RESEARCH REPORT

on
The Study of Customer behaviour Towards Online Shopping (compare between flipkart
and snapdeal)

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration
Affiliated to UP Technical University, Lucknow

Under the supervision of

Submitted by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I thank God for giving me this wonderful opportunity to undertake this
research which is a part of my MBA program.
I would like to sincerely thank my guide Mr. for giving me the wonderful opportunity to
work under his able guidance and support throughout my summer training report
I also thank to Dr. (H.O.D) for giving me their valuable time and vital information which
forms a part of this report.
I would also like to thank my colleagues for rendering their help to me in this summer
training report.
Last but not the least, I thank my parents for their prayers, help and advice which helped
me a lot to complete this summer training report.

PREFACE
Marketing plays vital role in todays business scenario in consumer product Company,
when there is such a high competition in the market.
The emphasis in the project is providing the study an insight into Online shopping. The
project is designed to provide participation of MBA program as on the job experience.
This has given a chance to try and apply the academic knowledge and gain insight into
corporate culture. This helps in developing decision making abilities and emphasizes on
active participation by the student.
I undertook my project a leading and marketing partner of the Online shopping . During
the training, I had work on the project The Study Of Customer behaviour Towards
Online Shopping (compare between flipkart and snapdeal)
I gained valuable experience & knowledge during this survey. This project consists of my
findings after data analysis & conclusions were drawn and recommendations were put
forward.

Executive summary
Online shopping is one of the fast growing industries in India. The Leather goods can be
further classified segments. Marketing includes all the fulfill the all segment of
consumers. Marketing is also to convert social needs into profitable opportunities.
So this topic provides all the essential to theoretical knowledge and to inculcate the
efficiency. It is also requirement for the company to improve their service and quality for
achieving their ultimate goal.
Project Title : The Study Of Customer behaviour Towards Online Shopping
(compare between flipkart and snapdeal) The topic has been already given by the
company to collect information about current status of the Leather goods that is given by
the company to the retailer for selling of every brand of Online shopping .
Location : Lucknow

TABLE OF CONTENTS
S. NO.

CONTENTS

1.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

2.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

3.

CHAPTER 3
COMPANY PROFILE

4.

CHAPTER 4
OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Page No.

CHAPTER 5
DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION
5.
CHAPTER 6
FINDINGS
6.
CHAPTER 7
RECOMMENDATION
7.
CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION
8.
LIMITATION
9.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
10.
ANNEXURE
11.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Consumer behavior
Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, where and what people do or do not
buy products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social psychology,
anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making
process, both 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. 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, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions
can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions. Each method for vote
counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrows possibility theorem is used for a
social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social
functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonocity, unanimity, homogeneity
and weak and strong Paretooptimality. No social choice function meets these
requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a
social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a

logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers.
With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the
production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).
Belch and Belch define consumer behavior as 'the process and activities people engage in
when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products
and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires'.

Black box model

ENVIRONMENTAL
BUYER'S BLACK BOX

BUYER'S

FACTORS
Marketing Environmental
Buyer Characteristics Decision Process
Stimuli

RESPONSE

Stimuli
Product
Problem

recognition choice

Attitudes
Product

Economic

Information

search Brand choice

Motivation
Price

Technical

Alternative evaluation Dealer choice

Behaviour

Place

Political

Promotion

Cultural

s
Purchase

decision Purchase

Personality
Post-purchase

timing

behavior

Purchase

Lifestyle
amount
The black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, decision
process and consumer responses.[1] It can be distinguished between interpersonal stimuli
(between people) or intrapersonal stimuli (within people).[2] The black box model is
related to the black box theory of behaviorism, where the focus is not set on the processes
inside a consumer, but the relation between the stimuli and the response of the consumer.
The marketing stimuli are planned and processed by the companies, whereas the
environmental stimulus are given by social factors, based on the economical, political and
cultural circumstances of a society. The buyers black box contains the buyer
characteristics and the decision process, which determines the buyers response.

The black box model considers the buyers response as a result of a conscious, rational
decision process, in which it is assumed that the buyer has recognized the problem.
However, in reality many decisions are not made in awareness of a determined problem
by the consumer.
Information search
Once the consumer has recognised a problem, they search for information on products
and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch (2007) explain that consumers
undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search.
Sources of information include:

Personal sources

Commercial sources

Public sources

Personal experience

The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information search is
behaviour . Behaviour is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects,
organises, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world'
The selective behaviour process
Stage Description

10

Selective exposure consumers select which promotional messages they will

expose themselves to.

Selective attention consumers select which promotional messages they will pay
attention to

Selective comprehension consumer interpret messages in line with their beliefs,

attitudes, motives and experiences

Selective retention consumers remember messages that are more meaningful or

important to them

The implications of this process help develop an effective promotional strategy, and
select which sources of information are more effective for the brand.

11

INFORMATION EVALUATION
At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set.
How can the marketing organization increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the
consumer's evoked (consideration) set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the
functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization needs to
understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most
important in terms of making a decision.
Purchase decision
Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase
decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase. The
marketing organization must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention.
The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion
such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an
incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with
purchase decision is integration.
Postpurchase evaluation
The EKB model was further developed by Rice (1993) which suggested there should be a
feedback loop, Foxall (2005) further suggests the importance of the post purchase
evaluation and that the post purchase evaluation is key due to its influences on future
purchase patterns.

12

BUYING
Buying in has several meanings:

In the securities market it refers to a process by which the buyer of securities,

whose seller fails to deliver the securities contracted for, can 'buy in' the securities
from a third party with the defaulting seller to make good.

In poker it signifies the up-front payment required to participate in a given game

or tournament.

In management and decision making, buy-in (as a verb or noun) signifies the
commitment of interested or affected parties to a decision (often called
stakeholders) to 'buy in' to the decision, that is, to agree to give it support, often
by having been involved in its formulation.

Securities market use

On the English stock exchange, a transaction by which, if a member has sold securities
which he fails to deliver on settling day, or any of the succeeding ten days following the
settlement, the buyer may give instructions to a stock exchange official to "buy in" the
stock required. The official announces the quantity of stock, and the purpose for which he
requires it, and whoever sells the stock must be prepared to deliver it immediately. The
original seller has to pay the difference between the two prices, if the latter is higher than
the original contract price. A similar practice, termed "selling out," prevails when a
purchaser fails to take up his securities.

13

The practise is not limited to the UK Stock Exchange but is found in various forms on
most stock exchanges. The rules vary according to the local regulations, and the party
which fails to deliver is usually penalised and may even be suspended..
Alternatives to short selling available on the SGX :
1. Borrow the share and proceed to sell a stock.
2. Buy a put warrant
3. Short a CFD.
4. Sell a Single Stock Future (SSF) in the futures market.
Poker and gaming
"Buying in" regarding poker tournaments is the process of entering a poker tournament
that requires an up-front payment. The size of the payment, otherwise known as the "Buy
In", determines the total winning prize pool and also contains a fee, otherwise known as
the rake, that is paid to the house.
For example a 50 person capacity tournament could cost $55 to enter per player. In poker
terms this could equate to $50+5, meaning $50 goes to the prize pool to pay the eventual
winners and $5 (10%) goes to the house for hosting the tournament. In this example the
prize pool would contain $2500 and the house would take a total of $250 (also 10%).
Management
The process of lobbying for support for part of the influential group before suggesting an
idea, arguing a case or submitting a report.

14

In the sports world, buying in is a significant aspect of players/participants accepting

goals and direction from a coach, leader or program. "Buying in" becomes synonymous
with commitment and dedication. In the Spring of 2007, two film makers, Tim
Breitbach(Dopamine) and Ralph Barhydt, started producing a film entitled, "Buying In"
that explores the social issues of buying in based on the success of the boys' and girls'
high school basketball teams at The Branson School, in Ross, California, who each won
the State Championship in their division in 2007.

ONLINE SHOPPING
Online shopping (sometimes known as e-tail from "electronic retail" or e-shopping) 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: eweb-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, online
storefront and virtual store. Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) describes purchasing
from an online retailer's mobile optimized online site or app.
An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at abricksand-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 Alibaba,Amazon.com, and eBay

15

History

Michael Aldrich, pioneer of online shopping in the 1980s.

English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich invented online shopping in 1979. His system
connected a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a
domestic telephone line. He believed that videotex, the modified domestic TV technology
with a simple menu-driven humancomputer interface, was a 'new, universally
applicable, participative communication medium the first since the invention of the
telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to be opened to 'outside'
correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for e-messaging and
information retrieval and dissemination, later known as e-business.[2] His definition of the
new mass communications medium as 'participative' [interactive, many-to-many] was
fundamentally different from the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass
media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later.
In March 1980 he went on to launch Redifon's Office Revolution, which allowed
consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers and service companies to be
connected on-line to the corporate systems and allow business transactions to be
completed electronically in real-time.[3]

16

During the 1980s[4] he designed, manufactured, sold, installed, maintained and supported
many online shopping systems, using videotex technology.[5] These systems which also
provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World
Wide Web, the IBM PC, and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in the UK by
large corporations.
The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990,
opened for commercial use in 1991.[6]Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations
emerged in 1994: online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop byPizza
Hut, Netscape's SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and Intershop's first
online shopping system. The first secure retail transaction over the Web was either
by NetMarket or Internet

Shopping

Network in

1994.[7]Immediately

after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was also
introduced in 1995. Alibaba's sites Taobao and Tmall were launched in 2003 and 2008,
respectively.
Retailers

are

increasingly

selling

goods

and

services

prior

to

availability

through pretail for testing, building, and managing demand.

International e-commerce statistics
Statistics show that in 2012, Asia-Pacific increased their international sales over 30%
giving them over $433 billion in revenue. That is a $69 billion difference between the
U.S. revenue of $364.66 billion. It is estimated that Asia-Pacific will increase by another
30% in the year 2013 putting them ahead by more than one-third of all global ecommerce
sales.

17

The largest online shopping day in the world is Singles Day, with sales just in Alibaba's
sites at US$9.3 billion in 2014.
Customers
Online customers must have access to the Internet and a valid method of payment in
order to complete a transaction.
Generally, higher levels of education and personal income correspond to more favorable
behaviour s of shopping online. Increased exposure to technology also increases the
probability of developing favorable attitudes towards new shopping channels.
In a December 2011 study, Equation Research surveyed 1,500 online shoppers and found
that 87% of tablet owners made online transactions with their tablet devices during the
early Christmas shopping season.[11]
Product selection
Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by
searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine.
Once a particular product has been found on the website of the seller, most online
retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items
and to adjust quantities, like filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional
store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which
payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers
to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only

18

needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the
transaction is complete.
Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (although
full credit card numbers, expiry date, and Card Security Code,[12] or bank account and
routing number should not be accepted by e-mail, for reasons of security).
Payment
Online shoppers commonly use a credit card or a PayPal account in order to make
payments. However, some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative
means, such as:

Billing to mobile phones and landlines

Cash on delivery (C.O.D.)

Cheque/ Check

Debit card

Direct debit in some countries

Electronic money of various types

Gift cards

Postal money order

Wire transfer/delivery on payment

Invoice, especially popular in some markets/countries, such as Switzerland

Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies

19

Some online shops will not accept international credit cards. Some require both the
purchaser's billing and shipping address to be in the same country as the online shop's
base of operation. Other online shops allow customers from any country to send gifts
anywhere.
The financial part of a transaction may be processed in real time (e.g. letting the
consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or may be done later
as part of the fulfillment process.
Product delivery
Once a payment has been accepted, the goods or services can be delivered in the
following ways. For physical items:

Shipping: The product is shipped to a customer-designated address.

Retail package delivery is typically done by the public postal system or a
retail courier such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, or TNT.

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

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

In-store pick-up: The customer selects a local store using a locator software and
picks up the delivered product at the selected location. This is the method often
used in the bricks and clicks business model.

For digital items or tickets:

20

Downloading/Digital distribution:[15] The method often used for digital media

products such as software, music, movies, or images.

Printing out, provision of a code for, or e-mailing of such items as admission

tickets and scrip (e.g., gift certificates and coupons). The tickets, codes, or
coupons may be redeemed at the appropriate physical or online premises and their
content reviewed to verify their eligibility (e.g., assurances that the right of
admission or use is redeemed at the correct time and place, for the correct dollar
amount, and for the correct number of uses).

Will call, COBO (in Care Of Box Office), or "at the door" pickup: The patron
picks up pre-purchased tickets for an event, such as a play, sporting event, or
concert, either just before the event or in advance. With the onset of the Internet
and e-commerce sites, which allow customers to buy tickets online, the popularity
of this service has increased.

Shopping cart systems

Simple systems allow the off-line administration of products and categories. The
shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a
webspace. The systems do not use an online database.

A high-end solution can be bought or rented as a stand-alone program or as an

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

21

Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on
a portal that hosts multiple shops simultaneously from one back office.

Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as

Interchange,

and

off-the-shelf

solutions

such

as Magento, nopCommerce, osCommerce, Shopgate, PrestaShop, Shopify, Zen

Cart, OpenCart.

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

Online gift shops

Online gift shops are websites which have the primary objective of selling products
online that will be given to others. These online retailers may or may not be associated to
a physical shop.
Design
Customers are attracted to online shopping not only because of high levels of
convenience, but also because of broader selections, competitive pricing, and greater
access to information.[16][17] Business organizations seek to offer online shopping not only
because it is of much lower cost compared to bricks and mortar stores, but also because it
offers access to a world wide market, increases customer value, and builds sustainable
capabilities. Information load
Designers of online shops are concerned with the effects of information load. Information
load is a product of the spatial and temporal arrangements of stimuli in the
22

webstore. Compared with conventional retail shopping, the information environment of

virtual shopping is enhanced by providing additional product information such as
comparative products and services, as well as various alternatives and attributes of each
alternative, etc.[20]
Two major dimensions of information load are complexity and novelty.[21] Complexity
refers to the number of different elements or features of a site, often the result of
increased information diversity. Novelty involves the unexpected, suppressed, new, or
unfamiliar aspects of the site. The novelty dimension may keep consumers exploring a
shopping site, whereas the complexity dimension may induce impulse purchases.[20]
Consumer needs and expectations
A successful webstore is not just a good looking website with dynamic technical features,
listed in many search engines.[22]In addition to disseminating information, it is also about
building a relationship with customers and making money.
Businesses often attempt to adopt online shopping techniques without understanding
them and/or without a sound business model; often, businesses produce webstores that
support the organizations' culture and brand name without satisfying consumer
expectations. User-centered design is critical. Understanding the customer's wants and
needs is essential. Living up to the company's promises gives customers a reason to come
back and meeting their expectations gives them a reason to stay. It is important that the
website communicates how much the company values its customers.[22]
Customer needs and expectations are not the same for all customers. Age, gender,
experience and culture are all important factors. For example, Japanese cultural norms

23

may lead users there to feel privacy is especially critical on shopping sites and emotional
involvement is highly important on financial pensions sites.[18] Users with more online
experience focus more on the variables that directly influence the task, while novice users
focus on understanding the information.
To increase online purchases, businesses must use significant time and money to define,
design, develop, test, implement, and maintain the webstore. Truly said, it is easier to lose
a customer than to gain one. Even a "top-rated" website will not succeed if the
organization fails to practice common etiquette such as responding to e-mails in a timely
fashion, notifying customers of problems, being honest, and being good stewards of the
customers' data.[22] Because it is so important to eliminate mistakes and be more
appealing to online shoppers, many webshop designers study research on consumer
expectations.

24

User interface
An automated online assistant, with potential to enhance user interface on shopping sites.
The most important factors determining whether customers return to a website are ease of
use and the presence of user-friendly features.[25] Usability testing is important for finding
problems and improvements in a web site. Methods for evaluating usability
include heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, and user testing. Each technique has
its own characteristics and emphasizes different aspects of the user experience.
Market share
E-commerce B2C product sales totaled $142.5 billion, representing about 8% of retail
product sales in the United States. The $26 billion worth of clothes sold online
represented about 13% of the domestic market, [27] and with 72% of women looking online
for apparel, it has become one of the most popular cross-shopping categories. Forrester
Research estimates that the United States online retail industry will be worth $279 billion
in 2015.[29] The popularity of online shopping continues to erode sales of conventional
retailers. For example Best Buy, the largest retailer of electronics in the U.S. in August
2014 reported its tenth consecutive quarterly dip in sales, citing an increasing shift by
consumers to online shopping.
There were 242 million people shopping online in China in 2012.
For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of
e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by a lack of
affordable Internet access.
Advantages
25

Convenience
Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have Internet
access both at work and at home. Other establishments such as internet cafes and schools
provide internet access as well. In contrast, visiting a conventional retail store requires
travel and must take place during business hours.
In the event of a problem with the item (e.g., the product was not what the consumer
ordered, the product was not satisfactory), consumers are concerned with the ease of
returning an item in exchange for either the correct product or a refund. Consumers may
need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for
a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to
compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe
retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a
restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the
United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from charging a restocking fee if the
consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance
Selling) Act 2000).[32]
Information and reviews
Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files,
whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging
will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other
experimentation).

26

Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as

instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some
provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers
decide which product to buy.
Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also
dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and even
some blogs give customers the option of shopping for cheaper purchases from all over the
world without having to depend on local retailers.
In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some
online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mails or phone calls to
handle customer questions.
Price and selection
One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or
services provided by many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist
to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price
comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a
particular product or service.
Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though
depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this.
Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more
expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some

27

retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free
shipping on sufficiently large orders.
Another major advantage for retailers is the ability to rapidly switch suppliers and
vendors without disrupting users' shopping experience.
Disadvantages
Fraud and security concerns
Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher
risk of fraud than face-to-face transactions. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases
using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. However,
merchants face less risk from physical theft by using a warehouse instead of a retail
storefront.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card
numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However,
one must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit card information
subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass the information to others. Also,
hackers might break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card
numbers, although the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is intended to
minimize the impact of such breaches. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers. A
number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require
disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major
concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures
such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks.

28

Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing
with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private
information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a
minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages.
Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent
assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of
these seals is to increase the confidence of online shoppers. However, the existence of
many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain
extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves
when using online retailer services. These include:

Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews

of their experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact
information on the website before using the service, and noting if the retailer has
enrolled in industry oversight programs such as a trust mark or a trust seal.

Before buying from a new company, evaluate the website by considering issues
such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of the site; whether or not the
company lists a telephone number and/or street address along with e-contact
information; whether a fair and reasonable refund and return policy is clearly
stated; and whether there are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping
and handling charges.

Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy posted. For example
note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private
information with others without consent.
29

Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above) when entering
credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card information entry
screen will start with "HTTPS".

Using strong passwords, without personal information. Another option is a "pass

phrase," which might be something along the lines: "I shop 4 good a buy!!" These
are difficult to hack, and provides a variety of upper, lower, and special characters
and could be site specific and easy to remember.

Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly
it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include
identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spyware. If users are required to
put in their credit card information and billing/shipping address and the website is not
secure, customer information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it.
Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult.
However, criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to
manipulate the system. Even though online retailers are making efforts to protect
consumer information, it is a constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be
aware of the most current technology and scams protect consumer identity and finances.
Product delivery is also a main concern of online shopping. Most companies offer
shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged. Some shipping companies will
offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but this is up to their discretion.
Lack of full cost disclosure

30

The lack of full cost disclosure may also be problematic. While it may be easy to
compare the base price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front.
Additional fees such as shipping are often not be visible until the final step in the
checkout process. The problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where
the cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional fees that must
be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage. Some services such as the Canadian
based Wishabi attempts to include estimates of these additional cost,[33] but nevertheless,
the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern.
Privacy
Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Many
consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying
contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise to not
use consumer information for these purposes,
Many websites keep track of consumer shopping habits in order to suggest items and
other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some
ask for a shopper's address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse
to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers'
credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a catalog mailing list. This
information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash or through a
bank (money transfer, in which case there is also proof of payment).
Product suitability

31

Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including
information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies,
education, communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Other
successful marketers use drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate
transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory.
Some non-digital products have been more successful than others for online stores.
Profitable items often have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing
purchases, they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shutins as their typical purchasers. Items which can fit in a standard mailboxsuch as music
CDs, DVDs and booksare particularly suitable for a virtual marketer.
Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for
industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online.
Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them
at consumer outletsin such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with
retail stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor for success in this niche can
consist of providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number
their particular version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by
serial number.
Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight
ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial
fittingsmost notably clothingand products where colour integrity appears important.
Nonetheless, some web sites have had success delivering groceries and clothing sold
through the internet is big business in the U.S.

32

Aggregation
High-volume websites, such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com, and eBay, offer hosting services
for online stores to all size retailers. These stores are presented within an integrated
navigation

framework,

sometimes

known

as virtual

shopping

malls oronline

marketplaces.

33

IMPACT OF REVIEWS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

One of the great benefits of online shopping is the ability to read product reviews, written
either by experts or fellow online shoppers.
The Nielsen Company conducted a survey in March 2010 and polled more than 27,000
Internet users in 55 markets from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America,
and South America to look at questions such as "How do consumers shop online?",
"What do they intend to buy?", "How do they use various online shopping web pages?",
and the impact ofsocial media and other factors that come into play when consumers are
trying to decide how to spend their money on which product or service. According to the
research,[34] reviews on electronics (57%) such as DVD players, cellphones, or
PlayStations, and so on, reviews on cars (45%), and reviews on software (37%) play an
important role in influencing consumers who tend to make purchases online.
Furthermore, 40% of online shoppers indicate that they would not even buy electronics
without consulting online reviews first.
In addition to online reviews, peer recommendations on online shopping pages or social
media websites play a key role[35]for online shoppers when they are researching future
purchases.[36] 90% of all purchases made are influenced by social media. Each day, over
two million buyers are shopping online for jewelry

34

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Consumer behaviour
Cognitive theories of behaviour

assume there is a poverty of stimulus. This (with

reference to behaviour ) is the claim thatsensations are, by themselves, unable to provide

a unique description of the world. Sensations require 'enriching', which is the role of the
mental model. A different type of theory is the perceptual ecology approach of James J.
Gibson. Gibson rejected the assumption of a poverty of stimulus by rejecting the notion
that behaviour is based upon sensations instead, he investigated what information is
actually presented to the perceptual systems. His theory "assumes the existence of stable,
unbounded, and permanent stimulus-information in the ambient optic array. And it
supposes that the visual system can explore and detect this information. The theory is
information-based, not sensation-based. He and the psychologists who work within
this paradigm detailed how the world could be specified to a mobile, exploring organism
via the lawful projection of information about the world into energy arrays. Specification
is a 1:1 mapping of some aspect of the world into a perceptual array; given such a
mapping, no enrichment is required and behaviour is direct behaviour .[41]

Behaviour -in-action
An ecological understanding of behaviour derived from Gibson's early work is that of
"behaviour -in-action", the notion that behaviour is a requisite property of animate

35

action; that without behaviour , action would be unguided, and without action, behaviour
would serve no purpose. Animate actions require both behaviour

and motion, and

behaviour and movement can be described as "two sides of the same coin, the coin is
action". Gibson works from the assumption that singular entities, which he calls
"invariants", already exist in the real world and that all that the behaviour process does is
to home in upon them. A view known as constructivism (held by such philosophers
as Ernst von Glasersfeld) regards the continual adjustment of behaviour and action to the
external input as precisely what constitutes the "entity", which is therefore far from being
invariant.
Glasersfeld considers an "invariant" as a target to be homed in upon, and a pragmatic
necessity to allow an initial measure of understanding to be established prior to the
updating that a statement aims to achieve. The invariant does not and need not represent
an actuality, and Glasersfeld describes it as extremely unlikely that what is desired
or feared by an organism will never suffer change as time goes on. This social
constructionist theory thus allows for a needful evolutionary adjustment.
A mathematical theory of behaviour -in-action has been devised and investigated in many
forms of controlled movement, and has been described in many different species of
organism using the General Tau Theory. According to this theory, tau information, or
time-to-goal information is the fundamental 'percept' in behaviour .
Evolutionary psychology (EP) and behaviour
Many philosophers, such as Jerry Fodor, write that the purpose of behaviour

is

knowledge, but evolutionary psychologists hold that its primary purpose is to guide
action.[44] For example, they say, depth behaviour seems to have evolved not to help us
36

know the distances to other objects but rather to help us move around in space.
[44]

Evolutionary psychologists say that animals from fiddler crabs to humans use eyesight

for collision avoidance, suggesting that vision is basically for directing action, not
providing knowledge.
Building and maintaining sense organs is metabolically expensive, so these organs evolve
only when they improve an organism's fitness. [44] More than half the brain is devoted to
processing sensory information, and the brain itself consumes roughly one-fourth of one's
metabolic resources, so the senses must provide exceptional benefits to fitness.
[44]

Behaviour accurately mirrors the world; animals get useful, accurate information

through their senses.

Scientists who study behaviour and sensation have long understood the human senses as
adaptations.[44] Depth behaviour consists of processing over half a dozen visual cues,
each of which is based on a regularity of the physical world. [44] Vision evolved to respond
to the narrow range of electromagnetic energy that is plentiful and that does not pass
through objects.[44] Sound waves provide useful information about the sources of and
distances to objects, with larger animals making and hearing lower-frequency sounds and
smaller animals making and hearing higher-frequency sounds.[44]Taste and smell respond
to chemicals in the environment that were significant for fitness in the environment of
evolutionary adaptedness.[44] The sense of touch is actually many senses, including
pressure, heat, cold, tickle, and pain.[44] Pain, while unpleasant, is adaptive. An important
adaptation for senses is range shifting, by which the organism becomes temporarily more
or less sensitive to sensation.[44] For example, one's eyes automatically adjust to dim or
bright ambient light.[44]Sensory abilities of different organisms often coevolve, as is the

37

case with the hearing of echolocating bats and that of the moths that have evolved to
respond to the sounds that the bats make.
Evolutionary psychologists claim that behaviour

demonstrates the principle of

modularity, with specialized mechanisms handling particular behaviour

tasks. [44] For

example, people with damage to a particular part of the brain suffer from the specific
defect of not being able to recognize faces (prospagnosia). EP suggests that this indicates
a so-called face-reading module.
Theories of visual behaviour

Empirical theories of behaviour

Enactivism

Anne Treisman's feature integration theory

Interactive activation and competition

Irving Biederman's recognition by components theory

38

CHAPTER 3
COMPANY PROFILE

39

CHAPTER 3
COMPANY PROFILE

Flipkart
Type

Private

Headquarters

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Area served

India

Key people

Sachin Bansal
Binny Bansal
Amod Malviya

Industry

Internet

Services

E-commerce
(Online shopping)

Revenue

US$ 1 billion (gross merchandise

2013-14)

Employees

15,000 (2014)[2]

Parent

Flipkart Pvt. Ltd (FPL)

Subsidiaries

Myntra

Website

Flipkart.com

Alexa rank

86 (March 2015)

40

Flipkart, is an E-Commerce company established in 2007 by Sachin Bansaland Binny

Bansal. It operates exclusively in India, with headquarters atBangalore, Karnataka.
Flipkart has launched its own product range under the name "DigiFlip" with products
including tablets, USBs, and laptop bags.
In May 2014, Flipkart received $210 million from DST Global and in July it raised $1
billion led by existing investors Tiger Global and South Africa's media group Naspers.
Flipkart's last fundraising round in December had pegged its valuation at $12 billion.
History
Flipkart (Company) was founded in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, both
alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. They had been working
for Amazon.com previously. The business was formally incorporated as a company in
October 2007 as Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd. [8] The first product sold by them was
the book Leaving Microsoft To Change The World, bought by VVK Chandra from
Andhra Pradesh.[9][10][11] Flipkart now employs more than 16000 people.[12] Flipkart allows
payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit or debit card transactions, net banking,
e-gift voucher and card swipe on delivery.
Acquisitions

2010: WeRead, a social book discovery tool.

2011: Mime360, a digital content platform company.

2011: Chakpak.com, a Bollywood news site that offers updates, news, photos and
videos. Flipkart acquired the rights to Chakpak's digital catalogue which includes
40,000 filmographies, 10,000 movies and close to 50,000 ratings. Flipkart has

41

categorically said that it will not be involved with the original site and will not use
the brand name.

2012: Letsbuy.com, an Indian e-retailer in electronics. Flipkart has bought the

company for an estimated US$25 million.[17][18] Letsbuy.com was closed down and all
traffic to Letsbuy has been diverted to Flipkart.

2014:

Acquired Myntra.com in

an

estimated 20

billion

(2,000 crore,

about US$319 million) deal.

Finance
Initially, the founders had spent 400,000 only for making website to set up the business.
[21]

Flipkart has later raised funding from venture capital funds Accel India (US$1 million

in 2009)[22][23][24] and Tiger Global (US$10 million in 2010 andUS$20 million in June
2011).[25][26][27] On 24 August 2012, Flipkart announced the completion of its 4th round of
$150 million funding from MIH (part of Naspers Group) and ICONIQ Capital.[28] The
company announced, on 10 July 2013, that it has raised an additional $200 million from
existing investors including Tiger Global, Naspers, Accel Partners and Iconiq Capital.
Flipkart's reported sales were 40 million in FY 20082009,[30][31] 200 million
in FY 20092010[32] and 750 million for FY20102011.[33] In FY 20112012, Flipkart is
set to cross the 5 billion (US$100 million) mark as Internet usage in the country
increases and people get accustomed to making purchases online. [34] Flipkart projects its
sales to reach 10 billion by year 2014. On average, Flipkart sells nearly 10 products per
minute[35] and is aiming at generating a revenue of 50 billion (US$0.81 billion) by 2015.
[36]

42

On November 2012, Flipkart became one of the companies being probed for alleged
violations of FDI regulations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999
Flipkart reported a loss of 281 crore for the FY 2012-13.[39] In July 2013, Flipkart raised
USD 160 million from private equity investors.[40]
In October 2013, it was reported that Flipkart had raised an additional $160 million from
new

investors

Dragoneer

Investment

Group, Morgan

Stanley

Wealth

Management, Sofina SA and Vulcan Inc. with participation from existing investor Tiger
Global.
On 26 May 2014, Flipkart announced that it has raised $210 million from Yuri Milners
DST Global and its existing investors Tiger Global, Naspers and Iconiq Capital.
In early July 2014, it was also highly speculated that Flipkart was in negotiations to raise
at least $500 million, for a likely listing in the US for 2016.
On 29 July 2014, Flipkart announced that it raised $1 billion [46] from Tiger Global
Management LLC, Accel Partners, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management and a
new investor Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC.[47]
On 6 October 2014, Flipkart sold products worth INR 650Crore in 10 hours in a special
one-day event - "The Big Billion Day", claiming they had created e-commerce history,
but their hard-won reputation for good customer service suffered because of technical
problems, and angry reactions on social media from buyers disappointed with the pricing
and availability of products. It claimed to sell a whopping 5 lakh mobile handsets, fivelakh clothes and shoes and 25,000 television sets within hours of opening its discounted
sale at 8 AM.[51] In December 2014, After it received $700 million from another funding,
Flipkart had a market cap of $11 billion or Rs.66000 crore.

43

On 20 December 2014, Flipkart announced filing application with Singapore based

companies' regulator ACRA to become a public company after raising USD 700 million
for long term strategic investments in India following which its number of investors
exceeded 50. The USD 700 million fund raised by Flipkart added new investors - Baillie
Gifford, Greenoaks Capital, Steadview Capital, T. Rowe Price Associates and Qatar
Investment Authority - on company's board.Its existing investors DST Global, GIC,
ICONIQ Capital and Tiger Global also participated in this latest financing round.
Flyte Digital Music Store
In October and November 2011, Flipkart acquired the websites Mime360.com[15] and
Chakpak.com.[16] Later, in February 2012, the company revealed its new Flyte Digital
Music

Store.[54] Flyte,

legal music

download service

in

the

vein

of iTunesand Amazon.com, offered DRM-free MP3 downloads. But it was shut down on
17 June 2013 as paid song downloads did not get popular in India due to the advent of
free music streaming sites.
Exclusive product launches
Motorola Mobility, previously owned by Google but then sold to Lenovo, in an exclusive
tie up with Flipkart launched its budget smartphone Moto G in India on 5 February
2014. This triggered an overwhelming response from online shoppers and more than
20,000 units were sold within hours of launch on Flipkart. After the Moto G successful
debut launch, Flipkart was looking for a long term tie up with Motorola
Mobility. The Moto G success story, led to another exclusive tie up between Flipkart &
Motorola Mobility, who launched their flagship Android smartphone, the Moto X on 19
March 2014. After Moto G and Moto X, Flipkart invited the Moto E, the newest member
44

of Moto family which is even cheaper than Moto G on 13 May 2014.[62] The sale of highend smartphone Xiaomi Mi3 produced by Xiaomi Tech was launched in India on an
exclusive tie-up with Flipkart. The first batch was sold out within 39 minutes on 22 July
2014, the second in 5 seconds[64] on 29 July 2014. The sale was proceeded on preregistration mode where more than 150 000 buyers booked for the 5 August 2014 sale.
This got sold off in less than 2 seconds. [65] Following this Xiaomi Tech decided to sell
20,000 pieces in the next sale scheduled for 12 August 2014.[66] On September 2, 2014
Flipkart held a flash sale of the budget Android smartphone the Xiaomi Redmi 1S which
was launched in India in July 2014. 40, 000 units priced at Rs 5999 each were sold within
seconds.[67] In the second round of Xiaomi Redmi 1S sale held on Sept 9, 2014, 40,000
units were sold within a span of 4.5 seconds, slightly longer than the first sale, which
lasted just 4.3 seconds. Third round of Redmi 1S sale held on Sept 16, 2014 with again
40,000 units sold in fastest of all 3.4 seconds.[69] In the 4th round of sale of Redmi 1S held
on Sept 23, 2014, Flipkart put more units this time, 60,000 units go out of stock in 5.2
seconds.[70] In the latest Flash sale held on Sept 30, 2014, once again 60,000 units Go out
of stock in 13.9 seconds. Redmi Note in India exclusively through Flipkart. The first
flash sale of 50,000 Redmi Note devices held on December 2, 2014 and all the devices
sold out in mere 6 seconds, just like all the earlier flash sales of Xiaomi held at Flipkart.
In-house products

In July 2014 Flipkart launched its own set of tablet, mobile phones & Phablet.
The first among these series of tablet phones was Digiflip Pro XT 712 Tablet.

45

In July 2014 Flipkart launched its first networking router, under its own brand
name named DigiFlip WR001 300 Mbit/s Wireless N Router.

In September 2014 Flipkart launched its in-house home appliances and personal
healthcare brand Citron. The label includes a wide range of cooking utilities and
grooming products.

Criticism
Flipkart is a Singaporean company with multiple Indian shell companies to run an India
focused operation. The Indian shell companies is used to funnel funds to the parent
Singaporean company.
On 6 October 2014 Flipkart launched Big Billion Day with intention to increase the
popularity by targeting billion sales in 1 day. This even though helped Flipkart achieve
the target led to public outcry and widespread criticism across consumers, competitors
and partners heavily damaging its reputation.
Many users could not place the order because the servers were not capable enough to take
the load and was giving random errors to users which led to frustration among customers.
[73]

Many users who placed orders got email saying that the order got cancelled. [74] Most

of the products were sold for price less than cost price and was accused of killing the
competition. Major competitors filed complaints against Flipkart to commerce ministry
claiming that selling products for less than cost price is against the commerce policy of
the country. Ministry said that they will form new trade rules for e retail after this
incident.

46

On 13 September 2014, a Flipkart delivery boy molested a house maid in Hyderabad.

[78]

The house maid's employer has been fighting against Flipkart for justice on this issue,

and also for making offline delivery services safe.[79]

Awards and recognition

Co-Founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal, got Entrepreneur of the Year Award 20122013 from Economic Times, leading Indian Economic Daily[80]

Flipkart.com was awarded Young Turk of the Year at CNBC TV 18's 'India
Business Leader Awards 2012' (IBLA).

Flipkart.com- got Nominated for IndiaMART Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2011

47

Snapdeal.com
Type

Private

Founded

2010[1]

Headquarters

New Delhi, India

Area served

India

Founder(s)

Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal

Key people

Kunal Bahl & Rohit Bansal

Industry

Internet

Services

E-commerce
(Online shopping)

Employees

2000+[2]

Slogan(s)

Bachatey Raho!

Website

www.snapdeal.com

Alexa rank

149 (March 2015)

Snapdeal.com is an online marketplace, New Delhi, India. The company was started by
Kunal Bahl, a Wharton graduate as part of the dual degree M&TEngineering and
Business program at Penn, and Rohit Bansal, an alumnus ofIIT Delhi in February 2010.
History
Snapdeal.com was started in February 2010 as a daily deals platform inspired
by Groupon.com but

expanded

in

September

2011

to

become

an

online

marketplace. Snapdeal has grown to become the largest online marketplace in

India offering an assortment of 4 million+ products across diverse categories from over
50,000 sellers, shipping to 4,000[7] towns and cities in India.
Funding
48

Snapdeal has received 6 rounds of funding:

Round 1: In January 2011, Snapdeal received a funding of $12 million from

Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners.

Round 2: In July 2011, the company raised a further $45 million from Bessemer
Venture Partners, along with existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners.

Round 3: Snapdeal then raised a 3rd round of funding worth $50 million from
eBay and received participation from existing investors i.e. Bessemer Venture
Partners, Nexus Venture and IndoUS Venture Partners.

Round 4: Snapdeal received its 4th round of funding of $133 million on Feb2014. The 4th round of funding was led by eBay with all the current institutional
investors, including Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture
Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital all participating.

Round 5: Snapdeal received its 5th round of funding of $105 million in May2014. The 5th round included investments by Blackrock, Temasek Holdings,
PremjiInvest and others. The round valued SnapDeal at $1,000,000,000.

Round 6: Snapdeal received its 6th round of funding in Oct-2014

from Softbank with investments worth $627 million in fresh capital.This makes
SoftBank the largest investor in Snapdeal.

Acquisitions
49

In June 2010, Snapdeal acquired Bangalore-based group buying site,

Grabbon.com.

In April 2012, Snapdeal acquired esportsbuy.com, an online sports goods retailer

based out of Delhi.

In May 2013, Snapdeal acquired Shopo.in, an online marketplace for Indian

handicraft products.

In April 2014, Snapdeal acquired fashion products discovery site, Doozton.com.

In

December

2014,

Snapdeal

acquired

gifting

recommendation

site,

Wishpicker.com.

In January 2015, Snapdeal acquired a stake in product comparison website

Smartprix.com.

In February 2015, Snapdeal acquired luxury fashion products discovery

site, Exclusively.in.

Business results
In the year 2012-13 Snapdeal had said that it expected revenues of about
600 crore (US$94 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 mcommerce. Snapdeal.com expected the total sale of products traded on its platform to
cross 2000 crore(US$310 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. [21] In June 2014,
Snapdeal announced that it had achieved the milestone of 1000 sellers on its platform
getting sales of over Rs 1 crore.

50

Awards and recognition

eRetailer of the Year & Best Advertising campaign of the year - Indian eRetail
awards 2012 organized by Franchise India in Feb,2012.

Winner of Red Herring Asia Awards 2011.

E-commerce site of the year at WAT awards that took place in Jan 2012, Mumbai.

Voted amongst the Buziest brands of India in afaqs's annual buzz-making poll.

Trivia

In June 2011, Shiv Nagar, a village located in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar

Pradesh, India, became SnapDeal.com Nagar (nagar means town), after Snapdeal
had installed 15 hand pumps for drinking water. The villagers voted to name their
hamlet after Snapdeal to express their gratitude.

Criticism

Snapdeal has been criticized for failing to deliver big discounts and speedy
deliveries on its Savings Day sale held on 11 November 2014

51

CHAPTER 4
OBJECTIVE
AND
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
Based on the problem the objective of the research is divided into two which are
as follows:
Primary Objective:

To analyse brand loyalty of customers towards the companys products range of

flipkart and snapdeal.

Secondary Objective:

Analyse consumer satisfaction of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal .

Analyse the Consumer behaviour on product of Online shopping by flipkart and

snapdeal

52

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter aims to understand the research methodology establishing a framework of
evaluation and revaluation of primary and secondary research. The techniques and
concepts used during primary research in order to arrive at findings; which are also dealt
with and lead to a logical deduction towards the analysis and results

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design applied here was exploratory research.
Exploratory Research is one in we dont know about the problem, we have to find about
the problem and then work on solving the problem. Whereas in case of descriptive
research, we know the problem, we just have to find the solution to the problem.
Generally descriptive research design is applied after exploratory research design.
Here after doing the secondary research, we found the general behaviour about the
online shopping but then in second phase we tried to figure out where the difference lies
and on what basis the banks differ from each other

53

RESEARCH TOOL
Research tool
The purpose is to first conduct a intensive secondary research to understand the full
impact and implication of the industry, to review and critique the industry norms and
reports, on which certain issues shall be selected, which remain unanswered , this shall be
further taken up in the next stage of secondary research. This stage shall help to restrict
and select only the important question and issue, which inhabit growth and segmentation
in the industry.

DATA COLLECTION:
Both primary and secondary data have been collected very vigorously
Secondary data: it is collected by the study of various reports. The reports studied under
secondary data.

54

THE RESEARCH REPORT

The report is the result of a survey which was undertaken in Lucknow. The objectives of
the project has been fulfilled by getting response from the customer associated to these
segments through a personal interview in the form of a questionnaire. The responses
available through the questionnaire are

used to evaluate the brand loyalty for the

products of Online shopping and the willingness of the customer to purchase its products
on future.

The project also covers an analysis of the switch over of customers to competitor's
products in the market.

55

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

The problem formulation is the first step to a successful Research process.
Project undertaken the problem of analyzing the customer satisfaction level of the Online
shopping and to find the Consumer behaviour on Online shopping .
THE RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design used in the project is exploratory design. The
investigation is carried upon the customers in Lucknow. The reason for choosing this
design is to get responses from the customers so that their behaviour about the products
of the company and their loyalty could be predicted.
THE DATA SOURCE
The data has been taken from two sources

Primary data source

The primary data source has been collected through questionnaire by personally
interviewing each respondent on a number of queries structured in a questionnaire.

Secondary data source

Secondary data was collected from following sources

Prior research reports
Websites
Books
Newspaper
Personal consultation
THE AREA OF WORK

56

The field work is conducted in the lucknow in various Places like

Showroom and retailers situated in different location all over the city.

THE SAMPLE SIZE

The sample size consists of 50 units out of which the most logical and non
biased response are selected thus the sample size is taken out to be 50 units.

57

Chapter 5
DATA ANALYSIS
1. Do you like the idea of unsung Online shopping products by flipkart and snapdeal
Yes
No

87
13

Interpretation:
87% respondent said that they have idea to purchase Online shopping by flipkart and
snapdeal product but 13% respondent have no idea to purchase Online shopping product.

58

2.Have you ever purchase product of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal ?
Yes
No

77
23

Interpretation:
77% respondent said that they purchase Online shopping product but 23% said no.

59

3.What helps you to decide product of Online shopping you purchase by flipkart and
snapdeal ?
TV Advertisement
Personal recommendation
Special offer
Radio advertising
News paper
Word of mouth

23
36
11
17
7
6

Interpretation:
23% respondent said that TV advertisement help to decide to purchase Online shopping
product , 36% personal recommendation, 11% special offer, 17% radio advertising, 7%
news paper and 6% said that word of mouth is help to purchase Online shopping product.

60

4.How frequently you see advertisement of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal
product ?
Weekly
Monthly
daily
None

27
37
27
19

Interpretation:
25% respondent said that they saw Online shopping advertisement weekly, 33% monthly,
25% daily, 17% said none.

61

5.For which one of the following purpose you visit in your product by flipkart and
snapdeal?
Purchasing branded goods
Purchasing local goods
Only gathering information
Others

57
23
11
9

Interpretation:
57% respondent said that they purchase branded good 23% purchasing local goods, 11%
only gathering information and 9% others reason.

62

6.What according to you are attractive features that buy Online shopping product by
flipkart and snapdeal ?
Quality
Economy
Branded

32
49
19

19%

32%

49%
Quality

Economy

Branded

Interpretation:
32% respondent said that quality attract to purchase product, 49% economy and 19%
respondent said taste is attract to purchase product of Online shopping

63

7. Are you satisfy with product range of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal ?
Yes
No

91
9

Interpretation:
Maximum respondent satisfied with product range of Online shopping but 9% respondent
no satisfied.

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8. according to you product range of Online shopping have changed the way the
Consumer satisfaction towards flipkart and snapdeal product ?
Yes
No

71
29

Interpretation:
71% respondent said that product range is changed the customer satisfaction towards
flipkart and snapdeal and 29 said no.

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9. Do you suggest the product of Online shopping to others

Yes
No

89
11

Interpretation:
89% respondent said that they suggest to other to purchase of Online shopping product
but 11% said no.

66

10. How will you rate your present Online shopping product performance?
Poor
7
Satisfactory
23
Fair
27
Good
21
Very good
13
Excellent
9

Interpretation:
7% respondent rate poor for performance of Online shopping product, 23% satisfactory,
27% fair, 21% good, 13% very good and 9% respondent rate excellent.

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CHAPTER 6
FINDINGS

87% respondent said that they have idea to purchase Online shopping product by
flipkart and snapdeal but 13% respondent have no idea to purchase Online
shopping product.

77% respondent said that they purchase Online shopping product by flipkart and
snapdeal but 23% said no.

23% respondent said that TV advertisement help to decide to purchase Online

shopping product , 36% personal recommendation, 11% special offer, 17% radio
advertising, 7% news paper and 6% said that word of mouth is help to purchase
Online shopping product.

25% respondent said that they saw Online shopping advertisement weekly, 33%
monthly, 25% daily, 17% said none.

57% respondent said that they purchase branded good 23% purchasing local
goods, 11% only gathering information and 9% others reason.

32% respondent said that quality attract to purchase product, 49% economy and
19% respondent said taste is attract to purchase product of Online shopping

Maximum respondent satisfied with product range of Online shopping but 9%

respondent no satisfied.

71% respondent said that product range is changed the customer satisfaction and
29 said no.

89% respondent said that they suggest to other to purchase of Online shopping
product but 11% said no.

68

7% respondent rate poor for performance of Online shopping product, 23%

satisfactory, 27% fair, 21% good, 13% very good and 9% respondent rate
excellent.

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CHAPTER 7
RECOMMENDATION

The brand loyalty for more Online shopping can be increased if the Quality and
appearance of the products are given due attention because Samsung has captured a
major share of Leather market.

The switch over of the customers can be prevented if more of new products are
launched more frequently like woodland which launches new products with slight
variations from the previous.

Quality wise very good but it still needs improvements.

The most selling milk product should be given schemes like some discounts offer like
diwali bumper sale offer.

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CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSION
The report comes to the following conclusion

The customers of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal are brand loyal with only
a small percent want to shift over to other brands. Trying of other brands by
customers is mainly because the customer wants to try something new.

The performance of Online shopping is fair in comparison to other.

Economy is the basic feature influencing to built brand Image.

The consumer of Online shopping is highly satisfied.

The competition of by flipkart is majorly with snapdeal.

Due to high brand loyalty the customers of Online shopping recommend its product
to others.

The customers are satisfied with the product range of flipkart and snapdeal.

LIMITATION

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Though, best efforts have been made to make the study fair, transparent
and error free. But there might be some inevitable and inherent limitations. Though
outright measure are undertaken to make the report most accurate.
The limitation of the survey are narrated below:

The project is valid for lucknow only.

It was not possible to cover each and every Retail shop due to time constrains.

There may be some biased response form the respondents

Some respondents did not provide the full data.

Unwillingness on the part of the customers to disclose the information as per the
questionnaire.

The decisiveness on the part of the customers regarding some question hence
difficulty faced in recording and analyzing the data.

72

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS

AUTHORS

Marketing Management

Philip Kotler

Marketing Research

D. D. Sharma

Research Methodology

C. R. Kothari

Websites

www. flipkart.com
www.snapdeal.com
www.google.com

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QUESTIONNIARE
Q1) Do you like the idea of purchasing products Online shopping by flipkart and
snapdeal?

( a) Yes

( b) No

Q2) Have you ever purchase product of Online shopping by flipkart and snapdeal?

( a) Yes

( b) No

Q3) What helps you to decide which product of online goods you purchase by flipkart
and snapdeal?

( a) TV Advertisement

( b) Personal recommendation ( c) Special offer

( d) Radio advertising ( e) News paper

Q4)

( f) Word of mouth

How frequently you made a purchase Online shopping product by flipkart and

snapdeal ?

( a) Weekly

( b) Monthly ( c) Quarterly

( d) None

74

Q5)

For which one of the following purpose you visit in your product by flipkart and

snapdeal ?
( a) Purchasing brand goods
(b) Purchasing local goods
(c) Only gathering information
(d) Others
Q7)

What according to you are attractive features that buy Online shopping product by

flipkart and snapdeal ?

(a) Quality (b) Economy (c) Taste
Q8) Are you satisfy with Online shopping Product by flipkart and snapdeal?
(a) Yes

(b) No

Q9) Do according to you ONLINE SHOPPING product have changed the way the
Consumer satisfaction towards Leather goods ?
(a) Yes

(b) No

Q10.Do you suggest Online shopping products to others

Yes

No

Q11. How will you rate your present Online shopping performance?

Poor
Satisfactory
Fair2
Good
Very good
Excellent

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