applied research methodolgy project -

Exploring the Factors Affecting Consumer

Buying Behavior in Online Shopping

Kevin Vyavahare

Business Leadership Program

(2015 -2016)

Exploring the Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior in Online Shopping

Vyavahare,K (2015) 2

Contents

Chapter1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4

Chapter2. Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Online Shopping and Online Stores .................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1 Perceived Advantages .................................................................................................................. 8

2.1.2 Online Retail Attributes ............................................................................................................... 9

2.1.3 Customer Relational Behavior in Context to Online Shopping ................................................. 11

2.1.3 Perceived Disadvantages ............................................................................................................ 12

2.3 Website design and content factors ................................................................................................... 13

2.3.1 Website Quality ......................................................................................................................... 13

2.3.2 Ease of Website Language ......................................................................................................... 13

2.3.3 Delivery ...................................................................................................................................... 14

2.3.4 Customer service ........................................................................................................................ 14

2.4 Privacy & Security ............................................................................................................................ 14

2.6 Price .................................................................................................................................................. 15

2.7 Brand ................................................................................................................................................. 15

2.8 Refund ............................................................................................................................................... 15

2.10 Trust ................................................................................................................................................ 15

Chapter 3.Research Methodology ............................................................................................................... 16

3.1 Sample Description ........................................................................................................................... 16

3.2 Sample and data collection preference .............................................................................................. 16

3.2.1Procedure and Analysis ............................................................................................................... 17

Chapter4. Findings ...................................................................................................................................... 17

Chapter 5.Discussions ................................................................................................................................. 19

Chapter 6.Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 21

7. Appendix ................................................................................................................................................. 23

8. Reference ................................................................................................................................................ 24

9.Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 25

10. Table of Figures .................................................................................................................................... 27



Abstract

Online Retail shopping has become a very suitable/convenient way of buying goods in today’s

world. Because of large number of marketers offering large number of products to choose from,

consumers have a various options to choose from at a discounted price. Indian consumers have

begun to realize the benefits of online shopping. But this growing numbers are not reflecting the

online sales. Majority of the consumers’ access internet to do online shopping, but because of

some factors/reasons they hesitate to buy online. These factors determines whether their

intention of buying actually get converted into sales. Thus, it becomes significant to identify

factors affecting consumers’ buying behavior online, so that companies can use this information

to encourage their online shopping behavior. The purpose of this study is to identify /explore

factors affecting consumers buying behavior when shopping online.

Research studied various factors discussed in the said paper. The data was collected through

personal interviews. Factors such as the Website Quality, Price, Convenience, Delivery,

Customer service, Privacy & Security, Brand, Refund, Time and Trust Factor do affect the

consumer buying behavior while shopping online. The outcome of the study suggests that if

online marketer concentrate and start improving on the said factors, they will certainly see rise in

online purchase.

Keywords: online shopping, online buying behavior, customer attitudes



Chapter1. Introduction

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly purchase

products or services from seller over the internet instead of going to a brick and mortar store.

Online shopping provides the availability of all type of goods, which could be available in your

neighborhood store with some prominent differences. One of the main advantages of shopping

online is that consumers can purchase these goods at any time without moving out of their home

or office. E-commerce websites have all the products which are displayed with the price,

discounts and details/features about the particular product/goods. Potential customers have the

options of browsing the products, comparing and analyzing with other similar online shopping

outlets on their offering and can get the best deal out of it.

The development in the field of internet has created a new model of the conventional way of

shopping. Traditionally customers were tied to the opening or closing hours of an outlet or have

to travel to a specific location for particular product; but now they can virtually access at any

time and any place to purchase products and services. The Internet is relatively new medium for

the communication and the exchange of information which has become present in our daily lives.

The number of Internet users is constantly increasing, which signifies that online purchasing is

increasing rapidly (Joines, Scherer & Scheufele, 2003).

Nowadays, Since most of the couples are earning members, it becomes all the more difficult for

them to go shopping after long working hours and increased distances to commute from office.

Most of them do not having enough time to go shopping. Also after a hectic day at office, they

don't feel like going out for buying day to day things. They prefer to use this reserve of time for

other works like socializing or entertainment.

This is where the e-commerce companies are coming up with novel ways so that this section of

society can have ease in terms of shopping at any time. Typically, in e-commerce process of

activity, consumers use Internet for Searching for product features, comparing prices or reading

reviews, selecting products through Internet, placing the order and making a payment which is

then followed by delivery of the required products through various logistic means (Sinha, 2010).

As a retailer, critical understanding of consumer behavior in the electronic environment is quite

essential because say for example, online consumers' fears about the lack of opportunity to



examine products before purchase affects in his direct purchase decision. Several researchers

have proposed that the consumers' purchasing behavior in online shops can be fundamentally

different from that in the traditional environment [Alba et al., 1997; Winer et al., 1997].

In terms of online shopping, majority of Indian consumers are unwilling to buy products online

and it has many reasons for this occurrence because they do not believe in the process of online

purchases for the insecurity of credit or debit cards, fear of losing data to hacking, unreliable and

a breach of privacy and social risks.

Research Objective:

The primary objective of the study is to explore the factors which affect the shopping

behavior of online shoppers and to recommended useful information to marketing

professionals to develop a better marketing strategy to boost online shopping in retail

market.



Chapter2. Literature Review

In terms of customer behavior, Schiffman & Kanuk(2010) mentions attitude as a learned

tendency to behave in a favorable or unfavorable way consistently with respect to a given entity.

They are of the opinion that attitude could be affirmative and negative in terms of affective

towards online shopping by customers. Thus customers’ differences in affect intensity, the

interface of the website and the website’s narrative structure do affect an individual attitude,

which involves three main components which are affective, cognitive and co native.

One of the researchers Bruner & Kumar (2000), found that customers’ attitude toward the online

retail site can significantly be correlated towards the brand and their purchase with website

effectiveness. They are of the opinion that website characteristics can be reinforced which

includes product information, ease of use, entertainment, currency and trust. Several website

factors results in forming a favorable attitude which will affect customers toward online

purchase.

According to Sukpanich & Chen (1999) there are three variables awareness, preference and

intention that affected attitude of online buyers toward online shopping, which is different for

different people. These attitudes also vary because of different personalities, lifestyles, social

classes and other factors.

In terms of consumer responses toward online buying, Schlosser et.al (1999) mention that

customers preferred retail websites that provided them with essential information but at the same

time disliked/avoided online vendors who were hard selling their products and services online.

Study also suggests that customers disliked websites and one of the main reasons for the dislike

was that that websites took a long time to browse. Researcher also mentions that customers are

keen to go online but are skeptical about online purchase as they lack confidence and are low in

trust of the technology.

A study was carried out by Abdul Rahim and Fariza (2008) to understand the relationship

between customers through demographic characteristics such as level of education, age, income

and occupation with other factors such as ease of information, convenience, price, fast

transaction, and security regulations. The result showed that fast transaction, a convenient



system, ease of information and lower price were the key motivators for educated online

shoppers to purchase online. However, financial security was found to be insignificant in terms

of online transaction and was not one of the main concerns.

Elliott & Speck (1997) indicated that two-third of online retail customers avoided shopping on a

poorly designed web site. The study also suggests that the main factors that influence consumer

buying behavior include demographic, psychological, social, and economic and culture that

influence consumer buying behavior.

Kotler (2009) defines web experience as customer’s overall perception about the online

companies and their products. These results in an experience when potential customers’

intentions are converted into online purchase after he/she search, browse, find, select and

compare. Website’ design, atmosphere, events and other online features do affect the customers’

impressions while interacting online. Adding to Kotler’s study, Constantinides (2004) explains

that web experience has three main factors i.e. functionality factors, psychological factors and

content factors. In terms of functionality, it includes usability and interactivity i.e. customers are

facilitated to an easy, quick and interactive website. Psychological factor basically focuses on

gaining/building the trust from buyers in using and purchasing from a particular website,

whereas Content factor includes aesthetics and creativity of the marketing mix dsiplaying their

website in order to lure consumers to their website.

2.1 Online Shopping and Online Stores

Online stores have many advantages, comparing to brick and mortar stores. They are more

convenient and time saving, as there is no traveling and waiting in lines is out of question. They

are open 24/7 and can be accessed anytime and from anywhere. These online stores provide

customers with free and right information about products and services. They also come with

online tools which helps consumers compare and make purchase decisions among various

products and services. Distinguishing feature between marketing communication on the Internet

and traditional mass media is the interactivity, Hoffman and Novak (1996).



According to Geissler and Zinkhan (1998), online customers have more control over bargaining

power than customers of physical retail stores because online portals offer more interactivities

between consumers and product/service providers. It also provides greater availability of

information about products and services.

They claimed that the customers had easy time in order to make shopping comparisons and

evaluate alternatives without being pressured by salespeople. Online stores also reduce

transaction costs thereby providing advantage for both consumers and Sellers.

However, online stores do have disadvantages comparing to brick-and-mortar stores. According

to Xiao and Benbasat, (2007) in online stores, customers are not able to get any sense about the

product which they see on the online portal (i.e. seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, and hearing)

during their search for and purchase of the products. Häubl and Murray, (2003), are of the

opinion that customers may develop low trust and perceive elevated risk highly because of the

lack of face-to-face communication.

Mainly there are three groups of customers that are classified as security oriented, usability

oriented and convenience oriented. The main attributes that all three groups valued the most

included delivery, usability, trust, security and convenience. The customers also preferred a user

friendly web interface while shopping online, Bai, Law and Wen (2008).

2.1.1 Perceived Advantages

Soopramanien and Robertson (2007) suggested that online shopping depends upon the outlook of

the customers regarding the activities carried out online as opposed to traditional shopping

environments.

As per Chen (2010) ease of use, time saving and convenience are the main reasons that motivate

consumers to shop online. Also finding merchants on e-commerce has become easier by cutting

down on effort and time, Schaupp and Bélanger (2005). These perceived advantages impact the

online buying intention and attitudes of consumers to make online transactions, Nazir et al.

(2012).

In one of the articles by Times of India (February 12, 2013) has published that top motivators for

shopping online includes cash back guarantee, cash on delivery, fast delivery, substantial



discounts compared to retail, and access to branded products, while barriers include inability to

touch and try products before purchase, fear of faulty products, apprehension of posting personal

and financial details online and inability to bargain (See Figure 5.1).

Figure 1: Top Motivator Factors for shopping online

2.1.2 Online Retail Attributes

Liu and Arnett (2000) classified the attributes of online stores into four categories: merchandise,

navigation and convenience, customer service and promotions and security.

Merchandising is basically related to characteristics of product such as product information,

assortment and variety. High product assortment can increase the probability of meeting the

needs of consumers and their satisfied.

Top Motivator Factors for shopping

online

Cash back guarantee

Cash on delivery

Substantial discounts compared

to retail

Fast delivery

Access to branded products



Szymanski and Hise, (2000) argue that not all products available in the merchant's catalog or

physical store are available online. Also Bakos (1997) mentioned that online retail stores are less

successful than brick and mortar stores at converting online traffic into sales because customers

have difficulty in finding the products they seek and moreover primary role of online retail store

is to provide price and product related information to help reduce consumers' search cost.

Peterson et al, (1997) mentions that extensive availability of high quality information online

leads to better buying decisions and higher levels of customer satisfaction

Customer service and promotion attributes are frequently identified as a salient features to

determine the store choice behavior in both online and off-line stores. Customer service chiefly

includes answers to frequently asked questions, sales service for product selection, credit, return,

and payment policies and information about shipping and handling costs. Promotions include

advertising and sales events that attract customers through frequent buyer schemes, lottery

games, and product-related tips. (Kolesar and Galbraith 2000).

As Griffith (2001) mentions that user interface of an online retail store influences the buying

experience of customers while browsing through retailer's product or service offering and thus a

well-designed user interface system may reduce customers' cost of searching and the time

required for information processing. Therefore effective navigation and convenience also the

third attribute will minimize the effort of customers needed to perform product selection and

purchasing decisions (Hoque and Lohse, 1999). Szymanski and Hise (2000) are of the opinion

that minimum clutter and easy-to-navigate online retail sites saves shopping time as well as the

cognitive effort customers spend figuring out on how to shop online effectively. Moreover,

general help functions might assist users to find right information as well as providing a product

search engine, site map, and navigation sequence guidance.

Szymanski and Hise (2000) Elliot and Fowell (2000) and Liao and Cheung (2001) are of the

opinion that customers are concerned about disclosing their financial and private information and

thus online transactions continues to dominate the discussions on security of electronic

commerce. Though all the online retailing sites provide privacy protection policy and guarantee

for transaction security on personal information, they still do not give detailed information on

how transaction and personal data are secured.



2.1.3 Customer Relational Behavior in Context to Online Shopping

Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995) mentions that only after a few successful dealings, a customer gets

the feeling of safety with the online service provider. Customers tend to achieve greater

efficiency in their purchase decision making by engaging in relational behaviors, in order to

reduce information processing thereby achieving more cognitive consistency in their decisions,

and perceived risks associated with future choices. When customers trust a company, it means

that this company is able to fulfill their needs and wants and eventually, they become committed

to the company (Ravald and Gronroos, 1996).

Consumers are able to reduce their decision-making efforts when online shopping retailers create

an environment by providing huge selection, information viewing, product comparison and

reliability (Alba et al, 1997). Also consumers are able to reduce the cost of information search

and the effort in making buying decisions, as online retailers provide screened and comparison

information for alternatives, However, since online customers chiefly interact virtually and

cannot physically touch or feel actual products, they tend to make decisions mainly with

information provided electronically by the online retail store.

Since the customers purchase behavior in an online commerce platform plays a critical factor;

online retailers need to focus on the availability of information (Gilly and Wolfinbarger, 2001)

which not only relates to product or service information but also to the personalization for

retaining customers and convenience. But, several factors should be taken into consideration

which determines the predictive value of the information as no one type of information is

uniformly valued by all consumers.

Although the customer receives the tangible goods at the end of the online transaction, online

retailers should realize that the benefits to the customers are not in the purchased good, which

they could have been availed through alternative channels (Kolesar and Galbraith, 2000) but in

the performance of the transaction happened online which resulted in saving time, increased

convenience and reduction in dissatisfaction. Thus customer service and promotions also play a

critical role in designing online retail store (Lohse and Spiller, 1998).



2.1.3 Perceived Disadvantages

One of the major disadvantages is not to have actual face-to-face contact involved with the

online retails. Mainly for types of products such as the selling of life insurance which rely

heavily on building personal relationship between buyers and sellers, and the type of products

that requires physical examination, internet marketing maybe less suitable. While there is no

denial that internet marketing cannot allow prospective customers to touch, or smell or taste or

'try on' the products, though email marketing can be used to interest a consumer to visit a store to

try a product or to speak with sales representatives. According to Martin (2003), some of the

disadvantages of e-Marketing are Security, privacy issues, dependability on technology, higher

transparency of pricing and increased price competition, maintenance costs due to a constantly

evolving environment, and worldwide competition through globalization.

2.1.3.1 Perceived Risks

On the other hand, customers also weigh risks associated with an online transaction before

pursuing an actual buying activity. These risks could include security, financial and privacy risk.

Chen (2010) argues that security risk hinders online purchase intention of consumers and

describes perceived financial risk as a possibility of monetary loss due to shopping on the

internet. It is also related to the fear of loss of privacy since customers have to divulge their

personal information while shopping online. The research findings by Javadi (2012) showed that

variables like financial risk and risk of non-delivery also have a negative impact on online

customers. Thus perceived risks have an impact on the buying behavior of online shoppers

As per the empirical research carried out by Sulaiman and Rasheed (2007) on e-retailers, which

discuss the trust model indicated that the customers who shopped online had a lower level of

trust towards internet retailers’ privacy controls. This was because customers’ profiles are often

used by other e-vendors for marketing purposes this prevented them to make online transactions

again. The study concluded that the factors affecting trustworthiness of e-retailers included

perceived security, privacy, integrity and the inclination to trust.

Kaufman-Scarborough and Lindquist (2002) suggest that online shoppers also need to

learn/know about technology skills in order to search, evaluate and acquire products.



They are of the opinion that consumers who prefer shopping through brick-and-mortar over other

retail channels do not perceive the online shopping as convenient.

2.3 Website design and content factors

Hausman and Siekpe (2009) determined the website design as one of the major factors in aiding

consumers’ internet purchase intention. The research concluded that online retailers should focus

on adding human features like appealing visuals and graphics, 3d virtual models, etc. to attract

customers to their website and to encourage them to make an online purchase. Also, computer

features should be designed in such a manner so that it becomes easier for consumers to

navigate, search for information online, to understand the layout and to reduce the irritation that

consumers face while browsing online. Hunjra (2012) reported similar findings that website and

internet quality had a major impact on the intention of online shoppers buying behavior.

According to Bai, Law and Wen (2008) quality of the website do have a significant positive

relationship with purchase intentions. Also, customer satisfaction leverage this effect and thus

online retail companies need to invest in their website quality to attract and retain online

shoppers

2.3.1 Website Quality

According to Lee, H. J., & Huddleston, P. T. (2010) in terms of website quality, navigation and

content are the most sought after factors consumers are looking for when dealing with a web-site.

Categorization of information, color usage, layout/space usage, graphics usage, establishing

website’s identity and presentation of information are also the important factors. They are of the

opinion that the web site design describes the appeal of the user interface design that will

eventually increase the willingness of customers to visit a website more often, thereby making

them stay longer with the site.

2.3.2 Ease of Website Language

Every one prefers the website for online shopping which is familiar with the language that a

person knows so that he or she can easily understands the particulars about the product to shop



online but if a consumers does not know the language he / she would not be able to purchase

anything from that particular website.

2.3.3 Delivery

Vijayasarathy and Jones (2007) stated that reliability is basically a measure of customers

perceptions of online retailers promise on delivery of online purchased order and it is closely

associated with risk. According to Ping Zhang (2003) it appears that online customers want to

receive the right quality and right quantity of items that they have ordered within the time frame

promised by the online retailers. They also expect to be billed correctly.

2.3.4 Customer service

In terms of Customer service, online buyers consider responsiveness, courtesy and

understanding/knowing the customer as major factors in terms of service quality. Since online

shopping portals involve web-based transaction, the response on email inquiries becomes more

important comparing to the voice interaction. This is why most companies used online customer

service as a way to provide help and service to their online customers.

2.4 Privacy & Security

Security refers to customers’ perceptions about the level security in terms of online transactions,

as well as the protection from unauthorized access of financial information in an online retailing

context, network privacy, service quality and prices of products affect online purchasing

significantly. Also it is evident that genders of customers, design of online retail stores, and

awareness of consumers slightly affects online purchasing behaviors. Privacy refers to the degree

to which the online shopping web site is safe and protects the customers' information. According

to Ahuja et al (2007) privacy and security are the biggest barriers for online buyers and to online

shopping which significantly affected purchasing behavior by these factors. Thus providing

better privacy and security becomes a critical successful factor for ecommerce businesses.



2.6 Price

Price was a. Primarily price factor considers checking the customers’ attitude to save money

when shopping online, and thus is a critical factor for customer doing online shopping.

2.7 Brand

Brands and various features provide and increase consumer awareness as more information is

obtained. Brands are defined as the quality with respect to the products or services. Often, types

of brand are associated with seller’s reputation, which eventually results in consumer loyalty

with the seller. Thus online retailers should strengthen buyers trust and should promote the right

and good quality brands.

2.8 Refund

Online buyers believe and demanded that online retailers should facilitate an unconditional

refund policy if the online costumers are not satisfied with the product. Thus online retailers

should have policies with respect to refunds such that it becomes easy to convince online

customers that they can easily return products and get refunds if they are not satisfied, or

exchange products within a reasonable timeframe for free.

2.10 Trust

Last but not the least trust is the main factor that hinders online buyers from purchasing online.

The use of debit and credit cards and other financial details while shopping online creates a risk

of disclosure of personal details which could be misused.



Chapter 3.Research Methodology

Qualitative research technique was used as it aims to get a better understanding through first

hand information through actual conversations. It focuses on understanding how the participants

derive meaning from their surroundings, and how their meaning influences their behavior.

A qualitative survey was developed to identify factors that affect customers’ online buying

behavior.

3.1 Sample Description

Convenience Random Sampling technique has been used to carry out the research because it

would cover the diversity in respondents varying in age, organization, marital status, gender and

tenure of respondents. Therefore, it would possibly avoid any kind of sampling error due to bias

in the sampling. A sample of 10 respondents has been selected through purposive random

sampling in the vicinity of Gurgaon. The sample comprised of participants who were regular

online shoppers and were experienced in online buying who bought products or services from a

preferred retail store online. The purpose of using these samples was regarding the frequent

usages and automated habit of shopping online. Most of the respondents was either working

professionals or students who had sufficient exposure to internet.

3.2 Sample and data collection preference

Researcher used face to face interview technique to gather qualitative data. Individual semi-

structured interview was carried out with each sample by asking questions related to the

knowledge and experience about online shopping, reason for choosing online shopping, type of

products purchased online, factors affecting their behavior while online shopping etc.



3.2.1Procedure and Analysis

The data was collected using a purposive random sampling technique. The respondents were

approached by the researcher and a rapport was built with them, providing them with a brief on

what the research is about. Their consent on participation and other ethical considerations were

taken. The respondents were then interviewed on the set of open ended qualitative questions.

Their interviews were recorded, transcribed and content was analyzed. Post the interview the

respondents were thanked for their support.

The interview technique was able to capture several interesting aspects from the respondents in

terms of understanding factors which were affecting them from purchasing online.



Chapter4. Findings

Researcher tried to get respondents who used to do online shopping/transactions for goods or

services more than four times in a month. This was used as filtering process for getting better

responses i.e. getting more reliability on data.

Respondents were asked for their opinions about online shopping and majority answered that

they did online shopping because it was convenient, it offered more choices, saved time and

money in terms of distance travelled and discounts/good deals received. Respondents also felt

that they had an upper hand in terms of access to various brands, which mostly was not available

in their neighborhood. Some were of the opinion that online shopping was easy, quick and

efficient and also they got the detailed product description, which resulted in converting their

intentions in actual buying. For few it was more of a comfort thing.

Most of the respondent visited online retailers for grocery buying, for personal purposes (for

fashion, garments purchases) and for recreational purposes (like booking movie tickets/ ordering

food online). Other advantage that respondents felt they had in terms of shopping online was

access to new collection, new trends and ease of transactions.

In terms of constraints for online buying, respondent felt that lack of physical touch and feel led

to avoid them buying online, when product purchase was of higher value. Another major

hindrance was not receiving the right quality of product as described online in terms of quality,

color, features and look. Few respondents also felt that delivery time and refund/exchange

policies led them to avoid buying online. Also Customer services as well as complaint

addressing process (delay in quick responses) were not efficient, which resulted in customer

dissatisfaction and eventually switching of online retailers.

Respondents also felt that many online retailers had no well defined search engine, had

complicated web pages and too much of listing of products that were not defined well. Majority

of respondents preferred cash on delivery over online transaction because of fear of losing

financial information except few who had no options but to divulge financial information as they

were not present at home.



Chapter 5.Discussions

Perceived advantages of online shopping are positively related to online buying behavior of

consumers but at the same perceived risks discourage online shopping. The perceived advantages

by customers include 24/7 availability of online shopping, better deals, broader selection of

products, facility of easy price comparison, the advantage of a greater number of payment

options available to shoppers, advantage of getting expert reviews on the products, the advantage

of getting products which otherwise would not be available in the market, and the advantage of

saving time and cost etc. in terms of risks, for example customers fear that they might not receive

the product i.e. non-delivery risk or ending up getting malfunctioning goods. Again, online

retailers need to take appropriate steps to reduce such risks. Online retailers should consider

providing insurance to online shoppers so that the ordered items will not only be delivered on

time, but also in perfect conditions. All this would help in order build consumer loyalty and trust.

For example, Amazon has integrated structural assurances in its online marketing strategy which

has made it so successful. This can be followed by other online retailers, which can help in

increasing trust factors. Thus, online retailers need to understand customer’s trust in internet

shopping for making the right decisions to increase customer satisfaction, which would

eventually lead to more online purchases.

The studies also showed that customers hesitate to shop online because of financial risk and

psychological factors (like trust, security issues etc.) Researcher also comes to conclusion that

website design and aesthetics does not have a significant positive relationship with purchase

intentions that is in difference with the results of some studies (Lee & Lin, 2005) and customers

don’t pay much attention on website design and aesthetics, rather they focus more on utilitarian

factors while shopping online. Researcher believes that the source of trust in brick and mortar

setting is the salesperson that has the expertise, however in terms of online shopping

environment; the sales person is replaced by help and search buttons, which removes the basic

customer trust in the shopping experience. Therefore, the online retailers need to make shopping

experience more secure. Also they should try to develop trust between the web shop and the

consumer also called as (interpersonal trust) and between the consumer and computer system

(institutional trust).



Furthermore, the research was constricted to few of the major factors affecting online shopping

and thus researcher feels there could be other factors that might influence the shopping behavior

of internet shoppers and thus needs to be scrutinized. All this raises a new plan of action for

future research. Any researcher in future examining a similar topic will have to investigate these

parameters and should try to carry out a large scale survey to make the results more

representative and generalized. The findings of this research study will help online retailers and

business people to better understand how to increase their sales through online retailing.

However, the results of this study may not be exhaustive and further extensive research still

needs to be done to validate the findings.

This study has few limitations. Firstly, this survey was limited to a pool of Internet users only.

Hence, the results may not be comprehensive to non-Internet users. Secondly, the samples of

used for this study were mostly those respondents who were experienced Internet users. Thus,

the opinion/sample of respondents may be skewed toward more experienced Internet users,

which may restrict the generalized of the findings. Also due to limitation of time a convenient

random sampling was done which may not give the better picture of online buyers as a whole.

Also, the sample size was too small to be called a true depicter of population as the study was

limited to a region.



Chapter 6.Conclusion

In this study researcher examined some factors affecting online shopping behavior of customers,

out of which financial risk, non-delivery risk and quality risk has negative effect on attitude

toward online shopping behavior. That is, online retailers should make their website safer,

provide right quality product and assure customers for timely delivery of their products, which

would have Positive effect attitude toward online shopping behavior of consumers.

Customers are affected by various factors when making online purchase to buy something,

mainly confidence, security, price, convenience, time, discounted deals and after sale service.

One of the major obstacles in the online shopping is that customer usually get alarmed when the

other desktop demands the complete financial information of the customers. Because of this

customer tend to get anxious that his or her personal details may get disclosed and the third party

may get accessed to account details, which makes trust and confidence an important factor.

Future Implications:

On the basis of findings and results, this study was able to identify the following implications.

Firstly, online retailers should start taking actions to eliminate threat factor and building trust

among online buyers. The online retail should encourage customers through different platforms

like social networking sites, promotions, ads, discounts etc. to cross the threshold and start

buying because customers are still comfortable with brick and mortar format as they value

friendly approach of salesman and social element of shopping as an important factor in shopping.

In addition, they should focus on making website less intriguing and more user- friendly. It

should basically encourage online customers to spend time exploring the site, compare prices

online, to provide detail product information and discounts. The results also suggest that after-

sales operations like, refund and delivery, should be carried out on time and quickly so that

customer could build trust in the system. During the process of purchasing, online agents can

help customers in simplifying the purchasing procedure thereby providing feeling of friendliness

of salesman or could demonstrate on how to purchase with clear text, images or examples.

Second, because of alleged lack of secured transaction, online retailers should introduce a system



that would improve privacy and safety to encourage people to buy online. Finally, based on the

study's results online retailers should provide the assurance for shoppers that they ordered items

and make sure that the products will certainly be delivered to them. They can achieve this goal

by providing certain credential from governmental or authorized organizations that allow them to

sell goods online. This would help them in assuring customers that this online retailer are

rendering the job legally, so customers will buy from them with more confidence and will be less

worried about the delivery of their orders anymore or even quality of product.



7. Appendix

Questionnaire Sample

Q. Do you shop online? How active are you online?

Q. What are your opinions about online shopping?

Q. Which is the online store you often visit and why

Q. What are the constraints when shopping online?

Q. What are the features that you feel online retail sites are currently lacking

Q. Could you describe things that irritates or puts you off while shopping online or make you

switch retail sites.



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10. Table of Figures

Figure 1: Top Motivator Factors for shopping online

applied research methodolgy project -

Documents