A STUDY ON CONSUMERS BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS

ONLINE SHOPPING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TIRUPUR

CHAPTER- I
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY

INTRODUCTION
E-marketing is also referred to as Internet marketing (i-marketing), online
marketing or online shopping. Online shopping is defined as the marketing of
products and services over the Internet. It is also known as web marketing,
digital marketing, and online marketing, Internet advertising or e-marketing.
The Internet as a medium has allowed firms and business to make themselves
more visible to customers by disseminating information at lower costs and
reaching global audiences.
Online shopping refers to the use of the Internet and digital media
capabilities to help sell your products or services. These digital technologies are
a valuable addition to traditional marketing approaches regardless of the size
and type of your business. As with conventional marketing, e-marketing is
creating a strategy that helps businesses deliver the right messages and
product/services to the right audience. It consists of all activities and processes
with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers. What
has changed is its wider scope and options compared to conventional marketing
methods.
Online shopping is deemed to be broad in scope, because it not only
refers to marketing and promotions over the Internet, but also includes
marketing done via e-mail and wireless media. E-marketing also embraces the

management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship

management and several other business management functions.
Online shopping joins creative and technical aspects of the Internet,
including: design, development, advertising and sales. It includes the use of a
website in combination with online promotional techniques such as search
engine marketing, social medial marketing, interactive online ads, online
directories, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, viral marketing and so on.
The digital technologies used as delivery and communication mediums within
the scope of e-marketing include: Internet media such as websites and e-mail.
Digital media such as wireless, mobile, cable and satellite.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

Primary objective:
To study on consumers buying behaviour towards
online shopping.
Secondary objective:
To ascertain the level of satisfaction over the products in online.
To identify various factors influencing the buying decision of
consumer.
To find out the problems faced by the consumers in online shopping.
To make the suitable suggestion to overcome the problems.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The main scope of the study is to know the online

buying behavior of consumers in tirupur. The study
is convenience one.
This study enables to find out the consumers
buying behavior towards online shoppings loyalty,
expectation, attitude and perception. The study
deals

with

consumers

satisfaction

and

the

websites which influences them the most. It aims to

communicate everything about the company to its
target audience. Information may over all areas of
a business including products and services. It aims
to conduct researches about potential and existing
customers. It aims to sell products and services on
the internet.
Today, shopping

online

has

become

an

ever

increasing activity for a majority of consumers

creating an even greater need for secure servers.
The

advancement

of

technology

and

easy

navigability are the sum of the main factors

because of which online shopping has active great
height in WWW.

This study reveals product quality, mode of

payments, types of products, websites preferred by
consumers, satisfaction about products, buying
patterns, offers and complaints.
Findings and suggestion of the survey will help the
marketers to formulate marketing strategy in order

to satisfy the consumers needs in best way

towards online.

1.4 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In online shopping the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before

purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud on the part of the merchant than
in a physical store. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit
cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase.
Present days youth are attracted by the online shopping to identify
various websites to investigation the different kinds of products. Youth are very
interested to collect the fashionable products and also clothing. It may cause the
risk in purchasing the goods.
In depth of this study is to know the online buying behavior in Tirupur
city. This study also enables why the consumer prefers the online shopping for
the present situation.

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

However, the present study is subject to the following limitations.
The study is confined to Tirupur town. The results of
the study are applicable to this town only. Therefore, it
may not be applicable to other area having different
socio-economic conditions.

The researcher finds it

difficult

in

collecting

information because most of the consumers were

reluctant

to

give

information

and

also

careless

answers. So all the findings and observation made in

this study were based on respondents answer.
Time constraint is the major limit of this study. Due to
time constraint only 200 respondents are taken for this
study.
The sample size chosen of the study is confined only
to a particular area hence this results are reliable only
to that place.
The study is based on the present purchase behaviour
subject to frequent changes because of the changes in
technological development and style of living.

1.6 METHODOLOGY
Research is the process at systematic and in-depth study or search for any
particular topic, subject or area investigation, backed by collection, competition,
presentation and interpretation at relevant details or data. It is a careful search or
inquiry into any subject matter is useful for further application utilization.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is the way to systematically solve the
research problem. Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also
logic behind the methods used in the context of a research study and it explains
why a particular method has been used in the preference of the other methods.
This is a descriptive research study.
SAMPLE DESIGN
A Sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given
population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would
adopt in selection items for the sample.
SAMPLE SIZE
The size of the sample is 200.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Simple random sampling method is used to collect the data.
SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
1. Primary Data
2. Secondary Data

1. PRIMARY DATA
For this research study data was collected from various consumers in
Tirupur. Data collection was carried out using survey method guided by
questionnaire as fresh for the first time and thus happens to be original in
character.
2. SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data was collected through
Books
Websites and
Other manuals sources

STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES
The Primary Data and Secondary Data collected was analyzed with the
help of following techniques
Simple Percentage Analysis
Point analysis
Rank analysis
Chi-Square Test

1.7 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

The following null hypothesis has been framed to assess the association
between the variable.
1. There is no relationship between educational qualification
and sources of information about online shopping
2. There is no relationship between age of the respondents
and the types of products in online shopping
3. There is no relationship between buying pattern and the
websites preferred in online shopping

1.8 CHAPTER SCHEME

Chapter I
It deals with introduction to the study, objectives, scope, limitations of the
study, statement of the problem, research methodology and chapter scheme.
Chapter II
It deals with the review of literature to the study.
Chapter III
This chapter deals about consumers buying behavior towards online
shopping.
Chapter IV
It reveals analysis and interpretation.
Chapter V
It deals with the findings and suggestions.

Chapter-II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1. Online shopping features can be either consumers perceptions of functional
and utilitarian dimensions, like ease of use and usefulness, or their
perceptions of emotional and hedonic dimensions like enjoyment
(Menon and Kahn, 2002; Childers et al., 2001; Mathwick et al., 2001).
2. Online Shopping Behavior - Identifying pre-purchase intentions of
consumers is the key to understand why they ultimately do or do not shop from
the Web market. One stream of research under online consumer behavior
consists of studies that handle the variables influencing these intentions. A
compilation of some of the determinants researchers have examined are:
transaction security, vendor quality, price considerations, information and
service quality, system quality, privacy and security risks, trust, shopping
enjoyment, valence of online shopping experience, and perceived product
quality.
(Liao and Cheung, 2001; Saeed et al., 2003; Miyazaki and Fernandez,
2001; Chen and Dubinsky, 2003).
3. Gray(2010) a study on the impact of on line shopping Internet
marketing is business imperative because the internet is an irrevocable and
unstoppable trend. Even if you have a traditionalbrick-and-mortar business,
youll lose valuable customers without an online presence. People routinely
search for goods and services with their computers in lieu of the yellow pages.
4. Arash mansoorian(2010) A customer perceived E-service quality in on
line shopping The advent of the internet and e-commerce has brought a

new way of marketing and selling many products. The purpose of this
thesis is to gain a better understanding of the e-service quality dimensions
that affect the customer perceived e-service quality in online shopping. On
the basis of a detailed literature review, a frame of reference was first
developed.
5. Early e-shoppers were largely bargain hunters, expecting the lowest prices
as a reward for their risk taking. Amazon and other early e-businesses used
the lure of cheaper prices to attract the shoppers online. Things have now
moved on and, according to the Goldfish e-Tail Price Index, online prices
rose by 4 percent in the year up to February 2002
(Goldfish.com, 2002). (Jayawardhena et al., 2011)
6. Frank J (2011) reveals a case study on online shopping. His study reveals
through online purchase can easily compare goods from multiple brands;
this is where online shopping makes a difference. This comparison of
product of different retailers at same time for price and quality is good idea
and provides great benefit, which just isnt possible while purchasing with
the nearby shops. This helps you to get the best quality as well as
reasonable price from the comfort in just a second. This is how online
shopping is helping people in making right choices.
7. Uncertainties about products and shopping processes, trustworthiness of the
online seller, or the convenience and economic utility they wish to derive
from electronic shopping determine the costs versus the benefits of this
environment for consumers (Teo et al., 2012). Further studies aiming to
complete the full set of factors influencing consumers prepurchase
intentions are still much awaited.
8. Simon Rigby (2013), Head of Direct Channels at Comet, says, Our
challenge is to meet the needs of the greatest number of shoppers. By
undertaking research on a regular basis, we learn more about our

customers shopping needs and styles. This helps us to deliver all the
necessary reassurances, product ranges and services.
9. The Online Purchasing Process - Many studies frequently mention that
there is a vast amount of window shopping taking place online but the
number or the rate of surfers who turn into purchasers or regular buyers are
very low (Mayer, 2002; Betts, 2001; Oliver, 1999).

10. Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty in the Online Market - Investing in

consumer satisfaction from the online experience and creating brand or site
loyalty are critically important for companies that want to have a long run
presence on the Web. There are two approaches taken to induce loyalty into
consumers in an online context. One approach is to focus on concrete
factors. For example, creating a convenient and well-designed online store
and offering secure transactions are the keystones of satisfying e-consumers
(Szymanski and Hise, 2000). However, all satisfied consumers do not
become loyal.
11. Personalization attempts and increasing the social value of online
experiences are very important to make consumers build strong brand
relationships in the cyber world. Although Nunes and Kambil (2001)
argue the opposite, some studies find that personalized Web sites and
customer communities are highly influential on the consumer brand
relationship especially for experienced Internet consumers (Thorbjornsen,
2002). Besides, businesses that can create trust and increase the perceived
value of online shopping can turn their satisfied consumers into loyal ones
in the e-marketing environment, too (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003).
12. The online environment accommodates so many opportunities for creating
loyalty that even offline offerings can be effectively facilitated with
supporting after sale services provided through the Web
(van Riel et al., 2014).
13.According to Kotler (1974); Bitner (1992); Solomon, Suprenent,
Czepiel and Gutman (1985), assurance is important to capture
confidentiality, shopping security, complaint resolution, problem solving

and warranties. In an online shopping environment, consumers are not

associated with a physical location while they are only communicating with
a machine and not human being (Ekeldo and Sivakumar, 2004). With the
inability of consumers to feel and touch the product in an online context
because online retailing lacks the tangible features, it makes it difficult to
market those products on the internet. (Lindstrom, 2001).:
http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/marketing/onlineshopping.php#ixzz3CdCi56V5
14.E-commerce is the sweet spot but transforming into a real electronic
business is the critical and difficult part of all this excitement (Higgins,
1999).
15.Perceived risk is expected to be more distinct in online shopping compared
to offline shopping. Perceived risk in online shopping can be reduced in
terms of appropriate description the product. To reduce risk, product
information and its description should be clearly stated as well as the store
policies (Kwon, 2011).
16. Internet marketers must also create trust with online buyers so to lower the
buyer's perceived risk. There is an important moderating effect on trust with
the relationship between consumers' attitude toward Internet shopping and
intention to shop online (Monsuwe, Dellaeart and Ruyter,
2013).http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/marketing/onlineshopping.php#ixzz3CdDbBVMB
17.Online stores are stores that sells product but through a virtual medium;
offline shopping is also known as bricks and mortar that sells product and
has a face-to-face communication between the buyer and seller. Bricks and
mortar outlets are known as more tangible to the consumers because it has a
physical location which is a building that everyone can visit and have all
the
attached
sensory
cues
(Rajamma,
et
al.,
2007).
http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/marketing/onlineshopping.php#ixzz3CdEs8Olc
18. Accessibility and convenience. The possibility to shop anytime, from
anywhere is the most obvious and most commonly cited advantage of
online marketing, and was found to be the most important perceived

consumer benefit of internet shopping in empirical studies by Jarvenpaa

and Todd (1996-1997) and Kangis and Rankin (1996).
19. Ease of use of technology, effectiveness of online search, and user
satisfaction are antecedents of the perceived benefits of information search
(Kulviwat et al., 2004).
20.Online shopping features can be either consumers perceptions of
functional and utilitarian dimensions, like ease of use and usefulness,
or their perceptions of emotional and hedonic dimensions like enjoyment
(Menon and Kahn, 2002; Childers et al., 2001; Mathwick et al., 2001).

CHAPTER- III
CONSUMERS BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS ONLINE
SHOPPING
3.1 CONSUMER
In theory all business units consider consumer satisfaction, as their
objective. Consumer is said to be the King and the businessmen are supposed
to serve and satisfy him, but in reality modern days marketing concepts is based
on the philosophy of consumer orientation.
3.1.1SLOGAN
The slogans "the consumer is king" or "the consumer is god" or "the
consumer is always right" indicate the importance of consumers to businesses
although the last expression is sometimes used ironically.
3.1.2Consumers buying behavior
In order to understand consumers buying behaviour. This consumer behavior
starts from ultimate decision of the consumer. This decision involves whether
the consumer purchase the product or services and form whom to buy it has
always been invested finally in the hands of the consumer.
Consumer behaviour is defined as activities people
undertake when obtaining consumer and disposing of
product and services.
-james F.Engels, Roger D. Blackwell and Raulw miniard consumer behaviour,
8th Edition.
The consumers buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social, personal and
psychological factors.

3.1.3 Consumers buying behaviour towards online shopping

E-marketing is also referred to as Internet marketing (i-marketing),
online marketing or online shopping or web-marketing. Online shopping, or
online marketing, refers to advertising and marketing efforts that use the Web
and email to drive direct sales via electronic commerce, in addition to sales and
purchases leads from Web sites or emails. Online shopping and online
advertising efforts are typically used in conjunction with traditional types of
advertising like radio, television, newspapers and magazines.
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations
and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services,
experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have
on the consumer and society. The outcomes of the study suggest that assessment
of consumer buying behaviour can contribute to a better understanding of
consumers buying behaviour in respect of online shopping.
3.2 Online shopping
Online shopping is the art and science of selling products and/or services
over digital networks, such as the Internet and cellular phone networks. The art
of online shopping involves finding the right online marketing mix of strategies
that appeal to your target market and will actually translate into sales.
The science of online shopping is the research and analysis that goes into
both choosing the online marketing strategies to use and measuring the success
of those online marketing strategies.
Online shopping is using the Internet to do one or more of the following:
Communicate a company's message about itself, its products, or its
services.

 Conduct research as to the nature (demographics, preferences, and needs)

of existing and potential customers.

Sell goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.

3.2.1 Specialized Areas of online shopping:

Online shopping can also be broken down into more specialized areas
such as Web marketing, email marketing and social media marketing:
1) Web marketing includes e-commerce Web sites, affiliate marketing Web
sites, promotional or informative Web sites, online advertising on search
engines, and organic search engine results via search engine optimization
(SEO).
2) Email marketing involves both advertising and promotional marketing
efforts via e-mail messages to current and prospective customers.
3) Social media marketing involves both advertising and marketing (including
viral marketing) efforts via social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and Digg.
3.2.2 Benefits of online shopping:
Cost
The low costs of electronic communication reduce the cost of displaying online
advertisements compared to offline ads. Online advertising, and in particular
social media, provides a low-cost means for advertisers to engage with large
established communities.
Measurability
Online advertisers can collect data on their ads' effectiveness, such as the size of
the potential audience or actual audience response, how a visitor reached their

advertisement, whether the advertisement resulted in a sale and whether an ad

actually loaded within a visitor's view. This helps online advertisers improve
their ad campaigns over time.
Formatting
Advertisers have a wide variety of ways of presenting their promotional
messages, including the ability to convey images, video, audio, and links.
Unlike many offline ads, online ads also can be interactive. For example, some
ads let users input queries or let users follow the advertiser on social media.
Online ads can even incorporate games.
Targeting
Publishers can offer advertisers the ability to reach customizable and narrow
market segments for targeted advertising. Online advertising may use geotargeting to display relevant advertisements to the user's geography. Advertisers
can customize each individual ad to a particular user based on the user's
previous preferences. Advertisers can also track whether a visitor has already
seen a particular ad in order to reduce unwanted repetitious exposures and
provide adequate time gaps between exposures.
Coverage
Online advertising can reach nearly every global market, and online advertising
influences offline sales.
Speed
Once ad design is complete, online ads can be deployed immediately. The
delivery of online ads does not need to be linked to the publisher's publication
schedule. Furthermore, online advertisers can modify or replace ad copy more
rapidly than their offline counterparts.
3.2.3 Major products available for online shopping are;

 Books
Clothing & fashion Accessories
Jewellery & Watches
Health &Beauty
Foods &Drink
Consumer Electronics etc.
3.2.4 Retail goods

Retail goods include media - books, DVDs, music CDs, software,

videotapes, and software - apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty
products, gourmet food, groceries, health and personal-care items, industrial &
scientific supplies, kitchen items, jewellery and watches, lawn and garden items,
musical instruments, sporting goods, tools, and toys & games.
3.3 List of some Online Shopping Websites

Online Shopping Sites

3.3.1 Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational Internet corporation

headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It is globally known for its Web portal, search engine
Yahoo Search, and related services, including Yahoo Directory, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo
Finance, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy
sports and its social media website. It is one of the most popular sites in the United States.
Websites

www.yahooo.com
www.yahoo.shopping.com

Logos

Logo used from 19952013

Yahoo! is one of the Internet's leading search engines. It is also the largest Web portal,
providing links to thousands of other websites. These links include sites from the Yahoo! Directory
as well as news stories that are updated several times a day.
The word yahoo can be used in English in the same way you mention, that is, as a cheer. In fact,
some commercials for the company Yahoo! actually ends with someone yelling/singing
"Yahooooo!Besides being a portal and search engine, Yahoo! offers several other services as well.
Some of these services include: Yahoo! Finance - stock quotes and financial information
CLOTHING ELECTRONIC JEWELLERY BOOKS FASHIONABLE
PRODUCTS
AMAZON
EGOOGLE.
YAHOO.
USENET.
PRODUCTS
GOODS
GOODS &
Total
PREFERRED
.COM
BAY.COM
SHOPPIN
COM &
Total
BUYING
OTHERS
PATTERNSOURCES
SHOPPING
G
REDIFF.
S.No AGE
Particulars
Highly
Highlysatisfied
satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Highly
Dissatisfied
FRIENDS
&
1Below 20
Product
Websites
9 NEWSPAPER
12 TELEVISION
4 .COM
7 .COM
10 COM Total42
INTERNET
information
navigation
Search
online
but buy &
6
RELATIVES
2years
Product
Search
Educational
availability
efficiency
21Qualification
to stores
30 level
years
25
25
4
pay
at
16 13
10 10 8
13 12 22 7
46 8452
11
3 School
Product
Ease
of
Search
31 to 45
&selection
buy
yearsonline
but12
11
10
8
6
12
48
order
UG planning
17
12
15
58
14
45
11
4
3
0
26
4Above
Productabout 8
Offers
PGin cash
78 102
19
pay
on delivery
31 23
21 16
26 20
13
prices
product
4
5
18 46
Search,
buy
& pay online
74
13 5
9
11
6
OTHERS
5years
Product
TOTAL
TOTAL
TOTAL
54
24
48 58
60 58 20
40 42 24
50 52 44 26
200200
200
quality
demonstration