E-Commerce: User Experience and buying patterns in
Indian context
Abhay Vyas
National Institute of Design
Abstract
India is a fascinating country
where people of many different
communities and religions live.
The rapid change of the e-
commerce in the past few years
different buying patterns and
choices have emerged for different
age group of consumers. These
patterns have been measured and
collected by various Indian e-
commerce sites to understand and
develop offline consumer
experience on online shopping
sites. This research paper presents
the groundwork with introduction
of recent offline as well as online
buying pattern and experience of
different age group of people. This
is followed by their general
perceptions and preferences of the
online shopping including product
search and purchase. Each of these
user experience statement will be
compared to information
accumulated from survey
questions and open-ended
discussions with a different group
of people. It will also highlight the
comparison of offline and online
shopping experience with respect
to different buying patterns.
Introduction
E-commerce has become a
buzzword for business over the
past few years in India, with
increased awareness about the use
of computer and communication
technologies to simplify business
procedures and increased
efficiency. It provides core
business process of buying, selling
goods, services and information
over the Internet. India is the
worlds 4th highest Internet users
country with the growth of 4.1%
but the no. of online shopping
user is just 5%. There are
several online shopping websites
in India that offer vast shopping
experience. There are large no.of
e-commerce websites which look
like all US e-commerce sites that’s
why these sites are not that much
effective for Indian consumer.
People do what ever they want
they don’t want to take any pain
and prefer offline or easy
shopping.
Objective
This research is regarding what
makes people buy? Is it the price,
quality, website interface,
motivation or some newly
launched product. What makes
people to decide whether they
want to open up their wallet and
hand over the money? In some
cases they don’t want to spend, so
what's the difference between
those who buy and those who
don't? What do they do before
buying that product. Online buying
trends, patterns and preference.
There past and current experience
and what are the needs on Indian
e- commerce sites.
Implementation of research
paper
The goal is to increase business by
making it easier for customer to
shop by providing some basic
needs on the e-commerce site.
Reducing difficulties in purchasing
items online. System interaction
with customers to make them feel
confident on these sites with
friendly, easily accessible interface
and by giving them real world
environment experience. This
paper has analyzed some of the
challenges and opportunities of e-
commerce
Methodology
Initially as a pilot study I spoke to
different background people, with
some open-ended question. This
was a small-scale, preliminary
study before the main research
with 6 persons. All interviews
were conducted on one-on-one
basis and ranged from 20 to 30
minutes. The subjects, in the age
group of 20 to 30 years, with
different background, 3 of them
were employed and 3 unemployed.
This group was divided into 2 sub-
groups, one who shops online and
the other who doesn’t, in order to
check the Feasibility or whether
the research is going in the right
direction?
On the basis of pilot study a survey
was conducted online through
“www.kwiksurvey.com” online
panel. Eleven multiple choice
questions were prepared for the
survey. Some of them were open
ended to let participants express
their opinions, 63 Internet users
answered this survey except the
users who were interviewed during
pilot study. The participants were
Internet users of age group 20 to
60.
The objective of the survey was to
look at the different consumer
group and their behavior. To know
what exactly they do on online
shopping site, their past experience
, how do they interact and what are
their needs on e-commerce sites.
Questions to the participants were
focused around their experience
with e-commerce sites.
The survey made it easy to know
the inconvenience on Indian e-
commerce sites and divided the
subjects into 3 groups, teenagers,
working women and 20-32 age
group technology savvy people.

Result and discussion
The survey was focused on
electronic goods only. “More than
95% customers in India who have
an Internet connection but buy
products offline after having
investigated prices and details
online.” [According to P.T. Joseph
writer of E-commerce An Indian
perspective] 63 People participated
in this survey. In which 53 were
between age group 20 to 30, 6
were between 40-50, 2 were under
20 and 2 were above 50.
Out of 63 participants 85%
search Google for product
information, and 15% still use
traditional method (enquiry at
brand store, shops, malls, retail
outlet). Before buying products
actually from shop they first prefer
getting reviews from online sites.
According to pilot study browsing
information on online shopping
site is fun, fast and easy! But what
people do on these sites? Do they
shop online or search information
before buying? The results show
that 58 people browse information
and only 5 people actually buy
product.
Although major security
issues verify all Indian e-
commerce sites like verified by
visa, VeriSign Secured, Master
Care secure code and PCI DSV
1.2. Which indicates that the
shopper is on a secure page and
that the website has undergone
extensive identity authentication.
But in terms of security, user trust
is more important. Where 30%
people don’t know what are
security issues.
A prepaid debit card is useful
for its ability to transact payments
online over the Internet. But still
there are 27% users who are not
aware that they can shop online
with their debit card. Rich in text,
image, tools, plus customer service
information as it is a destination
where consumers look for desired
in-depth content. 81% participants
realize through their past
experience that product picture is
different form the actual picture
displayed.
During the pilot study there
were few Participants who wanted
to buy products but couldn’t while
they were on online shopping sites.
All these users participated in
detail study again. And left their
comments –
• Didn’t get clear picture of
product
• Had no credit card at that
time
• Not face to face transaction
• Wanted the feel of the
product, size, weight, finish
etc.
• Not sure about secure
transaction
Some more comments given by
these participants were
• Need fast delivery service
• Do they bargain?
• Offers and Discounts Services
• Complete 3D view of
Products
Understanding Indian market
To establish trust and confidence
among Indian consumers and
before starting online business in
India we need to understand Indian
market.
E-commerce environment
Many Indian e-commerce sites are
not at all welcoming. The home
page doesn’t give that feeling
which we get when we enter into a
local shop. A Punjabi buys stuff
from Punjabi’s shop, a north
Indian buys stuff from a north
Indian shop, a south Indian prefers
a south Indian shop. People enter
into any shop and adjust them
according to the current environ-
ment and feel good to shop there.
This reminds me of the Google
home page idea it used to open in
different language welcoming note
for each state.
Indian consumer look for festive
offers
India is a country of festival,
which has diverse customs and
traditions. With the biggest Indian
festival just round the corner, the
consumer is flooded with attractive
offers from various brands to woo
him.
The choices in Offline shopping during diwali at
Big bazaar.
Indian working housewives look
for festival offer and buy products
during occasions only. Online
shopping sites provide offers on
major festivals like Holi and
Diwali but what about other local
festivals. There are more than 365
festivals in a year and local
shopkeeper attracts their customers
by giving them some special
discounts on special occasion,
which results in increased sales.
Decision-making while selecting
product
Product picture is the most
important thing on e-commerce
sites, which helps customer to
decide whether he should buy that
product or not? User wants to look,
touch and feel the desired product
which is not possible online. On
the other hand Internet connection
speed is very important for e-
commerce site so that he can
browse the site frequently.
Generally it takes too much time to
update a single image to view.
Which takes too much time to
decide and forces customer to go
for offline shopping.
One to one shopping
People like to share their thoughts
to other i.e. what they are buying
and want to take their near and
dear ones’ opinion. After
reviewing the product details and
ratings most of user send that
product link to their friend for
feedback. As reviews and rating
are there but still people want to
involve their friends, family
members and relatives to help
them in better deal where e-
commerce sites are lacking in
social shopping.
People look for better services
People want a good service,
guarantee as well as warranty even
after long time and suggest others
for the good service products only.
It shouldn’t be like “pay and
loose”. 24 hrs services back up
should be available. “Salesman of
the year” movie is a good example
of service after product delivery,
said by a participant. HCL recently
launched their ME laptop with a
live help chat button on its laptop
to help their customer whenever
they are in need of it. Though in
India people do not use the internet
much but still HCL has tried to
give service satisfaction by putting
this button thus giving the
customer mental satisfaction that
there will always be a service to
attend to them.
Value for money
Survey result shows that Indian
customer love bargaining on street
shops as well as branded stores.
Aashish, Aditya and Yogesh who
recently bought Mac book pro
from apple store. They bargained
and got Sennheiser head- phones
with laptop worth Rs. 45,00. After
that they recommended more
people to buy from I-store only.
They said “why will we buy it
from other stores if we are getting
value for our money here.”
“People don’t buy our services,
products or ideas. They buy how
they imagine using them will
make them feel,” said by Apple
Store manager.
Age group 20 to 30 people never
want things according to need they
just want sophisticated things as
per their demand with more
features. The fastest way to sell is
to honestly help people see how
it’s really in their interests. Then
they will act quickly. Currently
there is no relationship with a
consumer who is already using the
same products for which other are
enquiring. Once you buy product
none of them will ask you how it’s
working which can help others to
make decision for same product.
People browse a lot before
buying product
Wide variety of products are
available online, people get
detailed information of the product
and then start comparison. During
the task people selected some
products from 2 or 3 sites opened
them into different tabs and then
kept switching the tabs. After they
choose a product they put it on a
virtual cart on the site. After which
they can’t compare it again. Some
people change their mind even
after putting products into a cart.
Fear of misuse of personal
information
Survey results show that there are
27% people who don’t know what
the security issues are? They don’t
want to provide their personal
information over Internet.
Poster showing customer’s expression
how they feel while buying.
User shared their personal
experience i.e. after choosing the
credit card option. User provides
his credit card number, name,
expiry and CVV (very confidential
stuff), and transaction turns down
to “sorry your payment did not go
through please try again” with one
more pay now button. Without
thinking user hits the ‘Pay Now’
button a second time in the hope of
making any corrections to his
transaction. Next screen shows
“Your session has expired!” with
some error message. They take all
PERSONAL information and now
his transaction does not go
through. So what happens to his
personal information? Somebody
could potentially misuse it? This
fearful experience is taking people
to offline shopping.
Secure sign on online shopping site of
indiatimesshopping.com
The above image is showing that
this page is secure and your details
will be confidential.
Design recommendation for
Indian e-commerce sites
However, to facilitate e-commerce
growth in India. The relatively
underdeveloped information
infrastructure must be improved.

• Welcoming home page for
each and every state.
• Different Offers on different
festivals.
• Complete 3D view of
product.
• Involvement of friends and
relatives social site
experience.
• Bargains on online shopping
sites.
• Online relationship with
consumers.
• Product comparison between
other sites.
• Provide secure password on
mobile before confirming
transaction by e-commerce
site.
• Provide delivery tracking.
• Educate or provide
information regarding the
security measures taken in
many of these websites
Conclusion
Based on the information collected
from this small sample study
shows that in India shopping is an
experience itself. People look
forward to it as an opportunity to
get out of their homes and interact
with other people. As we can see
the malls and the supermarkets are
only becoming famous using this
fact. Thus there is no way that they
can compete with the offline
platforms on the experience that
they providing. Here, I have
introduced some real world
physical shopping experience with
buying patterns and trends in
Indian context, which can be
implemented on online shopping
sites. Which will give physical
shopping feel on these sites to
improve e-commerce business.
This research has provided a
contribution, by providing insight
into the customer’s perception of
e- commerce experience.
Survey Questionnaire
1. Have you ever purchased a
product via mail order (telephone /
fax)?
2. Mediums you use for research
or getting information prior to
purchasing product?
3.What do you do on online
shopping sites?
4. What do you do with the
information you find?
5. Do you know security issues on
online shopping sites?
6. Do you know you can transact
online with your debit card for
Indian site?
7. Do you trust online product
picture?
8. If above answer is No! Then
select?
9. What stopped you for
purchasing when you were on
online shopping site?
10. Would you like to make any
comments or provide any feedback
how to make easy online
transaction?

Reference
[1] E-commerce An Indian
perspective by P T Joseph
[2] Spencer Johnson The one
minute sales person
[3] The call of the mall how we
shop Paco Underhill
[4] E commerce usability for UK
high street retailer 2007
[5] Social Commerce Mode 2.0
ambespielcase H & M
[6] http://shopping.rediff.com/
[7] http://compareindia.in.com/
[8] http://ebay.co.in/
[9] http://www.alibaba.com/
[10] The why of buy
[11] http://www.internetworld
stats.com/top20.htm

Surveylink
http://www.kwiksurveys.com/onlin
esurvey.php?surveyID=KKDLGN
_b 8d43ccf