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CHAPTER-1
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Introduction:

Consumer perception applies the concept of sensory perception to marketing and advertising. Just

as sensory perception relates to how humans perceive and process sensory stimuli through their

five senses, consumer perception pertains to how individuals form opinions about companies and

the merchandise they offer through the purchases they make. Online shopping has become

increasingly popular, due to convenience (and often lower prices). Especially in the holiday

season, online shopping saves an individual the hassle of searching several stores and then

waiting in long queues to buy a particular item. is changing the way consumers shop and buy

goods and services, and has rapidly evolved into a global phenomenon. Many companies have

started using the Internet with the aim of cutting marketing costs, thereby reducing the price of

their products and services in order to stay ahead in highly competitive markets. Without doubt

the Internet has influenced our lives deeply in which it plays an indispensable and irreplaceable

role. Many experts are optimistic about the prospect of online business. In addition to the

tremendous potential of the E-commerce market, the Internet provides a unique opportunity for

companies to more efficiently reach existing and potential customers. Online shopping has its

drawbacks too, we cannot touch and feel the item, delay in shipping, shipping charges make

product expensive specially in low cost items, risk of losing your money, Stolen your card details

etc.Flipkart-4.94, eBay- 4.88, Tradus.in- 5.32, Shopclues.com- 5.39, Infibeam-5.69,

Homeshop18- 5.82, Yebhi-5.88 , Snapdeal-5.93, Pepperfry-5.99 ,Indiaplaza.com- 6.06Consumer

perception applies the concept of sensory perception to marketing and advertising. Just as sensory

perception relates to how humans perceive and process sensory stimuli through their five senses,

consumer perception pertains to how individuals form opinions about companies and the

merchandise they offer through the purchases they make. Merchants apply consumer perception

theory to determine how their customers perceive them. They also use consumer perception
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theory to develop marketing and advertising strategies intended to retain current customers -- and

attract new ones.Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce which

allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over theInternetusing aweb

browser. Alternative names are: e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store,

and virtual store. An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buyingproductsor services at

abricks-andmortarretailerorshopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C)

online shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the process is called

business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest of these online retailing corporations

areeBayandAmazon.com, both based in the United States.

The first World Wide Web server and browser, created byTim Berners-Leein 1990, opened for

commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994:

online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop byPizza Hut,Netscape's SSL v2 encryption

standard for secure data transfer, and Inters hop’s first online shopping system. Immediately after,

Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was also introduced in 1995.

study found that online shopping has very bright future and provided an experienceindication in

to the mind of consumers5. Hsu, hung snu (2012) found that consumer innovativeness, perceived

benefits and perceived risk is very important factor in online shopping and they also had a

positive impact in online shopping. Now a days 87 % people visited this sites and work in them.

people of mangolion agreed with online shopping is more convenient rather than offline shopping

and perceived risk negatively on online shopping Goswami et al, (2013) conducted a survey of

consumer in commercial towns in Assam. The study found that the customer of online shopping

is very satisfied rather than offline shopping. Online shopping provides better platform to every

consumers7. Gong wen et al, (2012) examines that whether online consumer in china and the US

share similar attitudes with regard to online shopping. The study found that the environment of

consumers is very convenient and more and more consumers are very attractive in investment8.
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Haq et al. (2012) in his study know the demographic profile of the customers and its impact on

online shopping. The study shows that the perception of online shoppers is independent of their

education, income and gender 9.Iqbal (2012) try to find out the perception in developing countries

toward online shopping. It was found that there is no significant relationship between perceived

risk and online shopping and developing countries are more participative in online

shopping10.India has Internet base of around 150 million as of August, 2013which is close to 10

per cent of Internet penetration in India throws a very big opportunity for online retailers to grow

and expand as future of Internet seems very bright. (Economictimes, 2014) The size of India's e-

commerce market in 2013 was around $13 billion, according to a joint report of KPMG and

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The online travel segment contributed over 70

percent of the total consumer e-commerce transactions last year. (DNA, 2014)Those who are

reluctant to shop online cited reasons like preference to research products and services online (30

per cent), finding delivery costs too high (20), fear of sharing personal financial information

online (25) and lack of trust on whether products would be delivered in good condition (15),

while 10 per cent do not have a credit or debit card. (Economictimes, 2014)The Nielsen Global

Online Shopping Report shows more than a quarter indicate they spend upwards of 11 percent of

their monthly shopping expenditure on online purchases.71 percent Indians trust

recommendations from family when making an online purchase decision, followed by

recommendations from friends at 64 percent and online product reviews at 29 percent

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CHAPTER-2
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LITERATURE OF REVIEW

Theory of Consumer Buying Behaviour Process:

Consumer decision process carries five stages, starting with Problem recognition and following

Information search, Evaluation of alternatives, Purchase decision and finally Post Purchase

behaviour. Problem recognition starts with the perception of need and moves towards information

search where consumer uses internal and external sources to analyse given information and use

that information in the next step of evaluation of alternatives. While evaluating alternatives one

assessing values of the products by giving weights. After evaluation of alternatives consumers

move towards purchase decision where they may encounter three possibilities, from whom to buy,

when to buy and do not buy. Once they have actually made the purchase now it comes to Post

purchase behaviour, whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase. (Kotler, 2012)

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM):

TAM is basically information system theory that covers how a user accepts and uses a

technology. The model deals with the acceptance of information technology. The external factors

that influence users to make a decision are- Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use
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(PEOU).The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his

or her job performance is Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) is the

degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort. The

main purpose of the TAM is to explain how a user accepts a specific technology. TAM has been

applied to measure the impact of perceived web-security, perceived privacy, perceived usefulness

and perceived ease of use on online transaction intentions (Teck, 2002). TAM was applied to

assess owners/managers intention to adopt web-based supply chain management (Choong, 2003).

(Chuttur, 2009) The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would

enhance his or her job performance is Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use

(PEOU) is the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from

effort.

The main purpose of the TAM is to explain how a user accepts a specific technology. TAM has

been applied to measure the impact of perceived web-security, perceived privacy,study found that

online shopping has very bright future and provided an experience indication in to the mind of

consumers5. Hsu, hung snu (2012) found that consumer innovativeness, perceived benefits and

perceived risk is very important factor in online shopping and they also had a positive impact in

online shopping. Now a days 87 % people visited this sites and work in them.The people of

mangolion agreed with online shopping is more convenient rather than offline shopping and

perceived risk negatively on online shopping6. Goswami et al, (2013) conducted a survey of

consumer in commercial towns in Assam. The study found that the customer of online shopping is

very satisfied rather than offline shopping. Online shopping provides better platform to every

consumers7. Gong wen et al, (2012) examines that whether online consumer in china and the US

share similar attitudes with regard to online shopping. The study found that the environment of

consumers is very convenient and more and more consumers are very attractive in investment8.

Haq et al. (2012) in his study know the demographic profile of the customers and its impact on
 P a g e | 13

online shopping. The study shows that the perception of online shoppers is independent of their

education, income and gender 9.Iqbal (2012) try to find out the perception in developing countries

toward online shopping. It was found that there is no significant relationship between perceived risk

and online shopping and developing countries are more participative in online shopping10online

shopping began in the first decade of 21st century. In last few years consumers are very interested

to do online shopping through various websites and mobile apps. They have mixed reactions

towards online shopping. Now in this era consumers prefer online shopping rather offline shopping.

There are many corporations like flipkart, Amazon, which provide online shopping and large

variety of products. There are so many issues in online shopping pertaining to convenience, privacy,

security, satisfaction, quality etc. An online hop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or

services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-

consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the

process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping.ne shopping. Online shopping is

beneficial because of convenience, more choice, quick, 24 hours availability etc. But there are also

some limitations online shopping such as fake website, information leakage risk, risk of not getting

product, purchasing without physical examining of product etc. These affect the perception of

consumer towards online shoppingAggarwal (2013) found that online shopping is directly affected

through various factors like age, gender, education and income and shows that there is strong

relationship between age and attitude towards online shopping1. Azadavar (2011) studied that many

factor have influence from online shopping. The causal model explains that Trust and customer

service have greatly positive impact on online shopping and security, price, information, trust, and

convenience are very important in online shopping. Gabriel j. Isaac (2007) the studied found that

risk is very important factor in online shopping. Now a day’s many sites provides online shopping.

Risk is one of the important factors in online shopping3. Banu et al, (2014) says that online

shopping have a good future in India because Indian consumers are doing more online shopping.
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The study found that people purchased items at least in six month and they participated in online

shopping and very interested in online shopping Soonyong Bae, Taesik Lee (2010) they

investigates the effect of online consumer reviews on consumer’s purchase intention. In particular,

they examine whether there are gender differences in responding to online consumer reviews. The

results show that the effect of online consumer reviews on purchase intention is stronger for females

than males. The negativity effect, that consumers are influenced by a negative review more than by

a positive review, is also found to be more evident for females. These findings have practical

implications for online sellers to guide them to effectively use online consumer reviews to engage

females in online shopping. Isaac J. Gabriel (2007) studied online consumers’ risk perceptions and

will reveal a “cognitive map” of their attitudes and perceptions to online risks. It was accomplished

by composing a master list of online hazards and activities, measuring current level of perceived

risk, desired level of risk, and desired level of regulation associated with them, composing a master

list of online risk characteristics, determining online risk dimensions, and revealing position of each

online hazard or activity in the factor space diagram. A factor space diagram captures a graphical

representation of the results of the factor analysis. This study is still in progress and results are not

available yet. Guda Van Noort, M.A., Peter Kerkhof, Ph.D and Bob M. Fennis, Ph.D. (2007) in

two experiments, the impact of shopping context on consumers’ risk perceptions and regulatory

focus was examined. They predicted that individuals perceive an online (vs. conventional) shopping

environment’s more risky and that an online shopping environment, by its risky nature, primes

aprevention focus. The findings in Study 1 demonstrate these effects by using self-reportmeasures

for risk perception and prevention focus. In Study 2, replicated these findings anddemonstrated that

the effect of an online shopping environment carries over to behavior in a domain unrelated to

shopping.. Seyed Rajab Nikhashem, Farzana Yasmin, Ahsanul Haque. (2011) Studied that

investigated peoples‟ perception of online buying tickets (e-ticketing) as well as why some people

use this .2014facility while some who do not use it stick to the traditional way to fulfill their needs.
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In addition, factors such as what inform peoples‟ eagerness and unwillingness to use internet

facilities are also examined. The outcome of this research showed a comprehensively integrated

framework that can be utilized by policy makers and business enterprises to understand the dynamic

relationships among dimensions of perceived risk, user trustworthiness, usefulness, familiarity and

confidence. Also, this study considered how price perception and internet security can be utilized to

understand the consumers‟ perception. Yu-Je Lee, Ching-Lin Huang, Ching-Yaw Chen The

purpose of this study is to use structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the influence of

online bookstore consumers’ perception on their purchase intention. Through literature review, four

constructs were used to establish a causal relationship between perception of online shopping and

consumers’ purchase intention. Results of this study show that product perception, shopping

experience, and service quality have positive and significant influence on consumers’ purchase

intention, but perceived risk has negative influence on consumers’ purchase intention, and shopping

experience is most important.Ramin Azadavar, Darush shahbazi, and Mohammad Eghbali

Teimouri. (2011) examined the factors influencing consumers’ perception of online shopping and

developed a causal model that explains how this perception affects their online-shopping behavior.

Research found that Factors like, trust, customer service, customers’ income, price of products or

services and security are more important to encourage people to purchase online the computer

related products and services. In other side factors like product customization and price of product

were not much effective on purchasing behavior of the respondents. So high level of security in

online marketing of computer related products and services has this potential to growth more and

more to encourage people to reduce the time and cost of transaction. Most important concern

regarding to online shopping is the security of transactions. The study intends to explore the

understanding of consumer behavior regarding to the direct and indirect influences of the

perceptions of online shopping on consumer behavior. Based on our analysis first, a factor analysis

was conducted on the student’s perception of 13 items, and three factors, “convenience, anxiety
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regarding security, and “poor navigation”, were extracted. A model was created reflecting the direct

influence of2014 these three “perception”-related factors on behavior or their indirect influence

through consumers’ attitudes.

III. Research Methodology

3.1) Objectives of Study

The purpose of the present study is to understand and analyzed theconsumer perception

regarding online shopping. The main objectives of the present study are: - To extract the

factor affecting consumer perception regarding online shopping in Haryana.

3.2) Data Collection

The present study is descriptive in nature as it seeks to study the consumer perception regarding

online shopping in Kurukshetra of Haryana. In the present study, a sample size of 100 consumers

has been taken from Kurukshetra and primary data has been collected through structured

questionnaire .Data has been analyzed with the help of factor analysis.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To study perception of consumers towards online shopping.

 To examine the customer service, satisfaction and relationship aspects of online durable goods

shopping.

 To find out the preferences of the consumer regarding the attributes of online shopping website.

 To study the marketing strategies of online shopping.

 To know the demographic profile of the customers and its impact if any on the online buying.

NEEDS AND IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

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Online shopping saves the people the drudgery of hopping from one shop to another to buy the

items they require. However, with so many online retailers selling a large variety of products, it

becomes impossible for even online shoppers to decide what to buy, and from where. There is an

urgent need of one-stop shopping information centers from where you can receive all relevant

information on the products and services available. There are some sites
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CHAPTER 3
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OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY

3.1 ONLINE SHOPPING IN INDIA

The birth and growth of Internet has been the biggest event of the century. E-

commerce inIndia has come a long way from a timid beginning in the 1999-

2000 to a period where onecan sell and find all sorts of stuff from a high end product to a meager pe

anut online. Mostcorporations are using Internet to represent their product range and services so that

it isaccessible to the global market and to reach out to a larger range of their audience.Computers a

nd the Internet have completely changed the way one handles

daytodaytransactions; online shopping is one of them. The Internet has brought about sweepingchan

ges in the purchasing habits of the people. In the comfort of one's home, office or cybercafe or any

where across the globe, one can log on and buy just about anything from apparel,books, music and

diamond jewellery to digital cameras, mobile phones, MP3 players, videogames, movie tickets, rail

and air tickets. Ease, simplicity, convenience and security are thekey factors turning the users to bu

y online.commerce revenues in the country are projected to reach Rs 2,300 crore in the year 200607

, growing at 95 per cent over 200405(Source: Internet and Mobile Association of India,IAMAI). Th

is pertains to the business-

toconsumer (B2C) segment. It may be too early to doa comparison with the commerce scenes in co

untries such as the US where billions ofdollars are spent online but the business in India is growing

exponentially every year, albeitfrom a smaller base, the total revenues have reached a respectful siz

.Recent Development

The number of users logging on to the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. The numberof India

ns who are online is expected to touch to 100 million by 2007-

08, from the present38.5 million according to the research conducted by IAMAI. The numbers indic
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ate a growingsense of comfort with the use of Internet for shopping. Accompanying this growth, the

re is anincreasing maturity in the way people use the Internet. It's a classical curve. Online userstypi

cally start by using e-

mail, gradually move on to browsing for news, information andentertainment, and finally graduate t

o shopping and conducting business online. Online saleshave registered a huge jump and what was

a concept five years ago is now beginning to hitthe mainstream levels. Roughly 10 percent of the w

orld's population more than 627 millionpeople have shopped online at least once, in India it is just s

prouted and beginning to perish.Internet is now going beyond the simple exchange of information t

o a shopping paradise.This medium is far bigger than expected, but many retailers and marketers ar

e not using it toits full potential.Indian customers are increasingly getting comfortable with online s

hopping, and there is ahigher acceptability for the concept. India has 25 million Internet users and

more is nowturning to online shopping. There has been an influx of online shopping sites in India w

ithmany companies hitching onto the Internet bandwagon. The revenues from online shoppingare e

xpected to more than double by 200607. According to IAMAI, the average number oftransactions p

er month in India has gone up from 2 lakh in 2003-

04 to 4.4 lakh in 200405and has doubled to 7.95 lakh transactions per month in the year 200506. Th

e online salesduring the festival season had increased rapidly especially during Diwali and Ramzan

whichrecorded a sales of Rs115 crore, a 117 per cent increase from the Rs53 crore in the year 2004

05(source IAMAI). These figures clearly show that online shopping has truly come of ageconsumer

s are keen to shop on the net. Effective customer communication on productsplus reduced shipping

costs and timely delivery has helped online marketers to seize a sliceof the Rs 115 crore sales.Onlin

e shopping has become the latest trend among shoppers. Indians are becoming morecomfortable wit

h ecommerce. The consumer’s attitude has been evolving towards onlinepurchases. It has become i

ncreasingly positive over the years. The attitudes that drive peopleto shop online, such asconvenien

ce, price comparison and choice are improving tremendously in India.Though a miniscule amount i
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n the global context, the Indian online shoppers’ populationwould make its presence felt quite remar

kably. The potential of the Indian emarket can begauged from the fact that 16 percent of Indian con

sumers want to buy online in the next sixmonths, making it the third most onlinepotential country af

ter Korea (28 percent) andAustralia (26 percent) (Source:IMRB). This is an indication of a growing

breed of Indianconsumers who are not only better equipped but also more confident of the onlinetra

nsactions. Indian businesses have also grown mature enough to move up the IT curve andthey are c

onsidering Business to consumer (B2C) ecommerce a viable revenue model. Someof the companies

that have benefited are baazee.com, indiatimes.com, rediff.com,indiamart.com, fabmart.com, travel

jini.com and sifymall.com.Indiamart.com has witnessed a growth of more than ten times in just two

years in its onlinegifts domain. In the online travel domain, the company was able to generate an av

erage$8,000 worth of room bookings/month for its premium client. It is expected to touch $15-

20,000/month/client by the year-end, which is over 100 percent growth (Source:Indiamart).Brick-

and-mortar businesses are also building up e-commerce revenues. In the year 2005-06

Samsung India recorded a 12 percent jump in online buying from its site over the year 2004 05

(Source: Samsung). Nirula's witnessed more than double growth in its B2C e-commerce revenues in

he year 2005-06 and is positive for the next one to two years (Source: Nirula's) Companies like

eBay India have seen a large increase in the number of sellers and buyers from B and Ccities and in

a year the eBay community (buyers and sellers) base has increased to 1.7 mlion users, which shows

that more Indians are shopping online (Source: eBay) Online sales are currently maked by a single

digit growth, but the le garment retailers like Pantaloon. Shoppers Stop and Globus have already

made business strategies to enter into the world of e-retailing. Famous apparel brand Zodiac has

already started online stores The main motive of these reailers through online sales is to reach the

gld al markets and the small towns where they do t have the outlets. Ths the India's Internet

shopping sector is preparing for a massive groh, which is fuelled by increasing broadband usage

and growing e-commerce

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3.3 GAINT PLAYERS IN INDIAN ONLINE SHOPPING Flipkart.com is an e-commerce website

founded by SachinBansal and BinnyBansal in 2007. Both are from IIT Delhi Alumni and also

worked in Amazon.com Flipkart.com ranks # 502 in world according to Alexa traffic rankings . In

Google page it ranks # 6 It forms advertising revenue of 54.8 million. It receives 2.2 million page

vie ws in a day and generates $6,574 in advertising revenue every day . Moreover it has certain

losses 0.60 % in traffic ranking. Loading time of an average page is 2.1 sec as it is much faster than

29 % of sites around the world. The mode of payments include Credit card, Debit card, Net

banking, e-gift uchers, cash on deliveryeBay is an online shopping Website a consumer to

consumer corporation which helps the people and businessman to buy and sel products worldwide.

It is operated to al most 30 countries eBay ranks # 544 among Alexa traffic ranking . In Google it

has page rank # 6 . The advertising revenue inculcated was about $4.4 Million Moreover it receives

2 million pageviews per day which generates $6,066 in the advertisement revenue . Recently it has

shown 15.13 % growth in traffic rank. The pageloading time is upto 2 sec which is likely faster than

24 % sites across the world Snapdeal deals with online marketing of products including Mobiles,

Electronics, Fashion accessories, Apparel, Footwear, Kids, Home and Kitchen, Sports, Books; and

services like Restaurants, Spas & Entertainment. It was launched by KunalBahl, a Wharton

graduate and RohitBansal, alumnus of IIT Delhi, in February 2010. It ranks # 576 in the world as

per Alexa traffic rank.ng.lt ranks # 5 in Google PageRank . The advertising revenue is about $4.2

million. It receives 1.9 million page views in a day and generates $5,729 in advertising revenue. It

has suffered loss of 4.16 % in traffic ranking . The loading time of an average page is 1.6 sec which

is faster than 46 % of sites across the world It is an online shopping com merce for Home; Lifestyle

& Fashion e-retailer founded in 2009 BigShoeBazaar.com has a user base of about 1.5 million

people. Yebhi.com offers lifestyle & Home products and products from a range of some 250 brands

to its customers dealing in Shoes, Apparels, Bags, Mobiles, Cameras, Sunglasses, Watches, Home

furnishing, Home decor, Home ware, Lingerie and Fragrances. It ranks # 1,782 among Alexa traffic
 P a g e | 23

ranking . It ranks # 4 in Google page ranking . Advertising revenue is about $1.4 million. It receives

617,284 page views per day generating S1,852 in advertising revenue. It has recently shown 6.70

Growth among traffic ranking. The page loading is about 2 sec which is faster than 39 % of sites

around the world The International giant eCommerce retailer recently stepped into India with a

Indian version site www.amazon.in, since the launch, amazon.in has seen a nice growth in the

number of customers. Amazon.com too had a huge number of Indian customers even before it

launched store in India. The store hosts wide range of products like Electronics, Mobiles, Laptops,

Books, Fashion, Jewellery, Kitchenware and more A reputed online shopping rtail website having

headquarter in Gurgaon Shoplues.com maintains more than 12.000 merchants who are registered

with the company. It is one of the top ecommerce websites in India, which deals in more than 2

million products. They guarantee authenticity of products, warranty and even ensure lowest price.

They even have a record of catering to more than 42 million online visitors. The company has even

more than 350 registered employees across the country. They offer wide range of branded products

to consumers from every corner of the country Shopclues com init iate free del very services at the

doorsteps of customers through reputed courier services to nearly 10,000 cities across the country

They even initiate a 30-day retun guarantee if unable to meet customer satis fact on. One of the

leading onine shopping companies India Shopclues.com accepts online payment through major

credit and debit cards, including net banking services. The online shopping website service employs

more than 400 personnel for effect ve handling of the business and is even funded by national

institutional investors Myntra is an Indian ecommerce site. It is regarded as India's top 3rd Online

site to shop products. Mvntra allows its users to chose varieties of dress. One can choose any type

of dress of any brand from Myntra. The best thing about Myntra is its product quality and service.

Now, Myntra is merged into Flipkart to compete Amazon, but myntra.com is st running as a

separate website and entity. Buying clothes and gifts online can be best done Via Myntra.

HomeShop18 is the online & on-air retail marketing and Network 18 Group that was launched as
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India's first 24 hour Home Shopping TV channel on April 9, 2008. HomeShop18 offers innovative,

differentiated and demonstrative retail experiences on TV and internet and has emerged as the

largest multimedia retailer in India with a user base of 2.5 million users and some prestigious

awards. HomeShop18 is a venture of the Network18 Group, India's fastest growing media and

entertainment group that operates India's leading business news television channels like CNN-IBN,

CNBC Awaaz distribution venture of TV18 and CNBC

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CHAPTER-4
 P a g e | 26

ONLINE SHOPPING IN INDIA

India's e-commerce market grew at a staggering 88 per cent in 2013 to $ 16 billion, riding on

booming online retail trends and defying slower economic growth and spiraling inflation. The

increasing Internet penetration and availability of more payment options boosted the e-commerce

industry in 2013. E-commerce business in India is expected to reach around $50-70 billion by 2020

on the back of a fast growing internet-connected population and improvement in related

infrastructure like payment and delivery systems. (DNA, 2014)

The products that are sold most are in the tech and fashion category, including mobile phones,

ipads, accessories, MP3 players, digital cameras and jewellery, electronic gadgets, apparel, home

and kitchen appliances, lifestyle accessories like watches, books, beauty products and perfumes,

baby products witnessed significant upward movement.

India's e-commerce market, which stood at $2.5 billion in 2009, reached $8.5 billion in 2012 and

rose 88 per cent to touch $16 billion in 2013. The survey estimates the country's e-commerce

market to reach $56 billion by 2023, driven by rising online retail. This growth is because of

aggressive online discounts, rising fuel prices and availability of abundant online options. Mumbai

topped the list of online shoppers followed by Delhi, while Kolkata ranked third. The age-wise

analysis revealed that 35 per cent of online shoppers are aged between 18 years and 25 years, 55 per

cent between 26 years and 35 years, 8 per cent in the age group of 36-45 years, while only 2 per

cent are in the age group of 45-60 years. Besides, 65 per cent of online shoppers are male while 35

per cent are female. To make the most of increasing online shopping trends, more companies are

collaborating with daily deal and discount sites, the survey pointed out. India has Internet base of

around 150 million as of August, 2013which is close to 10 per cent of Internet penetration in India

throws a very big opportunity for online retailers to grow and expand as future of Internet seems

very bright. (Economictimes, 2014) The size of India's e-commerce market in 2013 was around $13
 P a g e | 27

billion, according to a joint report of KPMG and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The online travel segment contributed over 70 percent of the total consumer e-commerce

transactions last year. (DNA, 2014)

Those who are reluctant to shop online cited reasons like preference to research products and

services online (30 per cent), finding delivery costs too high (20), fear of sharing personal financial

information online (25) and lack of trust on whether products would be delivered in good condition

(15), while 10 per cent do not have a credit or debit card. (Economictimes, 2014) The Nielsen

Global Online Shopping Report shows more than a quarter indicate they spend upwards of 11

percent of their monthly shopping expenditure on online purchases.71 percent Indians trust

recommendations from family when making an online purchase decision, followed by

recommendations from friends at 64 percent and online product reviews at 29 percent. Half the

Indian consumers (50%) use social media sites to help them make online purchase decisions. Online

reviews and opinions are most important for Indians when buying Consumer Electronics (57%),

Software (50%), and a Car (47%). (Indiasocial, 2014)

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Limitations which were observed while doing the project

are as follows:

The sample size which is used in the project is too small due to time constraints. A study

with more number of samples and time can give more dependable results.

The time limit for the research was small to gather information for an in-depth study.

Interaction with online shopping companies would Have given more details which was not

possible due to time limit.

Respondents may give biased information.

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The method of study was based on convenient random Sampling. Therefore the reliability and

accuracy of Analyzed results are to be further studied.VII. ADVANTAGES AND

DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE SHOPPING

Advantages

Online shopping is gaining popularity due to various reasons. With the advent of online shopping or

online storefronts consumers are able to get their desired product just

at the click of a mouse. Some of the advantages of online shopping are:

 Incredible amount of convenience: Online retailers accept orders twenty four hours a day while

consumers who wish to shop at traditional stores have to be available to visit the store during

normal business hours. One of the major advantages of online shopping is that, it enables the

consumer to shop at anytime from anywhere. Once you have decided on what you want to buy the

payment process is seamless and the orders are delivered at your doorstep which eliminates the

need for waiting in the long line or waiting till the shop assistant is ready to help you with your

purchases. the product unlike as in case of offline shopping. So one cannot trust online shopping.

o Fear of credit card information being stolen: The major concern of any online

shopper would be fear of credit card information being stolen. Online storefronts

must ensure that they have all the trust seals in place, SSL certificates etc. so that

consumers trust and confidence can be attained.

o Deceptive pictures: Sometimes pictures shown in the online shopping portals are

often deceptive in nature. Therefore one might not receive what one is actually

expecting.

o No bargaining: Offline shopping enables consumers to try the product before making the

final purchase decision especially in case of clothing. Such trials are not possible in case

of online shopping.
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o Never ending wait for the product to arrive: Once a consumer places an order online, it

will take some time for the product to be delivered. Again the period of delivery differs

from one site to another. If shipped from overseas, it can take more than a month to

reach its destination.

o Shipping costs: Certain sites do not give exemptions from shipping cost. Shipping cost

raise the price of the article and thus the consumer may end up buying products at a rate

higher than its market price.

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CHAPTER - 5