RESEARCH REPORT

(KMB-405)
ON

“A Study on Customer Satisfaction

towards Online Shopping
in Lucknow City”
Submitted To:
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow
Towards the partial fulfillment of the award of degree of
Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Guided by: Submitted by:

Dr. Ashish Srivastava Ankur Verma
(Associate Professor) MBA 4th Semester
Dept of Management Studies Roll No. 1805670004
BBD NIIT, Lucknow

Session 2019-2020
Department of Management Studies

Babu Banarasi Das

Northern India Institute of Technology
Sector II, Dr. Akhilesh Das Nagar, Faizabad Road, Lucknow (U.P.) India
Certificate from the College

i
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

While conducting the Industry Oriented project, innumerable people have given me

various suggestions and opinions while conducting the Industry Oriented project. I have

tried to incorporate all those suggestions which are really relevant in preparing my final

report. I think it is essential to thank all those who have contributed and helped me

throughout the duration of the project.

. I am grateful to Prof. (Dr.) M. K. Rastogi, the Head of Department of Babu Banarasi

Das Northern India Institute of Technology, Lucknow for sparing his valuable time

for me on different occasions. I really appreciate all the bank employees who provided

the requisite data for my research work. It was their cooperation and input that made this

research possible.

I pay my immense gratitude to Dr. Ashish Srivastava, Faculty of BBD NIIT, Lucknow

for his continuous and deliberate discussion on the topic and indeterminable burden

taken by him in helping me throughout conducting the project.

I would also like to thank my friends who rendered their wholehearted cooperation in

the successful completion of the project work.

Finally, I am thankful to all the people who willingly responded to the questionnaire and

their contribution has been invaluable. This project would not have been completed

without their participation.

I am pleased to state that the whole report is just the presentation of the facts that have

been found during the project through different sources and its each sentence is an exact

representation of the information obtained and the analysis thereof. I hope that I have

manifested my sincere attempts to represent all the information and other things to the

best of my ability.

Ankur Verma

ii
 PREFACE

It was a privilege for me to work in a reputed organization. This has given us an

opportunity to work in a truly professional environment where team work score over

individual effort, where there is a helpful atmosphere. A well planned, properly

executed and evaluated training helps a lot in inoculating good work culture. The project

on “A Study on Customer Satisfaction towards Online Shopping in Lucknow City”

has been made to facilitate effective understanding about the marketing aspects.

This basis for this research originally stemmed from my passion for developing better

methods of data storage and preservation. As the world moves further into the digital

age, generating vast amounts of data and born digital content, there will be a greater

need to access legacy materials created with outdated technology. How will we access

this content? It is my passion to not only find out, but to develop tools to break down

barriers of accessibility for future generations.

In truth, I could not have achieved my current level of success without a strong support

group. First of all, my parents, who supported me with love and understanding, and

secondly, my committee members, each of whom has provided patient advice and

guidance throughout the research process. Thank you all for your unwavering support.

The project training has provided me an opportunity to gain practical experience, which

has helped me to increase my sphere of knowledge to a greater extent. I have tried to

summarize all our experience and knowledge acquired up till now, in this report. This

project is a keen effort to obtain the expected results and fulfill all the information

required.

At the end annexure and bibliography are given for effective understanding.

iii
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The advent of the Internet has empowered consumers. Consumers can access a virtually

unlimited selection of products, brands, and sellers. They can switch brands or try

different products in a single click. However, consumers have limited time and

unlimited choice. They would naturally stick to the Internet merchants who meet their

needs and provide quality services. To thrive in the competitive electronic environment,

only customer-centric retailers that develop genuine customer relationship strategies

and effectively manage their customer online shopping experiences would eventually

survive. Thus, satisfaction of customers nowadays is the highest priority goal of any e-

retailer and it is crucial in building up customer loyalty. It is important to enhance

favorable word-of mouth, as it leads to repeat purchases, increase in consumer base and

improves the company‘s market share and profitability. Hence, present study examines

the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in online shopping in Lucknow City.

The research has multiple primary and secondary objectives. Thesis primarily aims to

know the most predominant factors influencing customers‘ satisfaction towards online

shopping in Lucknow City. Secondly, it also aims to measure the impact of extracted

factors on customers‘ satisfaction towards online shopping. Furthermore, it analyses the

customers‘ satisfaction towards online shopping. Satisfaction of customer regarding

product categories they buy online is also explored in the study. Research study also

analyses the customers‘ loyalty towards online shopping and the association between

customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in online shopping is also traced. The

difference between expectations and perceptions of customers for all study variables in

online shopping has also been measured in the study. Firstly, secondary objectives

attempts to find out the most popular online websites among customers. Secondly, it

tries to trace the association between experience of online shopping and their

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satisfaction level towards online shopping followed by association between socio

demographic characteristics of customers and their satisfaction level. Furthermore, it

also finds out the association between socio demographic characteristics of customers

and their loyalty towards online shopping websites. Lastly, study also attempts to know

about the association between socio demographic factors of the customers and their

frequency of online purchase of different products. Quantitative data has been collected

with the help of structured questionnaire from a sample of 100 online customers in

Lucknow City through non-probability snow ball sampling method. The results of the

study conclude that there are different variables which can influence the satisfaction

level of customers in online shopping in Lucknow City. In the present scenario of

online shopping business price and quality of the product, and customer service offered

by e-stores have a major impact on the satisfaction of the customers. Also, logistic and

delivery, and trust and efficiency also plays an important role in defining customer

satisfaction. Overall, the customers are moderately satisfied with respect to majority of

the constructs undertaken in the study. Moreover, apparels and beauty products are the

only products purchased online with which customers are satisfied. Moderate level of

loyalty is found among the online buyers toward online retailers and it is believed that

satisfaction level of customers makes a significant difference in the loyalty of

customers. Furthermore, it is observed that though the customers are satisfied but their

expectations from online stores are higher than what they perceive from their current

purchase experiences. The outcomes of the present study will form the base for future

researchers. Researchers can revalidate and extend the findings of the research for

contributing to the development of an effective online customer satisfaction model.

Further, the results of the study can be tested for other cities of India and for other

developing countries to generalize the results. The linear relationship of the factors

v
affecting customer satisfaction with customer loyalty can also be examined by

researchers in future. Moreover, a comparative study on online customers of two

different cities can also be performed to know the difference in the level of satisfaction

for selected e-stores. Also, it will aid online sellers to establish good relations with the

customers and help to identify customers‘ expectations towards growing online

business and taking corrective measures on the areas of improvement to serve the

customers better and enhance their satisfaction and loyalty towards online shopping.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
Certificate i

Acknowledgement ii

Preface iii

Executive Summary iv

Sr. No. Chapters Page no.

1. Introduction 1-17

2. Review of Literature 18-34

3. Company profile 35-57

4. Objective of the study 58-59

5. Research Methodology 60-63

6. Data Analysis and Interpretations 64-82

7. Findings 83-85

8. Conclusion 86-87

9. Suggestion & Recommendation 88-90

10. Limitations of the study 91-92

11. Bibliography 93-95

12. Annexure 96-100

13. Synopsis

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CHAPTER - I
INTRODUCTION

1
 INTRODUCTION

Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods, services etc.

from a seller interactively in real-time without an intermediary service over the internet.

Online shopping is the process of buying goods and services from merchants who sell

on the Internet. Since the emergence of the World Wide Web, merchants have sought to

sell their products to people who surf the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from

the comfort of their homes and shop as they sit in front of the computer. Consumers buy

a variety of items from online stores.

In fact, people can purchase just about anything from companies that provide their

products online. Books, clothing, household appliances, toys, hardware, software, and

health insurance are just some of the hundreds of products consumers can buy from an

online store.

Many people choose to conduct shopping online because of the convenience. Online

shopping allows you to browse through endless possibilities, and even offers

merchandise that's unavailable in stores.

Shopping via the internet eliminates the need to shift through a store's products with

potential buys like pants, shirts, belts and shoes all slung over one arm. Online shopping

also eliminates the catchy, yet irritating music, as well as the hundreds, if not thousands,

of other like-minded individuals who seem to have decided to shop on the same day.

The central concept of the application is to allow the customer to shop virtually using the

Internet and allow customers to buy the items and articles of their desire from the store.

The information pertaining to the products are stores on the server side (store). The

Server process the customers and the items are shipped to the address submitted by

them. The application was designed into two modules first is for the customers who

wish to buy the articles. Second is for the storekeepers who maintains and updates the

2
information pertaining to the articles and those of the customers.

The end user of this product is departmental store where the application is hosted on the

web and the administrator maintains the database. The application which is deployed at

the customer database, the details of the items are brought forward from the database for

the customer view based on the selection through the menu and the database of all the

products are updated at the end of each transaction. Data entry into the application can

be done through various screens designed for various levels of users. Once the

authorized personnel feed the relevant data into the system, several reports could be

generated as per the security.

The Internet, as a mean for both firms and individuals to conduct business, is nowadays

one of the most widely used non-store formats.With popular trends and demands the

concept of the Internet as the way forward to increase profit margins, companies new

and old are creating websites here and there. The significance for retailers to having a

web site is that a web site is informational and transactional in nature, as the web site

can be used for advertising and direct marketing; sales; customer support and public

relations.It has been more than a decade since business-to-consumer E-commerce first

evolved. Scholars and practitioners of electronic commerce constantly strive to gain an

improved insight into consumer behavior in cyberspace.

Internet 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. Companies

also use the Internet to convey, communicate and disseminate information, to sell the

product, to take feedback andalso to conduct satisfaction surveys with customers.

Customers use the Internet not only to buy the product online, but also to compare

3
prices, product features and after sale service facilities they will receive if they purchase

the product from a particular store. Many experts are optimistic about the prospect of

online business.

A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect

with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the company who owns the idea

or image. Branding is when that idea or image is marketed so that it is recognizable by

more and more people, and identified with a certain service or product when there are

many other companies offering the same service or product. Advertising professionals

work on branding not only to build brand recognition, but also to build good reputations

and a set of standards to which the company should strive to maintain or surpass.

Branding is an important part of Internet commerce, as branding allows companies to

build their reputations as well as expand beyond the original product and service, and

add to the revenue generated by the original brand. Initially, Branding was adopted to

differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a distinctive symbol burned

into the animal's skin with a hot iron stamp, and was subsequently used in business,

marketing and advertising.

Customer perception is a marketing concept that encompasses a customer's impression,

awareness and/or consciousness about a company or its offerings. Customer perception

is typically affected by advertising, reviews, public relations, social media, personal

experiences and other channels.

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. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and

economics. It attempts to understand the decision-making processes of buyers, both

4
individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as

demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It

also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends,

reference groups, and society in general.

Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer

playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown that

consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Relationship

marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest

in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the

importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer

retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-

one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare

functions.

The ultimate goal of most businesses is to increase sales and income. Ideally, you want

to attract new customers to your products and encourage repeat purchases. Brand

awareness refers to how aware customers and potential customers are of your business

and its products. Brand Awareness is the extent to which a brand is recognized by

potential customers, and is correctly associated with a particular product. Expressed

usually as a percentage of target market, brand awareness is the primary goal of

advertising in the early months or years of a product's introduction.

Brand awareness is the extent to which the consumer associates the brand with the

product he desires to buy. It is the brand recall and the brand recognition of the company

to the consumers. Brand recall is the ability of the consumer to recollect the brand with

reference to the product whereas brand recognition is the potential of the consumer to

retrieve the past knowledge of the brand when enquired about the brand or shown an

5
image of the brand logo. Brand awareness is an essential part of brand development

which helps the brand to stand out from the others in this monopolistically competitive

market.

Digital marketing involves the promotion of products and services using digital

distribution channels that reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal, and cost

effective manner. At a high level, digital channels can have many categories, such as the

internet, mobile, digital outdoors, and any form of interactive digital media. Each

category has multiple digital tools/ sub-channels that can support digital marketing.

These include:

 Internet- Email banner ads, dedicated websites, pop-up ads, sponsored content,

paid keyword search, podcasts, etc… Newer channels comprise social networks,

blogs, wikis, widgets, virtual words, online gaming etc…

 Mobile- SMS,MMS, mobile Web, mobile application and mobile video

 Digital outdoors – Stills,/ video digital display, interactive kiosks

 Interactive digital medium – interactive television channels

Any combination of the above channels can be used to gain maximum visibility with

utmost impact among targeted customers, thereby enabling more business at a

reasonable cost. While digital channels empower rmarketers with a tremendous

advantage in terms of their extensive reach, leveraging their potential requires effective

management of multiple channels with complex variables to realize optimal value.

6
INTERNET USAGE IN INDIA

Internet in India report says that India‘s internet user base has gone well above 100

million – that‘s just fewer than 10% of the population. India‘s internet user base was

growth was very sluggish until 2007-08, but has picked up rapidly thereafter.

At about 150 million Internet users, India now has 3rd largest Internet population in the

world after China (at 575m) and the US (at 275m). At 150 million total Internet users,

the Internet penetration in India remains at 12 per cent vs. 43 per cent in China and 80

per cent in the US. However, the low penetration means that India presents unmatchable

growth opportunity for the Internet sector in coming years. In our view, India will likely

see golden period of the Internet sector between 2013 to 2018 with incredible growth

opportunity and secular growth adoption for E-Commerce, Internet advertising, social

media, search, online content, and services relating to E-Commerce and Internet

advertising.

Here is the India Internet outlook for 2013, the first year for this golden period.

Internet penetration will reach 15%. Expect India to add 30 million new Internet users in

2013 and total Internet population to touch 180mm. This implies a 20% growth in the

Internet population.

Time spend online will rise and directionally become comparable to US and China. As

per research estimates, an Internet user in India on average is spending 13 hour per week

and this number will likely reach 16 hours per week. The incremental time spend online

will largely be spent on social media, photo/video sharing, E-Commerce, and

utilities/banking/bill payments.

Mobile Internet users to touch 100M. India has nearly 950 million mobile subscribers

and close to 50 million or fewer than 6 per cent of these mobile subscribers access

Internet via mobile handsets. And estimate that in 2013 the mobile Internet penetration

7
will go up from close to 6 per cent to 10 per cent and India could double its mobile

Internet population in 2013 at 100 million estimated mobile Internet users by end of

2013.

Internet usage will likely grow faster for female and from home. So far India Internet

usage is heavily screwed towards male gender and from work and educational

establishments. In 2013, Internet usage will grow much faster for female and from home

access. This acceleration will likely happen due to overall Internet adoption moving to

masses.

E-Commerce will likely touch $900M in 2013. As per the estimates, in 2012 India E-

Commerce reached $550 million in gross revenue and we expect E-Commerce to touch

$900 million in gross revenue by end of 2013.

Majority of E-Commerce growth will come from emerging cities. While, top 8 cities in

India may remain at 45 per cent to 65 per cent of total E-Commerce for various E-

Commerce companies, we believe that higher growth delta for E-Commerce in 2013

will come from emerging cities. We define emerging cities as the cities other than Top-

40 cities in India e.g. Bhatinda in Punjab or Kota in Rajasthan.

Internet advertising will be the fastest growing sub-sector of the India Internet. As per

the estimates, India Internet advertising generated $300 million in revenue in 2012 and

can double in 2013 to reach $600 million. Also believe that lots of Internet advertising

growth will come due to the rise in social media, mobile Internet, and non-search and

content driven online ad formats such as lead generation, affiliate marketing, and email

marketing etc.

Funding environment for the Internet start-ups to remain challenging in 2013. Funding

environment for the Internet start-ups to remain challenging in 2013 in India. In last 17

years, India has created less than $5 billion in Internet market capitalization vs. $600

8
billion by US Internet sector and $250 billion by Chinese Internet sector. Lot many

Internet companies have to become a lot bigger for the funding environment to ease off.

E-Commerce will likely see emergence of disruptive business models and consolidation.

E-Commerce companies that are focusing on fundamental issues will likely disrupt the

E-Commerce industry in 2013. On one hand, the fundamental issues are the issues that

matter for improving customer experiences and the state of the ecosystem, on other hand

focusing on fundamentals of business vs. throwing money at the problem will become

absolutely imperative. Majority of the inventory led E-Commerce business models will

likely either merge with each other or take a niche vertical position.

Start-up culture and ecosystem to become more widespread. In our view, the start-up

culture and start up ecosystem are becoming more widespread. The seed and angel

rounds are no longer limited to Mumbai, Delhi or Lucknow and emergence of start-up is

no longer limited to IITs or big cities. While, India has long way to go vs. having a true

Silicon Valley start-up culture, ecosystem and support system, India is headed in that

direction. Founding a start-up immediately after graduation or leaving a rewarding

corporate job to join a start-up, or find or become an angel investor is no longer

uncommon. While, the 2013 Internet funding environment will likely be challenging, the

overall Internet start-up ecosystem will become stronger and more ubiquitous.

RETAILING

Retailing is selling of merchandise and certain services to the consumer. Retailing began

several thousand years ago.The activities involved in the selling of goods to ultimate

consumers for personal or household consumption. It is extremely competitive, and the

failure rate of retail establishments is relatively high. Price is the most important arena

of competition, but other factors include convenience of location, selection and display

of merchandise, attractiveness of the establishment, and reputation. The diversity of

9
retailing is evident in the many forms it now takes, including vending machines, door-

to-door and telephone sales, direct-mail marketing, the Internet, discount houses,

specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets, and consumer cooperatives.

Whatever form it takes, however, the essence of good retailing remains the same:

attractive, appropriate merchandise offered for sale in an attractive, eye-catching manner

at a reasonable price at a convenient location.

It ordinarily involves the selling of individual units or small lots to large numbers of

customers by a business set up for that specific purpose. In the broadest sense, retailing

can be said to have begun the first time one item of value was bartered for another. In

the more restricted sense of a specialized, full-time commercial activity, retailing began

several thousand years ago when peddlers first began hawking their wares and when the

first marketplaces were formed.

As with most other business activities, retailing is extremely competitive, and the

mortality rate of retail establishments is relatively high. The basic competition is price

competition, but this is moderated somewhat by such non-price forms of competition as

convenience of location, selection and display of merchandise, attractiveness of the retail

establishment itself, and intangible factors such as reputation in the community.

Competition for sales has led to a blurring of traditional product lines in retailing, and

many establishments offer a much wider variety of merchandise than their basic

classification would indicate (e.g., drugstores may carry food, clothing, office supplies,

hardware, etc.).

10
INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE SHOPPING

Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods, services etc.

from a seller interactively in real-time without an intermediary service over the internet.

Online shopping is the process of buying goods and services from merchants who sell on

the Internet. Since the emergence of the World Wide Web, merchants have sought to sell

their products to people who surf the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from the

comfort of their homes and shop as they sit in front of the computer.Consumers buy a

variety of items from online stores. In fact, people can purchase just about anything from

companies that provide their products online. Books, clothing, household appliances,

toys, hardware, software, and health insurance are just some of the hundreds of products

consumers can buy from an online store.

Many people choose to conduct shopping online because of the convenience. For

example, when a person shops at a brick-and-mortar store, he has to drive to the store,

find a parking place, and walk throughout the store until she locates the products she

needs. After finding the items she wants to purchase, she may often need to stand in long

lines at the cash register.

Despite the convenience of online shopping, not everyone chooses to purchase items and

services online. Some people like the idea of physically going to a store and

experiencing the shopping process. They like to touch the merchandise, try on clothing,

and be around other people. Online shopping doesn't permit shoppers to touch products

or have any social interaction. It also doesn't allow them to take the merchandise home

the same day they buy it.

Online shopping allows browsing through endless possibilities, and even offers

merchandise that's unavailable in stores. If someone is searching for a niche product that

may not be distributed locally, they're sure to find what they're looking for on the

11
internet. What's even more useful is the ability to compare items, similar or not, online.

He can search through multiple stores at the same time, comparing material quality,

sizes and pricing simultaneously.

Shopping via the internet eliminates the need to sift through a store's products with

potential buys like pants, shirts, belts and shoes all slung over one arm. Online shopping

also eliminates the catchy, yet irritating music, as well as the hundreds, if not thousands,

of other like-minded individuals who seem to have decided to shop on the same day.

Online shopping transactions occur instantly-saving the time to get your other errands

done! Additionally, unlike a store, online shopping has friendly customer service

representatives available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you with locating,

purchasing and shipping your merchandise.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER TO SHOP ONLINE

Though there are several factors that influence consumers to shop online, but there are

mainly four factors which influence consumer to shop online after reading literature in

the field on consumer attitudes towards online shopping and these factors are discussed

below in brief.

CONVENIENCE

Convenience factor refers that it is easy to browse or search the information through

online is easier than the traditional retail shopping. Through online, consumers can

easily search product catalogue but if the consumer look generally for the same product

or item in a traditional store manually it is difficult to visit physically and time

consuming also. Convenience has always been a prime factor for consumers to shop

online. According to the Robinson, Riley, Rettie and Wilsonz (2007) the major

12
motivation for online purchasing is convince in terms of shop at any time and having

bundles of items delivered at door step.

Rohm and Swaminathan‘s (2004) claims in ―typology of online shoppers into‖:

Convenience shoppers, balanced buyers, variety seekers and store-oriented shoppers,

based upon their present shopping motivation. Through online purchase consumers can

easily compare the price than the traditional purchase. So price comparison is also

another convenience factor of online shopping.

TIME SAVING

Time savings is one of most influencing factors of online shopping. Browse or search an

online catalogue can save time and patience. People can save time and can reduce effort

by shopping online. One possible explanation that online shopping saves time during the

purchasing of goods and it can eliminate the traveling time required to go to the

traditional store. On the other side, some respondent think that it is also time taken for

delivery of goods or services over online shopping.

Unexpectedly time saving is not the motivating factor for the consumers to shop online

(Corbett, 2001) because it takes time receiving goods or delivery. But time saving factor

can be seen through different dimensions i.e. ―person living in Florida can shop at

Harod‘s in London (through the web) in less time than it takes to visit the local Burdines

department store‖. So the importance of the time saving factor cannot be neglected as

motivation behind online purchasing. Additionally Goldsmith and Bridges (2000)

emphasize that there is a discrimination between online shopper and non-online

shoppers, online shoppers are more worried about convenience, time saving and

selection whereas non online shoppers are worried about security, privacy and on time

delivery.

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WEBSITE DESIGN/FEATURES

Website design and online shopping activity is one of the vital influencing factors of

online shopping. Website design, website reliability/fulfilment, website customer service

and website security/privacy are the most attractive features which influence the

perception of the consumer of online buying Shergill& Chen (2005). Kamariah and

Salwani (2005) claims the higher website quality, the higher consumer intends to shop

from internet. Web design quality has important impacts on consumer choice of

electronic stores, stated by Liang and Lai (2000). Website design one of the important

factor motivating consumers for online shopping.

Website design features can be considered as a motivational factor that can create

positive or negative feelings with a website. If website is designed with quality features

it can guide the customers for successful transactions and attract the customers to revisit

the website again. However, worse quality website features can also hamper online

shopping. According to Liang and Lai (2000), web design quality or website features

has direct impact on user to shop online.

SECURITY

Security is another dominant factor which affects consumers to shop online. However

many internet users avoid online shopping because of credit card fraud, privacy factors,

non-delivery risk, post purchase service and so on. But transaction security on the online

shopping has received attention. Safe and secured transaction of money and credit card

information increases trust and decreases transaction risk. In 1995, UK has introduced

Fraud free electronic shopping and later on Europe and Singapore introduced secured

electronic transaction (SET). According to Bhatnagar and Ghose (2004) Security is one

of the attribute which limits buying on the web as they claim that there is a large

14
segment of internet shoppers who don‘t like to buy online because of their thinking

about the security of their sensitive information.

INTRODUCTION TO ECOMMERCE

Electronic commerce, commonly known as ecommerce, is a type of industry where

buying and selling of product or service is conducted over electronic systems such as the

Internet and other computer networks. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such

as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet

marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory

management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic

commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's

life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail,

mobile devices social media, and telephones as well.

Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also

consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of

business transactions.

E-commerce can be divided into:

 E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on websites with online catalogues, sometimes

gathered into a "virtual mall"

 The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts and social

media

 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data

 E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospective and established

customers (for example, with newsletters)

 Business-to-business/ Business-to-Customer buying and selling

 The security of business transactions etc…

15
Growth and progression of E-commerce in India

The e-commerce market in India has grown by 34% in the last seven years, was about

USD 600 million in 2011-12 and is expected to touch USD 9 billion by 2016 and USD

70 billion by 2020. According to Forrester, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to

grow at a CAGR of over 57% between 2012 and 2016, which is the fastest within Asia-

Pacific region.

The key factors that are driving this growth are the rise of Internet usage (growing at

20%) & 3G penetration, and increasing smartphone users with availability of Internet on

mobile phones. It is estimated that currently there are 27 million mobile Internet users in

India out of which 4% are buying products on mobile. This figure is expected to increase

to 20% mobile shoppers in the next four years. These factors accompanied by busy

lifestyles, traffic congestion, lack of offline shopping time, great deals and discounts

offered online, and use of innovative e-commerce models such as group buying and

second-hand sales have led to more and more consumers switch to online shopping.

With the rising middle class incomes, global exposure and changing demographics

(close to 50% of the population is less than 25 years of age), this trend also holds true

for the Tier II & III cities.

Online travel (76 percent) and financial services (10 percent) form the biggest

component of online shopping followed by e-tailing (8 percent). While services such as

travel tickets, movie tickets, restaurant discount vouchers, hotel bookings, utility

payments, insurance policies, and premium payments lead the wallet share of the

amount spent online, product categories such as computers & accessories, cameras &

mobiles, electronic durables, and books are picking up. But, product categories such as

apparel, jewellery and footwear (require high touch and feel), which offer maximum

16
potential in terms of market size, faces challenges such as high return rate and negative

cash cycles due to COD (cash on delivery).

However, the e-commerce industry today faces certain challenges. Firstly, there is a very

low penetration of credit/debit cards in India, which restricts the online purchasing

power. Even though strategies such as cash on delivery have been introduced, they have

their own nuances and pose high working capital issues to the companies. Secondly,

high volume items such as refrigerators require high freight & shipping costs and

because the e-commerce model in India is based on free shipping concept, sale of such

items online could suffer a setback. Finally, the distribution & logistics in India is not

very well organized and prone to fraud. Hence, buying of high value items such as

jewellery, electronic goods (LCDs), which require travel insurance adding up to the total

costs may not be one of the bestsellers in the digital space.

The key to success in this segment is delivering high quality user experience which

includes differentiated and detailed product catalogue, order fulfilment, website

performance, different modes of transaction(credit cards, payment gateways, cash on

delivery etc.), and simple and sensible checkout. Furthermore, with the increase in

competition in this segment, the e-commerce players need to invest in research and

development of differentiated product catalogues, innovative service and customer

engagement concepts, and cost effective supply chain and logistics models.

17
CHAPTER - II
LITERATURE
REVIEW

18
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Internet usage history and intensity also affect online shopping potential. Consumers

with longer histories of Internet usage, educated and equipped with better skills and

perceptions of the Web environment have significantly higher intensities of online

shopping experiences and are better candidates to be captured in the well-known concept

of flow in the cyber world (Sisk, 2000; Hoffman and Novak, 1996; Liao and Cheung,

2001). Those consumers using the Internet for a longer time from various locations and

for a higher variety of ser-vices are considered to be more active users (Emmanouilides

and Hammond, 2000).

As Bellman et al. (1999) mention, demographics are not so important in determining

online purchasing potential. Whether the consumer has a wired lifestyle and the time

constraints the person has are much more influential. Risk taking propensity is also a

powerful factor. E-shoppers have higher risk taking tendencies. Consumers with high

levels of privacy and security concerns have lower purchasing rates in online markets

but they balance this characteristic with their quest for making use of the information

advantage of the environment (Kwak et al., 2002; Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001).

These educated individuals, as more confident decision makers, are much more

demanding and have greater control over the purchasing process from initiation to

completion (Rao et al., 1998).

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

19
online shopping experience, and perceived product quality. (Liao and Cheung, 2001;

Saeed et al., 2003; Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001; Chen and Dubinsky, 2003).

The lists of factors having a positive or negative impact on consumers' propensity to

shop do not seem to be very different from the considerations encountered in offline

environments. However, the sensitivities individuals display for each variable might be

very different in online marketplaces. Factors like price sensitivity, importance

attributed to brands or the choice sets considered in online and offline environments can

be significantly different from each other (Andrews and Currim, 2004). 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.,

2004). Further studies aiming to complete the full set of factors influencing consumers'

prepurchase intentions are still much awaited.

Simon Rigby , 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 eassurances,product ranges and services. We conducted this survey during

our peak selling period as we are in the process of developing our range of online

interactive services, such as Live Chat and CometTV.co.uk. Powerful multi media sales

tools will soon become standard in the online shopping arena. In three years, you'll be

just as likely to click and watch a product related video of your intended purchase on

your computer before you buy - as you are to have an email address today.

Research summarized by Emarketer(2005) showed that the Internet applied a bigger

influence than for offline media for electronics compared to that clothing, beauty or

home improvement as would be expected. Internet Marketing has changed the way

20
people buy and sell good and service. It has added lot of convenience and easy to the

whole process of buying. Internet buying prevalence is highest in the United States,

where 93% of Internet users have bought on-line (Business Software Association, 2002),

and it is growing rapidly in India as well (www.ebay.com)

Anders Hasslinger; Selma Hodzic; Claudio Opazo (2008-02-01) in theirstudy they

showed that developed into a new distribution channel and online transactions are

rapidly increasing. This has created a need to understand how the consumer perceives

online purchases. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if there are any

particular factors that influence the online consumer. Primary data was collected through

a survey that was conducted on students at the University of Kristianstad. Price, Trust

and Convenience were identified as important factors. Price was considered to be the

most important factor for a majority of the students. Furthermore, three segments were

identified, High Spenders, Price Easers and Bargain Seekers. Through these segments

we found a variation of the different factors importance and established implications for

online book stores.

Harris Interactive (2009) in their study of online customer experience. The survey

found that online customer experience reached an inflection point in 2009. The percent

of consumers who have experienced problems when conducting transactions online

showed its first substantial decrease in five years -- from approximately 87% in all

previous Tealeaf surveys to 80% in 2009. While the percent of consumers experiencing

online transaction problems, at 80%, remains high (the potential online shopping dollars

impacted by transaction problems rings up at $47.6 billion), this improvement points to

a growing business focus on delivering better customer experiences. The survey sheds

light on forces driving this accelerated online customer experience focus, including the

21
down economy and increased consumer power due to experience-sharing via social

media. It also examines consumer behavior when transacting online, call center behavior

related to online issues and mobile commerce. Verticals represented in the findings

include retail, insurance, travel and financial services.

San Francisco, CA – 6th October 2009 - the leader in online Customer

Experience Management software (CEM), today announced the results of the 5th annual

survey of online consumer behavior, commissioned by Tealeaf and conducted by Harris

Interactive® [results available at www.tealeaf.com/Harris]. The survey found that 48%

of U.S. online adults say that they are now conducting more online transactions than

they did in the past given the current economic climate. However, 80% of adults who

have conducted an online transaction in the past year experience problems when doing

so in 2009. Previous Tealeaf surveys have consistently shown that approximately 87%

were affected. This improvement over prior years may be attributed to a growing

business focus on delivering better online customer experiences. While this reported

decline in online transaction issues is good news, online customer experience is still very

much a work in progress. The percentage of consumers affected by issues such as error

messages (38%), endless loops (19%) and login problems (28%) is still extremely high.
1
Further; the resulting business impact is significant, as 32% of those who experience

issues when conducting transactions online.

Bikramjit Rishi (2010) in their study on online shopping is an innovative option of

distribution available in the hands of marketers. It is innovative and creative because

marketers can experiment with it in form, content, visibility and availability. In India

online shopping is considered as a relevant alternative channel for retailing and it is now

an important part of the retail experience. This research study is an empirical study to

22
find out the motivators and decisional influencers of online shopping. The sample has

been selected from the youth population as this group of people actually use internet to

buy online. The study highlights that reliability; accessibility and convenience are the

major motivator factors which motivate the Indian consumer to buy online. Similarly,

reluctance and preference are the two decisional factors which influence the decision.

Kamali and Loker (2002), in their study Internet retail sales represent a new and

increasingly vital commercial milieu. E-commerce or electronic commerce saw sales

revenues grow 12.1 percent in 2001 to $31.4 billion a figure expected to reach $81.1

billion by 2006 (Kamali & Loker, 2002). While it is clear that many more consumers are

electing to shop online than in the past a shift in behavior that may be due to the sense

that online shopping is safer and more secure than it was initially and to the adoption of

alternative shopping avenues. This essay will examine these issues, arguing that

browsers become buyers in cyberspace as perception of safety, product quality, and

retailer reliability increase an idea also advanced by Li, Luo, Lepkowaska-White and

Russell .

Atanasov (2001) in their study it is anticipated that the worldwide market for business-

to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce will total $3.1 trillion in 2004 as

compared to $350.4 billion in fiscal 2000-2001. Among the most profitable products and

services sold online are consumer goods such as books, videos, music, computers and

other tech products, and travel (Schmerken, 2001). Other profitable sectors include

investment transactions, which Schmerken (2001) considers to have generated a wave of

corporate spending on e-commerce. The Internet and its myriad e-commerce or

marketing sites, represents what researchers believe to be the security concerns of online

shoppers and potential shoppers. These researchers and others reported that online

buyers are also concerned about security issues when making online purchases. Though

23
many consumer concerns regarding the inherent safety of financial transactions online

have been resolved through the development of sophisticated encryption programs,

many consumers require additional assurance that their financial data will be held in

confidence. Other security issues that were identified by Mauldin and Arunachalam

(2002) focus on retailer disclosures, information risk, product risk, and familiarity with

the retailer and the product. Generally, Mauldin and Arunachalam (2002) found that

intent to purchase rather than merely browsing online increases in direct association with

a sense of security and comfort. Retailers who offer their products online are therefore

advised to emphasize product disclosure and retailer disclosure and reduced information

risk in their e-commerce sites. Though most online retailers do provide clear

descriptions of security procedures, some Internet shoppers still avoid using credit cards

online. Overcoming resistance to this fear is one of the key tasks that must be under

taken.

Ogenyi Ejye Omar, Alan Hirst (2006) in their study they evaluates women's attitude as

an overall inclination towards apparel shopping online via e-mail questionnaire. Its

findings suggest that women generally show positive attitudes towards shopping online

for apparel. Women who shop for apparel online are aware of some of the discouraging

features of online shopping, but these features do not deter them from buying online.

The implication for online retailers is that they should focus on making the experience of

online shopping more accommodating and more user -friendly. This is important

because the positive features of online shopping ('convenience', 'usefulness', 'ease of

use', and 'efficiency') appear to be more important than the negative features ('lack of

security', 'privacy of information' and 'online fraud').

Ruiliang Yan, John Wang (2009) in their research it provides a useful framework to

24
help business marketers identify the effect of consumer online purchase costs on firm

performances in online and traditional channel competition. A game theory model is

developed to determine the optimal strategies for online and traditional retailers. We

demonstrate that consumer online purchase costs always have a valuable impact on firm

profits, and further show that consumer online purchase costs always have a much more

valuable impact on firm profits whenever the traditional retail transaction costs and the

product web-fit change. We also find that consumer online purchase costs have a greater

impact on the retailer's profits in a Stackel berg competitive system than in a Bertrand

competitive system. Based on our results, managerial implications are discussed and

probable paths of future research are identified.

Scott M. Smith, Chad R. Allred, William R. Swinyard (2008) in their

research paper they discusses online shopping in context of diffusion of innovation

theory. It proposes that online shopping is a discontinuous innovation whose adoption

rate is influenced by several of Rogers' (2004) diffusion deterrents. A new 12 -item

'Computer Competence Index' (CCI) is proposed and tested using data from an internet -

administered US probability study of 1800 online users. EShoppers are profiled using a

tertile split of the CCI. Each tertile's demographics, computer activities, computer -

oriented lifestyles, and online purchase activities are reported. Evidence is presented that

concepts related to the diffusion of innovation may explain resistance in the growth of

online shopping.

A.M. Sakkthivel (2009) in their research paper aims to identify the impact of

demographics on consumer buying behavior towards online purchase of different

products based on the involvement and investment (High, Medium and Low). It attempts

to unearth the impact of the demographics on online purchase which is at present

25
relatively limited. It would help the marketers to identify the demographic profile of

consumers which is otherwise not known due to the intangible nature of internet. The

findings would help the marketers to design their offerings based on the demographic

profile of online consumers and would help the online marketers to identify and segment

the online consumers which will enhance their focus and eventually leads to financial

growth.

Jianwei Hou, Cesar Rego (2007) in their study in traditional auctions, it is often

assumed that bidders are a homogenous group. However, since most online bidders are

average consumers instead of professional bidders, we suspect that online bidders are a

heterogeneous group. The purpose of this paper is to explore the types of online bidders

based on their real bidding behaviour in the context of consumer-to-consumer online

auction market. A cluster analysis is employed and four types of online bidders are

finally identified in a private value auction, namely, goal-driven bidders, experiential

bidders, focused bidders, and opportunistic bidders. The profile and performance of each

group are also discussed.

Tomomi Hanai, Takashi Oguchi (2009) in their study to investigate what kind of

information contributes to trust formation in online shopping. Twenty-seven female

undergraduate students were recruited and asked to evaluate the trustworthiness of 20

online shopping websites. All the online shopping websites dealt with branded products

where there is greater emphasis on the trustworthiness of online shops or products. The

results show that information described on the websites was classified into two

categories, firstly, information about the shop and its procedures and services. Secondly,

the concrete information necessary for the consumption process, such as payment

information and return information, which heightens the reliability of these shops.The

term ―brand‖ originally refers to a ―description or trademark which indicates a type of

26
product made by a particular company.‖ However, in modern Japanese society it refers

to those branded products that are perceived to have a higher quality than other similar

products. Thus, the term ―brand‖ authenticates that its products belong to a high-class,

and the people who possess these branded products are regarded as ―exclusive

people‖ through the ―basking-in-reflected glory process‖ (Cialdini, Borden, Thorne,

Walker, Freeman, & Sloan, 1976). The branded products interest female young people

and recently they have been more inclined to purchase them via online shopping.

However, they tend to refrain from purchasing these products via online shopping due to

their distrust of it. Consequently, it becomes more and more important to analyse what

kind of information contributes to trust formation in online shopping. Female

Undergraduat Students‟ Attitudes toward Branded Products First, we introduce several

surveys for determining the attitude towards, and ownership of, branded products among

female young people, especially female undergraduate students in Japan, who are the

target group of this study. Infoplant (2007) showed that nearly half of all people are

interested in some branded products. Although branded products generally attract the

attention of various kinds of people, young females are especially interested in branded

products. Infoplant (2007) revealed that more than 60% of females under 20 years of age

and nearly 80% of females in their twenties have purchased some branded products.

Furthermore, the percentage of people who usually buy new branded products is about

20% among females under 20 years of age and more than 10% in females in their

twenties.

David Anderson (02 .02 .2006) in their research carried out by a consumer behaviour

researcher at Henley Management College has investigated what drives people to search

online. The findings reveal that convenience, time-efficiency and personal control are

the key drivers for consumers to search online, rather than cost. It also shows that the

27
relationship between traditional and online retailing outlets needs to be more unified E-

shopping has changed the face of retail, and surfers are now looking for spring sale

bargains. This is following a bumper e-Christmas, where Internet shopping soared

almost 50% during the 10- week run-up to Christmas 2005 (IMRG). However, the new

findings reveal that convenience and personal control are the key drivers for consumers

to search online. Dr Susan Rose, from Henley Management College, said: ―What

motivates online shoppers is the ability to shop, where, when and how they like.

Nowadays people can shop over their Shreddies in the morning. The research, that

analyses data from 304 electrical goods Internet shoppers, provides businesses with a

guide to getting the information highway buzzing with potential customers. Big-ticket

items such as digital TVs, cameras, or iPods now feature on our e-shopping list. The

Internet provides a rich source of information about brands and retail channels that

enable us to search and find information to help us with our final purchase decision. For

businesses there are some steps to help them embrace the Internet revolution with

success. A key factor driving Internet use for „online window shopping‟ is its

usefulness in our personal lives. The Internet frees time and makes the information

search process, Research suggests that people search online for some goods, yet buy

from a traditional high street retailer, or look around for goods in shops, then take their

search online. In turn, it is essential for retailers who operate both on and off line to

ensure that they embrace a joined up process that appears seamless to the customer.

Some retailers have still to successfully unite the two retailing methods - this is key to

contemporary customer service. Factors such as how much the medium challenges us

mentally and our confidence to navigate and understand the technology can turn us on

or off the idea of browsing online for products. A clear divide is appearing between the

occasional online shopper and the regular experienced user. Concerns about how easy

28
the system is to use have almost disappeared for online shopping enthusiasts, but for

occasional users e-tailing sites need to be easy to navigate. Websites must be accessible

and operate efficiently. The research found that the expectation of getting a good

financial deal is still a strong motivator to seek out products online, but this is secondary

to the importance but, many people steer clear of electronic buying because of security

worries. Only once online retailers can reassure customers about fraud and privacy will

the online shopping curve really take off. Worries about the risk involved, in

terms of financial transaction and privacy remain. A move from „big brands‟ to

„bargains‟ may only take place once.

Rajeev Kamineni (JAN 1999) in their study The World Wide Web can

changehuman behavior and human interactions to a very large extent. Web based

shopping behavior is one major example to point out the trends in this direction. This

study is of a very exploratory nature and it intends to establish the differences between

several web - based shoppers from different parts of the world. Several critical factors

associated with online shopping behavior will be explored. A cross cultural data set will

be collected and an illustrative description of the shoppers will be provided. As a final

step the cross cultural differences between several shoppers will be explored. One

question which will run as a theme throughout the course of this paper is, ―Will the

traditional consumer behavior theory and research be altered by the advent of web based

shopping?‖

There is a huge difference between a physical store and its electronic counterpart. A help

button on the home page of the web-shopping site replaces the sales clerks‟ friendly

advice and service. The familiar layout of the physical store becomes a maze of pull

down menus, product indices and search features. Now more than ever, the promise of

electronic commerce and online shopping will depend to a great extent upon the

29
interface and how people interact with the computer. At the same time, there are some

inherent difficulties in maintaining an online inventory. In a regular store, the managers

can pull out a product from the shelf if they feel that it is not fast moving or has no

demand. This is a privilege that cannot be extended to the online retail store.

Anita desai (2003) in her sudy E-tailing is the practice of selling retail goods on the

internet. It is the abbreviated version of ―electronic retailing‖ which essentially

constitutes business to consumer transaction. While the concept of online retailing or e-

tailing is no longer in its nascent stage; it continues to evolve, as advanced e-commerce

applications act as a potent catalyst in the development of e-tailing.

The idea of online retailing or e-tailing which almost every net-savvy individual is

familiar with; offers a convenient mode of shopping online and the consumer gets to

choose from a diverse range of products and services as opposed to the analogous

physical shopping experience. Furthermore, online retailers or e-tailers get to expose and

sell their products to a global audience through their e-stores.

The E-commerce industry plays a vital role in its growth and development. The

consumer or buyer is usually provided with detailed information and description of the

product which helps them make a judicious choice before making an online purchase.

For consumers who face a paucity of time or want a diverse range of products to choose

from, e-tailing proves to be an ideal option. Every e-tailer wants his/her share of domain

amidst the vast World Wide Web galaxy. Due to the intense competitory quotient

involved, every e-tailer out there wants to offer their customer/buyer a smooth and

pleasant shopping experience. Therefore, e-tailing is just not restricted to putting up

products for sale for consumers to buy. As consumers today are well-informed, it is

understood that they would make a well informed decision as well. This involves a fair

amount of product research, price comparison and checking the credibility of the e-store.

30
As Bellman et al. (1999) mention, demographics are not so important in

determining online purchasing potential. Whether the consumer has a wired lifestyle and

the time constraints the person has are much more influential. Risk taking

propensity is also a powerful factor. E-shoppers have higher risk taking tendencies.

Consumers with high levels of privacy and security concerns have lower purchasing

rates in online markets but they balance this characteristic with their quest for making

use of the information advantage of the environment (Kwak et al., 2002; Miyazaki and

Fernandez, 2001). These educated individuals, as more confident decision makers, are

much more demanding and have greater control over the purchasing process from

initiation to completion (Rao et al., 1998).Identifying pre-purchase intentions of

consumers is the key to understand whythey 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 examinedare: transaction security, vendor quality, price

considerations, information and service quality, system quality, privacy and security

risks, trust, shopping enjoyment, valenceof online shopping experience, and perceived

product quality. (Liao and Cheung, 2001;Saeed et al., 2003; Miyazaki and Fernandez,

2001; Chen and Dubinsky, 2003).The lists of factors having a positive or negative

impact on consumers' propensityto shop do not seem to be very different from the

considerations encountered in offline environments. However, the sensitivities

individuals display for each variable mightbe very different in online marketplaces.

Factors like price sensitivity, importance attributed to brands or the choice sets

considered in online and offline environmentscan be significantly different from

each other (Andrews and Currim, 2004).Uncertainties about products and

shopping processes, trustworthiness of the onlineseller, or the convenience and

31
economic utility they wish to derive from electronicshopping determine the costs versus

the benefits of this environment for consumers(Teo et al., 2004). Further studies aiming

to complete the full set of factors influencingconsumers' prepurchase intentions are still

much awaited.

Simon Rigby , 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 eassurances,product ranges and services. We conducted this survey during

our peak selling period as we are in the process of developing our range of online

interactive services, such as Live Chat and CometTV.co.uk. Powerful multi media sales

tools will soon become standard in the online shopping arena. In three years, you'll be

just as likely to click and watch a product related video of your intended purchase on

your computer before you buy - as you are to have an email address today.

Research summarized by Emarketer(2005) showed that the Internet applied a bigger

influence than for offline media for electronics compared to that clothing, beauty or

home improvement as would be expected. Internet Marketing has changed the way

people buy and sell good and service. It has added lot of convenience and easy to the

whole process of buying. Internet buying prevalence is highest in the United States,

where 93% of Internet users have bought on-line (Business Software Association, 2002),

and it is growing rapidly in India as well (www.ebay.com)

Anders Hasslinger; Selma Hodzic; Claudio Opazo (2008-02-01) in theirstudy they

showed that developed into a new distribution channel and online transactions are

rapidly increasing. This has created a need to understand how the consumer perceives

online purchases. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if there are any

particular factors that influence the online consumer. Primary data was collected through

32
a survey that was conducted on students at the University of Kristianstad. Price, Trust

and Convenience were identified as important factors. Price was considered to be the

most important factor for a majority of the students. Furthermore, three segments were

identified, High Spenders, Price Easers and Bargain Seekers. Through these segments

we found a variation of the different factors importance and established implications for

online book stores.

Harris Interactive (2009) in their study of online customer experience. The survey

found that online customer experience reached an inflection point in 2009. The percent

of consumers who have experienced problems when conducting transactions online

showed its first substantial decrease in five years -- from approximately 87% in all

previous Tealeaf surveys to 80% in 2009. While the percent of consumers experiencing

online transaction problems, at 80%, remains high (the potential online shopping dollars

impacted by transaction problems rings up at $47.6 billion), this improvement points to

a growing business focus on delivering better customer experiences. The survey sheds

light on forces driving this accelerated online customer experience focus, including the

down economy and increased consumer power due to experience-sharing via social

media. It also examines consumer behavior when transacting online, call center behavior

related to online issues and mobile commerce. Verticals represented in the findings

include retail, insurance, travel and financial services.

San Francisco, CA – 6th October 2009 - the leader in online Customer

Experience Management software (CEM), today announced the results of the 5th annual

survey of online consumer behavior, commissioned by Tealeaf and conducted by Harris

Interactive® [results available at www.tealeaf.com/Harris]. The survey found that 48%

of U.S. online adults say that they are now conducting more online transactions than

33
they did in the past given the current economic climate. However, 80% of adults who

have conducted an online transaction in the past year experience problems when doing

so in 2009. Previous Tealeaf surveys have consistently shown that approximately 87%

were affected. This improvement over prior years may be attributed to a growing

business focus on delivering better online customer experiences. While this reported

decline in online transaction issues is good news, online customer experience is still very

much a work in progress. The percentage of consumers affected by issues such as error

messages (38%), endless loops (19%) and login problems (28%) is still extremely high.
1
Further; the resulting business impact is significant, as 32% of those who experience

issues when conducting transactions online.

Bikramjit Rishi (2010) in their study on online shopping is an innovative option of

distribution available in the hands of marketers. It is innovative and creative because

marketers can experiment with it in form, content, visibility and availability. In India

online shopping is considered as a relevant alternative channel for retailing and it is now

an important part of the retail experience. This research study is an empirical study to

find out the motivators and decisional influencers of online shopping. The sample has

been selected from the youth population as this group of people actually use internet to

buy online. The study highlights that reliability; accessibility and convenience are the

major motivator factors which motivate the Indian consumer to buy online. Similarly,

reluctance and preference are the two decisional factors which influence the decision.

34
CHAPTER - III
COMPANY
PROFILE

35
 COMPANY PROFILE
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.

"In his typically analytic way, Bezos cast his decision in what he calls the "regret-

minimization framework." He imagined that he was 80 years old and looking back at his

life. And suddenly everything became clear to him. When he was 80, he'd never regret

having missed out on a six-figure Christmas bonus; he wouldn't even regret having tried

to build an online business and failed. "In fact, I'd have been proud of that, proud of

myself for having taken that risk and tried to participate in that thing called the Internet

that I thought was going to be such a big deal. It was like the wild, wild West, a new

frontier. And I knew that if I didn't try this, I would regret it. And that would be

inescapable."

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 catalogues for books might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore

could 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 the desire

to sell many products.

The domain amazon.com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually by 2008

according to a Compete.com survey. This was twice the numbers of walmart.com.

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

36
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, Amazon

persevered, and, finally, turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2002: U.S. $5

million, just 1¢ a share, on revenues of more than U.S. $1 billion, but the profit was

symbolically important.

Merchant partnerships

Amazon.com powers and operates retail web sites for Target, Sears Canada, Benefit

Cosmetics, Bebe Stores, Timex Corporation, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare and

Lacoste. For a growing number of enterprise clients, currently including the UK

merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity and Mothercare, Amazon

provides a unified multichannel platform from whence a customer can interchangeably

interact with the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, and phone-based customer

service agents. Amazon Web Services also powers AOL's Shop@AOL.

The company was founded as a result of what Jeff Bezos called his "regret minimization

framework," which described his efforts to fend off any regrets for not participating

sooner in the Internet business boom during that time.In 1994, Bezos left his

employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall Street firm, and moved to

Seattle, Washington. He began to work on a business planfor what would eventually

become Amazon.com.On July 5, 1994, Bezos initially incorporated the company with

the name Cadabra, Inc.Bezos changed the name to Amazon.com, Inc. a few months

later, after a lawyer misheard its original name as "cadaver".In September 1994, Bezos

purchased the URL Relentless.com and briefly considered naming his online store

Relentless, but friends told him the name sounded a bit sinister. The domain is still

owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer.The company went online as

37
Amazon.com in 1995.Bezos selected the name Amazon by looking through the

dictionary; he settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and

different", just as he had envisioned for his Internet enterprise. The Amazon River, he

noted, was the biggest river in the world, and he planned to make his store the biggest

bookstore in the world.Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand and

told a reporter, "There's nothing about our model that can't be copied over time. But you

know, McDonald's got copied. And it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A

lot of it comes down to the brand name. Brand names are more important online than

they are in the physical world."Additionally, a name that began with "A" was

preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was

alphabetized.After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual

Web commerce growth at 2,300%, Bezos created a list of 20 products that could be

marketed online. He narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising

products, which included: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software,

videos, and books. Bezos finally decided that his new business would sell books online,

due to thelarge worldwide demand for literature, the low price points for books, along

with the huge number of titles available in print. Amazon was founded in the garage of

Bezos' home in Bellevue, Washington.

Jan,

38
Digital marketing involves the promotion of products and services using digital

distribution channels that reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal, and cost

effective manner. At a high level, digital channels can have many categories, such as the

internet, mobile, digital outdoors, and any form of interactive digital media. Each

category has multiple digital tools/ sub-channels that can support digital marketing.

These include:

 Internet- Email banner ads, dedicated websites, pop-up ads, sponsored content,

paid keyword search, podcasts, etc… Newer channels comprise social networks,

blogs, wikis, widgets, virtual words, online gaming etc…

 Mobile- SMS,MMS, mobile Web, mobile application and mobile video

 Digital outdoors – Stills,/ video digital display, interactive kiosks

 Interactive digital medium – interactive television channels

Any combination of the above channels can be used to gain maximum visibility with

utmost impact among targeted customers, thereby enabling more business at a

reasonable cost. While digital channels empower rmarketers with a tremendous

advantage in terms of their extensive reach, leveraging their potential requires effective

management of multiple channels with complex variables to realize optimal value

39
 Snapdeal

Type of business Private

Type of site E-commerce

Available in English

Founded 2010; 9 years ago

Headquarters New Delhi, India

Area served India

Founder(s) Kunal Bahl

Rohit Bansal

Industry Internet

Services Online shopping

Website Snapdeal

Alexa rank 1,025 (Jan 2019)

Registration Required

Current status Active

Native client(s) on iOS, Android, Windows

Snapdeal is an Indian e-commerce company based in New Delhi, India. The company

was started by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010. As of 2014, Snapdeal

had 3,00,000 sellers, over 3 crore products across 800+ diverse categories from over

1,25,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers and a reach of 6,000

towns and cities across the country.

40
Investors in the company include SoftBank Corp, Ru-Net Holdings, Tybourne Capital,

PremjiInvest, Alibaba Group, Temasek Holdings, Bessemer Venture Partners, IndoUS

Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Saama Capital, Foxconn Technology Group, Blackrock,

eBay, Nexus Ventures, Intel Capital, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Singapore-based

investment entity Brother Fortune Apparel and Ratan Tata. In April 2015, Snapdeal

acquired FreeCharge for $400 million, but resold the mobile-payments company in

2017.

History

Snapdeal was founded on 4 February 2010 as a daily deals platform, but expanded in

September 2011 to become an online marketplace. Snapdeal has grown to become one

of the largest online marketplace in India offering an assortment of 3 crore products

across diverse categories from over 3,00,000 sellers, shipping to more than 6,000 towns

and cities in India. In March 2015, Snapdeal brought actor Aamir Khan for the

promotion of its website in India. In October 2017, Snapdeal's CFO Anup Vikal

resigned.

Funding

Snapdeal has received several rounds of funding. It received its first funding worth

US$12 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners in January

2011. This was followed by another round in July 2011 worth US$45 million from

Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investors. The third round of funding was worth

US$50 million and came from eBay and other pre-existing investors.

Three years later, in February 2014, Snapdeal raised funding of US$133 million. This

round was led by eBay with participation from then-current institutional investors:

Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and

Saama Capital. In May of the same year, funding worth US$105 million was raised.

41
This was backed by investors BlackRock, Temasek Holdings, PremjiInvest and others.

Softbank invested US$647 million in October 2014, making it the largest investor in

Snapdeal so far.

In August 2015, Alibaba Group, Foxconn and SoftBank invested US$500 million as

fresh capital. In February of the following year, one of the world's largest pension funds,

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and Singapore-based investment entity Brother Fortune

Apparel, led an investment worth US$200 million in the Jasper Infotech-owned

company.

In May 2017, Snapdeal raised funding worth ₹ 113 crore funding from Nexus Venture

Partners.

Acquisition

Snapdeal has acquired several business enterprises. In June 2010, Snapdeal owners

Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd acquired Bengaluru-based group buying website Grabbon.com

for an undisclosed amount. In April 2012, Delhi-based online sports goods retailer

esportsbuy.com was acquired. This was followed in 2013 by the acquisition of Shopo.in,

an online marketplace for Indian handicraft products. In 2014, SnapDeal acquired

Doozton.com, a fashion product discovery technology platform, and Wishpicker.com, a

tech platform that uses machine learning to deliver recommendations for gift purchases.

Both deals were for undisclosed amounts.

Snapdeal made majority of its acquisitions in the year 2015. In January, it acquired a

stake in product comparison website, Smartprix.comfollowed by the acquisition of

luxury fashion products discovery site, Exclusively.in. In March, the firm acquired 20%

stake in logistics service company Gojavas.com. Two more acquisitions in the same

month were eCommerce management software and fulfillment solution provider,

Unicommerce.com and RupeePower, a digital platform for financial transactions. In

42
April 2015, mobile-payments company FreeCharge.com was acquired. Programmatic

display advertising platform, Reduce Data was acquired in September of the same year.

In August 2016, logistics firm Pigeon Express acquired a 51% stake in GoJavas with

Snapdeal holding 49% stake in the firm.

Merger

In August 2016, rumors surfaced through a VCCircle exclusive article that Snapdeal

was considering possibilities of mergers with its bigger rivals Flipkart and Amazon. The

speculations about a possible merger became more concrete in April 2017 when a

number of media houses reported that Softbank, one of the major investors in Snapdeal,

wanted the company to merge with Flipkart. The discussions on merger

with Flipkart went on for a number of months and ended in July 2017 when the deal

failed to get approved by 100% of investors as required by the terms put forth

by Flipkart. Founders' opposition to the deal, several indemnity clauses related to

Snapdeal's financials and minority stakeholders' discontentment over special payouts to

Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, Snapdeal's early investors, were among the

many reasons that lead to the breakdown of the deal. This was followed by Snapdeal's

founders taking a decision to continue operating Snapdeal as an independent company

with Snapdeal 2.0 as their new vision.

However, amid the merger discussions, Freecharge, a mobile payments company bought

by Snapdeal in April 2015, was sold to Axis Bank for $60 million. Freecharge was

originally acquired by Snapdeal for $400 million.

43
Business results

In the year 2012-13, Snapdeal had said that it expected revenues of about ₹600 crore

(US$83 million). Betting big on the growth of mobile commerce, Kunal Bahl, the CEO,

said at the time that 15-20 per cent of the sales on Snapdeal came through m-commerce.

Snapdeal.com expected the total sale of products traded on its platform to cross ₹2,000

crore (US$280 million) in the fiscal year 2013-14 helped by its robust growth in the past

two years and the growing popularity of e-commerce in India. In June 2014, Snapdeal

announced that it had achieved the milestone of 1000 sellers its platform getting sales of

over ₹1 crore. Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd led Snapdeal registered a revenue growth of 56%

to ₹1,457 crore from ₹933 crore, but incurred 150% increase in loss from ₹1,328 crore

in the year ended 31 March 2016 The year-to-March 2016 numbers includes the

financials of digital payments platform Freecharge, which was acquired by Snapdeal in

April 2015. There was a 40% drop in revenue to ₹903 crore in the fiscal year ending in

2017.

Marketing mix of Snapdeal

Snapdeal is one of the largest market places for the online customers. Founded in the

year 2010, by Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl this e-commerce company has managed to

open the online doors for every Indian shopper. This private company is famous for

providing deals that are profitable and rewarding for the consumers.

Products in the Marketing mix of Snapdeal

Snapdeal has gained a lucrative platform, which it utilizes to market at least five

million products in a range line that is as diverse as the country. It is the second largest

company related to e marketing with more than fifty thousand merchants attached and

working through it. The company has created a buzz by using this platform to feature

44
more than six thousand brands in five hundred categories. ―Xiomi‖, the

famous brand has cracked a deal with Snapdeal under which it will sell its productat this

site. Some of the most liked and purchased products and their categories are as follows-

 Apparel – this includes clothing for men, children, teenagers and women

from brands like Biba, Rangriti etc.

 Personal care and Beauty products – brands like Maybelline, Lakme,

Livon and L‘Oreal are parts of Snapdeal with products related to oral

care, make-up, skin care, hair care and grooming.

 Fashion Accessories

 Perfumes and Beauty – This includes deodorants Attars, air fresheners

and perfumes for men and women.

 Health & Nutrition- This includes medical equipment, massagers etc.

 Mobiles & Tablets–This includesMemory cards, earphones, tablet

accessories, bluetooth devices, power banks, and tablets, phones

belonging to brands like Apple, Micromax and Samsung.

 Footwear – This includes shoes for men, children, women from

important brands like Puma, Sketchers.

 Jewelry – This includes fashion jewelry, gold coins and silver jewelry

etc.

 Computers & Laptops – This includesmonitors, desktops printers etc.

 Music Instruments – This category includes guitars, drums, DJ

equipment etc.

 Books- This includes audio books, e books.

 Movies

 Camera and its Accessories

45
  Home & Kitchen – brands like Pigeon, Tupperware and prestige display

their products like cookware, disposables, glassware and catering

supplies.

Place in the Marketing mix of Snapdeal

Snapdeal is one of the innovative ideas that help to provide services to a large segment

of society, who loves hassle free shopping and for one who does not have the time or the

inclination to make it to the market. Snapdeal has its headquarters in New Delhi, the

Indian capital and with more than thirty branch offices in cities like Pune, Kolkata,

Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

It has spread its network to every part of the country. The company‘s offering of diverse

and assorted goods is possible through its network of more than fifty thousand sellers

that transports the numerous products to more than four thousand towns and cities in

various parts of the country. This shopping site is free for use with more than fifteen

million people subscribing to it and sometimes more than thirty thousand deals cracked

in a day. The company is growing leaps and bounds because of its deals and because of

its excellent customer service. The purchased products are delivered at a fast pace to

ensure customer satisfaction.

46
Flipkart Private Limited, d/b/a Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company based in

Bengaluru, India. It was founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007. The

company initially focused on book sales, before expanding into other product categories

such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials & groceries, and lifestyle

products.

The service competes primarily with Amazon's Indian subsidiary, and the domestic rival

Snapdeal. As of March 2017, Flipkart held a 39.5% market share of India's e-commerce

industry. Flipkart is significantly dominant in the sale of apparel (a position that was

bolstered by its acquisitions of Myntra and Jabong.com), and was described as being

"neck and neck" with Amazon in the sale of electronics and mobile phones. Flipkart also

owns PhonePe, a mobile payments service based on the Unified Payments Interface

(UPI).

In August 2018, U.S.-based retail chain Walmart acquired a 77% controlling stake in

Flipkart for US$16 billion, valuing it at $20 billion.

FLIPKART.COM

Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It

was founded by Sachin Bansal and BinnyBansal in 2007. In its initial years, Flipkart

focused on online sales of books, but it later expanded to electronic goods and a variety

of other products. Flipkart offers multiple payment methods like credit card, debit card,

net banking, e-gift voucher and Cash on Delivery.

Flipkart went live in 2007 with the objective of making books easily available to anyone

who had internet access. They‘re present across various categories including movies,

music, games, mobiles, cameras, computers, healthcare and personal products, home

appliances and electronics – and still counting!

47
With over 11.5 million book titles, 11 different categories, more than 2 million

registered users and sale of 30000 items a day, they‘re one of the leading e-commerce

players in the country.

Their success is largely due to their obsession with providing customers a memorable

online shopping experience. Be it Cash on Delivery, a 30-day replacement policy, EMI

options, free shipping - and of course the great prices that they offer. Then there's

dedicated Flipkart delivery team that works round the clock to personally make sure

packages reach on time. For now they're present in 27 lucky cities, but don't worry,

plans are underway to spread to many others.

History of Flipkart.com

Flipkart was founded in 2007 by Sachin and BinnyBansal, both alumni of the Indian

Institute of Technology, Delhi. They worked for Amazon.com before quitting and

founding their own company. They both were solid coders and wanted to open a portal

that compared different e-commerce websites, but there were hardly any such sites in

India and they decided to give birth to their own e-commerce venture - Flipkart.com.

Thus was born Flipkart in Oct 2007 with an initial investment of 4 lac (co-founders

savings). It was never going to be easy since India had a bad past experiences with e-

commerce trading. It was not an easy segment to break into, people were very particular

in paying money for something which they had not seen and received. The trust was

missing in the Indian customers. So what Flipkart had to do was to instil trust and faith

in their customers. And they did exactly the same later.

Initially they used word of mouth marketing to popularise their company. Flipkart

began with selling books, since books are easy to procure, target market which reads

books is in abundance, books provide more margin, are easy to pack and deliver, do not

get damaged in transit and most importantly books are not very expensive, so the

48
amount of money a customer has to spend to try out one's service for one time is very

minimal. Flipkart sold only books for the first two years. A few months later, the

company sold its first book on Flipkart.com—John Woods' Leaving Microsoft to

Change the World.

Flipkart started with the consignment model (procurement based on demand) i.e. they

had ties with 2 distributors in Bangalore, whenever a customer ordered a book, they used

to personally procure the book from the dealer, pack the book in their office and then

courier the same. In the initial months the founder's personal cell numbers used to be the

customer support numbers. So, in the start they tried their best to provide good service,

focus on the website - easy to browse and order and hassle-free, and strove hard to

resolve any customer issues. Since there were not any established players in the market,

this allowed them a lot of space to grow, and they did in fact grew very rapidly.

Flipkart Today

Today, as per Alexa traffic rankings, Flipkart is amongst the top 20 Indian Web sites and

has been credited with being India's largest online bookseller with over 11 million titles

on offer. The store started with selling books and in 2010 branched out to selling CDs,

DVDs, mobile phones and accessories, cameras, computers, computer accessories and

peripherals, and in 2011, pens & stationery, other electronic items such as home

appliances, kitchen appliances, personal care gadgets, health care products etc. Further

in 2012, Flipkart added A.C, air coolers, school supplies, office supplies, art supplies &

life style products to its product portfolio. As of today, The Company started from 2

employees and now employs more than 4500 people.

Flipkart.com started off from selling books in 2007, based in Bangalore, and entered

then consumer electronics category with the launch of mobile phones, in September

49
2010. Since then it kept on adding more new products categories including books,

mobiles, computers, cameras, home & electronic gadgets& appliances, In addition to

these very Recently, Flipkart.com has also widened its foray by entering into the

emerging digital content market with the recent launch ofFlyte, the digital music store &

is still continuing to enlarge its product portfolio. It is now one of the leading e-

commerce players in India, currently ranks at the top 20websites in India, spread in 37

cities, with 11.5 million plus book titles, 14 different categories, 3 million plus

registered users and sale of 30000 items a day.It provides online-shoppers a memorable

online-shopping experience because of its innovative services like:

• Cash on Delivery,

• 30-day replacement policy,

• Easy Monthly Instalment options (EMI),

• Free shipping

• Discounted prices & deals

Flipkart started with consignment model as discussed above, since most of the customer

issues like delivery delays etc. result from procurement model, the company started

opening its own warehouses as it started getting more investments. The company opened

its first warehouse in Bangalore and later on opened warehouses in Delhi, Kolkatta and

Mumbai. Today the company works with more than 500 suppliers. As on date more than

80% orders of Flipkart are handled via warehouses which help in quick and efficient

service.

A humble beginning from books, Flipkart now has a gamut of products ranging from:

Cell phones, laptops, computers, cameras, games, music, audio players, TV's, healthcare

products, washing machines etc. etc. Still, Flipkart derives around 50% of its revenue

50
from selling books online. Flipkart is the Indian market leader in selling books both

offline and online, it enjoys an online share of around 80%. The electronic items have a

large number of players like Naaptol, Letsbuy, Indiaplaza, Tradus, Infibeam, Yebhi etc.

The electronic market share is distributed among them in different unknown proportions.

India has around 13.5 crore internet users today where as the number of homes with

Cable and Satellite (C&S) television is 10.5 crore. The expected internet users will reach

a figure of 30 crore by 2014 and C&S homes are expected to be 14 crore by 2014. Thus

India has a tremendous internet growth and with the customers getting accustomed to e-

commerce, the future of e-commerce sector is definitely rosy. An approximated 25 lac

people have transacted online this year, the number is all set to increase with time.

Also to mention most of the Flipkart customers use internet from PC's/Laptops to order

goods. The use of mobile internet is very less at the moment, but with the advent of

smart phones the use of mobile internet for e-commerce transactions will soar with time.

India has 8 crore mobile net users at the moment, the number is expected to swell to

22.5 crore by 2014.

Flipkart had a revenue of 4 crore in FY 2008 - 2009, 20 crore in FY 2009 - 2010, 75

crore in FY 2010 - 2011, and the revenue for FY 2011 - 2012 which ends on 31 Mar

2012 had 500 crore. This is indeed a massive growth. The company targets revenues of

5000 crore by 2015.

51
Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Leading E-commerce giant of India, Flipkart have 75 million registered users who had

helped the company to achieve 5 billion dollar GMV (Gross merchandise value) of sales

in FY15. GMV is the indicator of performance of the company in terms of Total value

of merchandise sold by the company during the period.

Its ―Big billion days‖ is the most successful campaign till now that has helped the

company in increasing its sales during the festival season.

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart –

Behavioural & Psychographic are the segmentation strategies used by Flipkart to

segment the market to cater to the customers changing needs & wants. With the rise in

per capita income and change in buying patterns, customers are getting more acquainted

and are comfortable in buying online.

Flipkart uses undifferentiated targeting strategy, since people of all demography

purchase items online which is available to everyone where the delivery is possible.

National & Multinational E-commerce companies are giving neck to neck competition

to each other, due to which their positioning is very important. Flipkart has positioned

itself as a trust worthy and customer friendly E-commerce brand.

Mission- “Ab har wish hogi poori!!”

Tagline-―Flipkart Matlab bilkul pakka‖ Leading E-commerce giant of India, Flipkart

have 75 million registered users who had helped the company to achieve 5 billion dollar

GMV (Gross merchandise value) of sales in FY15. GMV is the indicator of performance

of the company in terms of Total value of merchandise sold by the company during the

period.

52
Its ―Big billion days‖ is the most successful campaign till now that has helped the

company in increasing its sales during the festival season.

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart –

Behavioural & Psychographic are the segmentation strategies used by Flipkart to

segment the market to cater to the customers changing needs & wants. With the rise in

per capita income and change in buying patterns, customers are getting more acquainted

and are comfortable in buying online.

Flipkart uses undifferentiated targeting strategy, since people of all demography

purchase items online which is available to everyone where the delivery is possible.

National & Multinational E-commerce companies are giving neck to neck competition

to each other, due to which their positioning is very important. Flipkart has positioned

itself as a trust worthy and customer friendly E-commerce brand.

53
Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy
of Flipkart

Numerous acquisitions by Flipkart

In a highly competitive E-commerce market of India. companies are finding it hard

to differentiate their offering from others.

Flipkart have gained several competitive advantages over others:

1. They have acquired companies like Myntra, Jabong, Appiterate, Letsbuy,

Mine360, chakpak.com, weread and the latest one being UPI-based

payments start-up PhonePe. These companies are helping it in enhancing its

functional capabilities.

2. Founders are Ex-Amazon employee so they have the required know how of

e-commerce.

3. Flipkart had received $700M of funding last year after which its valuation

gone to $15 billion.

4. It has a fantastic positioning in the mobiles and small appliances segment.

54
BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart‘s merchandising section (including Myntra) as well as its electronics segment is

a Star in the BCG matrix. The reason is that the segment is growing and more & more

customers are getting accustomed with online buying of clothes & electronics items in

India. But as the market is huge, the market share is less for each E-commerce player

and they are fighting hard for it.

All other segments are question mark due to intense competition between the

players. Profitability is low overall so the future is unknown.

Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Having its own distribution firm (Ekart) and payment gateway payzippy has helped the

company in controlling its expenses and passing the benefits to the end customer.

The very demerit of Flipkart‘s distribution channel is its reach as compared to the peer

E-commerce companies like Amazon, Snapdeal Ebay etc who can deliver the

customer‘s order even to the remote locations.

One more problem of Flipkart is that it does not support sellers with package size of

above 8 kgs. You have to use flipkart advantage for the same.

Brand equity in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart have garnered a market leader position through its innovative branding

strategies. The ―big billion day‖, ― No Kidding, No Worries‖, ―Fair-Tale‖, ―Shopping

ka Naya Address‖ , ―Shop Anytime, Anywhere‖ are the successful campaigns that

helped the company in creating top of the mind awareness. Flipkarts brand valuation is

a whopping $15 billion by 2015.

Different mediums i.e. twitter, facebook, TV commercials and promotion of mobile app

shopping have helped Flipkart in becoming a household name in the target market.

55
Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

In India most of the companies are facing issue of government regulations where only

26% FDI was allowed earlier which is now increased to 100% in recent budget of FY16-

17. Flipkart is extending their category which is helping it to acquire more & more

customers.

W.S retail is its exclusive supplier for 1/4rth of the items sold through Flipkart, which

means less supplier & more hold on them in terms of pricing because they will face

head on competition from small suppliers.

Externally, the competition is dynamic as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal are always at

loggerheads. Where Flipkart has the advantage of small items, Snapdeal has the

industrial advantage and the reach of Snapdeal is far and wide. The competition is

growing worse as all of them are pouring in a lot of money.

Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Changing government regulations and entry of some biggies like Alibaba, Ebay,

Snapdeal and various other start-ups is driving growth in the industry. Indian

government have allowed 100% FDI in marketplace setup which will help the

companies in their expansion and further penetration in the current market.

56
Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of Flipkart

Flipkart customers consist of middle class social groups who are comfortable with

online shopping and find it convenient. Majority of the customers are the professional

who are busy with their business/Job & find it convenient to purchase anything online

rather than visiting the physical outlet in order to save time & money.

57
CHAPTER -IV
OBJECTIVE OF
THE STUDY

58
 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
 To find out the satisfaction level of the customer for online purchase.

 To determine what are the most preferred product to be purchased online

 To determine the customer satisfaction level towards quality of products online.

 To determine the refund policies are trustable or not.

 To determine the customer satisfaction towards replacement Policies.

59
Jan,

CHAPTER -V
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

60
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research is a common parlance which refers to search for knowledge. It is a procedure

of logical and systematic application of the fundamentals of science to the general and

overall questions of a study and scientific technique, which provide precise tools,

specific procedures, and technical rather philosophical means for getting and ordering

the data prior to their logical analysis and manipulating different type of research

designs is available depending upon the nature of research project, availability of

manpower and circumstances.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in

a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in

procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research

is conducted. This research was descriptive in nature

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH:

The research undertaken was a descriptive research as it was concerned with specific

predictions, with narration of facts and characteristics concerning Customer Satisfaction

towards Online Shopping in Lucknow City.

a. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION. There are several methods of collecting

primary data, particularly in surveys and descriptive researches. In descriptive

research, we obtain primary data either through observation or through direct

communication with respondents in one form or another or through personal

interviews. I have used questionnaires(Primary) and Internet source (Secondary) for

data Collection

b. DATA SOURCE
There were two types of data sources used in this research. These were

61
PRIMARY DATA

Primary data is the data collected for the first time from the source and never have been

used earlier. The data can be collected through interviews, observations and

questionnaires.

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data is the data collected from already been use or published information like

journals, diaries, books, etc .In this research project, secondary source used were various

journals, and website of various online journals.

c. SAMPLE DESIGN
A sample design is made up of two elements. Sampling method. Sampling method refers

to the rules and procedures by which some elements of the population are included in

the sample. Some common sampling methods are simple random sampling, stratified

sampling , and cluster sampling .

I have used convenience sampling for study.

Convenience Sample: A convenience sample is a type of non-probability sampling

method where the sample is taken from a group of people easy to contact or to reach.

For example, standing at a mall or a grocery store and asking people to answer questions

would be an example of a convenience sample.

d. UNIVERSE OF STUDY: Universe of the study means all the customer of E-

commerce companies in Lucknow city.

e. SAMPLE AREA: Alambagh, Sarojni Nagar and BBD Campus Lucknow.

f. SAMPLE SIZE: A sample of minimum respondents will be selected from Lucknow

City. An effort was made to select respondents evenly. The survey was carried out

on 100 respondents.

g. SAMPLE UNIT: customer of E-commerce companies in Lucknow city.

62
h. STATISTICAL TOOLS TO BE USED: A structured questionnaires is used to
collect the data and data will be analyzed with the help of percentage table,

respective graph, bar graph and pie charts.

TOOLS OF PRESENTATION:

It means what all tools are used to present the data in a meaningful way so that it

becomes easily understandable. In this research tables and graphs were used for

presenting the data.

63
 CHAPTER -VI
DATA ANALYSIS
&
INTERPRETATION

64
 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION
The data collected from primary sources through collection of the responses of the

questionnaire was assembled, stored, selected and analyzed. The analysis of the data is

as under here-

Demography:
1. Gender of Respondents:
Table 4.1: Gender wise respondents
Male Female Total
Responses 58 42 100
Percentage 58 42 100

Graph 4.1: Gender wise respondents

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
MALE FEMALE

42%

58%

Analysis and Interpretation:

According to demography profile, in this study 58% male and 42% female respondents

are part of my target population and they help me to fulfill my questionnaire from

different area of Lucknow city. From these groups total respondents are 100. So,

according to the survey result, the male respondents are more and can be told that they

interested to shop online than female, even though both of them shop online.

65
2. Age Group:
Table 4.2: Age wise respondents

15 -25 25 -35 35 - 45 45 & above Total

No of respondents 63 24 12 1 100
Percentage 63 24 12 1 100

Graph 4.2: Age wise respondents

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
1%

12%

15-25
25-35
24%
35-45
63% 45 & ABOVE

Analysis and Interpretation:

Overall result shows that between all of them the respondents who has age limit exceeds

above 45 years people are not familiar to shop online on my target population.

66
3. Occupation:
Table 4.3: Occupation wise respondents
Business Housewife Salaried Student Others Total
person
No. of respondents 8 7 46 29 10 100
Percentage 8 7 46 29 10 100

Graph 4.3: Occupation wise respondents

Sales

10% 8%
7%
Business
Housewife
29% Salaried
Student
Others
46%

Analysis and Interpretation:

In this survey, 46% of the respondents are salaried and 29% are students. So they both

together made majority of respondent‘s percentage (75%). 8% are business persons and

7% are House wife. Salaried persons and students will always look for new technologies

and new services which make them more comfort.

67
4. Educational Qualification:

Table 4.4: Educational wise respondents

Graduate post SSC or Others Total

graduate Equivalent (PhD)
Number of respondents 63 36 0 1 100
Percentage 63 36 0 1 100

Graph 4.4: Educational wise respondents

No of respondents
Graduate post graduate SSC or Equivalent Others (PhD)

0% 1%

36%

63%

Analysis and Interpretation:

All of them in this survey are graduate and above qualified peoples only. Among these

63% are graduates, 36% are post graduates and one person is PhD.

68
5. Annual Income:
Table 4.5: Income wise respondents
0- 3 L 3-6L 6-9L 9 & above Total
Number of respondents 60 23 13 4 100
Percentage 60 23 13 4 100

Graph 4.5: Income wise respondents

Annual Income
4%

13%
0- 3 L
3-6L

23% 6-9L
60%
9 & above

Analysis and Interpretation:

Since 39% of this survey is students most of them are of 0-3L income range, ie 60%.

23% of them are in 3-6Lincome range, 13% in 6-9L and 4% is 9 & above.

Behavioural factors:

This survey is conducted on those people who do online shopping and are aware of

Flipkart. So everyone answered ‗yes‘ for those two questions.

69
6) Frequency of purchase from online:

Table 4.6: online shopping usage

Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never Total
Male 5 21 29 3 0 58
Female 4 14 23 1 0 42
Total 9 35 52 4 0 100

Graph 4.6: online shopping usage

35
29
30

25 23
21
20
14
15

10
5 4
5 3
1 0 0
0
Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never

Male Female

Analysis and Interpretation:

More than half of them use online shopping sometimes, ie 52%. People who always and

mostly shop through online shopping are also good in number, 9 and 35, together 44%.

And who use online shopping rarely is very less in number 4%. Since only 44% are

mostly using this, there is a wide space to fill and to make online shopping a great

success. And there is not much gender difference in online shopping, which means both

males and females enjoying online shopping and its benefits.

70
7)Mode of awareness about Online Shopping Websites:

Table 4.7: Modes of awareness about Online Shopping Websites

Word Advertisemen Blog Links Promoti Search T

of ts, recomme- from other onal engines(lik ot
Mouth newspapers, ndations websites emails e Google) al
TV

No: of 39 22 2 15 5 17 1
respond 0
ents 0
Percent 39 22 2 15 5 17 1
age 0
0
Graph 4.7: Modes of awareness about Flipkart

No: of respondents
Word of Mouth
17%
Advertisements, newspap
5% 39% ers, TV
Blog recomme-ndations

15%
Links from other websites

Promotional emails
2% 22%

Analysis and Interpretation:

Most of them are awareabout Flipkart through word of mouth (39%) followed by

television and online advertisements (22%). Customers got awared through blog

recommendations (2%) and promotional e-mails (5%) are very less in number.

71
This means a good communicaton about Flipkart is going on through friends and

families, which proves that word of mouth strategy by them is the most successful

means of making people aware about their products. Success can only be gained through

delighted customers who act as advocates for their products and there is a wide scope of

other digital advertisement techniques like search engine marketing, email- marketing,

providing links and blog recommendations inorder to make more customers.

72
8) Frequency of using Online Shopping Websites while online purchasing:
Graph 4.8: Frequency of using Online Shopping Websites
Every time Occasionally Most of the time Hardly ever Total
No: of respondents 17 45 32 6 100
Percentage 17 45 32 6 100

Graph 4.8: Frequency of using Online Shopping Websites

No: of respondents

6%
17%

Every time
32% Occasionally
Most of the time
Hardly ever
45%

Analysis and Interpretation:

Here on this survey 17% are always choosing Flipkart for online shopping, while 45%

are using it occasionally. Hardly ever using members are very less, and 32% are using it

most of the time. Since more than half of them prefer Flipkart while thinking of online

shopping, it means branding had done successfully by them either through

advertisements, services or providing good experience to customers.

73
9) Category that mostly prefer to buy from Online Shopping Websites:
Graph 4.9: Category mostly prefer to buy from Online Shopping Websites
Elect Apparels & Books, Statio Healthcare Home & T
ronic Accessories Movies & narie &personalca Kitchen ot
s Music s re items al

No: of 39 20 30 3 4 4 10
responde 0
nts
Percenta 39 20 30 3 4 4 10
ge 0

Graph 4.9: Category mostly prefer to buy from Online Shopping Websites

No: of respondents
4% 4%
3%
Electronics
Apparels & Accessories
39%
Books, Movies & Music
30% Stationaries
Healthcare &personalcare
Home & Kitchen items
20%

Analysis and Interpretation:

Electronic items, Books and Stationery, Apparels& Accessories, cameras, watches and
others (bags, belts, etc.) are purchased more. 39% of respondents are preferred to buy
Electronics items followed by Books and Stationery (30%) and Apparels and
Accessories (20%). Books & stationery and electronics items are more famous among
the students and that may be the reason for large purchase of those items from
Flipkart.com.

74
10) Reason for customer’s preference on Online Shopping Websites than others:
Table 4.10: Customers expecting feature of Online Shopping Websites
Fast Availa After Sales Easy Payment Portal Replacem Total
Delivery bility services options Feature ent
s service

Respons 31 29 8 17 5 10 100
es
Percenta 31 29 8 17 5 10 100
ge

Graph 4.10: Customers expecting feature of Flipkart

No: of respondents

5% 10%
Fast Delivery
31% Availability
After Sales sevices
17%
Easy Payment options
Portal Features
8%
Replacement service
29%

Analysis and Interpretation:

One of the most efficient features in Flipkart is fast delivery when compared to other
online shopping websites. So, most of the customers prefer this website for shopping
with the perception of quick delivery (41%) and availability of product (29%),
followed by easy payment options (17%). And there is a scope of increasing after sales
services and portal features when comparing with other features.

75
 11) Rating of services on Online Shopping Websites (in a scale of Excellent, Good,
Average,
below average, Poor)
Table 4.12: Rating of Online Shopping Websites services
Excellent Good Average Below Average Poor
Cash on delivery 46 45 5 2 2
30 days replacement policy 23 55 20 2 0
EMI options 21 48 25 5 1
Free shipping 35 34 17 12 2
Graph 4.12: Rating of Flipkart services

60

50

40

Cash on delivery
30 30 days replacement policy
EMI options

20 Free shipping

10

0
Excellent Good Average Below Poor
Average

Analysis and Interpretation:

46% of respondents are rated excellent for cash on delivery service, while for 30 days
replacement policy 55% rated good and 23% rated excellent. For EMI options 48% rated
good and 21% rated excellent, and for free shipping 35% rated excellent.
While analysing the data, customers have more interest in two services of Flipkart: That
is, 30 days replacement policy and EMI options.

76
Since Flipkart is providing 30 days replacement policy for all the products in the
platform. And this combined mix service increased the customer trust.
In case of EMI options, Flipkart is the only site which accepts all credit cards and thus it
provides a better payment options to the customers.
Cash on delivery is a compactable service that provided to the customers and they are
much satisfied on that service also. Even some rated less for this service, may be
because of less customised experience on cash on delivery.
In case of free shipping, Flipkart provide this service for total purchase of rupees 300
and above only. So it may affect some of the customers who purchase less price
products frequently.

77
12) Issues faced by customers while shopping in Online Shopping Websites?
Table 4.13: Issues faced when purchased from Online Shopping Websites

Replacement issues

Delay in Delivery
Payment issues

Faulty product
Out of stock

No issues

Others

Total
No of Responses 37 6 6 12 8 30 1 100
Percentage 37 6 6 12 8 30 1 100

Graph 4.13: Issues faced when purchased from Online Shopping Websites

No: of respondents
1%

Out of stock
Payment issues
30%
37%
Replacement issues
Delay in Delivery
Faulty product
8% No issues
12% 6% Others
6%

Analysis and Interpretation:

In this survey, 30% of customers didn‘t face any of those problems that mentioned,
while 37% of customers faced out of stock issue. This is one of serious issue faced by
most of customers. Since discounts and features are the one feature that most of the
customers looking for and when a good product with high discount is displayed in
Flipkart platform, customers brought it as soon as they could. Thus the products will be
out of stocked.
Flipkart started notifying the customers about the product when the stock got available.

78
Payment issues and replacement issues are less in number (total 12%) since different
payment options like EMI options, card payments, Cash on delivery, Wallet payments
etc… are provided by Flipkart and customers are satisfied with those.
In case of replacement also only less issues are happened, thus shows most of them are
satisfied with that service.
Delay in delivery happens because of shipping and courier service issues. It is a
problem with supply chain. Mostly it happens in the end part of the supply and in rural
areas where courier services are less active.
Faulty product issue also happened to 8% of the customers and one of the policies to
overcome this issue is 30 days replacement policy of Flipkart.

79
 13) Recommending this website to others:

Table 4.14: Recommending Flipkart to others

Yes No Total
No: of Responses 95 5 100
Percentage 95 5 100

Graph 4.14: Recommending Flipkart to others

No: of Responses
YES NO

5%

95%

Analysis and Interpretation:

In this survey, most of them (95%) are happy to recommend Flipkart to others like
friends and family. And this shows word of mouth publicity is successfully running and
this is one of the great advantages for Flipkart.

80
14) Customer’s rating about services on Online Shopping Websites: (in a scale of 5,
5 as highest and 1 asleast)
Table 4.15: Rating the experience from Online Shopping Websites

1 2 3 4 5 Total
No of Responses 7 11 16 49 17 100
Percentage 7 11 16 49 17 100

Graph 4.15: Rating the experience from Online Shopping Websites

No: of Responses

7%
17%
11% 1
2

16% 3
4
5
49%

Analysis and Interpretation:

While analysing the rating of experiences, Flipkart provides a good and excellent
experiences to most of the customers.
Mode of given data: 4 & Median of given data: 4
49% of customers rated 4 as the experience and more than half of the population (66%)
rated 4 & 5 as experience.

81
15) Satisfaction of customers while Online Shopping Websites are used:

Table 4.16: Satisfaction on services of Online Shopping Websites

Yes No Total
No: of responses 81 19 100
Percentage 81 19 100

Graph 4.16: Satisfaction on services of Online Shopping Websites

No: of Responses
YES NO

19%

81%

Analysis and Interpretation:

81% of the population is satisfied with the service of Flipkart. This helps Flipkart to
retain the customers and also shows that the branding and marketing techniques of
Flipkart also got succeed.

82
CHAPTER -VII
FINDINGS

83
 FINDINGS

 The services provided by Online Shopping Websites are good and even more scope

of development is there for increasing the customer strength.

 Digital marketing techniques like search engine marketing, links providing other

website and advertisement also functioned well for promotion of this website.

 Fast delivery is one of best service is providing by Online Shopping Websites.

 Different payment options available in Online Shopping Websites made customers

more satisfied and comfort for paying while purchasing product.

 Customers feeling more secured when purchasing through Online Shopping

Websites t because of different policies and services they have.

 In comparison with competitors, Flipkart is charging free shipping for the purchase

of 300 plus rupees, while others free ship the service without any barrier.

 Out of stock is the main issue faced by Online Shopping Websites

 Most of customers have good experience with Online Shopping Websites t while

purchasing products.

 Most of them are satisfied with the services of Online Shopping Websites and so that

they succeed in retaining the customers.

 Advertising is an important way to have the brand and products familiar to

consumers.

 Convenience and time saving are two important factors that customer looking for

while purchasing through online.

 There is not much difference in gender for using online shopping.

 Students and salaried persons are most frequent users of Online Shopping Websites

84
 Frequency of purchase for electronics, books and music, apparels and accessories are

more in Online Shopping Websites.

 Word of mouth was more influential in promotion as many people were made aware

by their friends and family when customers recommend this website to them.

 Highly discounted products got out of stock quickly, since customers purchased it as

soon as they could when they see high discount on good featured product.

85
CHAPTER -VIII
CONCLUSION

86
 CONCLUSION

Online shopping is becoming more popular day by day with the increase in the usage of

World Wide Web known as www. Understanding customer's need for online selling has

become challenge for marketers. Specially understanding the consumer‘s attitudes

towards online shopping , making improvement in the factors that influence consumers

to shop online and working on factors that affect consumers to shop online will help

marketers to gain the competitive edge over others. In conclusion, having access to

online shopping has truly revolutionized and influenced our society as a whole. This use

of technology has opened new doors and opportunities that enable for a more convenient

lifestyle today. Variety, quick service and reduced prices were three significant ways in

which online shopping influenced people from all over the world. However, this concept

of online shopping led to the possibilities of fraud and privacy conflicts.

Unfortunately, it has shown that it is possible for criminals to manipulate the

system and access personal information. Luckily, today with the latest features of

technology, measures are being taken in order to stop hackers and criminals from

inappropriately accessing private databases. Through privacy and security policies,

website designers are doing their best to put an end to this unethical practice. By doing

so, society will continue to depend upon online shopping, which will allow it to remain a

tremendous success in the future.

87
CHAPTER -IX
RECOMMENDATION

88
 SUGGESTION & RECOMMENDATION

 Flipkart has successfully placed itself into the prospects mind making it the India‘s

largest online store with huge range of products. But it still needs to work on their

core competence that is books and stationery items.

 Delivery services can be improved mainly in rural areas by selecting appropriate

courier service which has services in customer area for dispatching an item.

 Can make free delivery to all priced products.

 Can include more coupon codes and gift vouchers for increasing the traffic of the

customers.

 Out of stock items can made available as soon as possible and intimate the needed

customers.

 Should look for International/ Overseas markets or Neighbouring Countries.

 Critical mass of Internet users – Internet users in India is increasing at increasing

rate, so Flipkart can target more & more cities i.e not only tier 1 & 2 but also tier 3 &

4 cities, which will help generate stronger customer base & more revenues.

 Should clearing focus on the Growing Online Apparel business & it can diversify

into apparel category either organically or inorganically by acquiring other portals.

 User Experience: Portal should continuously aim to work to improve the user

experience by adding more & more innovative features in the website like virtually

shopping basket, virtual trial rooms. In this competitive world to differentiate via

user experience, the ultimate winner will be the Indian online consumer.

 Should comprehensively invest into E-CRM & online reputation management.

 Logistics & Supply Chain: can continuously aim to reduce the delivery time cycle.

89
 Price will still be a factor as amazon being a huge company will use its economies of

scale to remove their competitors from the market; therefore they need to be more

competitive on that aspect.

90
CHAPTER -X
LIMITATIONS

91
 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 The study is confined to Lucknow district only.

 The study is based upon the consumer behaviors of online shopping.

 The data collected for the research is fully on primary data given by the

respondents.

 There is chance for personal bias. So the accuracy is not true.

 Due to storage of time and other constraints, the study has been limited

100 respondents only

92
BIBLIOGRAPHY

93
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Abdul-Muhmin, Alhassan G.(2011).Repeat Purchase Intentions in Online

Shopping: The Role of Satisfaction, Attitude, and Online Retailers Performance,

Journal of International Consumer Marketing.23(5).

 Anderson, Rolph E. and Swami S. (2011). Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in

E‑Markets: A PLS Path Modeling Approach, Journal of Marketing Theory and

Practice, Vol. 19,( 2), 221–234.

 Chung, Ki-Han and Shin Ik .(2010). The antecedents and consequents of

relationship quality in internet shopping,Asia Pacific journal of marketing and

logistic, Vol. 22, ( 4), 473-491.

 Eid, Mustafa I (2011). Determints of E-commerce customer satisfaction, trust

and loyalty in Saudi Arabia,Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 12,( 1).

 Gounairs, Spiros, Dimitriadis, Sergios and Stathopoulos, V.(2010). An

examination of the effects of service quality and satisfaction on customers

behavioral intentions in e-shopping, Journal of Service Marketing, Vol. 24, (

2),142-156.

 Kassim, Norizn and Abdullah A.(2010). The effect of perceived service quality

dimension on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e-commerce settings A

cross cultural analysis,Asia Pacific journal of marketing and logistic, Vol. 22,(

3), 351-371.

 Lie´bana-Cabanillas, Francisco, Mun˜oz-Leiva, Francisco and Rejo´F.

(2013).The Determinants of satisfaction with e-banking,Industrial Management

and Data System, Vol. 113, ( 5), 750-767.

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 Nirmala, RatihPuspa and Dewi J. (2011).The Effects of Shopping Orientations,

Consumer Innovativeness, Purchase Experience, and Gender on Intention to

Shop for Fashion Products Online,Gadjah Mada International Journal of

Business, Vol. 13, ( 1), 65-83.

 Oh, Jong-Chul, Yoon, Sung-Joon and Park B. (2011). A structural approach to

examine the quality attributes of e-shopping malls using the Kano model, Asia

Pacific journal of marketing and logistic, Vol. 24, ( 2),305-327.

 Sakarya, Sema and Soyer N. (2013).Cultural differences in online shopping

behavior: Turkey and The United Kingdom,International Journal of Electronic

Commerce Studies, Vol. 4, (2), 213-238.

 ThaichonParamaporn, Lobo Antonio and Mitsis A.(2013). An empirical model

of home internet services quality in Thailand,Asia Pacific journal of marketing

and logistic, Vol. 26 (2), 190-210.

 Vegiayan, Kala Devi, Ming Chee Wei and Harun O. (2013).Online Shopping

and Customer Satisfaction in Malaysia, International of Marketing Practices,

Vol. 1, (1), 43-51.

 AcNielson Report (2005. ―Global consumer attitudes towards online

shopping‖.online:http://www.kr.en.nielsen.com/report/GlobalConsumerReport.s

html,(Retrieved 2017-13-12)

 E-commerce (C2C,B2C) market size (source : iResearch, Anlysys Int., A.

TKearney analysis)

 E-commerce business to consumer (B2C) market size (source):

shoppingjinni.com

Online shopping (n. d.). retrieved from http://blog.pricesgong.com/2011/05/best-

ways/to/find/hot/deals/online.html

95
ANNEXURE

96
 QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME :

OCCUPATION :

COMPANY NAME :

DESIGNATION :

ADDRESS :

TEL. NO. :

MOB. NO. :

E-MAIL :

1. Gender
 Male
 Female

2 Please tick the age group you belong to.

 16-25
 25-35
 35-50
 50 or above

3. Please tick your occupation

 Salaried Professional
 Housewife
 Business
 Student
 Unskilled
 Others, please specify ________

97
4. Please tick your education as relevant
 Post graduate
 Graduate
 Higher secondary school certificate
 High School certificate
 Less than 12 years in school
 Others (PHD)

5. Please tick your income range

 Less than Rs.3 lakhs per annum

 Rs.3 to Rs.5 lakhs per annum
 Rs.6 to Rs.9 lakhs per annum
 Rs.8 to Rs.10 lakhs per annum
 More than 10 lakhs per annum

6. How frequently do you shop through e-commerce websites

 Always
 Often
 Sometimes
 Seldom
 Never
7. In which mode you aware of about flipkart.com?
 Word of mouth
 Advertisement(TV ,Newspaper etc)
 Blogs recommendation
 Links from other website
 Promotional mails
 Serch engine(Google,Yahoo etc)

8 .How much you use flipkart.com?

 Everytime
 Most of the time
 Occasionally
 Very less

98
9. Which item you mostly prefer to buy from flipkart?
 Electronics
 Apparels & accessories
 Books/ Movies & music
 Stationary
 Helthcare
 Kitchen & home items
 Digital products

10. Why you use flipkart as compared to any other online marketing website?
 Fast delivery
 Availability
 After sale service
 Easy payment
 Portal feature
 Replacement service
 Product Quality
 Free Delivery
 Product pricing Comparable

11. Please rate the service of flipkart.com

0-3 (Poor) 3-5(Below average) 5-7(Average) 7-9(Good) 10(Excellent)
On account of –
 Cash on delivery ( )
 30 days replacement policy ( )
 EMI option ( )
 Free shipping ( )

12. Which type of issue you face in flipkart.com?

 Replacement issue
 Delivary delay
 Faulty product
 No issue
 Other

99
13. Will you recommend flipkart to others?
 Yes
 No

14. Do you think that customer care are promoting answering your queries?

 Yes
 No

15.Do you think refunds are process timely?

 Yes
 No

100