Traditional Buying to Online Buying: A Study of the Paradigm Shift in Consumer Buying Behavior

 

Ambarish Ghosh1, Dr Aparna Ghosh2

1Asst. Prof., Disha College of Management Studies, Raipur.

2Asst. Prof., St. Thomas College, Bhilai., (C.G).

*Corresponding Author E-mail: ambarish1213@gmail.com, aparna.raipur@gmail.com

 

ABSTRACT:

In the last few decades internet has revolutionized the lives of millions of users of Chhattisgarh with its immense applications. With the growing productivity and economic growth online shopping has increased drastically. The world of electronic commerce, enables consumers to shop at online stores and pay for their purchases being at home. By just clicking a mouse, shoppers can buy any product online from household items to home loans. Consumers expect merchants not only make their products available on the Web, but also to make payments a simple and secure process. Online shopping is beneficial for both customer as well as the seller. With the fast growing technology online shopping is emerging in India at a very faster rate. The new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), states that the number of internet users in the country is expected to nearly triple from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016 in India. This paper is a study on the reason describing the attraction of the people towards online shopping and various factors affecting it. The purpose of the research was to study the consumer behavior in online shopping of electronics especially in Chhattisgarh. The main research question in paper is how consumers behave while shopping online. Primary data was collected through the emails from personal contacts of Chhattisgarh.

           

KEYWORDS: Banner ads,  Pop-ups,  Search advertising.

 


I. INTRODUCTION:

There are different parameters which induce the consumer to buy online like price, convenience, trust, availability, choice, comparison of products, less effort, shopping at any time, huge offers and discounts, safety etc. Moreover with online shopping, distance is not a barrier for sending a gift on occasions like Birthday, Marriage, Valentine's day etc. One can get several brands and products from unlike sellers at one place. When you shop online, you can shop from retailers in other parts of the country or even the world without being restricted by geographic area. Some on -line shops have a provision to accept orders without stock and ship it across to you when the stock becomes available. Products come to buyers direct from the manufacturer or seller without the involvement of middlemen. Many online shops offer discount coupons and rebates. Online shops give us the opportunity to shop 24 x 7. Given above all the facts, Indian marketers are also increasingly becoming conscious about the viability of returned goods, if customer is not satisfied with the product.

 

This may not sound true over here, but it is a part and -parcel of the game involved in online shopping. It is estimated that about a fifth of the buy orders get returned for the goods bought online. As such, most of the online sales are carried out on the condition of If not satisfied with the product, full money to be returned’. Another factor is that most buyers pay on delivery which also keeps their options to return good open, if they do not like a particular product.

 

PROMOTION OF ONLINE SHOPPING

Banner Ads. :

One of the most widely used forms of advertising online is that of the banner ads The ad is placed on a website, and usually highlights its. lf with different colors, size and motion. It can be a punch line, a question or even a video. In the beginning the banner was a non-moving square with a text and/or picture, but today it is often a video that starts with a mouse over.  Therefore the banner ad can be compared to an outdoor communication form that developed with the Internet.

 

 


Consumer Online Shopping Attitudes and Behavior

 

Model of Consumers Online Shopping Behavior

 

 


Pop-ups :

The pop-up is defined by a new page (of your current browser) opens on top of the one you are currently visiting. There are several variations of the pop-up: The pop-under, opening a website under the one currently being visited. Pop-ups can be designed to appear when a website is loading, after a period of time is spend on a website, or upon leaving the site/closing the window. Pop-ups can appear as small windows covering a portion of the host website, it can therefore be less intrusive, e.g. when not covering a vital text or similar. The popup has been perceived as very annoying, and has often been compared to that of advertising breaks on TV. Several pop-up killers have been introduced online, and lately Microsoft has included such a killer in their very popular Internet Explorer program. Pop-up advertising is discarded by most users. Several other bigger software producers have included pop-up killer software in their programs, and major advertisers have disregarded the option of pop-up advertising. 

 

Search advertising:

Google has developed the option of search advertising. Without bringing to much detail, the concept is that any given word typed into a search engine, can be bought. This way, the results shown is at one hand the result of the search concept, but a new list of advertising is available. Here the buyer of the word, get advertising space. The more popular the word is, the more expensive it is to buy. Another feature is that you can buy per click. One thing is to have your site/product shown in a search, it also has to be clicked on to be truly effective.

 

Email/ Newsletters:

Email is a very simple way of reaching the customers. It has however been misused, and most users of the Internet are very familiar with the concept of Spam. Less serious companies and advertisers buy email addresses by the hundreds and send out ads. Many websites that ask for details on the visitor, and thus require an email address, and often ask to be allowed to send out regular newsletters. These newsletters are a good way to keep visitors returning to the site. 

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

i.    To study the role of internet marketing in Chhattisgarh scenario.

ii    To study the recent buying behavior of customer through online marketing.

iii. To identify various reasons and schemes that affecting the growth of on marketing.

iv. To study the opinions of consumer.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The Research methodology applied in the present study is quantitative as well as descriptive in nature. To study the influence of the use of internet and thereby the impact of Internet Marketing in overall market scenario it was decided to record opinions on various aspects related to the growth to Internet Marketing. The survey carried out was based on questionnaires that prepared for the customer. For carrying out the survey Non Probability sampling method was used and hence purposive sampling size of 90 consumers was decided. The consumers from various major cities of Chhattisgarh were contacted through email modes. All the respondents were thus contacted and inputs were gathered. The responses received were further analyzed.

 

DATA ANALYSIS

Analysis was based on primary data collected by Email & telephonic conversation with the respondent on 7 point Likert scale system. For each question the multiple choice answers were given so that the respondents can record their opinion. Thus each choice of answer was assigned points from 1 to 7 wherein point 1 corresponds to Strongly Disagree and point 7 corresponds to Strongly Agree.

 

Table: I

Respondent

Gender

% of respondents

Male

56

62

Female

34

38

 

Table II Occupational Category of Consumer Respondents

Respondent

No of respondent

% of respondents

Student

22

24

Housewife

4

0.4

Service

55

65

Self employed

5

0.6

It has been analyzed that mostly, the  online purchasing is done by the person who are in job or students who are computer savvy, so in my primary data also I have 65% of service class and 24% are students.

 

Table III Internet Awareness For The Growth Of Internet Marketing

Respondent opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

59

65

Agree

24

27

Agree to some extent

7

8

 

It has been observed from the above table  that internet awareness is very much necessary for the growth of Internet marketing, 65 % strongly agree and 27 % agree with it

 

 

Table IV Use of Internet in Marketing

Respondent  opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

70

77

Agree

16

18

Agree to some extent

04

05

 

During present study the basic question in mind was whether the use of Internet Marketing is for certain product/service or the use of Internet Marketing is made irrespective of product / services. In this context most of all the respondents feel that the use of Internet is increasing for getting the information of the product or for purchasing purpose.

 

Table V Reliability of Traditional Marketing over Internet Marketing

Respondent  opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

47

52

Agree

20

22

Agree to some extent

9

10

Undecided

14

16

 

The long term practice of Traditional Marketing involves one system wherein the consumer actual view the product in person. Hence unless the consumers see the product they dont believe. However Internet Market is a new approaches wherein purchasing of a product is with reference to the information about that product gathered from medium of internet       

 

Table VI Impact of Internet Marketing on Traditional Marketing

Respondent  opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

41

46

Agree

18

20

Agree to some extent

9

10

Undecided

22

24

 

The opinion regarding the onset of new trend of internet Marketing, 477%  consumer respondents Strongly Agree that Internet Marketing has created an impact in the present market field and it will soon take over the Traditional Marketing. Impact on Traditional Marketing was taken into account. The table also shows that nearly 20% of the respondents do not agree the comparison between Traditional Marketing and Internet Marketing and hence they Disagree with the view that Internet Marketing will take over the Traditional Market.

 

Table VII Reasons of Increase in Internet Marketing

Reasons for Growth of Internet Marketing

No of res.

% of  res.

Internet & mobile Users are Growing

28

31

High advertising and promotion

09

10

Increasing Trend of personalize marketing way

19

21

Traditional Marketing Cost are increasing

07

08

Ease of Tracking success of failure

05

05

Easy accessibility from any part of the world

22

25

 

Table VIII Friendliness of Internet Marketing

Respondent  opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

56

62

Agree

11

13

Agree to some extent

27

31

Undecided

5

06

In the present era everyone wants to have hassle free operations. In this context question was asked regarding the user friendliness of Internet and thereby Internet Marketing and the above table shows that the user friendliness of Internet Marketing is Strongly Agreed by majority of respondents i.e. 62% Consumers, Though 31% of Consumer respondents Agree to some extent regarding the user friendliness of Internet Marketing another 06% are found to be Undecided on this aspect. It can also be noted that none of the respondents Disagree to have user – friendliness of Internet Marketing.

 

Table IX Reliability of company & its product

Respondent  opinion

No of respondent

% of respondents

Strongly agree

67

71

Agree

12

13

Agree to some extent

9

10

Undecided

2

03

 

It cannot be denied that the Internet Marketing has opened the doors to all players. However for the participants in Internet Marketing especially for consumers one of the aspects which is of great importance is the Reliability of the player. Hence reliability of the country forms to be an important aspect in the field of Internet. Marketing which leads to the success. The Table above indicates that 71% of consumer respondents feel that it is essential to have reliability of the country and hence strongly Agree on the aspect of reliability Only 13% Company respondents agree regarding reliability of the country.

 

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:

·        Majority of respondents were found to agree that awareness about Internet is mandatory for the growth of Internet Marketing.

·        Majority of the respondents feel that the use of Internet is increasing for getting the information of the product or for purchasing purpose.

·        The long term practice of Traditional Marketing involves one system wherein the consumer actual view the product in person. Hence unless the consumers see the product they don’t believe. However Internet Market is a new approaches wherein purchasing of a product is with reference to the information about that product gathered from medium of internet.

·        The opinion regarding the onset of new trend of internet Marketing and its hat 46%  consumer respondents Strongly Agree and 20% agree that Internet Marketing has created an impact in the present market field and it will soon take over the Traditional Marketing.

·        The situation of dependency about awareness and use of internet happens to be the prime factor for the growth of Internet Marketing and this was stated by about 31% of all the respondents. Besides the awareness and the use of internet there are also other factors resulting for the growth in Internet Marketing.

·         It is also observed that more number of consumers have tendency towards personalized shopping .The internet users thus can set the brand of personalized marketing in the emerging era of Internet Marketing

·        The user friendliness of Internet Marketing is Strongly Agreed by majority of respondents i.e. 62 % Consumers, strongly agree and 31% of Consumer respondents Agree to some extent regarding the user friendliness of Internet Marketing.

·        Participants in Internet Marketing especially for consumers one of the aspects which is of great importance is the Reliability of the player. & the country.

 

FUTURE OF ONLINE SHOPPING

From the above study it is very clear that online shopping will carry on rising. Every webpage designed to sell a product or market a service should understand the future of online shopping. There are several major variables that make online sales attractive to the world wide market. These variables include value of Products/Services offered, dependability, reputation of the Seller, ease and Security of payment or shipping etc. Modern and more affluent shoppers are driving a wave of online sales. If shoppers find an advanced situation, particularly concerning the above important variables they will frequently become online buyers. Online education specifically college level offerings has been slow to respond to the prospective sale of services by internet.

 

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS:

Online shopping has become a significant part of our life as a result of the growing internet and our busy schedule. This adds up to faster, easier, safer and less costly shopping. Online shopping has a great advantage for us as it is time saving and also a wide range of products can be selected with the best offer. The success of internet marketing is directly related to the increase in the usage and awareness of internet. As the usage and awareness of internet is rapidly increasing many companies have directly or through the medium of third party agency have ventured into the field of internet marketing. While comparing the Traditional and Internet Marketing it was found that majority of the consumers have strong opinion that in near future the Internet marketing will fully takeover traditional marketing, but it is successful for some selective products like travels, electronics, garments, accessories, books some health product etc.

 

With the increase in use of internet and thereby the growth of the Internet Marketing it was found that many companies would spend more towards the promotion of their products. This seems to be true as the increase in spending by companies on promotional purpose is reported in Indian economy. According to Business Standard report dated April 2013 the internet advertising revenue increased by 35%.

 

Finally to conclude the finding of this research work it can be noted that the growth of internet marketing is certainly a phenomena and it increases because of the increase in the use of internet.. Most of the respondents have judged the importance of internet marketing and hence have commented that in near future the potential of internet marketing is bound to increase and also this will generate more revenue for companies and have a bright future in coming days. Thus, with modernization and fast paced life, came the constraints of time that eventually increasing dependence on online shopping.

 

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14.     http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9054400/Britons-are-biggest-online-shoppers-in-developed-world.html.

 

 

 

Received on 16.01.2014               Modified on 25.01.2014

Accepted on 12.02.2014                © A&V Publication all right reserved

Asian J. Management 5(2): April-June, 2014 page 113-116