A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING

Abstract

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 Now a day, online shopping has become popular among people, they have become techno savvy and feel very comfortable in using internet. So online shopping has becoming a trend that is why it is necessary to make a study on online shopping usage and perception. The main aim of this research is to study the perception of the customers towards online shopping and also discriminate this perception gender vise. For this purpose, with help of convenient sampling method 150 respondents were selected and data were collected through structured questionnaire. On the basis of data analysis it is found that most of the customers were perceived that online shopping is better option than manual shopping and most of the customers were satisfied with their online shopping transactions. Customers are accessing their net at their home and office/ college. Largely customers are buying clothe, electronics items and accessories. Most alarming barrier for online shopping was customers have to give their credit card number and they can’t see products personally. Customers agree with the statement that online shopping is more expensive than manual shopping, its take more time to deliver the products and they are facing problems while making online purchases.

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IJMT Volume 4, Issue 12 ISSN: 2249-1058
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A Monthly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories
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2014
A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS
ONLINE SHOPPING
Mr. Pratiksinh Vaghela*
Abstract:
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 Now a day, online shopping has become
popular among people, they have become techno savvy and feel very comfortable in using
internet. So online shopping has becoming a trend that is why it is necessary to make a study on
online shopping usage and perception. The main aim of this research is to study the perception of
the customers towards online shopping and also discriminate this perception gender vise. For this
purpose, with help of convenient sampling method 150 respondents were selected and data were
collected through structured questionnaire. On the basis of data analysis it is found that most of
the customers were perceived that online shopping is better option than manual shopping and
most of the customers were satisfied with their online shopping transactions. Customers are
accessing their net at their home and office/ college. Largely customers are buying clothe,
electronics items and accessories. Most alarming barrier for online shopping was customers have
to give their credit card number and they can’t see products personally. Customers agree with the
statement that online shopping is more expensive than manual shopping, its take more time to
deliver the products and they are facing problems while making online purchases.
Key words: Online shopping, Customer buying behavior, perception, gender discrimination.
* Assistant professor, S. R. Luthra Institute of Management, Surat

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Introduction:
Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to
directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. Alternative
names are: e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, and virtual store. An
online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-
mortar retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online
shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the process is called
business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest of these online retailing corporations
are eBay and Amazon.com, both based in the United States.
The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, opened for
commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994:
online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut, Netscape's SSL v2 encryption
standard for secure data transfer, and Intershop’s first online shopping system. Immediately
after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was also introduced in
1995.
Online shopping in India:
India's e-commerce market grew at a staggering 88 per cent in 2013 to $ 16 billion, riding on
booming online retail trends and defying slower economic growth and spiraling inflation. The
increasing Internet penetration and availability of more payment options boosted the e-commerce
industry in 2013. E-commerce business in India is expected to reach around $50-70 billion by
2020 on the back of a fast growing internet-connected population and improvement in related
infrastructure like payment and delivery systems. (DNA, 2014)
The products that are sold most are in the tech and fashion category, including mobile
phones, ipads, accessories, MP3 players, digital cameras and jewellery, electronic gadgets,
apparel, home and kitchen appliances, lifestyle accessories like watches, books, beauty products
and perfumes, baby products witnessed significant upward movement.

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India's e-commerce market, which stood at $2.5 billion in 2009, reached $8.5 billion in 2012 and
rose 88 per cent to touch $16 billion in 2013. The survey estimates the country's e-commerce
market to reach $56 billion by 2023, driven by rising online retail. This growth is because of
aggressive online discounts, rising fuel prices and availability of abundant online options.
Mumbai topped the list of online shoppers followed by Delhi, while Kolkata ranked third.
The age-wise analysis revealed that 35 per cent of online shoppers are aged between 18 years
and 25 years, 55 per cent between 26 years and 35 years, 8 per cent in the age group of 36-45
years, while only 2 per cent are in the age group of 45-60 years. Besides, 65 per cent of online
shoppers are male while 35 per cent are female. To make the most of increasing online shopping
trends, more companies are collaborating with daily deal and discount sites, the survey pointed
out.
India has Internet base of around 150 million as of August, 2013which is close to 10 per cent of
Internet penetration in India throws a very big opportunity for online retailers to grow and
expand as future of Internet seems very bright. (Economictimes, 2014) The size of India's e-
commerce market in 2013 was around $13 billion, according to a joint report of KPMG and
Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The online travel segment contributed over
70 percent of the total consumer e-commerce transactions last year. (DNA, 2014)
Those who are reluctant to shop online cited reasons like preference to research products and
services online (30 per cent), finding delivery costs too high (20), fear of sharing personal
financial information online (25) and lack of trust on whether products would be delivered in
good condition (15), while 10 per cent do not have a credit or debit card. (Economictimes, 2014)
The Nielsen Global Online Shopping Report shows more than a quarter indicate they spend
upwards of 11 percent of their monthly shopping expenditure on online purchases.71 percent
Indians trust recommendations from family when making an online purchase decision, followed
by recommendations from friends at 64 percent and online product reviews at 29 percent. Half
the Indian consumers (50%) use social media sites to help them make online purchase decisions.
Online reviews and opinions are most important for Indians when buying Consumer Electronics
(57%), Software (50%), and a Car (47%). (Indiasocial, 2014)

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Literature review:
Theory of Consumer Buying Behaviour Process:
Consumer decision process carries five stages, starting with Problem recognition and following
Information search, Evaluation of alternatives, Purchase decision and finally Post Purchase
behaviour. Problem recognition starts with the perception of need and moves towards
information search where consumer uses internal and external sources to analyse given
information and use that information in the next step of evaluation of alternatives. While
evaluating alternatives one assessing values of the products by giving weights. After evaluation
of alternatives consumers move towards purchase decision where they may encounter three
possibilities, from whom to buy, when to buy and do not buy. Once they have actually made the
purchase now it comes to Post purchase behaviour, whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with
the purchase. (Kotler, 2012)
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM):
TAM is basically information system theory that covers how a user accepts and uses a
technology. The model deals with the acceptance of information technology. The external factors
that influence users to make a decision are- Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of
Use (PEOU).The degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance
his or her job performance is Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) is
the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort.
The main purpose of the TAM is to explain how a user accepts a specific technology. TAM has
been applied to measure the impact of perceived web-security, perceived privacy, perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use on online transaction intentions (Teck, 2002). TAM was

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applied to assess owners/managers intention to adopt web-based supply chain management
(Choong, 2003). (Chuttur, 2009)
Soonyong Bae, Taesik Lee (2010) they investigates the effect of online consumer reviews on
consumer’s purchase intention. In particular, they examine whether there are gender differences
in responding to online consumer reviews. The results show that the effect of online consumer
reviews on purchase intention is stronger for females than males. The negativity effect, that
consumers are influenced by a negative review more than by a positive review, is also found to
be more evident for females. These findings have practical implications for online sellers to
guide them to effectively use online consumer reviews to engage females in online shopping.
Isaac J. Gabriel (2007) studied online consumers’ risk perceptions and will reveal a “cognitive
map” of their attitudes and perceptions to online risks. It was accomplished by composing a
master list of online hazards and activities, measuring current level of perceived risk, desired
level of risk, and desired level of regulation associated with them, composing a master list of
online risk characteristics, determining online risk dimensions, and revealing position of each
online hazard or activity in the factor space diagram. A factor space diagram captures a graphical
representation of the results of the factor analysis. This study is still in progress and results are
not available yet.
Guda Van Noort, M.A., Peter Kerkhof, Ph.D and Bob M. Fennis, Ph.D. (2007) in two
experiments, the impact of shopping context on consumers’ risk perceptions and regulatory focus
was examined. They predicted that individuals perceive an online (vs. conventional) shopping
environment’s more risky and that an online shopping environment, by its risky nature, primes a
prevention focus. The findings in Study 1 demonstrate these effects by using self-report
measures for risk perception and prevention focus. In Study 2, replicated these findings and
demonstrated that the effect of an online shopping environment carries over to behavior in a
domain unrelated to shopping.
Seyed Rajab Nikhashem, Farzana Yasmin, Ahsanul Haque. (2011) Studied that investigated
peoples‟ perception of online buying tickets (e-ticketing) as well as why some people use this

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facility while some who do not use it stick to the traditional way to fulfill their needs. In addition,
factors such as what inform peoples‟ eagerness and unwillingness to use internet facilities are
also examined. The outcome of this research showed a comprehensively integrated framework
that can be utilized by policy makers and business enterprises to understand the dynamic
relationships among dimensions of perceived risk, user trustworthiness, usefulness, familiarity
and confidence. Also, this study considered how price perception and internet security can be
utilized to understand the consumers‟ perception.
Yu-Je Lee, Ching-Lin Huang, Ching-Yaw Chen The purpose of this study is to use structural
equation modeling (SEM) to explore the influence of online bookstore consumers’ perception on
their purchase intention. Through literature review, four constructs were used to establish a
causal relationship between perception of online shopping and consumers’ purchase intention.
Results of this study show that product perception, shopping experience, and service quality have
positive and significant influence on consumers’ purchase intention, but perceived risk has
negative influence on consumers’ purchase intention, and shopping experience is most
important.
Ramin Azadavar, Darush shahbazi, and Mohammad Eghbali Teimouri. (2011) examined
the factors influencing consumers’ perception of online shopping and developed a causal model
that explains how this perception affects their online-shopping behavior. Research found that
factors like, trust, customer service, customers’ income, price of products or services and
security are more important to encourage people to purchase online the computer related
products and services. In other side factors like product customization and price of product were
not much effective on purchasing behavior of the respondents. So high level of security in online
marketing of computer related products and services has this potential to growth more and more
to encourage people to reduce the time and cost of transaction. Most important concern regarding
to online shopping is the security of transactions. The study intends to explore the understanding
of consumer behavior regarding to the direct and indirect influences of the perceptions of online
shopping on consumer behavior. Based on our analysis first, a factor analysis was conducted on
the student’s perception of 13 items, and three factors, “convenience, anxiety regarding security,
and “poor navigation”, were extracted. A model was created reflecting the direct influence of

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these three “perception”-related factors on behavior or their indirect influence through
consumers’ attitudes.
Kanwal Gurleen. (2012) focuses on the understanding of demographic profiles of adopters and
non-adopters of online shopping. For this purpose the data from 400 respondents was collected
in the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab, a sample of
urban respondents were selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar The paper also
analyses the various reasons for adoption and non-adoption of online shopping.
Research methodology and objectives
Research methodology:
Here descriptive research design was used to measure the involvement level. Convenient
sampling technique was used for selecting respondents. The data were collected through
structured questionnaire and sample size taken as 150 respondents from varachha region Surat.
For the analysis of data various tools like tabulation, chi-square test, frequency distribution, cross
tabs, and charts were used with help of SPSS software.
Research objectives:
 To know customer perception towards online shopping.
 To discriminate analysis of perception on gender basis.
 To identify customer online
shopping behavior.
Table No: 2
GENDER
Most
purchase
items
Male
Female
Total
Home
47
18
65
Office/College
36
12
48
cyber cafe
27
6
33

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Result and Analysis:
(Table no: 1) give explanation about demographic
profile of customers like monthly income. Gender, age,
occupation.
Most of the customer are accessing internet from their
home (65/150), office/college (48/150). (Table no: 2).
Table no: 3
ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE RESPONSE
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Mostly purchase
through online
Clothes
43
10
53
Electronics items
58
15
73
Jewelries
30
16
46
Accessories
57
15
72
other
3
1
4
Total
113
37
150
Source : primary data
Table No: 1
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
Income
(Family/
monthly)
Below 10000
35
10000 to 25000
53
25000 to 35000
40
35000 to 45000
14
Above 45000
8
Total
150
Gender
Male
113
Female
37
Total
150
Age
Below 15
2
15 to 30
123
30 to 45
21
45 t0 60
4
Total
150
Occupation
Student
75
House wife
11
business
41
other
23
Total
150
Source : primary data

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Other
14
2
16
Total
202
58
260
Main problems that
faced while making
online shopping
Pages took too long to load that I gave up,
30
7
37
Site was so confusing that I could not find the product
44
12
56
Desired product was not available
29
8
37
System logged in is compulsory
33
9
42
Tried & failed to contact customer service
39
5
44
Wrong/ Bad product arrived & could not return
48
12
60
Others reasons
1
0
1
Total
224
53
277
Source: primary data
Table no: 4
Perception Related Questions
Gender
Male
Female
Total
Better Option For Shopping
Online shopping
78
25
103
Manual Shopping
35
12
47
Total
113
37
150
Satisfaction With Online Shopping
Yes
73
23
96
No
18
7
25
Can't Say
22
7
29
Total
113
37
150
Most Alarming Barriers For Online
Shopping
I am worried about giving my credit
card no
32
7
39
I like to see the product in personal
before I buy it
35
18
53
The process is expensive due to access
24
5
29
Insecurity& Net connectivity trouble
22
7
29
Total
113
37
150
Online Shopping Is Expensive
Compare To Manual Shopping
No
63
23
86
Yes
50
14
64
Total
113
37
150

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Online Shopping Delivery Of
Goods Is More Time Consuming
No
30
15
45
Yes
83
22
105
Total
113
37
150
Face Any Problems While Making
Online Purchase
No
35
18
53
Yes
78
19
97
Total
113
37
150
Impact On Your Online Shopping
Behavior
Stopped shopping online
25
9
34
Stopped shopping online but only for
product or category of product
40
13
53
It had no impact what so ever
45
14
59
Others please specify
3
1
4
Total
113
37
150
Amount Of Monthly Salary Spent
On Online Shopping
05%
49
15
64
08%
38
17
55
10%
26
5
31
Total
113
37
150
Source: primary data
Conclusion:
Online shopping is becoming common in today’s life. The study indicate that most of customer
having experience of online shopping. Customer believed that online shopping is better option
than manual shopping still they have belief that online shopping is expensive, delayed in delivery
of products and service. Most of the customers are facing problems like return of bad / wrong
product, confusing sites and ineffective customer service. According to, customers most
alarming barrier for online shopping are unable to verify product personally, online payment
security.

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