\Consumer Attitude towards E-tailing: An emperical study on Rural and Urban Areas.

 

Mr. Thummala. Sudheer¹, Dr. Bodduluri. Sudhir²

¹Research Scholar, Department of Management Studies, S.V. University, Tirupathi-517502, Andhra Pradesh

²Professor and Head, Department of Management Studies, S.V. University, Tirupathi-517502, Andhra Pradesh.

 

ABSTRACT:

The e-Commerce sector has seen exceptional growth in 2016. The growth was driven by rapid technology adoption led by the increasing use of devices such as smart phones and tablets, and access to the internet through broadband, 3G, 4G,etc, which led to an improved online consumer base. Furthermore, India’s overall retail opportunity is substantial, and coupled with a demographic dividend (young population, rising standards of living and upwardly mobile middle class) and rising internet penetration; strong growth in e-Commerce is expected. Digital India programme also will give strong boost to the e- commerce market as bringing the internet and broadband to remote corners of the country will give huge potential e- market for goods and services. This study might contribute not only to a better understanding on what and how powerfully the factors are involved in online purchasing decisions of the rural and urban respondents  but also this study provides e-retailer’s standpoint such the effectively manage and recommendations.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

E-Commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the internet, especially the World Wild Web (Tech target, 2007-2012). Online shopping is a form of E-commerce whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller over the internet. Online shopping is done through an online shop, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop or online store. All the products in online stores are described through text, with photos and with multimedia files. Benefits of E-commerce have been grown very fast because of many advantages associated with buying on internet as the lower transaction and search cost as compared to other types of shopping.

 

Online shopping allows consumers to buy faster, more alternatives and can order products and services with comparative lowest price.

 

Growth of E-Commerce industry in India:

Since the e-Commerce industry is fast rising, changes can be seen over a year. The sector in India has grown by 34% (CAGR) since 2009 to touch 21.3 billion USD in 2015. Currently, e-Travel comprises 70% of the total e-Commerce market. E-Tailing, which comprises of online retail and online marketplaces, has become the fastest-growing segment in the larger market having grown at a CAGR of around 56% over 2009-2014.

 

The size of the eTail market is pegged at 6 billion USD in 2015. Books, apparel and accessories and electronics are the largest selling products through e-Tailing, constituting around 80% of product distribution. The increasing use of smart phones, tablets and internet broadband and 3G has led to developing a strong consumer base likely to increase further. This, combined with a larger number of homegrown  e-Tail companies with their innovative business models has led to a robust e-Tail market in India rearing to expand at high speed.

 

Source: IAMAI, CRISIL, Gartner, PWC Analysis and Industry Experts.

 

India: mobile and internet connections:

2017 could give the biggest boost to digital India since the arrival of the internet in India, 21 years ago. More so, because in the aftermath of demonetization, the government is advocating cashless and less-cash as the way to go. Digital is being projected as universal remedy for many monetary ills. But, how many Indians have access to the internet? Internet usage in India is rising on the back of the mobile phone revolution. There are 105 crore wireless connections (TRAI; September 30, 2016) for a population of 133 crore (World Bank; December, 2016). But, the number of internet subscriptions is only a third of the total number of mobile phone users.

 

If we put the subscribers figures in conjunction to the projected population of India (World Bank; October 6, 2016), there are approximately 96 crore citizens without access to the internet. The rural picture, where 67% of India lives, is bleaker.

 

Source : TRAI& World Bank Reports.

 

LITERATURE RIVIEW:

The classic consumer purchasing decision-making theory can be characterized as a field extending from regular analytical behaviors, through to limited problem-solving behaviours and then towards wide-ranging problem-solving behaviors [ Schiffman et al., 2001] A challenge for E-marketers to switch low frequency online buyers into regular buyers through successful website design and by addressing concerns about consistent performance. Thus, the online retailing facing more issues than the benefits it presently offers. The quality of products offered online and procedures for service delivery are yet to be standardized.[R. Suresh kumar.,2017] E-Retailers exploiting the advantages of e-commerce presupposes that buyers are familiar with the range of products they are invited to choose from on the basis of electronically provided information alone, and that this is a unconvinced assumption when questions of fit, touch, taste, and smell are at issue. [Borenstein and Saloner., 2001] The underdevelopment of the credit card market, fear of online payment fraud, and inefficient parcel delivery can put off online spending. If these additional impediments are main in rural areas, the benefits of e-commerce might not materialize. As for the task of the global-village theory in e-commerce, earlier studies have been mixed. [Kshetri 2001]

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY :

In India 67% of the population lives in rural areas and 33% of the population lives in urban areas, due to that e – retailer has to study about purchasing patterns of the consumers, similarly Mobile commerce (m-commerce) and internet penetration are growing rapidly in rural area as like urban areas it provides a stable and secure supplement to the e-commerce industry. Shopping online through smart phones is proving to be a game changer and industry leaders believe that m-commerce is major contributor of their total revenues in India. The customer is connected 24x7 through their smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices which is leading to a gradual evolution of e-commerce into mobile commerce and there is an issue of convenience which also leads to impulsive buying. The browsing trends, are also rising in rural and urban areas in India.

 

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To study the demographic profile of the respondents in Rural and Urban areas.

2. To determine factors which influences the Rural and Urban respondents’ attitude?

 

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

1.      The study is confined to Rural and Urban Educated respondents of Nellore district only. The result may not be generalized to the respondents in other districts.

2.      The study is based on the responses given by the respondents and result May inherent some biased levels which are beyond the control of the researcher.

3.      The research was mainly focused on attitudinal and behavioral dimensions.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Data can be collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data collected through a structured questionnaire. For this data collection the decision was used to an interview questionnaire, personal contact with respondents should be involved in this research. In the first section of demographic questions are used winch are based on age, gender, education, occupation, etc. In the second section of questionnaire Likert scales (from 1= strongly agree to 5= strongly disagree) are generally used to assess the attitudes of consumers. Secondary data is collected from different sources i.e., books .survey reports , websites ,etc.

 

SAMPLE SIZE:

Since the population of online shoppers in the study area of B2C e-commerce is relatively large and unmanageable. The sample size was confined to 40 rural and 40 urban consumers by using convenience sampling method. Utmost care was taken to avoid indifferent consumers and reduce sampling errors.

 

TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS:

The collected data was processed and analyzed by using percentage method and Descriptive statistics.

 

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS:

Table – 1 Demographic Profile of the Respondents

Source: Primary data:

 

Interpretation:

The table 1 depicts that demographic traits associated with the respondents considered for the purpose of this study. It can be observed that a majority of the respondents in rural areas were male (90%) and were aged upto25 years (62.5%). majority of the respondents (70%) were studied inter and graduation. Majority of the respondents are students (45%) and employees (35%).Similarly, a majority of the respondents in urban areas were male (60%) and were age group up to 25 years. majority of the respondents (75%) were studies inter and graduation. Majority of the respondents are students (55%) and Employees ( 25%).  From the above analysis it is evidently determines that the demographic profile of the respondents are similar because of increasing the usage of mobile and internet penetration in rural areas and demographic dividend.

 

 

Table 2: Purchasing Behavior of online shoppers

Source: primary data:.

 

 

Interpretation:

From the above table depicts purchasing behavior of the Rural and Urban online shoppers.

 

Shopping frequency:

With regard the online shopping frequency, the table shows that majority (60%) of the rural shoppers shop products when it needed. and the majority (35%) of the urban shoppers purchase products once in a month, (30%) shop products once in Three months.

 

Idea about online shopping:

As per the table 2 reveals that, majority (35%) of the respondents in rural areas find the information about online shopping from their friends, family members and colleagues. and (30%) of the respondents find the information through product ratings to purchase products in online.

 

In urban majority (30%) respondents are find the information from search engines/forums, (25%) from product reviews and (25%) from product ratings while purchasing online.

Mode of payment:

As per the table 2, Majority (55%) of the respondents in rural areas availed the facility of free home delivery and they made the payment at the time of delivery of the product,(20%) of the respondents use their debit/ credit cards at the time of purchasing product through online and (20%) of the respondents utilize their net banking facility .In urban majority (40%) of the respondents use their debit/credit cards intended for online purchases and (30%) of the respondents availing their net banking facility to pay online purchases.

 

Attitude towards online shopping:

Hypothesis:

H0:

Consumer responses towards online shopping of Rural are same as responses of urban consumers.

 

H1:

Consumer responses towards online shopping of Rural are not same as responses of urban consumers.

 

 

 

Table3:  factors influencing the consumer attitude towards online shopping.

Descriptives
		N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error	95% Confidence Interval for Mean		Minimum	Maximum
						Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Easy Navigation	RURAL	40	2.6250	1.54733	.24465	2.1301	3.1199	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	2.4250	1.29867	.20534	2.0097	2.8403	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	2.5250	1.42291	.15909	2.2083	2.8417	1.00	5.00
In-Depth Information	RURAL	40	2.2500	1.40967	.22289	1.7992	2.7008	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	2.4250	1.50021	.23720	1.9452	2.9048	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	2.3375	1.44908	.16201	2.0150	2.6600	1.00	5.00
Regular Discounts and Offers.	RURAL	40	2.3250	1.28876	.20377	1.9128	2.7372	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	1.7750	1.04973	.16598	1.4393	2.1107	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	2.0500	1.20021	.13419	1.7829	2.3171	1.00	5.00
Consumer Reviews	RURAL	40	2.3000	1.48842	.23534	1.8240	2.7760	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	2.1250	1.36227	.21539	1.6893	2.5607	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	2.2125	1.42041	.15881	1.8964	2.5286	1.00	5.00
24x7 Shopping	RURAL	40	1.9250	1.18511	.18738	1.5460	2.3040	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	1.5750	.87376	.13815	1.2956	1.8544	1.00	4.00
	Total	80	1.7500	1.04941	.11733	1.5165	1.9835	1.00	5.00
Free delivery and Returns	RURAL	40	1.7250	1.15442	.18253	1.3558	2.0942	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	1.8000	.99228	.15689	1.4827	2.1173	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	1.7625	1.07024	.11966	1.5243	2.0007	1.00	5.00
Secure Payments	RURAL	40	3.5750	1.19588	.18909	3.1925	3.9575	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	3.2000	1.69766	.26842	2.6571	3.7429	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	3.3875	1.47119	.16448	3.0601	3.7149	1.00	5.00
Low price Compare to Traditional stores	RURAL	40	1.9500	1.23931	.19595	1.5536	2.3464	1.00	5.00
	URBAN	40	2.1000	1.21529	.19215	1.7113	2.4887	1.00	5.00
	Total	80	2.0250	1.22190	.13661	1.7531	2.2969	1.00	5.00

 

 

ANOVA
		Sum of Squares	d.f	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Easy Navigation	Between Groups	.800	1	.800	.392	.533
	Within Groups	159.150	78	2.040
	Total	159.950	79
In-Depth Information	Between Groups	.613	1	.613	.289	.592
	Within Groups	165.275	78	2.119
	Total	165.888	7 9
Regular Discounts and Offers.	Between Groups	6.050	1	6.050	1.380	.040
	Within Groups	107.750	78	1.381
	Total	113.800	79
Consumer Reviews	Between Groups	.613	1	.613	.301	.585
	Within Groups	158.775	78	2.036
	Total	159.388	79
24x7 Shopping	Between Groups	2.450	1	2.450	2.260	.137
	Within Groups	84.550	78	1.084
	Total	87.000	79
Free delivery and Returns	Between Groups	.113	1	.113	.097	.756
	Within Groups	90.375	78	1.159
	Total	90.488	79
Secure Payments	Between Groups	2.813	1	2.813	1.304	.257
	Within Groups	168.175	78	2.156
	Total	170.988	79
Low price Compare to Traditional stores	Between Groups	.450	1	.450	.299	.586
	Within Groups	117.500	78	1.506
	Total	117.950	79

Source: Primary data.

 

The above table depicts that the calculated value of F is less than the tabulated value i.e., 4.091 at 5%significance level with d. f. being V1=1and V2= 78 .this analysis is supports the null –hypothesis that there is no difference in sample means .therefore concluded that the attitude of rural and urban consumer towards online shopping is significant and this. So there is a no difference between rural and urban educated consumers attitude.

 

 

CONCLUSION:

Online shopping becoming more popular for a variety of reasons. this study therefore bought that the demographic profile of the online shoppers are young, educated ,intensive and are expect use of internet both in urban and rural areas. The findings of this study reveals that easy navigation, discounts and offers, in-depth information and low price factors will impact more on consumer attitude in rural and urban areas. But 24x7 shopping, free delivery and returns policy will highly influencing the rural and urban consumers to adopt online shopping. By understanding the key factors that could impact on online shopper’s attitude towards online shopping, e-retailers would be able to formulate and execute their e- business strategy efficiently and effectively   to own stronger competitive advantage.

 

REFERENCES :

1.     Bashir, Adil (2013): consumer attitude towards online shopping of electronics in Pakistan. Seinajoki University of Applied sciences, p 52-60.

2.     Borenstein. S., and G.Saloner.(2001). Economics and electronic commerce. Journal of economic perspectives 15(1):3-12.

3.     Dr. S. Hariharan “Marketing Through Internet and E-Commerce” Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33 no.8 August 2003

4.     Kim, J. I., Lee, H. C., and Kim. H. J. (2004). “Factors Affecting Online Search Intention and Online Purchase Intention.” Seoul Journal of Business, 10 (2), 28-29

5.     Kshetri, N.B. 2001. Determinants of the locus of global e-commerce. Electronic Markets 11(4): 1–8.

6.     Leamer, E.E., and M. Storper. (2001). The economic geography of the Internet age. Journal of International Business Studies 32(4): 641–665.

7.     Mills, B.F., and B.E.Whitacre.(2003). Understanding the non metropolitan –metropolitan digital divide. Growth and Change 34(2) : 219-243.

8.     Manisha Kinker., and N. K .Shukla (2016) “an analysis of consumer behavior towards online shopping of electronic goods with special reference to Bhopal and Jabalpur city” International journal of Innovation and Applied studies(IJIAS) Volume 14,Issue 1, January  2016, pp218-235.

9.     R. Suresh Kumar (2017) “Rural Consumer Attitude Towards Online Shopping: An Empirical Study of Rural Area” International Journal of Innovative Research in Management Studies (IJIRMS) Volume 1, Issue 12, January 2017. pp. 1-5.

10.   Vijayasarathy, L.R. (2003). “Shopping Orientations, Product Types And Internet Shopping Intentions.” Electronic Markets, 13 (1), 67-79. 

 

 

 

 

Accepted on 21.11.2017            © A&V Publications All right reserved