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PARTICULARS
Introduction
History
Online Shopping Guide
Company Profile
Wal-mart in India
Company Product
Objective of the Study
Research Methodology
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Findings
Limitations
Suggestion & Recommendation
Conclusion
Bibliography
Questionnaire

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INTRODUCTION OF ONLINE SHOPPING

A process in which images or listings of goods and services are viewed remotely via
electronic means, e.g., a vendor's Web site, items are selected for purchase, and the
transaction is completed electronically with a credit card or an established credit account.
Various encryption schemes may be, and usually are, used to reduce the risks of sending
sensitive information, such as credit-card numbers, over the Internet or other
telecommunications facility.
INA wallet is a small software program used for online purchase transactions. Many
payment solution companies, such as CyberCash, offer free Wallet software that allows
several methods of payment to be defined within the wallet (for example, several
different credit cards). Here's how it works: When you order something, the order is sent
to the merchant. The merchant (actually, the merchant's server) sends back an invoice
and asks the consumer to launch the Wallet in his computer (or to download it quickly if
the consumer doesn't have it yet).When the consumer selects "Pay," the Cyber Cash
software on the merchant server sends a message back to the consumer's PC that
activates the "Wallet" software. The consumer selects one of the cards defined in the
Wallet and clicks. The transaction includes real-time credit card authorization.
CyberCash says" Soon we will incorporate an electronic "Cash" and "Coin" system to
use for transactions that are considered small for credit cards.
Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services
over the Internet. An online shop, e-shopping, e-store, internet shop, web shop, web
store, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or
services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a mall. The metaphor of an online catalog is
also used, by analogy with mail order catalogs. All types of stores have retail web sites,
including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogs.
Online shopping is a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B)
and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. The term "Webshop" also refers to a
place of business where web development, web hosting and other types of web related
activities take place (Web refers to the World Wide Web and "shop" has a colloquial
meaning used to describe the place where one's occupation is carried out).

HISTORY OF ONLINE SHOPPING

The idea of online shopping predates the World Wide Web, for there are earlier
experiments involving real-time transaction processing from a domestic television. The
technology, based on Videotext, was first demonstrated in 1979 by Michael Aldrich, who
designed and installed systems in the UK, including the first Tesco pilot system in 1984.
The first B2B was Thomson Holidays in 1981. History of Online Shopping starts not so
long ago. Tim Berners-Lee created "The World Wide Web Browser" in 1990. In1994 few
other developments took place. Online bank, the first of its kind opened this year.
Another development was opening of online pizza shop by pizza hut.
In the same year Netscape introduced SSL encryption to enable encryption over the data
transferred online. This later became the necessity of online shopping. In 1995, Amazon
started operation, one of the largest online shopping mall now. Then in 1996 eBay started
its online shopping portal.
1998 witnessed use of electronic postage stamps, where people can download and print
postal stamps after paying nominal fee. In 1999 the first online shop in UK launched.

Cultural Impact
With its advent in the early 1990s, online shopping has spread into every corner of life,
linking people to the culture of capitalism in frequent and daily ways. It lets us buy what
we want, when we want, at our convenience, and helps us to imagine ourselves buying,
owning, and having positive outcomes by the goods available out there on the web. For
some, shopping has become a way of identifying oneself in today's culture by what we
purchase and how we use those purchases. Online shopping has always been middle to
high class commodity since its first arrival on the internet in society.

Customers
In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women.
Shopping is fragmented and pyramid-shaped. At the pinnacle are elegant boutiques for
the affluent, a huge belt of inelegant but ruthlessly efficient discounters flog plenty at
the pyramids precarious middle. According to the analysis of Susan D. Davis, at its base
are the worlds workers and poor, on whose cheapened labor the rest of the pyramid
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depends for its incredible abundance. Shopping has evolved from single stores to large
malls containing many stores that most often offer attentive service, store credit,
delivery, and acceptance of returns. These new additions to shopping have encouraged
and targeted middle class women.
In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the
middle and upper class. In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a
computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of
technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if we
focus on the demographic characteristics of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher
the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more
favorable the perception of non-store shopping. An influential factor in consumer attitude
towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated
that increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favorable
attitudes towards new shopping channels.
Online shopping widened the target audience to men and women of the middle class. At
first, main users of online shopping were young men with a high level of income and a
university education. This profile is changing. For example, in USA in the early years of
Internet there were very few women users, but by 2001 women were 52.8% of the online
population. Sociocultural pressure has made men generally more independent in their
purchase decisions, while women place greater value on personal contact and social
relations. In addition, male shoppers are more independent when deciding on purchasing
products because, unlike women, they dont necessarily need to see or try on the product.

Trends
One third of people that shop online use a search engine to find what they are looking for
and about one fourth find websites by word of mouth. Word of mouth has become a
leading way by which people find shopping websites. When an online shopper has a
good first experience with a certain website, sixty percent of the time they will return to
that website to buy more.
Books are one of the things bought most online. However, clothes, shoes, and accessories
are all very popular things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition products, and groceries
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are increasingly being purchased online. About one fourth of travelers buy their plane
tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a
purchase. Online shopping provides more freedom and control than shopping in a store.
From a sociological perspective, online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to
shop. One knows exactly what website to go to, how much the product will cost, and
how long it will take for the product to reach them. Online shopping has become
extremely routine and predictable, which is one of its great appeals to the consumer.

Logistics
Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly, or do
a search across many different vendors using a shopping search engine.
Once a particular product has been found on the web site of the seller, most online
retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items
and to adjust quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a
conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy)
in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow
consumers to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this
information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail
confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on
consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted
by e-mail, for security reasons).

Payment
Payment by credit card is the widely accepted method of payment for online shopping.
However the other methods, like using e checks, payment & bank transfer are also
common. The method of payment is decided upon the mutual trust and familiarity
between online merchant and the customer. Various methods of payment are described
below.
Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make payments, however some systems
enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as:

Debit card
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Various types of electronic money

Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores)

Cheque

Delivery on payment

Postal money order

Bill Me Later

Money bookers

Reverse SMS billing to mobile phones

Direct debit in some countries

Some sites will not allow international credit cards and billing address and shipping
address have to be in the same country in which site does its business. Other sites allow
customers from anywhere to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction
might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card
was declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment
process.
While credit cards are currently the most popular means of paying for online goods and
services, alternative online payments will account for 26% of e-commerce volume by
2009 according to Celent.

Product delivery
Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the
following ways.

Download: This is the method often used for digital media products such as
software, music, movies, or images.

Shipping: The product is shipped to the customer's address.

Drop shipping: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor,

who ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailer's physical
location to save time, money, and space.

In-store pickup: The customer orders online, finds a local store using locator
software and picks the product up at the closest store. This is the method often
used in the bricks and clicks business model.
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Shopping cart systems

Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The
shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a web
space. These systems do not use an online database.

A high end solution can be bought or rented as a standalone program or as an

addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the
company's own web server and may integrate into the existing supply chain so
that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated
to a large extent.

Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal
that hosts multiple shops at the same time.

Commercial systems can also be tailored to ones needs so that the shop does not
have to be created from scratch. By using a framework already existing, software
modules for different functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and
combined.

Consumer expectations
The main idea of online shopping is not in having a good looking website that could be
listed in a lot of search engines and it is not about the art behind the site. It also is not
only just about disseminating information, because it is all about building relationships
and making money. Mostly, organizations try to adopt techniques of online shopping
without understanding these techniques and/or without a sound business model. Rather
than supporting the organizations culture and brand name, the website should satisfy
consumer's expectations. Many researchers notify that the uniqueness of the web has
dissolved and the need for the design, which will be user centered, is very important.
Companies should always remember that there are certain things, such as understanding
the customers wants and needs, living up to promises, never go out of style, because
they give reason to come back. And the reason will stay if consumers always get what
they expect. McDonaldization theory can be used in terms of online shopping, because
online shopping is becoming more and more popular and website that wants to gain more
shoppers will use four major principles of McDonaldization: efficiency, calculability,
predictability and control.

Market share:E-commerce product sales totaled $146.4 billion in the United States in 2006,
representing about 6% of retail product sales in the country. The $18.3 billion worth of
clothes sold online represented about 10% of the domestic market.
For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries,
adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by
a lack of affordable Internet access.

Convenience:Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have
Internet access both at work and at home. A visit to a conventional retail store requires
travel and must take place during business hours.
Searching or browsing an online catalog can be faster than browsing the aisles of
a physical store. Consumers with dial-up Internet connections rather than broadband
have much longer load times for content-rich web sites and have a considerably slower
online shopping experience.
Some consumers prefer interacting with people rather than computers (and vice
versa), sometimes because they find computers hard to use. Not all online retailers have
succeeded in making their sites easy to use or reliable.
In most cases, merchandise must be shipped to the consumer, introducing a
significant delay and potentially uncertainty about whether or not the item was actually
in stock at the time of purchase.
Bricks and clicks stores offer the ability to buy online but pick up in a nearby
store. Many stores give the consumer the delivery company's tracking number for their
package when shipped, so they can check its status online and know exactly when it will
arrive. For efficiency reasons, online stores generally do not ship products immediately
upon receiving an order. Orders are only filled during warehouse operating hours, and
there may be a delay of anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to a few weeks
before in-stock items are actually packaged and shipped. Many retailers inform
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customers how long they can expect to wait before receiving a package, and whether or
not they generally have a fulfillment backlog. A quick response time is sometimes an
important factor in consumers' choice of merchant. A weakness of online shopping is
that, even if a purchase can be made 24 hours a day, the customer must often be at home
during normal business hours to accept the delivery. For many professionals this can be
difficult, and absence at the time of delivery can result in delays, or in some cases, return
of the item to the retailer.

Information and reviews:Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia
files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's
packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive,
fitting, or other experimentation).
Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as
instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some
provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers
decide which product to buy.
Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also
dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products.
In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions.
Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mail or phone calls to
handle customer questions.

Price and selection:One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for
items or services with many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist
to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines and online
price comparison services can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or
service.

Shoppers find a greater selection online in certain market segments (for example,
computers and consumer electronics and in some cases lower prices. This is due to a
relaxation of certain constraints, such as the size of a "brick-and-mortar" store, lower
stocking costs (or none, if drop shipping is used), and lower staffing overhead.
Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise,
though depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this.
Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more
expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some
retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free
shipping on sufficiently large orders.

Privacy Online:Many online malls use cookies to track the user activity for showing relevant
results to maximize the shopping experience. It can also be used to track your personal
details. Thus before you pass your personal information, ensure the credibility of the
online merchant. Good companies post their privacy policy (that is how they are going to
use the personal information about you) on the website. Read carefully.

Security & Safety Online:The important considerations after privacy are the security and safety features
used by online malls. Remember that good websites are made in compliance with
industrial standards such as SSL (secured socket layer). These standards use encryption
technology to transfer information from your computer to online merchant's server.
By using SSL the information you sent are scrambled, this means it is not
possible to get details without encryption code. Since this is done automatically in
merchants server, it can be ensured that your personal details are secure. Thus make sure
that you always do payment over SSL. When the company you want to deal is new to
you, try to get maximum information about them before making any orders. Keep your
password secret and make it in such a way that other may not be in a position to guess it.

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Credit card transactions are considered to be the safest mode of payment for online
shopping. Make yourself understood with the company's policies especially on how they
are going to keep your financial and personal data secured.
Keep printed copies of purchase order and confirmation details, so that it can be
used in the event of disputes. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally
solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the
consumer and the merchant. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers when hackers
break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers. A
number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s have prompted some U.S. states to require
disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major
concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures
such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks.
Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing
with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private
information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a
minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages.

Online shopping procedure

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Online Shopping Guide - Steps When Buying Online

Online shopping malls are just an electronic catalogue of products. Hence to
facilitate easier access to required products, almost all major online malls allow
searching the entire catalogue.
The first step in the online shopping is to search for the specific product categories using
integrated search function. Once you find the required product, put it in a virtual
"Shopping Cart" and continue shopping.
After you have added enough items in shopping cart, check out each of them. You can
add or delete the contents in shopping cart.
The next step is to login using a username and password. Many online malls first require
you to register with them before allowing you to pay for the bought items. Enter the
address to which you want the product to be delivered. You might also want to select the
payment modes for payment here. After choosing the mode of payment there will other
boxes to fill your billing address or the payment details. Some online malls even ask for
your email, phone numbers etc.
Then wait for the confirmation of your order, you can also modify the order by adding or
removing items. You can also cancel order if needed.
Keep the printed copy of the purchased order and confirmations for records. In the event
of any disputes, you will need to show these documents for verification.

Online Payment Gateway

It provides a secure connection between your online store and your internet
merchant account. The service that automates the payment transaction between the
shopper and merchant. It is usually a third-party service that is actually a system of
computer processes that process, verify, and accept or decline credit card transactions on
behalf of the merchant through secure Internet connections. The payment gateway is the
infrastructure that allows a merchant to accept credit card and other forms of electronic
payment. When referring to payment gateways used for Internet transactions. How it
works.

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Diagram
1.

Visitor places the order on the website and it is sent to the merchant's web server
in encrypted format. This is usually done via SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
encryption.

2.

The transactions details are then forwarded to the concerned Payment Gateway.

3.

The transaction information is then passed on to the merchants acquiring bank by

the Payment Gateway.

4.

Merchants acquiring bank then forwards the transaction information to the

issuing bank (one that issued the credit card to the customer).

5.

Then the card issuing bank sends a response back to the Payment Gateway. The
response includes information that whether the payment has been approved or
declined. In case of declination the reason is also sent in the response.

6.

The response is then forwarded by the Payment Gateway to the merchants server.

7.

At merchants server the response is encrypted again and is relayed back to the
customer. This allows the customer to know that whether the order has been
placed successfully or not.

8.

The entire process typically takes less than 5 seconds. At the end of the bank day
(or settlement period), the acquiring bank (or card issuing bank) deposits the total
of the approved funds in to the merchants nominated account.
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Online Shopping Tips

1. If you go for online shopping, always better to deal with the companies which are
known to you. Sometimes you tend to deal with unfamiliar companies. In such
circumstances you can do few things so as to ensure the credibility of the company. If
any phone number is given make a call and do some queries. Also ensure that you get
satisfied with their answers. You can even ask for references. You can also contact any
friends or relatives who are staying near to the address of company.
2. Good online merchants have cut out privacy and security policies so as to build the
customer confidence. Check whether the website contains these policies. However keep
it in mind that these policies can be changed at varied circumstances.
3. When you transfer data online, ensure that you are using a secure website. Secure
websites send the data in scrambled form (encrypted). Check the following conditions to
ensure the security of the website.
a) Look at the bottom of your browser for padlock displayed. If the padlock remains
closed, the site is secure.
b) Look at the website address and see that it contains https:// where "s" denotes the
secured connection.
c) Ensure that you are actually visiting the real website rather than look-alike websites
(made in order to deceive customer). You can check the address bar on browser to check
the address, which is called uniform resource locator (URL).
4. Credit card transactions are considered safest while doing online shopping. All the
other modes have limitations or are in risk of malpractices.
5. Sometimes few company as many questions for the purpose of marketing. You can
avoid answering questions you feel uncomfortable to answer. If the website keep on
insisting answering those questions, it is better to avoid shopping from that site.
6. Watch out for extra ordinary claims or unbelievably low prices for the product with an
critical eye. You are suggested to approach cautiously in such cases.

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7. Ensure that your credit card number is not misused in any circumstances. Make it as a
practice that you are regularly checking the credit card transactions. If any irregularities
are found, immediately contact the credit card company and withhold the operation in
that number.
8. Ensure that your choice of shipping is in compliance with what offered by merchant.
Also note down the shipping cost, duration to get delivered etc. Note down who is
paying the shipping charges and ensure that it is reasonable.
9. Good companies have their order cancellation or good return policies. Make a note of
it imagining such a situation. Also note down the warranty period and warranty
conditions. Check out how the company is proposed to attend the complaints and clear it.

Online Shopping Advantages

The major advantage of online shopping is the convenience it offers. By sitting
back at home you can now shop anything from candles to vehicles by several clicks of
mouse buttons.
The worry you may have on travelling, traffic blocks and parking constraints in real
world shopping can be avoided while shopping online. With online shopping, you need
not have to worry about weather conditions as well.
Another big advantage of online shopping is the flexibility of shopping. Unlike offline
shops, online shops have no holidays, closing times or any other problems. You can shop
24hrs a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Is n't that amazing to have a shop open
always?
One of the advantages of online shopping is the facilities available for product, price
comparisons. Since so many companies have come up with the facilities of online
shopping, the price comparison and quality comparison of the products and services are
possible. Some online malls also provide customer reviews about each product, thus you
can easily find out what other customers think about the product or services before
buying it.

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You can efficiently use these facilities to decide weather a product or service is worth the
price quoted. If you are lucky you will be also getting amazing offers from different
online stores that will effectively reduce the price than buying offline.
In short, online shopping offers more convenience and save time in comparison with real
- world shopping

Online Shopping Disadvantages

One of the important disadvantages of online shopping is lack of personal
interaction. Another disadvantage of online shopping is tangibility factor. Seeing the
picture of a product is far inferior to that of seeing it in real world. When you go for real
world shopping, you can actually touch, feel or sense it with different means, but for
online shopping you can only view the electronic catalogues. Even though this problems
has been rectified to certain extent by use of 3D product catalogues, some online malls
still uses the old fashioned images in product catalogues.
Another factor is shipping cost. If the shipping cost is more than that you need to actually
carry the product home, then online shopping become un attractive.
Yet another concern is about online security. If you are shopping online, you have to take
additional care about your credit cards so that to protect from unauthorized usage.
Online shopping lacks the real world shopping experience that we get shopping with
relatives and friends offline. Even though online shopping has several disadvantages, the
advantages outnumber the disadvantages and thus more and more people started buying
online.

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INTRODUCTION OF ONLINE SHOPPING WEB PORTALS

ONLINE STORE WAL-MART
Founded- 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas
Founder Sam Walton
Headquarter- Bentonville, Arkansas
Key peoples- CEO-H.Lee Scott, Chairman of the Executive committee of Board- S.
Robson Walton
Industry Retail, Discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood market
Employees approximate 21, 00,000(2008)
Websites- www.walmart.com, www.walmartstores.com
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large,
discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue,
according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was
incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972.
It is the largest private employer in the world and the third-largest utility or commercial
employer, trailing the British National Health Service, and the Indian Railways. WalMart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the
retail grocery and consumables business. It also owns and operates the North American
company, Sam's Club.
Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the UK as ASDA, and in Japan as Seiyu. It
has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's
investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in South
America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and
South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.
Wal-Mart has been criticized by some community groups, women's rights groups,
grassroots organizations, and labour unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product
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sourcing, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union

representation, and alleged sexism. Conversely, others point out that Wal-Mart's rapid
growth and logistical efficiency has enabled it to bring lower prices to consumers and
more jobs and new small businesses to the communities in which it operates.

History

Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas, now
serving as the Wal-Mart Visitor's Center.
Sam Walton, a businessman from Arkansas, began his retail career
when he started work on June 3, 1940, at a J.C. Penney store in Des
Moines, Iowa where he remained for 18 months. In 1945, he met
Butler Brothers, a regional retailer that owned a chain of variety
stores called Ben Franklin and that offered him one in Newport,
Arkansas.
On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City
store located at 719 Walnut Ave. in Rogers, Arkansas. The building
is now occupied by a hardware store and a pawn shop. Within five
years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and
reached $12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores
outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

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About Wal-MartOur Purpose

We save people money so they can live better. Find out what we're passionate about, our
strengths, and our reason for being.

Our Culture
What is Culture? Its how we treat each other; its our special way of doing business.
Its what makes us one of the world's most-admired companies.

Our Principles
Our founder Sam Walton gave our company a sense of honor and a set of values that are
still very important to us. Starting with Sams 3 Basic Beliefs, heres what makes us
proud to be part of the Wal-Mart family.

Our Operations
Today, over 7,800 Wal-Mart stores and Sams Club locations in 16 markets worldwide
employ more than 2 million associates, and serve more than 100 million customers per
year. All around the world, we save people money, so they can live better. Thats good
news in any language.

Incorporation and growth:In the 1980s, Wal-Mart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987
there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates. [ This year
also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment
linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice
and data transmission and one-way video communication. At the time, it was the largest
private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to
instantly communicate to stores. In 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was
replaced by David Glass. Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company
also rearranged other people in senior positions.

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Recent initiatives
In June 30, 2008, Wal-Mart unveiled a new company logo, featuring the nonhyphenated name "Wal-Mart" followed by a stylized spark, as it is referred to on store
advertisements. The new logo received mixed reviews from some design critics, who
question whether the new logo is as bold as competitors such as the Target bulls eye or as
instantly recognizable as the former company logo, which was used for 18 years. The
new logo made its debut on the company's walmart.com website on July 1, 2008,
although the old logo still appears on the corporate site, walmartstores.com. The new
logo will eventually replace store logos at the company's US locations throughout the
year. Wal-Mart international have not yet adopted the new logo.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Discount Stores
Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart discount store in 1962. Today, there are 886 stores
offering a pleasant and convenient shopping experience across the United States. The
size of an average store is 107,000 square feet. Each store employs about 225 associates.
Our stores feature wide, clean, brightly-lit aisles and shelves stocked with a variety of
quality, value-priced general merchandise, including:
Family apparel
Health and beauty aids
Electronics
Toys

Automotive products
Home furnishings
Hardware
Sporting goods

Jewelry

House wares

Wal-Mart Supercenters
Our Supercenters were developed in 1988
to meet the growing demand for convenient, onestop family shopping featuring our famous Every
Day Low Prices. We save you time and money by
combining a full grocery and our general
merchandise under one roof. There are 2,622
Supercenters nationwide, and most are open 24 hours. Supercenters average 187,000
square feet and employ about 350 or more associates.
20

Supercenter groceries feature:

Bakery goods

Deli foods

Meat and dairy products

Frozen foods

Fresh produce

Canned and packaged goods

Dry goods and staples

Condiments and spices

Beverages
Vision centers
Tire & Lube Expresses
Brand-name fast food restaurants

Household supplies
Health clinics
Employment Agencies
Hair salons

Marketside
Opened in 2008, Marketside stores are small community pilot grocery stores specializing
in fresh, delicious meals at great prices. In our stores, customers can shop for a variety of
fresh ingredients, restaurant-quality prepared meals and their everyday favorite national
brands - even freshly baked breads and a wide assortment of wines. We provide a fresh
and convenient shopping experience for busy people who want an easy answer to the
question, 'What's for dinner?
Market side is a new chain of grocery stores opened in October 2008, the stores are said
to be less than half the size of a conventional supermarket, as stated in the backgrounder
found on Wal-Mart's official homepage. Each of their stores is open from 7 a.m. to 10
p.m.
Marketside offerings include:

ENTRES AND SIDES inspired by classically trained chefs and ready to serve
in minutes.

An assortment of HOT FOODS like pizzas, roasted chickens, soups and breads
that are fresh out of our oven.
Daily deliveries of fresh produce, meats and flowers for GUARANTEED
FRESHNESS.
More than 300 NATURAL AND ORGANIC products throughout the entire store.
A vast assortment of wines, with over 200 under $10.*
Plus, all the GROCERY BRANDS you want at low, low prices!

21

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets

Neighborhood Markets offer a quick and convenient shopping experience for
customers who need groceries, pharmaceuticals, and general merchandise all at
our famous Every Day Low Prices. First opened in 1998, there are now 150
Neighborhood Markets, each employing about 95 associates? A typical store is
about 42,000 square feet. Neighborhood Markets feature a wide variety of
products, including:
Fresh produce
Meat and dairy products
Frozen foods
Dry goods and staples
Health and beauty aids
Stationery and paper goods
Drive-through pharmacies

Deli foods
Bakery items
Canned and packaged goods
Condiments and spices
Pet supplies
Household supplies
One-hour photo centers

Walmart.com
Founded in 2000, Walmart.com brings the convenience, great merchandise selection,
friendly service and Every Day Low Prices of your neighborhood Wal-Mart to the
Internet. Walmart.com features more than 1,000,000 products, plus easy-to-use music
downloads and digital one-hour photo services. And, were adding more great products
every day.
During the holidays, Walmart.com features many special offers available only online. Its
also a convenient place to find out about our exciting in-store holiday specials.
With our innovative Site to Store program, you can purchase items at Walmart.com
and then have them shipped free to your local store for pickup.

Wal-mart in India-

WalMart ran into a little trouble with it planed to expand into India earlier this year. India has
tough Foreign Direct Investment regulations (FDI) preventing companies from moving
22

into India directly. But Wal-Mart or as it Indians pronounce it, Wal-Mart, found a partner
to further explore the possibilities with. Wal-Mart is partnering with Bharti Enterprises in
order to become a player in the Indian market, which is expected to double in size by
2015. India is already one of Wal-Mart's biggest sources of product.
If your an advertiser it means that you have to figure out a way for Wal-Mart not to be
hated by the small stores that it is going to displace. I don't know if Wal-Mart really does
this, I've never spoken with a shop keeper that has been displaced. That doesn't really
matter, because the perception exists. Wal-Mart is slowly changing their tune in the U.S.,
they should consider something similar in India sooner than later.

In August 2007, Wal-Mart announced an agreement with Bharti Enterprises to

establish a joint venture, Bharti Wal-Mart Private Limited, for wholesale cash-and-carry
and back-end supply chain management operations in India. Over the next seven years,
the venture is expected to open 10 to 15 wholesale cash-and-carry facilities and employ
approximately 5,000. A typical facility will stand between 50,000 and 100,000 square
feet and sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables, groceries and staples, stationery,
footwear, clothing, consumer durables and other general merchandise items. As a
wholesale cash-and-carry business, Wal-Mart will continue to work with and develop
local suppliers and create local beneficiaries along the supply chain. Wal-Mart is one of
the top two sourcing retail companies from India, often helping small and medium sized
enterprises transform into exporters with access to global markets over time. Learn more
about Indian suppliers who have transformed their business through working with WalMart in segments produced by CNBC TV-18, available in our Featured Video section on
the right side of this page.

Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart join hands in wholesale cash-andcarry to serve small retailers, manufacturers and farmers

Business-to-business wholesale cash-and-carry joint venture to set up world-class

modern supply chain and back-end logistics infrastructure

Driving efficiencies across the supply chain will help minimize wastage and

provide small retailers quality merchandise at competitive wholesale prices

23

New Delhi, August 6, 2007: Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. today
announced that they have signed an agreement to establish Bharti Wal-Mart Private
Limited, a joint venture for wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end supply chain
management operations in India, in line with Government of India guidelines. Under the
agreement, Bharti and Wal-Mart will hold a 50:50 stake in Bharti Wal-Mart Private
Limited.
Wholesale cash-and-carry operations provide small retailers and business owners a wide
range of quality products at competitive wholesale prices that help them enhance their
businesses and profitability. The Bharti Wal-Mart business-to-business (B2B) wholesale
cash-and-carry joint venture will serve kirana stores, fruit and vegetable resellers,
restaurants and other business owners. It also will serve other retailers such as Bharti
Retail, which is setting up a chain of stores in India that are 100 percent owned and
operated by Bharti.
The wholesale cash-and-carry venture will invest in setting up an efficient supply chain.
This will link farmers and small manufacturers directly to retailers, thereby maximizing
value for farmers and manufacturers on the one end and retailers, and in turn, consumers
on the other. The venture will support farmers and small manufacturers who have limited
infrastructure and distribution strength, and the supply chain will enable minimum
wastage, particularly of fresh foods and vegetables.
We are delighted to partner with Wal-Mart for wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end
supply chain management operations in India, said Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and
Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises. Wal-Mart's global expertise in supply chain and
logistics will bring enhanced efficiencies across the retail ecosystem. This venture
promises to bring great value to millions of farmers, artisans, small manufacturers and
retailers across India. We are pleased to be a partner in developing this sector which is set
to become a significant engine of Indias economic growth.

About Bharti Enterprises:Bharti Enterprises is one of Indias leading business groups with interests in
telecom, agribusiness, insurance and retail. Bharti has been a pioneering force in the
telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti Airtel Limited, a
group company, is one of Indias leading private sector providers of telecommunications
services with an aggregate of 44.67 million customers as of end of June 2007 spanning
mobile, fixed line, broadband and enterprise services. Bharti Airtel was recently ranked
24

amongst the best performing companies in the world in the Business Week IT 100 list
2007. Bharti Teletech is the countrys largest manufacturer and exporter of telephone
terminals. Bharti has a joint venture with FFF India Ltd. Field Fresh Foods Pvt. Ltd
- for global distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables. Bharti also has a joint venture Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd. - with AXA, world leader in financial
protection and wealth management. Bharti has recently forayed into the retail business
under a company called Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd.

After signing the deal, Bharti and Wal-Mart Stores Inc have also
unveiled the initial retail plans for their joint venture

Bharti - Wal-Mart to have equal stake in the company.

Bharti group will lead and manage the front end operations. Wal-Mart will power
the logistics and back end operations.

Bharti has committed an immediate investment of $100 Million

Bharti-Wal-Mart venture will start hiring for retail operations this week.

First store to be opened on 15th of August 2007.

Bharti-Wal-Mart to have Hyper marts and Neighbourhood stores [Just like the
Reliance group]

Bharti will very soon engage in talks with major real estate developers across
India for store space.

Wal-mart to get 3% royalty for their brand name [Unconfirmed]

25

ONLINE SHOPPING WEBSITES

Some important online shopping websites.
www.fabmart.com
www.skumars.com
www.indiagifts.com
www.indiastores.com
www.indbazaar.com
www.indiashop.com
www.malamall.com
www.chennaibazaar.com
www.futurebazaar.com
www.indianpurchase.com
www.buy.com
www.ebay.com
www.americangreetings.com
www.amazon.com
www.mypoints.com
www.egreetings.com
www.coolsavings.com
www.bargainsbazaar.com
www.rediffshopping.com

26

Shopping.Rediff.com ReviewCORPORATE PROFILE

Rediff.com (NASDAQ: REDF) is one of the premier worldwide online providers of
news,

information,

communication,

entertainment

and

shopping

services.

Rediff.com provides a platform for Indians worldwide to connect with one another
online. Rediff.com is committed to offering a personalized and a secure surfing and
shopping environment
Rediff.com additionally offers the Indian American community one of the oldest and
largest Indian weekly newspapers, India Abroad
Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New
Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and New York, USA.

Mission In The Internet Space:To provide world-class online consumer service offerings to Indians worldwide.

PRODUCT AND SERVICE OFFERINGS

INDIA ONLINE BUSINESS:The Rediff.com India website consists of information, communication and content
services, free and paid community features and products, including e-commerce and
mobile services.

Information and Content:Information and content channels currently include news, business, movies,
cricket/sports and several other topics of interest.
Rediff.com additionally offers the Indian American community one of the oldest and
largest Indian weekly newspapers, India Abroad.
Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New
Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and New York, USA.
News content includes:
Current affairs and breaking news: Rediff provides breaking news focused on
events of interest to Indians, including feature news stories, interviews and online
chats with leading Indian personalities.

27

 Business: This channel covers the happenings of corporate India, stock market
quotes and analysis, regular columns and feature stories, as well as personal
portfolio tracker.
Movies and Entertainment: For latest news and trends from Bollywood and
Hollywood. Box office information, regular columns, feature stories, interviews
with movie personalities, movie reviews and slide shows.
Sports and Cricket: Provides coverage of Indian and global sporting news.
There is in-depth coverage of cricket news from India and around the globe, with
statistics, scores and schedules, regular columns, feature stories and interviews.
Community Features and Products- A key focus for Rediff.com is using worldclass technology to drive community building. Through a single login facility,
Rediff.com provides a combination of free and paid community features and
products to consumers and businesses. These include e-mail, instant messaging,
Search, Chat, Blogs, Message Boards, Social Networking, Mobile services,
online shopping and auctions.
Rediffmail: Rediffmail is the flagship product of Rediff.com. It is one of the
most popular web email service used by Indians worldwide. Rediffmail offers
users a complete outlook desktop experience with features like unlimited storage,
instant mail preview, quick attachments of up to 10 MB, Drag & Drop facility to
manage your folders and auto address completion. It supports eleven Indian
languages and also comes with the integrated web-messenger allowing all
Rediffmail users to chat in real-time with all their Rediff (Instant Messenger)
users within their inbox.
Job Search is vertical search product which allows users to search for jobs across
various job sites in India under several categories and locations in India.
Rediff Product Search allows users to compare products across brands, features,
price points, user ratings and check availability of the products in their city at
local stores with complete contact details. The service covers more than 16
product categories under electronics and also covers Cars and Bikes as new
categories.

28

E-commerce
Rediff Shopping is an online marketplace where users can purchase products and
services from various merchants. Users can avail of a variety of payment options
such as Cash on delivery (COD), Internet banking, credit card and cheques.
Rediff Auctions is an e-commerce platform, which enables sellers to sell their
products at dynamic prices based on supply and demand. This gives buyers a chance
to buy their desired products at competitive prices.
Rediff Books is one of the biggest online book stores offering users the biggest
catalogue of books. Users can choose from over 2 million books or search for books
from over 4000 authors.

FutureBazaar.comAbout the Future Group

Future Group, led by its founder and Group CEO, Mr. Kishore Biyani, is one of
Indias leading business houses with multiple businesses spanning across the
consumption space. While retail forms the core business activity of Future Group, group
subsidiaries are present in consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and
entertainment, brand development, retail real estate development, retail media and
logistics.
Led by its flagship enterprise, Pantaloon Retail, the group operates over 11 million
square feet of retail space in over 63 cities and towns and 65 rural locations across India.
Pantaloon Retail was awarded the International Retailer of the Year - 2007, by the USbased National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade association and the the
Emerging Market Retailer of the Year 2007 at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona.
Future Group believes in developing strong insights on Indian consumers and
building businesses based on Indian ideas, as espoused in the groups core value of
'Indianness'. The group's corporate credo is, 'Rewrite rules, Retain values'.
FutureBazaar.com is owned and operated by Future Bazaar India Ltd. (FBIL).
FBIL is a part of the Future Group, Indias largest retail conglomerate. FBIL is the ecommerce arm of the Future Group. The company was incorporated in 2006 and began
business in 2007.
29

As part of Indias largest retail chain, we enjoy the benefits of buying in bulk for the
entire group. Our aim is to get you a great range of products at great prices.
Core Competency of the businesswhat makes us different from others!
A choice of more than 20,000 products
Delivery across more than 1500 cities and towns in India covering around
16,000 pin codes
Fast deliveries tie ups with world leaders in logistics & transportation
services
A dedicated Customer Care helpline for any queries
Always offering Manufacturers guarantee as opposed to Sellers guarantee,
which most of the other online shopping sites offer
Aggressive Prices FutureBazaar.com has the benefit of leveraging the
sourcing network of the Future Groups retail chains. This sourcing network
straddles a wide range of product requirements, thus being able to offer us
economies of scale thereby - unbelievable prices to its customers
Unmatched Selection of Products and Brands We have more than 20,000
products which create the flexibility to offer a large range of choices to
customers. We also have partnerships with most of the brands available in the
country, which allows us to get the latest in the range to our customers. We
have been able to create some major popularity ripples with our corporate
clients with products like mobiles, electronics, laptops, MP3 players, T-shirts,
Gift Vouchers and so on.
Seamless end-to-end Logistics Solution We pride ourselves in having built
an end-to-end logistics solution; right from stocking, dispatching, and
delivery confirmation upto post-sales support. Our back-end infrastructure
enables us to service around 15000 pin codes across India.

30

The FutureBazaar.com PromiseManufacturers warranties on all products

FutureBazaar sells only original products from authorized dealers; so all applicable
products carry the original manufacturers warranty. Customers can visit any of the
authorized service centers of the manufacturer if required. The invoice accompanying the
product is your warranty document, so please preserve it.

Guaranteed Delivery:Futurebazaar guarantees to deliver the exact product you selected, without defects. In
case you have received a different product, or if the product was damaged in transit,
please let us know and and we will ensure that we replace the product or ensure that your
money

is

refunded.

Please note that delivery times vary according to products. 95% of our deliveries take
place within the committed time period. For the occasional delays, we will contact you
and update you about the status.

Secure Payments:We are committed to ensuring that no payment misuse happens, so we work with banks
and payment gateways to ensure that your information is protected. Payments are
protected both by us and by the policies of your bank, and the chances of fraud in these
channels are actually very low. We also have a Risk Management team that scrutinises all
payments to ensure that there are no fraudulent transactions. Our office address is also
available for any one who wishes to contact us in person. Moreover, being part of Indias
largest retail company with a presence all over India, we are omnipresent!

Prompt Customer Support

Our Customer Care is manned by dedicated personnel, who can take decisions and
resolve your problems. They are empowered to solve your problems and are aware of the
processes and means to handle them. In case they cannot solve the problem at their end,
they will trigger the required action on your behalf or advise you the best possible
method to a successful fulfillment of all your queries/issues. Be assured that when you
call us, your call is being taken seriously.
31

Amazon.com
Founded -1994
Founder- Jeffery p.Bezos (CEO)
Headquarter USA
Area served-Worldwide
Industry-Retail (Amazon.com, A9.com)
Advertising Web banners and video
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an American electronic commerce (ecommerce) company in Seattle, Washington. It is America's largest online retailer, with
nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and launched it online in 1995. It
started as an on-line bookstore but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music
CDs and MP3s, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food,
toys, etc.
Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, China, and Japan. It also provides international shipping to certain
countries for some of its products. On January 15, 2009, a survey published by Verdict
Research found that Amazon was the UK's favorite music and video retailer, and came
third in overall retail rankings.
Amazon was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimization
framework", his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush.
While company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove
from New York to Seattle.
The company began as an online bookstore named "Cadabra.com", a name quickly
abandoned for sounding like "cadaver"; while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores
and mail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore could
32

offer more. Bezos renamed the company "Amazon" after the world's biggest river. Since
2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing customer
satisfaction (as it forms a smile) and the goal to have every product in the alphabet.
Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four
to five years; the strategy was effective. Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s while
other Internet companies grew blindingly fast. Amazon's "slow" growth provoked
stockholder complaints: that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough.
When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business.
The company remains profitable: 2003 net income was $35.3 million, $588.50 million in
2004, $359
Amazon has announced plans to move its headquarters to the South Lake Union
neighborhood of Seattle beginning in mid-2010, with full occupancy by 2011. This move
will consolidate all Seattle employees onto the new 11-building campus.

Product lines:Amazon has steadily branched into retail sales of music CDs, videotapes and DVDs,
software, consumer electronics, kitchen items, tools, lawn and garden items, toys &
games, baby products, apparel, sporting goods, gourmet food, jewelry, watches, health
and personal-care items, beauty products, musical instruments, clothing, industrial &
scientific supplies, groceries, and more.
The company launched Amazon.com Auctions, its own Web auctions service, in March
1999. However it failed to chip away at industry pioneer eBay's juggernaut growth.
Amazon Auctions was followed by the launch of a fixed-price marketplace business
called zShops in September 1999, and a failed Sotheby's/Amazon partnership called
sothebys.amazon.com in November.
The list of products registered for coverage by the trademark grew to include items such
as paints, carpets, wallpaper, hair accessories, clothing, footwear, headgear, cleaning
products, and jewelry

33

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

If you know where you are going, any road will take you there
Before the start of any research, it is very necessary to define the objective of the study
i.e. what we are going to study.

To check the consumer awareness & perception of online shopping in India.

Impact of advertising on online shopping.

To study sales promotional techniques to boast online shopping in India.

To find out influence of online advertising on the buying behaviour of the

customer.

Satisfaction level at various components of online shopping.

34

35

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing research covers the field of problems, techniques, and other aspects of
marketing and related decision-making and their implementation. It studies an
economic unit in respect of its various constituents such as consumers, buyers, and
sellers. It studies their response pattern towards prize, promotion, purchasing power,
and loyalty towards specific brands and similar other marketing activities. It also tries
to determine the contribution of other relevant factors such as habits, consumers, and
preference to decision making.
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design adopted for this study is exploratory research design.

Exploratory research includes survey and fact finding enquiries of different kinds.

Research design is used to describe the state of affairs, as it exists at present.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

A structured design questionnaire is used for surveying the consumers.

Both open ended and close ended questions are included.

Data Sources

Both Secondary and Primary Sources of data will be used.

The major type of information used is primary data. This is done thru primary
survey. The literature review is a secondary data type. The sources include books,
periodicals, websites, printed literature etc.

SAMPLE SIZE

A sample of 100 people will be taken for the survey. Business persons,
Professionals, Non-professional and Retired persons are included.

Further these are only the people based on whom analysis and interpretation is
done.
36

SAMPLING METHOD
Random sampling method will be chosen to conduct the survey in which the
samples are selected randomly.

Methodology:

The study will be conducted by Personal Interview with the customers who

have interest in shopping.

Observing & studying the behavior of the customers & their demand

towards the different products.

The study on the customer satisfaction level that can be obtained through
well formatted & designed questionnaire that is mentioned in the
subsequent chapter.

Process of collection & analysis of Data:

After collecting the entire filled questionnaire the collected data will be transferred to a
worksheet, the data related to set objectives will then be classified and the findings will
be graphically represented.

Sample unit- Ratlam City

37

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1.

How often you go for shopping

Response

No. of respondent

Daily

Once a week

25

Once a month

55

Fortnightly

Quarterly

INTERPRETATION- Of the consumers approached, 100 people agreed to fill in the

questionnaire and this specific question. This question is aimed at understanding how
frequently consumers visit shops and buy their products or avail of their services. The
frequency points laid before the respondent have been the result of observation and
interview. By analysing the responses to this question, we, the researchers, as well as
companies, can identify the number of times a customer is likely to shop in a months
time.
.
38

2.

How do you make a purchase?

Response
Online
Offline

No. of respondent
45
55

INTERPRETATIONOf the consumers approached, 100 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at analyzing the preferences of consumers
purchase behaviour.The survey indicate that most of respondent make the purchase
through offline.

39

3.

Rate of preference towards online shopping

Response
Very interested
Interested
Average
Least interested
Not interested

No. of Respondent
5
15
25
10
45

INTERPRETATIONOf the consumers approached, 100 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at analyzing the preferences of consumers
purchase behaviour. The survey indicates that the maximum respondent were not
interested in online shopping. The reason behind is that they believe in the offline
shopping. In online shopping, only those were interested who have no time for offline
purchase.

40

4.

From where you get to know about online shopping

Response
Friends
Internet
Magazines
Advertisement
Newspaper
Online Search

No. of respondent
20
10
5
15
0
5

INTERPRETATIONThe survey depicts that the consumers are mostly quality and brand conscious. The
promotional advertisements also affect there buying behaviour. Most of the respondents
were get to know about online shopping from Friends, internet and advertisement of the
online portals.

5.

Do you have own credit card

41

Response

No. of Respondent

Yes

55

No

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, 55 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed to know about consumer have own credit card.
Most of the people which I have surveyed who were purchasing the goods through
online have their own credit card.

42

6.

Why do you prefer online shopping

Response
Convenient
Time saving
Less costly
Security
Any other

No. of respondent
7
30
4
4
0

INTERPRETATIONOut of 45 respondents, most of the respondent said that the big advantage of online
shopping is time saving process and providing the variety of the products.

43

7.

Are you aware about online shopping portals

Response
Yes
No

No. of respondent
45
0

INTERPRETATIONThis question is aimed at analyzing the awareness of consumers among the different
online shopping portals. The highest number of responses has been attributed to online
shopping portals. Online shopping attracts people of many income groups, and offers
products that appeal to a wide array of consumers.

44

8.

Awareness of various online Portals

Response
Rediffshopping.com
Amazon.com
Futurebazaar.com
eBay.com
Malamaal.com
Wal-mart
Others

No. of respondent
17
17
0
6
0
0
5

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, only 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at analyzing the preferences of consumers
among the different online shopping portals. The highest number of responses has been
attributed to Rediffshopping.com/Amazon.com/eBay.com. They attract people of many
income groups, and offers products that appeal to a wide array of consumers.

45

9.

What type of products you purchase through online shopping

Response
Electronics goods
Gifts
Home goods
Cosmetics
Clothes and accessories
Others

No. of respondent
19
4
6
0
0
16

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, only 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at identifying the products consumers shop
online. The high number of responses indicate that a large number of consumers visit
online portal for Electronics goods/Home goods/gifts.

46

10.

Do you think that online shopping is secure in terms of online payment

Response
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

No. of respondent
0
20
15
10
0

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at understanding the satisfaction level of the
consumers in terms of online payment. This helps to understand the current consumer
perception of the security of online payment identified and the corresponding satisfaction
levels. There are also quite a few respondents who were strongly satisfied with the
security of online payment.

47

11.

Rate the payment preference

Response
Debit Card
Credit card
Cash on Delivery
Cheque
SMS Billing
Postal money order

No. of respondent
10
8
20
7
0
0

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at understanding the payment preference of the
consumer in online shopping. This indicates that although most consumers were satisfied
with the delivery of the product.

48

12.

Are the products purchases through online shopping as per the methodology
of What you see is what you get (WYSWYG)?
Response
Yes
No
Cant Say

No. of Respondents
23
22
0

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at understanding what elements attract the
consumer the most. The preference points laid before the respondent have been the result
of observation and interview. By analysing the responses to this question some were said
satisfied and vice versa with the online purchase methodology What you see is what you
get (WYSWYG)?

49

13. How do you rate the after sale support of the shopping portals from whom
you purchase the product.
Response
Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Extremely bad

No. of respondent
0
10
23
7
5

Interpretation
Of the consumers approached, 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at understanding, after sale support of shopping
portals to the consumer the most. So most of the consumer were satisfied with the after
sale support of the various shopping portals but some were not satisfied with after sale
support.

50

14.

Are you satisfied with mode of payment for online shopping

Response

Yes
No
Cant say

No. of respondent
35
7
3

INTERPRETATION: Out of the different people I have surveyed most of the respondents were of the opinion
that they were satisfied with mode of online shopping payment. And some respondent
were said that they were not satisfied and some were have no opinion.

51

15.

Rate the following portals of online shopping as per the performance

Response
Highly satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Highly dissatisfied

No. of respondent
0
32
10
3
0

INTERPRETATION:Of the consumers approached, 45 people agreed to fill in the questionnaire and this
specific question. This question is aimed at analyzing the preferences of consumers
purchase behaviour towards the performance of shopping portals. Out of 45 consumers
32 respondents were satisfied with the performance of online shopping portals and 3
percent were dissatisfied with online shopping portals performance.

52

16.

Do you recommend to your friends for online shopping

Response

No. of respondent

Yes
No

27
18

INTERPRETATION:Out of 45 respondent, most of respondent said that they would be recommended other to
go for online shopping because online shopping is the time saving process and some
respondent said that they would not be recommended other to go for online shopping .

53

FINDINGS
In the surveys, interviews and study conducted above, we came across many factors that
influence the consumers perception of a store and their subsequent shopping and buying
decisions. Here, we present the findings gathered and the suggestions we offer to
companies based on the data gathered and analyzed.
Respondents were asked to choose among five age group categories, viz., 18-30, 30-45,
45-60, and above 60 years. The age groups were identified as key factors impacting
shopping and purchase decisions of consumers

The highest responses have been attributed to once a month shopping. It can be
deduced that consumers who shop only once a month look to buy groceries and
other essentials to last them a month.

Most of the respondents that I have been surveyed were spend on shopping in
between 1000 to 6000.

The highest number of responses has been attributed to offline purchase.

The survey indicates that the maximum respondent were not interested in online
shopping. The reason behind is that they believe in the offline shopping. In online
shopping, only 45 consumers were interested because they have no time for
offline purchase.

Most of the respondents were get to know about online shopping from Friends,
internet and advertisement of the online portals.

All of the people which I have surveyed who were purchasing the goods through
online have their own credit card.

Most of the respondent said that the big advantage of online shopping is time
saving process and providing the variety of the products.

The highest number of responses has been attributed to online shopping portals.

The

highest

number

of

response

has

been

attributed

to

rediffshopping.com/Amazon.com/eBay.com. They attract people of many income

groups, and offers products that appeal to a wide array of consumers.

The high number of responses indicate that a large number of consumers visit
online portal for Electronics goods/Home goods/gifts.

54

There are also quite a few respondents who were strongly satisfied with the
security of online payment.

Most of the respondent who make the purchase through online, they were prefer
to make the payment on the delivery of the product.

Most of the consumer were satisfied with the after sale support of the various
shopping portals but some were not satisfied with after sale support.

Most the people who make the purchase through online were satisfied with the
mode of payment.

Online shopping is the time saving process so most of the respondent said that
they would be recommended other to go for online shopping.

As per the demographic distribution of sample size used in my research project I

h have to come a conclusion that the awareness of online shopping is mostly falls
in age group of 18-35 yrs which affects the people perception towards the online
shopping is same as the dependent factor of the respondent.

55

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

And necessary data to complete the project may not gather in proper manner. The
limitations which we observe were as follows:
With respect to actual population the sample size was too small. This might be
effect the final result.

Since the responses were only from some part of Jalandhar, the report cannot be
generalized for whole Jalandhar.

Respondents may have given bias information.

The time limit for the research was small to collect adequate information for
inference for the consumer buying behavior.

In the fast changing world the data collected soon become historic and research
findings based on them irrelevant.

Some customers problems dont lead to valid research conclusion.

56

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

Providing quality service at affordable prices and having different types of

products for different income customers is another advantage.

Online portals have endorsed very famous personalities which has attracted a lot
of customers. This has resulted in increase of sale and the outdoor advertising
techniques have also helped the online portals.

Considering the fact that there are a lot middle class families in India, online
portals has had a huge impact on the middle class section of India, the prices,
quality and sales strategy has helped in getting the middle income groups getting
attracted towards online shopping.

Yet another concern is about online security. If you are shopping online, you have
to take additional care about your credit cards so that to protect from
unauthorized usage. So various online shopping portals has to provide the
security on payment procedure.

Online shopping lacks the real world shopping experience that we get shopping
with relatives and friends offline. Even though online shopping has several
disadvantages, the advantages outnumber the disadvantages and thus more and
more people started buying online.

Delay in delivery and lower quality leads to dissatisfaction of customers. Due to

factors mentioned above online shoppers are not always satisfied, this is not a
positive for the shopping portals.

People are loyal towards brand as they are highly satisfied with the quality and
they have an assurance from the brand for their continued supply of quality
products.

57

Conclusion
Online shopping is a different experience and you can make the shopping creative over
the internet as you get used to it. There can be lot of apprehensions about online
shopping when you get in to it for the first time. As you experience more and more of it
those apprehensions get disappeared slowly. Remember that if you stick to the basics,
online shopping become more enjoyable and easier than real-world shopping.
In the conclusion part of my project, all people which I have surveyed were interested in
shopping but, most of the people were having preference to shop offline and very few
were interested to go online for shopping.
My survey indicates that the maximum consumer make the purchase offline because of
the lack of awareness towards online shopping and shopping portals. On the basis of
survey the major drawback of the online shopping is lack of the security in the shopping
payment through credit/Debit card. Most of the people preferred online shopping
because it is a time saving process.
WYSWYG (what you see is what you get)approach is not being followed whole
heartedly by online web portal as most of the people opined that the product purchase
through online portals differs significantly from its original form .The images of the
product are mostly inflated which affects the perception of consumers towards online
shopping.
.

58

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
INOVATION IN BANKING & INSURANCE
FINANCIAL MARKET & SERVICES
INDIAN BANKING INDUSTRIES
INDIAN BANKING
TIMES OF INDIA NEWS PAPER (1st OCT 2010)

WEBSITE
WWW.GOOGLESERCH.COM
WWW.YAHOO.COM
WWW.RBI.ORG
WWW.WIKIPEDIA .COM
WWW.INFOSEE.COM
WWW.INDIANMBA.COM
WWW.INDINBANKING.ORG

59

Questionnaire
Name :..Age :.. Service/ Business:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

How often you go for shopping

Daily

__________

Once a week

__________

Once a month

__________

Fortnightly

__________

Quarterly

__________

How do you make a purchase?

Online

__________

Offline

__________

Rate of preference towards online shopping

Very interested

__________

Interested

__________

Average

__________

Least interested

__________

Not interested

__________

From where you get to know about online shopping

Friends

__________

Internet

__________

Magazines

__________

Advertisement

__________

Newspaper

__________

Online Search

__________

Do you have own credit card

Yes

__________

No

__________

Why do you prefer online shopping

Convenient

__________

Time saving

__________
60

7.

Less costly

__________

Security

__________

Any other

__________

Are you aware about online shopping portals

Yes

__________

No

__________

8.

Awareness of various online Portals

Rediffshopping.com
__________
Amazon.com
__________
Futurebazaar.com __________
eBay.com
__________
Malamaal.com
__________
Wal-mart
__________
Others
__________

9.

What type of products you purchase through online shopping

11.

Rate the payment preference

Electronics goods __________

Gifts
__________
Home goods
__________
Cosmetics
__________
Clothes and accessories __________
Others
__________
10.
Do you think that online shopping is secure in terms of
online payment
Strongly Agree
__________
Agree
__________
Neutral
__________
Disagree
__________
Strongly disagree __________

12.

Debit Card
__________
Credit card
__________
Cash on Delivery __________
Cheque
__________
SMS Billing
__________
Postal money order __________
Are the products purchases through online shopping as

per the methodology of What

(WYSWYG)?
Yes
No
Cant Say
13.
How do you rate

you see is what you get

__________
__________
__________
the after sale support of the shopping

portals from whom you purchase the product.

Excellent
__________
Good
__________
Average
__________

61

Bad
Extremely bad

14.

15.

__________
__________

Are you satisfied with mode of payment for online shopping

Yes
__________
No

__________

Cant say

__________

Rate the following portals of online shopping as per the

performance
Highly satisfied
__________
Satisfied
__________
Neutral
__________
Dissatisfied
__________
Highly dissatisfied __________
16.
Do you recommend to your friends for online shopping
Yes
__________
No
__________

62