary: - Despite several attempts have been made to understand online consumer behavior
across from different situational settings, little is known of referring website's functionality on
purchasing behavior. The purpose of the present study is two-folds. Firstly, the study defines
different behavior patterns when consumers visit an online store through a referring website
versus when consumers directly enter to an online store sans a referring website. Secondly, they
investigated on the types of products (i.e. high-involvement product vs. low involvement
product) purchased by access manner. Total number of 3,885 online consumers was used to
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3. Title: - The persuasiveness of online safety cues: The impact of prevention focus compatibility
Summary: - Safety cues are frequently used in online stores to relieve consumers' risk
perceptions concerning online purchases. This paper uses regulatory focus theory (RFT) to
predict the persuasiveness of online safety cues. According to RFT (Higgins, 1997), people
process information differently depending on whether they strive for achieving gains (promotion
focus) or avoiding losses (prevention focus). The aim of the present study is to examine the
impact of the regulatory focus compatibility of Web content on online consumer behavior. Using
different online stores, two experiments show that the effect of online safety cues depends on the
consumers’ regulatory focus. A pilot study demonstrates that safety-oriented Web content lowers
consumers' risk perceptions, but only when in a prevention focus. The main study replicates and
extends this finding by showing that online safety cues both lower consumers' risk perceptions
and engender more favorable attitudes and intentions, depending on the regulatory focus.
4. Title: - Does Gender Moderate the Effect of Online Concerns on purchase likelihood?
Summary: - This study builds on current research related to online consumer behavior and
investigates how four consumer online concerns (privacy, security, credibility, and virtual
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Findings indicate that while concerns with security and virtual online purchases. Survey data
were used to simultaneously estimate the five hypothesized relationships by utilizing experience
negatively influence purchase likelihood for all consumers, concerns about privacy and online
information credibility affect purchase likelihood only for female consumers. This study extends
current online marketing theory by empirically establishing the link between key consumer
concerns and likelihood of making online purchases as well as establishing the role of gender as
a moderator in this context. Several implications related to the online marketing of products and
Model.
Summary: - Research on online shopping has taken three broad and divergent approaches viz,
consumer behavior, Assimilating these three approaches, this study proposes an integrated model
of online shopping behavior, with four major antecedents influencing online purchase intent:
Web site quality, customer concerns in online shopping, self-efficacy, and past online shopping
experience. These antecedents were modeled as second-order constructs with subsuming first-
order constituent factors. The model was tested using data from a questionnaire survey of 214
online shoppers. Statistical analyses using structural equation modeling was used to validate the
model, and identify the relative importance of the key antecedents to online purchase intent. Past
online shopping experience was found to have the strongest association with online purchase
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intent, followed by customer concerns, Web site quality, and computer self efficacy. The
6. Title: - Literature derived reference models for the adoption of online shopping.
Summary: - The aim of the authors of this paper was to identify areas that would aid in
accomplish this, a review of the empirical studies on the antecedents of online shopping was
performed. From an extensive literature search, a total of 45 relevant articles were identified. The
factors that have been investigated in these studies were classified according to their similarity
Author: - Stibel, JM
Summary: - As the Internet evolves into a medium for communication, commerce and
information gathering, marketers need to focus on creating an experience for a given task that is
intuitive to users. Marketing on the Internet requires an explicit knowledge of not only the user's
needs, but also the information necessary to meet those needs. Understanding and applying
different models of presenting information, the ways in which the information will be used and
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the processes by which people think about that information will enable a more intuitive and
compelling online experience. The current paper applies relevant research in economics,
psychology and marketing to establish a method for analyzing and critiquing different cognitive
paradigms.
8. Title: - A study of perceived risk and risk reduction of purchasing air-tickets online.
Summary: - The concept of perceived risk explains consumers' purchasing behavior that
involves risk with unanticipated or uncertain consequences. Using perceived risk theory, this
study explored customers' risk perceptions regarding online air-ticket purchases. This study
discovered that security risk was the most important predictor to overall risk regarding online air-
ticket purchases. In addition, non-purchasers perceived a higher risk than online purchasers, in
terms of performance, security, financial, psychological, and time risks. Regarding risk-reduction
strategies, shopping around over the web was more important to online purchasers than to non-
approval, and recommendation of family and friends were perceived as preferred risk-reduction
strategies when making online air-ticket purchases. Further, this study's results revealed that
characteristics. The implications of the research findings for online marketing activities are
discussed.
9. Title: - Competition between local and electronic markets: how the benefit of buying online
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Author: - Chris Forman, Anindya Ghose, Avi Goldfrab
Summary: - Our paper shows that the parameters in existing theoretical models of channel
substitution such as offline transportation cost, online disutility cost, and the prices of online and
offline retailers interact to determine consumer choice of channels. In this way, our results
provide empirical support for many such models. In particular, we empirically examine the
trade-off between the benefits of buying online and the benefits of buying in a local retail store.
How does a consumer's physical location shape the relative benefits of buying from the online
world? We explore this problem using data from Amazon.com on the top-selling books for 1,497
unique locations in the United States for 10 months ending in January 2006. We show that when
a store opens locally, people substitute away from online purchasing, even controlling for
product-specific preferences by location. These estimates are economically large, suggesting that
the disutility costs of purchasing online are substantial and that offline transportation costs
matter. We also show that offline entry decreases consumers' sensitivity to online price
discounts. However, we find no consistent evidence that the breadth of the product line at a local
Summary: - This paper analyses current situation in customer behavior in electronic environment
in Latvia, and the Baltic States. The author analyzes definition of customer, gives insight in
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customer behavior. Very special role is devoted to different motivation theories and online
consumer motivation. The author presents statistical information about current situation in e-
commerce in Latvia. With an aim to analyze differences in consumer behaving motives in real
market and electronic environment, the author presents results of the survey, accomplished in
Riga, on December 2007 in the age group 18-25. According to the research results target group
uses the e-tools for: e-mailing, information search, peer group activities, online banking and
Skype, but less than 50% for e-shopping. Motives of using e-environment generally are speed,
time saving, rationality and possibility to find more information at the same time. This research
confirms Dennis, French and Mercilec's social motives theory for e-shopping. Research findings
disclosed that today social and personal motives of e-purchasing are different from traditional
market. At the same time for the next generations e-environment could be alternative of real
market and socialization will be provided mostly by the internet and electronic media. Therefore
the author recommends paying more attention to the e-customers and analyzing their behavior in
future.
Summary: - This paper examines the shopping and buying behavior of younger and older online
- Over 300 students and staff from a US university completed a survey regarding their online
shopping and buying experiences for 17 products. Findings - The results show that, while older
online shoppers search for significantly fewer products than their younger counterparts, they
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actually purchase as much as younger consumers. Attitudinal factors explained more variance in
online searching behavior. Age explained more variance in purchasing behavior if the consumer
had first searched for the product online. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of
the present research are threefold. First, the sample was restricted to university faculty, staff and
students. Second, a better measure of the hedonic motivation construct is needed. Third,
additional independent measures such as income should be included to understand the additional
demographic factors related to online purchase. Practical implications - Retailing managers can
make use of the results as describing multifaceted nature of online shopping and buying
behavior. Age differences (in both directions) were seen for many product categories. In
addition, results indicate that how one measures online shopping impacts on one understands of
age effects on internet shopping. Age was negatively correlated with online pre-purchase search
was positively correlated with online purchasing when pre-purchase search behavior was taken
into account. Originality/value - The present study advances knowledge of the nature of the
relationships among age, attitudes, and online shopping and buying behavior.
Summary: - Several opinion polls have found that many consumers resist making purchases via
the Internet because of their concerns about the privacy of the personal information they provide
to Internet merchants. Using the theory of planned behavior as its basis, this study investigated
the relationships among beliefs about Internet privacy and trustworthiness, along with beliefs
about perceived behavioral control and the expectations of important others, and online
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purchasing behavior. Data were collected from 193 college students. Analysis of the data
indicates that beliefs about trustworthiness positively affect attitudes toward buying online,
which in turn positively affect purchasing behavior. Beliefs about self-efficacy regarding
purchasing positively affect perceived behavioral control, which in turn affects online
purchasing behavior. In short, respondents who believed in the trustworthiness of the Internet
and in their own abilities to buy online were more likely to make Internet purchases than were
Author: - Lokken, Sheri L. Cross, Ginger Wigington Halbert, Linda K Lindsey, Gail Derby,
Christy
Summary: - A web-based survey was completed by 130 faculty and staff from a university
located in the south-eastern United States. The purposes of this study were to investigate: (a)
consumer characteristics related to online shopping; (b) benefits of online shopping as perceived
by online shoppers; and (c) concerns about online shopping as perceived by non-online shoppers.
Responses were analyzed using SPSS for tests of chi-square. Findings suggest that the
differences between online shoppers and non-online shoppers correspond with Rogers’ [sup 1]
categories of adopters, and that the educational needs of consumers also differ based on their
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Author: - Lennon, Sharron J. Kim, Minjeong Kim, Minjeong Jolly, Laura D. Damhorst, Mary
Lynn, Jaspe
Summary: - Innovation diffusion theory guided research on the process of online apparel
shopping adoption (i.e., changes in online shopping adoption) among rural consumers. Rural
consumers in 11 states completed surveys in 2000 (n = 2,198) and in 2003 (n = 879). Variables
measured in 2000 were used to predict online apparel purchasing in 2003; structural equation
modeling was used for data analysis and yielded satisfactory fit. Results revealed strong support
for innovation diffusion theory: Previous practice and characteristics of the decision-making unit
(education, income, and innovativeness) affected belief structures. Although beliefs about online
shopping measured in 2000 did not affect online apparel shopping adoption in 2000, they did
affect online apparel shopping adoption in 2003, demonstrating the dynamic nature of innovation
online apparel shopping via their influence on previous practice, which was the strongest
predictor of online apparel purchasing in 2000 and 2003. General beliefs about the Internet and
beliefs about the compatibility of online shopping with respondents' lifestyles predicted online
apparel shopping in 2003, whereas beliefs about the benefits and advantages of online shopping
did not.
15. Title: - An Empirical Study of Consumer Switching from Traditional to Electronic Channels:
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Summary: - This paper examines the relationship between purchase decisions and channel-
switching intentions. A theoretical model that explains channel-switching intentions was tested
with a sample of 337 consumers. The results show a 52 percent tendency to switch from off-line
to on-line across four product categories: books, airline tickets, wine, and stereo systems. The
order of the switching tendency was consistent with the products' search and experience
attributes. Logistic regression analysis across product categories shows that differences in
channel-risk perceptions, price-search intentions, evaluation effort, and waiting time have a
significant impact on consumer switching from off-line to on-line shopping. Consumers who
purchase on-line perceive significantly lower channel risk, search effort, evaluation effort, and
waiting (delivery) time on-line than off-line and express significantly higher price-search
intentions on-line than off-line. Consumers attracted to off-line channels also perceive lower
search-cost and higher price-search intentions on-line than off-line, but their perceived on-line
search effort and price-search intentions are significantly lower than for consumers attracted to
on-line channels. These results support the important influence of the examined factors on
channel switching. They also suggest that demographics may not be an effective basis for market
segmentation.
3 Theory
This chapter presents the theories behind consumer behavior. It will also discuss online
consumer behavior in order to continue with the identification of the influencing factors. The
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theories of consumer behavior will be used in order to be able to find consumer segments that
Consumer behavior
Donald Rogan explains the relationship between consumer behavior and marketing strategy. He
states that “strategy is about increasing the probability and frequency of buyer behavior.
Requirements for succeeding in doing this are to know the customer and understand the
Chisnall points out that human needs and motives are inextricably linked and that the
relationship between them is so very close that it becomes difficult to identify the precise
difference which may characterize them. People may buy new coats because it protects them
against the weather, but their real underlying dominant need may be to follow the latest fashion
trend.
Buyers’ characteristics are important theories from Kotler and it explains the way that the
consumer interprets and receives stimuli from advertisements. The decisions of consumers are
influenced by a number of individual characteristics that are linked to the consumer’s specific
needs.
Consumer characteristics
Consumer characteristics are explained by: Cultural characteristics, Social characteristics,
the marketer, in order to identify the consumer and to be able to decide on the strategy
to what kind of consumer to target. Hence, these characteristics are used in order to segment the
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Cultural characteristics
The Cultural Characteristics are recognized as the main influencer of consumer behavior. These
Culture is mentioned as the most basic cause of a person’s wants and needs. Kotler argues that
human behavior is mostly learned and that we are exposed to different sets of values and beliefs
from a young age, and that these values influence our behavior and decision making. Hence, these
characteristics are interesting for marketers and important indicators of certain consumer behavior
and taste.
Subcultures are small group formations with a certain number of people that share values and
beliefs such as nationalities, religions or geographic regions. An identified subculture can serve
gather different types of members. Some identified factors are income, age, education, and
wealth.
Social characteristics
The Social Characteristics are divided into three different categories, namely Reference
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Reference Groups - According to Kotler the effects of the Reference Groups is mainly based
on the belief that a person’s behavior is influenced by many small groups. When a group has a
direct influence it is called a Membership Group, for example: family, neighbors and co-workers.
Reference Groups are the groups to which the person often wants to belong to and to be a part of
but is not. These groups indirectly and directly form a person’s behavior and attitudes. There
are three different ways by which these groups influence a person’s behavior; they may
expose a person to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence a person’s attitudes and self-
concepts and also create a pressure of confirmation by Reference Groups. Another influence
of importance is the opinion leader. An opinion leader is a person that influences others to
follow his believes and attitudes towards certain issues, products or areas.
Family - Family members have a great influence on the buying behavior. The involvement
and influence by different family members varies, both to which degree but also in what way.
Therefore, it is important for marketers to understand which role is played by whom in the family
and direct the advertisement towards the main influencing part of the family.
Roles and Status - Each person belongs to different types of groups and also plays different
roles whilst having different positions in the various groups. Roles are identified by Kotler as
what activities people are expected to perform from other members of the group.
Psychological Characteristics
The psychological characteristics are divided into the following concepts: Motivation,
Motivation - Motivation refers to a person needs that must be satisfied. These needs are of
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different kind; some are biological, such as hunger, thirst and discomfort, and some are
psychological such as the need for recognition, esteem and belonging. Needs are not satisfied
until they reach a certain point of intensity and become a motive for the consumer to satisfy them.
Kotler discuss several motivation theories, among them are Freud’s and Maslow’s theories of
motivation. Freud argued that a person does not really and fully understand his or her
motivations. Maslow on the other hand wanted to understand why some people set out to satisfy
some needs before others. He then came to the conclusion that human needs are arranged in a
hierarchy from the most pressing to the least pressing, as Kotler explains it. These needs are
listed as psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization
needs. When one need has been satisfied, a person moves on to satisfy the next.
the same situation or the same stimuli. Kotler explains perception as the process by which
people select, organize, and interpret information. There are three different processes that
decide how we interpret certain information. These are Selective Attention, Selective
Learning - Learning is, according to Kotler, an act that changes people’s behavior because of
their experience. It occurs through drives: strong internal wants that call for action, stimuli: object
that drives for certain action, cues: small stimuli that determinate when, where and how the person
will respond and reinforcement: when the response and stimuli towards an object is experienced
Beliefs and Attitudes - These are acquired by people through learning and experiencing. They
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influence the buying behavior by making up brands and product images in the consumer’s heads.
A belief is explained by Kotler as a descriptive thought about something and is based on real
knowledge, opinions or faith. Beliefs can also be emotionally charged. Attitudes are described
as a person’s evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards something, but also determinations of
online purchase behavior. The identified characteristics are some key characteristics in regard
to the online consumer. These key characteristics were made in order to identify online
Online Behavior. Consumers from a higher social class generally purchase more and have a
higher intention to purchase online because there is a higher probability that they possess
a computer and also have greater access to the Internet. Consumers from lower social classes
would not have the same properties. The authors also point out that consumers with lower social
class, and thereby not having the same properties, would not have the needed computer literacy
traditional way. For the online consumer new Reference Groups were identified as virtual
communities, consisting of discussion groups on a web site. The consumer can read about other
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people’s experiences and opinions which have shown to have the effect of Reference Groups. Other
Reference Groups, which are identified by Christopher and Huarng, are links to product related
concluded that income has a vital role for online purchasing behavior. The authors discussed Lohse
who pointed out that consumers with higher household income would have a more positive
attitude towards online shopping. This conclusion was explained by the fact that households with
higher income would have a positive correlation with the possession of a computer, Internet
Smith and Rupp also identified the age factor as a determinant for online purchase intentions.
They argued that older people who had no frequent interactions with the Internet and the computer
would not use the Internet as a medium for purchases, while young adults would. This was
concluded by that the young adults used the Internet and computers more frequently. Younger
people were also identified to have more technical knowledge. Monsuwé also supported this
judgment by concluding that younger adults usually have greater interest in using new
the online consumer would ask himself before making a purchase online.
Motivation - The consumers is reasoning for incentives to engage in a particular behavior. He may
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ask himself questions like: should I look around for better price? If online shopping saves me time,
should I shop online more often? How much do I really need this product?
Perception - The consumer is interpreting acquired information by classing it. Questions such
as the following may come about: I feel that this site seems pretty secure. It seems that this site
Personality - The consumer is adapting to influences of his cognitions. He may ask himself,
what types of Web sites are best suited for his personal buying preferences.
Attitude - The consumer is working out what his likes and dislikes are in respect to a particular
situation. He may ask himself: I am pretty unsure about extra costs, should I really be
buying items from the Internet? If I do not buy the item online, how else can I get it?
Emotions - The consumer is without conscious effort detecting how he is being affected by his
cognitive choice. He may ask himself: The last time I ordered from the Internet I had a really bad
experience. Should I try buying online again? What is the future of buying online? If Web sites
have an effect on the online consumer, will be referred to as specific Consumer Traits and how the
The online consumer characteristics such as personal, social, and psychological characteristics
need to be identified in order to understand what is important for the online consumer.
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These characteristics reveal the consumers’ lifestyle and identify who the consumer is and
Therefore, we will be using the following characteristics to segment the online consumer, by
analyzing:
• Life patterns concerning Online Behavior, such as how much the consumer uses the
Internet.
• How much the online consumer shops online, Online Shopping Patterns, can be
used in order to find out what impact certain factors have on different type of
consumers.
• Prior experiences have also been identified to be relevant for what Beliefs and
Attitudes the consumer has towards online shopping and are therefore also important
• Social influences have an effect on the consumer in the early decision making
These are the consumer characteristics that are relevant for this research and need to be identified
in order to find out who the online consumer is and what affects him when shopping online.
To summarize the prior text and to answer the question what identifies an Online Consumer, one
can draw the conclusion that for this research the important consumer characteristics that need to
be identified are:
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Consumer Traits
• Demographics
Online Behavior
• Webographics
• Internet Usage
The outline in the earlier page is an attempt to more closely identify the different influencing
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Price which is a part of the marketing mix is a factor used in order to stimulate the consumer
and is also a communicator, bargain tool, and a competitive weapon. The consumer can use
price as a mean of comparing products, judge relative value for money, and judge product
quality.
The factor Trust is considered to be a concern on the emotional basis in the minds of the
consumers. The consumers have a focus on their safety needs and want to satisfy them before
making a purchase.
The factor Convenience is considered to be a benefit in the eyes of the consumer and a quality
derived from purchasing over the Internet. It is therefore considered to be a motivator and a
benefit to consumers.
We believe that these factors have a significant influence on the consumer when
purchasing online. To further analyze the factors, we study underlying attributes that represent
The Internet has become a global marketplace on which consumers can gather and compare
information such as product information and prices. The technologies and innovative business
ideas of the Internet allow sellers to discriminate between buyers and buyers to discriminate
between vendors. Historically, however, prices have been set by negotiations after having
examined the product. The Internet facilitates the scenario that comparisons can be achieved
with ease, overlooking several digital attributes (which can be communicated through the web)
and possibilities with several different vendors simultaneously. On the Internet it is after
all the price comparison prospect that interests price sensitive consumers, whilst another
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category of consumers focuses on finding unique products with specialized features that might
be difficult to find offline and who, therefore, perhaps even consider the price as
secondary.
However, when online, only digital attributes can be evaluated by the consumer, while offline
non-digital attributes (for which physical inspection of the product is necessary) can be tested .
This could even influence impulsive shoppers to become more cautious about the product as it
can only be inspected digitally. Furthermore, when buying online, additional costs such as
freight charges, customs or prolonged delivery times can influence the online consumer’s decision
to reconsider the transaction even though the price is low. Table 4.1 clarifies the fact that the factor
Factors Attributes
Comparing price
for the consumers and therefore perceived by the consumer as risky. They further identify the
salesperson to be a silent source of trust for the consumer, and that the consumer is dependent on
the salespersons’ expertise. But since the salesperson has been removed in online shopping, the
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authors argue that the basis of consumer trust has disappeared. They further explain that the
consumer is not able to check the quality of an item, nor is he able to monitor the safety of the
security when revealing personal data. The authors, therefore, conclude that if a high level of
security and privacy is communicated to the consumer the result would have a positive effect on
According to Luhmann who has a sociological point of view on the theory of trust, there are
three modes of maintaining expectations about the future, familiarity, confidence and trust. To
experience trust, familiarity and confidence must have been established. However, trust is only
necessary when there is a high perceived risk, such as during a purchase transaction or a similar
action.
medium is likely to affect his amount of trust in online shopping. According to Lee and Moray
1. The perceived technical competence of the system - The systems apparent ability to perform
assigned tasks.
2. The perceived performance level of the system - How fast and reliable it appears to be
able to finish the tasks.
Previous knowledge also affects trust. Luhmann states that, "Practical experience tends to teach
us the opposite: the more we know, the better we know what we do not know, and the more
33
Turban constructed a model that highlights what trust is constituted from when purchasing on the
Internet. According to figure 4.2 which is a scaled version based on “A Trust Model for
Consumer Internet Shopping” by Lee, Matthew K.O, and Efraim Turban, trust is dependent on
Competency
Benevolence
Reliability
the consumer after a purchase is done. If that can be achieved, the consumer is more likely to
"engage in trust related Internet behaviors like purchasing, cooperating, and sharing information".
34
Factors Attributes
Online shopping as a new medium for retailing creates a number of different advantages. One
of these is that it is considered to be more convenient to shop online compared to the traditional
way of shopping. The convenience attributes that online shopping provides are:
• Less effort:
• Time saving
Azjen claims that online shopping provides convenience for consumers such as time savings
35
Kim and Park also argue that if online shopping is to be perceived as convenient for the
consumer, the consumer must perceive a certain amount of easiness with accessing the Internet
and also with carrying out the behavior with shopping online. The less complexity the consumer
perceives with accessing the Internet the more attention the consumer has to enter the Internet
Saving time is also mentioned by Kim and Park, and it is closely related to information search.
The consumer is not required to leave his home in order to shop online and at the same time
the information search and price comparison process is much more available and easy to
access.
Swaminathan states that consumer characteristics play an important role in the consumer's
decision to shop online. The authors then identify the so called convenient oriented consumer
as the most potential online buyer since they value the convenience of shopping at home as a
Consumers can shop from their homes meaning they do not have to take certain aspects, needed
when shopping in the traditional way, into consideration. Online shopping is, therefore,
considered to require less effort. It is also considered to be time saving, the consumer can search
for products and prices easy through the developed search engines. Through tracking
devices a consumer can at any time check where their package is. Another time aspect of
online shopping is that it allows the consumer to shop at any time of the day, the consumer does
not need to consider if the stores are open or not. Table 4.3 shows the factor Convenience and its
attributes.
36
Factor Attributes
Convenience Saving time
Less effort
Shopping at any time
4 Research Methodologies
This chapter will illustrate the way the research has been conducted by presenting the
37
Choice of methodology
For our own research we decided that the most appropriate approach would be a questionnaire
that would be filled out by some persons in Delhi Ncr region. To encourage the peoples not
to reject the questionnaire outright, and to increase the response rate, the questionnaire
This study started out as an exploratory study but developed into an explanatory study since we
start out with first gaining knowledge about consumer behavior to further being able to gain
knowledge about online consumer behavior. Having this knowledge we continue to identify
specific factors that are of importance when the online consumer is making online
purchases. This information is then used in order to find relationships and correlations between
these variables.
SAMPLING METHODOLOGY
Sampling Technique:
Initially, a rough draft was prepared and a pilot study was done to check the accuracy of the
Questionnaire and certain changes were done to prepare the final questionnaire to make it more
judgmental. The respondents are selected randomly, so we can say that random sampling has
Sampling Unit:
The respondents who were asked to fill out the questionnaire in the National Capital Region are
the sampling units. These respondents comprise of the persons who purchase some material from
the online retailer. The people have been interviewed using questionnaire and asked to give their
feedback.
Sample Size:
38
The sample size was restricted to only 100 respondents.
Sampling Area:
The area of the research was National Capital Region (NCR).
Data Collection
Secondary Data
We have mainly used documentary secondary data combined with multiple source data.
Documentary secondary data has been the data collected through different types of research
conducted within the topic, articles, and books that are written on consumer behavior and e-
commerce. This type of data has been the fundamental source for gaining knowledge within
the topic in order for us to be able approach the research problem. The secondary data that we
used for our research is data that has also lead to the conclusion of which factors that will be
examined. The multiple source data that we have used has been in order to choose which product
we would use for our research in order to be able to find the product that is most widely bought
Primary Data
Primary data for our research was collected through questionnaires. When collecting primary
data one can choose to do interviews, observations, experiments, and questionnaires. Due to the
purpose of our research, only the questionnaire method would be able to approach the topic and
39
be able to collect the answers in a satisfactory manner. In our research the primary data is mainly
concerned with analyzing the respondent in order to later on classify the respondent. Further on,
the primary data will be used to analyze the factors and how these are related to the
respondent. The primary data is conducted in a manner to be able to approach our research and
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed to collect primary data in order to find firsthand information on
how the respondents value the importance of price, trust, and convenience when making
purchases over the Internet. The questionnaire was designed to, first, collect data that
would be used to find segments among the respondents, and second, to collect data about the
factors price, trust, and convenience. The questions in the questionnaire were based on
the findings from the literature. Questions which were designed to collect data to find
respondent segments were derived from the findings within consumer behavior. Questions
about the factors price, trust, and convenience were derived from the literature found about
the factors when purchasing online. We handed out the questionnaire in Delhi Ncr region and
chose certain classes in order to make sure not to collect data from the same respondent more
than once. We decided that the sample size should be at least of 100 respondents . In order to
analyze the collected data we used the software program MS Excel. The following will present
40
Demographics
Gender
Gender was included in the survey in order to find out how many men and women are
included in the survey. The following table will show the distribution of the male and female
41
Frequency
70 64
60
50
40 36
Frequency
30
20
10
0
Male Female
The distribution of male and female respondents shows a majority of male respondents (64 %),
Age
Age was included to find out if there is a significant relationship to what impact the factors
price, trust, and convenience have on different age groups. Age is a demographic value that can
also be used in order to further explain and elaborate on some of the other questions that were
42
Less than 20 20 20% 20%
35-45 6 6% 96%
60
53
50
40
30 Frequency
20
20 17
10 6
4
0
Less than 20-30 30-35 35-45 Morethan
20 45
90% people are below the age of 35, with a majority 53% people lying in the age group of 20-
30. So, the majority of the respondents were from the young generation. This can also be
explained by that the classes that we had investigated had a majority number of younger peoples.
The reason for this type of age group distribution is due to the fact that the majority of respondents
were students.
43
Annual income
Annual income of the respondents has been asked to find if there is any relation between their
spending on online purchase and their income. The following table will show the distribution of
the annual income of the respondents that were included in the survey.
44
Frequency
A majority 86% of the respondents fall below the income level of 3 lakh with 63% of the
60 53
respondents
50
have their income below 1 lakh. It is due to the fact that the majority of the
respondents
40 are students.
30 Frequency
20
20 17
0
Less 20-30 30-35 35-45 More
than 20 than 45
Others 2 2% 100%
45
A whopping majority (92%) of the people buys tickets and study material only, may be this is due
to the fact that majorities of the respondants were students and most of them are below the age of
35 year. Now days, people often buy railway tickets, air tickets, movie tickets, cricket match
tickets using the online medium as they found it more convenient. Companies are also promoting
500-2500 69 69 82
2500-5000 6 6 88
5000-7500 4 4 92
7500-10000 1 1 93
46
More than 10000 7 7 100
Here, we got the expected result as majority of the people buy tickets and study material only so
there average expenditure on online purchases is between Rs. 500-2500. Here we got some
expenditure of more than Rs.10000 also, this may be due to the fact that people that people purchases
3) When asked about the past experience with shopping online, the response of the respondents
were……………..
47
Total 100 100% …………………..
This question was used in order to see what attitude the respondent had about shopping online.
The measured attitude was mainly derived through questions about the respondent’s prior
experiences. This usually also affects the attitude towards performing an action, in this case the
action was to shop online. The question was, therefore, designed to let the respondent rate their
prior experience for shopping online. A majority of the respondents rate their experience of
shopping online close to very good. The number of respondents with a very good attitude
towards online shopping is high and the distributed attitude declines as less respondents think of
it as a bad experience. Rating number four on the scale is considered as neither a good nor bad
experience. A majority of respondents, overall 75%, do consider their prior experience with online
book purchasing as good. This question is closely related to the following question which
investigates the respondents’ future expectations of online book purchasing. Also the mean comes
out to be 5.31 which mean that the past experience of the people while shopping online is close to
very good.
4) When asked about the future expectation with shopping online, the response of the respondents
were……………..
48
5 21 21% 40%
6 33 33% 73%
7 ( very good) 27 27% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
This question is a part of analyzing the respondents’ attitude towards online book purchases.
Future expectations are highly dependent on respondents’ prior experiences of online book
purchases; this will be further discussed in the analysis of the results. As with prior experiences
the respondents have a highly positive attitude towards future online book purchases. The
majority (91%), of the respondents have rated future expectations with online book
purchases to be positive or neither good nor bad. Not considering the neutral respondents, an
overall 81% of the respondents had positive expectations. Here the mean comes out to be 5.53
which are close to very good so the future expectation of people with shopping online is good.
49
These questions were designed to find out which of the three Reference Groups, family, friends,
and online forum, that have an impact on the respondent.
5) When asked about whether the opinion and experience of their family affect their purchasing
decisions, the responses of the respondents were...
50
Families as
Reference Groups
have not shown to
have an impact on
online purchases
among peoples. A
majority of 66% do not
consider any of their
families’ opinions and experiences at all when purchasing online. Here the mean comes out to
be 2.13 which means that the opinion of the family do not have any effect on the purchase
decision.
6) When asked about whether the opinions of friends affect the purchase decision, the
responses of the respondents were…….
Friends effect Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
1 ( Not at all ) 37 37% 37%
2 6 6% 43%
3 8 8% 51%
4 ( some ) 17 17% 68%
5 19 19% 87%
6 6 6% 93%
7 ( very much) 7 7% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
Here also 37% percent people expressed their opinion that the opinions of the friends does not
51
affect their
purchase
decision but
in this situation
we can see that
about 49%
people
expressed
that the opinions of their friend affect their purchasing decision to some extent. The reason may
be that people purchases some study material and to trust the internet retailer that usually
consult their friends or may be their liking would be same so they usually consult their friends.
Here the mean value is 3.21 which mean that the opinions of the friend do not matter while
purchasing online.
7) When asked about whether the opinion and experience of people expressed in the online
forums affect their purchasing decisions, the responses of the respondents were...
Friends effect Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
1 ( Not at all ) 66 66% 66%
2 6 6% 72%
3 9 9% 81%
4 ( some ) 8 8% 89%
5 4 4% 93%
6 2 2% 95%
7 ( very much) 5 5% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
52
Online forums do not have any impact on the respondents. A majority of 66% of the respondents
do not consider the opinions and experiences discussed on online forums at all. Here the mean
value is 2.04 which mean that the opinions expressed in online forums have no effect on the
purchasing decision.
Question 8
This question is used in order to investigate how much time the respondent spends online.
The respondent that spends more time online has a higher experience with the Internet which
according to the literature is a reason to buy more online. Hence, this question is closely related to
the respondents shopping patterns. The responses of the respondents were…
53
The
distribution shows that the majority of the respondents spend somewhere between 5 to 8 hours
online each day. The two second major groups are respondents that spend 2 to 5 hours and
respondents that spend less than 2 hr online each day, 25% respectively 19%. These results will
be used in order to find what differs between these respondents and which of the factors price,
trust and convenience has the largest amount of impact. The penetration of the internet has
grown tremendously in cities and this may be the reason that people spent 5-8 hours daily on
internet.
9) When asked about the reason for using internet and rank from 1 to 5 with 1 as least and 5 as
the highest rank. The responses of the respondents were…
Rank 1 2 3 4 5
54
Fun 28 28 13 10 21
Work 10 11 20 49 10
Information 29 5 24 2 40
e-mail 3 19 32 20 26
Shopping 30 37 11 19 3
So, from the above calculation we find the order of ranking from highest to lowest as email,
work, information, fun and shopping. The interesting conclusion that comes from this ranking
is that people spent very least time for shopping purpose on the internet and it is least preferred.
Most of the time people use internet for email and work purposes also internet has become a
vast pool of information so people uses internet for the information purpose.
Identified Attributes
Price
55
Question 10) Do you consider saving money when shopping online.
This is the first attribute of the factor price and involves the respondents’ attitude
towards saving money when purchasing books online. The respondent was asked two
questions in order for us to establish their attitude. This question examined if the respondent
agrees with the fact that purchasing online saves money. The responses of the respondents were…
Consider saving Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
money
1 ( Not at all ) 0 0% 0%
2 0 0% 0%
3 2 2% 2%
4 ( some ) 19 19% 21%
5 21 21% 42%
6 38 38% 80%
7 ( very much) 20 20% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
Saving money while purchasing books online compared to purchasing from a regular store, we can
see from the above data that the respondent give great importance to saving money when they
purchase online. 38% of the respondents felt that they saved money and it is important to save
56
money when they purchase online and give it a rating of 6. In total we can see that about 77%
people give some importance to saving money while purchasing online. The reason for the
values being so high canned be that even thought of Comparing prices, through different price
comparison websites, before purchasing online. Here the mean value comes out to be 5.55 which is
very close to very much, it means that people consider about saving money a lot while purchasing
online.
Question 11) Do you take advantage of price comparison possibility on the web?
This question investigates whether the respondents compare prices through different comparison
sites on the Internet before purchasing online. This question indicated the attitude of
respondents towards comparing prices before purchasing online. The responses of the
respondents were…
Take advantage of Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
price comparison
possibility of web
1 ( Not at all ) 1 1% 1%
2 4 4% 5%
3 3 3% 8%
4 ( neither ) 36 36% 44%
5 19 19% 63%
6 9 9% 72%
7 ( very much) 28 28% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
57
Almost everyone uses this
type of comparison prior to
purchasing, more or less
often, and a large group
(28%) of the respondents does so very often. This displays an overall positive attitude towards
comparing price over the Internet even though the largest group of 36 respondents (36%) considers
comparing price over the Internet as neither positive nor negative. This can be
concluded by the fact that the respondents might not compare prices but think that it is important.
This then translates into neither a positive nor a negative attitude towards comparing prices when
purchasing books online. The respondent might also compare prices but does not find it
important. Here the mean value comes out to be 5.07 which indicate that people take advantage of
the price comparison possibility very much.
So, from the above two question we can conclude that price is a very important factor when
people make online purchases.
Trust
Question 12) is it secure to purchase online?
This question investigates what the respondents overall attitude is towards the first attribute we
identified that constitutes the factor trust. This attribute involves the respondent overall attitude
towards security when purchasing online. The responses of the respondents were…
online
1 ( Not at all ) 0 0% 0%
58
2 1 1% 1%
3 3 3% 4%
4 ( neither ) 21 21% 25%
5 30 30% 55%
6 16 16% 71%
7 ( very much) 29 29% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
This
question
examine
whether
the
respondents feel that it is safe to purchase online, and if it is important to feel secure while
purchasing online. The second largest category (29%) feels secure and also thinks it is important to
feel secure when purchasing books online. The largest (30%), with just one respondent more, is the
category slightly more positive than “neither”. Hence, the distribution of the respondents reveals
that they generally have a more positive attitude towards feeling secure when purchasing online.
Here the mean value comes out to be 5.44 which mean that people feel very much secure while
purchasing online.
59
Question 13) Do you trust internet as a retail channel.
This question investigates the respondents’ attitude towards the Internet as a medium for retailing.
We have identified this attribute as the second one of the factor trust. The responses of the
respondents were…
retail channel
1 ( Not at all ) 1 1% 1%
2 1 1% 2%
3 7 7% 9%
4 ( neither ) 46 46% 55%
5 27 27% 82%
6 7 7% 89%
7 ( very much) 11 11% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
The
respondents were asked to rate whether they trust the Internet as a distribution channel, and also
if it is important to trust the Internet as distribution channel. The majority does not feel that the
60
Internet is a completely trustworthy distribution channel. This result could have been derived
from respondents that do not trust the Internet as a distribution channel, yet they believe
that it is important that it is trustworthy. Here the mean value comes out to be 4.62 which
indicates that people does not find it important to have trust on the internet on the retail
channel.
This question investigated the respondents overall attitude towards the trust in the Internet
retailer. The results showed the respondents overall attitude towards the third and last attribute
constituting the factor trust. The responses of the respondents were…
Trust in internet Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
retailer
1 ( Not at all ) 0 0% 0%
2 0 0% 0%
3 1 1% 1%
4 ( neither ) 20 20% 21%
5 30 30% 51%
6 11 11% 62%
7 ( very much) 38 38% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
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Frequency
40 38
35 30
30
25 20
20 Frequency
15 11
10
5 0 0 1
0
1 ( Not 2 3 4 ( 5 6 7 ( very
at all ) neither much)
)
The majority trust the internet retailer, while they also feel that it is important to trust the retailer
when proceeding with a purchase. Only one respondent fell into the negative part of the scale.
This indicates the trust in Internet retailer and is almost always needed for the consumer to
make a purchase from an Internet retailer. Here the mean value comes out to be 5.65 which
mean that people have very much trust on the internet retailer.
Convenience
Question 15) Does purchasing online involves less effort compared to purchasing at a
physical store?
62
This question examines one of the attributes that constitutes the factor convenience and is
included in the questionnaire in order to find out if the respondents perceive that purchasing
online involves less effort than compared to purchasing in a store. This question is also a part
of the factor convenience and the overall attitude the respondents have towards the factor
convenience.
The majority (33%) of the respondents did find purchasing online neither convenient nor
inconvenient when it involved the attribute less effort. The further distribution of all the
respondents had a positive attitude towards the attribute less effort. This is clearly shown by that
63
one of the largest respondent groups (23%) is the group with the highest value that perceived
purchasing online as always involving less effort compared to purchasing in store. Hence, there
is an overall a positive attitude towards this attribute among the respondents. Here the mean
value comes out to be 4.83 which means that people does not feel that purchasing online
involve less effort.
Question 16) Do you consider it important to purchase at any time of the day.
This question involves how the respondent perceives the ability to being able to purchase books
online at any time of the day. The responses of the respondents were…
At any time of the day Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
1 ( Not at all ) 2 2% 2%
2 6 6% 8%
3 45 45% 53%
4 ( neither ) 39 39% 92%
5 2 2% 94%
6 4 4% 98%
7 ( very much) 2 2% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
The
group of
39% of
the
64
respondents considers this attribute as neither important nor unimportant. The overall distribution
of the respondents perceived it more as unimportant and showed a negative attitude towards the
attribute. This can be derived from the fact that the respondents agreed on the possibility to being
able to purchase online at any time but did not find it important. Here the mean value comes out
be 3.53 which mean that people do not find it important to purchase at any time of the day.
Question 17) Does purchasing online save time compared to purchasing at a store?
This attribute of convenience is saving time when purchasing online compared to when
purchasing in a store. As the previous question, this question is a part of further estimation of the
factor convenience and the overall attitude the respondent has towards convenience. The
respondents rated to what extent they believed that purchasing online saves them time, and how
important it is to them to save time when purchasing online compared to purchasing at a
store. The results then indicated the respondents overall attitude towards this attribute. The
responses of the respondents were…
Saving time Frequency Percent Cumulative percent
1 ( Not at all ) 4 4% 4%
2 1 1% 5%
3 5 5% 10%
4 ( neither ) 30 30% 40%
5 20 20% 60%
6 6 6% 66%
7 ( very much) 34 34% 100%
Total 100 100% ………………..
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The two big majority groups(34% respectively 30%) found purchasing online either as always
time saving or that neither it saves time nor is more time consuming than purchasing at store. The
overall distribution of the respondents had showed a positive attitude towards the attribute
purchasing online saves time compared to purchasing at a store. This is a logical conclusion that
can be derived from the fact that when purchasing online from a computer at home does not
involve having to leave the home, which can be considered as timesaving. Here the mean value
comes out to be 5.15 which means that people feels that online shopping saves time compared
Findings
66
1) From this study we find that tickets are the most purchased material online as they found
it more convenient to purchase tickets online than purchasing tickets from a ticket
counter.
2) The average expenditure made by people on online purchases would vary from Rs 500 –
Rs 2500, the reason may be that they mostly purchases tickets and study material like
books using online retail channel.
3) The past experience of the people while purchasing online is close to very good and they
expect that there will be improvement in online purchasing medium and their future
experience will also be very good.
4) Talking about the social factor that influence the purchasing decision we found that
opinion of the family does not affect the purchasing decision to much extent.
5) The opinion of the friends also does not matter much so that if affect the purchasing
decision of a consumer.
6) When we talk about the online forum than we found that it does not have any effect on
the consumer purchasing decision and people generally do not refer to the opinions and
experience expressed by the people on these forums.
7) The average time spent by the people on internet in cities is around 5-8 hours and most of
the people spent 5-8 hours daily on internet.
8) We found that the main reason for using internet by peoples is for email, followed by
work and information gathering. Here we found that people uses internet least for
purchasing purposes.
9) We found that price is an important factor that people consider while purchasing online
and they thought of saving money while purchasing online. They also take advantages of
price comparison possibility of different material on the web.
10) We found that most of the people feel secure while purchasing online and they do not
find it important to have trust on the internet as a retail channel. We also found that
people have trust on the internet retailer very much.
11) When we enquire about the convenience factor and asked people whether purchasing
online involve less effort than purchasing from a store, the result were contrasting and
people do not feel that it involves less effort to a great extent than purchasing from a
store.
12) When we enquire that it is an important functional benefit of online medium to purchase
at any time of the day, we found that people do not feel it an important factor. The reason
67
may be that when they purchase online at any time of the day it does not delivered to
them immediately.
13) People feel that online purchasing saves time but most of them do not feel this attribute
much important.
14) When looking at the three factors identified .i.e. price, trust and convenience, we
find that people give more emphasis on the price for of online purchasing.
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Conclusion
When a consumer purchases online, he or she is affected by various factors. The main
influencing factors have been identified as Price, Trust, and Convenience. The Price factor
exists because prices are often lower on Internet stores compared to physical stores due to
lower costs. Purchasing online can greatly benefit the consumer in terms of convenience and
saving money. It is also convenient to shop on various sites with different assortments, from the
home. Trust is evidently needed since the consumer must share detailed personal and financial
information when purchasing a book online. These types of data include the full name, delivery
address and credit card number for example, which makes Trust an important factor.
To be able to see how these factors affect consumers, we conducted a survey. We found that the
factor Price is of the highest concern to the people and that the factors Trust and Convenience had
lower impact on the people. We found that tickets are the most purchased items on internet and
people spend around Rs. 500 – Rs 2500 on an average monthly on online shopping. In this way
we first identified the factors that influence the online purchase behavior and find how the
attributes of these factors influence the online purchase behavior. We have found that the overall
perception of the people towards online purchasing is positive. In this way we fulfill our research
objective.
69
Recommendation
1) The majority of all the respondents were overall mainly concerned with the factor Price.
So the retailers need to offer discount, offers some prizes for bulk purchases and start
2) They should maintain transparency in their process and conduct. They should work like a
reliable retailer.
3) The customer loyalty could even be enhanced by a Loyalty Program that rewards and
4) They should focus on customer satisfaction and to get feedback from them so that they
5) They should focus on the price competition and try maintaining their price according to
their competitor.
6) They should focus on the convenience factor of the consumer and try to deliver them the
7) They should make the transaction process more transparent so that consumer can rely on
them.
8) They have the valuable information of the consumer so they should leak them to others
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Reference
Internet sources: -
1) www.wikipedia.org
2) www.google.com
3) http://www.articlesnatch.com/topic/consumer+buying+behavior
Articles: -
1) ‘The relationship between consumer characteristics and attitude toward online shopping’,
Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 21: 1, 37-44
2) ‘Strategic online customer decision making: leveraging the transformational power of the
Internet’, Online Information Review 27: 6, 418 - 432.
3) ‘A consumer shopping channel extension model: attitude shift toward the online store’,
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 9: 1, 106-121.
71
Appendix
QUESTIONNAIRE
7) The opinions and experiences discussed in online forums affect my purchase decision.
9) What is the main reason for using internet? (Rank 1 to 5 with 1 as least and 5 as highest)
72
11) Do you take advantage of price comparison possibility on the web?
15) Does purchasing online involve less effort compared to purchasing at a physical store?
Name:
Age group: - Less than 20 20-30 30-35 35-45 More than 45
(please tick)
Annual income: - Less than 1 Lakh 1-3 Lakh 3-5 Lakh 5-7 Lakh
More than 7 lakh (please tick)
Gender: - Male Female
Thanking you
Ranjit kumar
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