International Seminar on “Recent Trends in Marketing Technology”

A Study on Consumer Awareness

towards Online Shopping in
Vellore District, Tamil Nadu
Dr.R.Dharmaraj, M.Com., M.B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.,
Head, PG and Research Department of Commerce
OPEN ACCESS Sri Bharathi Women’s Arts and Science College, Kunnathur, Arni, T V Malai Dt

Volume : 6 K.B. Sasirekha

M.Phil Research Scholar, PG, and Research Department of Commerce
Special Issue : 1 Sri Bharathi Women’s Arts and Science College, Kunnathur, Arni, T V Malai Dt

Month : September Abstract

The purpose of this project is to make a study on awareness of different types of
Year: 2018 online buyers towards online shopping website variables. The people of this study
consists of online buyers in Vellore District. People were selected from different
genders, age groups and professions having internet shopping experience. Online
ISSN: 2320-4168 buyers from four types are trial, occasional, frequent and regular online buyers.
These buyers have evaluated four factors such as website design, customer service,
Impact Factor: 4.118 security, and reliability. An already prepared scale questionnaire was used with
five-point. Liker rating scale to measure perception of four types of online buyers
towards these factors. The random test was used to collect data from sampled
Citation:
respondents. Statistical techniques such as percentage analysis and Chi-square test
Dharmaraj, R & are used in this study.
Sasirekha, K. B. “A
Keywords: Online shopping, Customer buying behavior, Perception, Shopping
Study on Consumer frequency, Chi-Square test, Website variables, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu.
Awareness towards
Online Shopping Introduction
in Vellore District, The Internet has affected the style of buying habit of people
Tamil Nadu.” Shanlax and has rapidly evolved changed into a global phenomenon. Many
International Journals companies have started using the internet with the aim of cutting
of Commerce, vol. 6, marketing costs, thereby reducing the price of their products and
no. S1, 2018, services to stay ahead in highly competitive markets.
pp. 271–279. Companies also use the Internet to inform, communicate and
spread information, to sell the product, to take feedback and also to
DOI: conduct surveys with customers. Customers use the Internet not only
https://doi.org/10.5281/ to buy the product online but also to compare prices, product features
zenodo.1419456 and after sale service facilities.
Many experts are hopeful about the prospect of online business. In
addition to the great potential of the E-commerce market, the Internet
provides a unique opportunity for companies to more efficiently
reach existing and potential customers. Although most of the revenue
of online transactions comes from business-to-business commerce,
the practitioners of business-to-consumer commerce should not

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International Seminar on “Recent Trends in Marketing Technology”

lose confidence. It has been more than a decade since business-to-consumer. E-commerce first
evolved. Scholars and practitioners of electronic commerce strive to gain an improved insight
into consumer behavior in cyberspace. Along with the development of E-retailing, researchers
continue to explain E-consumers’ behavior from different perspectives. Many of their studies have
posited new emergent factors or assumptions that are based on the traditional models of consumer
behavior, and then examine their validity in the Internet context.
Online shopping is a great way to shop with everything available on the websites. From clothes,
gift items, food, home needs, medicines, and many more, this mode of shopping allows one to shop
conveniently without the hassle of spending hours in a supermarket or shopping areas. The Internet
with its wide of information nooks, allows the customer to go through various range of studies of
the product or service before actually heading for purchases. These online shopping websites also
have daily deals for the customer looking for discounts and store offers.

Objectives of the Study

The objective of this research study is to investigate online consumer awareness, which in
turn provides E-marketers with a constructional framework for fine-tuning their E-businesses’
strategies.
The specific objectives of this research are:
1. To know the consumer awareness and perception about the products and services provided
on the internet for online shopping.
2. To analysis the satisfaction levels of the customers of the selected online products
3. To identify the perception of online shoppers towards website factors.
4. To identify different types of online buyers, i.e., trial buyers, occasional buyers, frequent
buyers and regular buyers varies towards different website variables in online shopping in
B2C E-Commerce in Vellore District.
5. To know how it provides products and services and satisfies their customers through online
shopping.

Review of Literature
The studies on consumer’s perception on online shopping and other rented topic in the Indian
context are limited as the online shopping has entered into the market only a few years only. The
literature so far reviewed relates to the studies conducted outside India especially in the United
States where the online shopping is a big hit.
Seyed Rajab Nikhashem, Farzana Yasmin, Ahsanul Haque. (2011) Studied that
investigated peoples‟ perception of online buying tickets (e-ticketing) as well as why some people
use this facility while some who do not use it stick to the traditional way to fulfill their needs. Also,
factors such as what inform peoples‟ eagerness and unwillingness to use internet facilities are also
examined.
Kanwal Gurleen. (2012) Focuses on the understanding of demographic profiles of adopters and
non-adopters of online shopping. For this purpose, the data from 400 respondents was collected in
the form of questionnaires. The study has been conducted in 3 cities of Punjab. A sample of urban
respondents was selected from the Jalandhar, Ludhiana, and Amritsar. The paper also analyses the
various reasons for online shopping.
Yu-Je Lee, Ching-Lin Huang, Ching-Yaw Chen (2013) The purpose of this study is to use
structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the influence of online bookstore consumers’
perception on their purchase intention. Through literature review, four constructs were used to
establish a casual relationship between the perception of online shopping and consumers’ purchase
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International Seminar on “Recent Trends in Marketing Technology”
intention. Results of this study show that product the perception, shopping experience, and service
quality have a positive and significant influence on consumers’ purchase intention, but the perceived
risk has a negative influence on consumers’ purchase intention, and shopping experience is most
important.
Brown et al. (2014) reported that the need for educating the young generation especially those
who are in their adolescence are noticeably increasing, given their regular food eating habits and
International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, behavior, children who are
in their teenage prefer food with respect to food nutritious as well as three factors plays very
important role, home environment, school and social gatherings.
Vanniarajan and Kubendran (2015) describe that consumer perception and usage of any
product can change due to change in food eating habits. If income and urbanization increase among
consumers, then the percentage of income spent on consumption Increases. The urban consumer
mostly likes branded products as compared to rural consumers.

Research Methodology
The methodology is planned to know and understand the consumer’s perception and awareness
about internet marketing/shopping. This will help to know the attitude and perception of consumers
towards online shopping and what are the factors which shape the consumer’s perception towards
online shopping. Also, what are key concerns of a consumer while online shopping?

Research Design
The research design is a conceptual structure within which research is undertaken. It constitutes
the blue print for collection, measurement, and analysis of data.
In this study, the research design used is Descriptive Research. Design in nature as it describes the
views, opinion and customer’s perception of online shopping.

Nature of the Data

• Primary data
• Secondary data

Research Instruments
After the research design is selected, the data collected is through a questionnaire which is
designed by covering the objectives of design. The closed-ended questionnaire was used for the
study. The questions in the questionnaire are in structured format Direct (or) structured questionnaire
has been designed and used.

Sample Size
The sample size selected for the research is 150 members, and 140 members were the response
questionnaire and ten members were incomplete for the questionnaire.

Sample Design
The design is a designate plan determined before any data are collected for obtaining a sample
from a given population.

Sample Procedure
The sample is selected as per the convenience of the researcher randomly and is convenience
sampling.
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Data Analysis
After data have been collected it has to be analyzed, the data obtained from the data obtained
from the questionnaire is arranged in series order. Then a master copy with the tabulation method
is being prepared.
Tabulated is a part of the technical procedure when classified data are put in the form of tables
thus obtained were analyzed with such statistical tools as Percentage, Bar diagram, and Pie chart.

Statistical Tools
Percentage Analysis
In this research, various percentages are identified in the analysis and they are presented
periodically by away of bar diagrams and pie diagrams to have better quality.
Percentage = No. of Respondents/Total no. of Respondents x 100

Chi-Square Test
The X2 test is one of the simplest and most widely used non-probability tests in statistical work.
The quality X2 describes the magnitude of discrepancy between theory and observation.
Formula
∑ (O-E)2
X2 =
E
O – Observed frequency
E – Expected frequency with (c-1) (r-1) degrees of freedom

Bar Diagrams
Simple bar diagram is the simplest of the bar diagrams and is used frequently in practice for the
comparative study of two or more items or values of a single variable or a single category of data.

Pie Diagram
The comparison of the pie diagram is to be made by the areas of the circles and various sectors.

Research Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a preliminary (or) tentative explanation (or) postulate by the researcher of what
the researcher considers that the outcome of an investigation will be. It is an informed/educated
guess.
Ordinarily, hypothesis means a mere assumption or some supposition to be proved or disproved.
But for a researcher, the hypothesis is a formal question that he intends to resolve. In this sense
‘hypothesis may be defined as a proportion or a set of propositions set forth as an explanation for
the observed phenomenon’.

Procedure for Testing Hypothesis

The following are the steps involved in hypothesis testing problems. Setting up a hypothesis.
There are two types of hypothesis.
1. Null hypothesis
2. Alternative hypothesis

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International Seminar on “Recent Trends in Marketing Technology”
Null Hypothesis
The statistical hypothesis that is set up for testing a hypothesis is known as the Null Hypothesis.
The null hypothesis is set up in testing a statistical hypothesis only to decide whether to accept
or reject the null hypothesis. It asserts that there is no difference between the sample statistic and
population parameter and whatever difference is there, is attributable to sampling errors. The null
hypothesis is usually denoted by HO.

Alternative Hypothesis
The negation of the null hypothesis is called the alternative hypothesis. In other words, any
hypothesis which is not a null hypothesis is called an Alternative Hypothesis. It is always denoted
by H1 or Hα. It is set in such a way that the rejection of the null hypothesis implies the acceptance
of the alternative hypothesis.

Limitations of the Study

Utmost care has been taken about the collection, classification, and analysis of data. However,
the study is subjected to the following limitations:
There were hardly any previous studies on the topic, and it was a great challenge to deal with a
fresh topic.
• Lack of environmental support for the study of the topic.
• Less sample size, as it just a survey with 140 respondents.
• Based on primary data. Hence we cannot argue that the research applies to each condition,
time & place.
• Short time duration, within such a short span of time it is too much difficult to analyze the
topic.
• Lack of customer support, while asking the consumer they were behaving rudely and not
responding to the questions.

Online Shopping
The Internet has entered the mainstream consciousness over the past decade. This has happened
primarily because the web has got a graphical interface and the Internet has moved from governmental
control to private hands. The activities which are happening on the Internet are email and instant
messaging, general web surfing or browsing, reading news, hobby searches, entertainment searches,
shopping and buying online, medical information searches, travel information searches, tracking
credit cards, and playing games. Communication, i.e., email, chat or instant message is the basic
activity for which Internet is used. It is the single most important reason for people to go online.
E-mail provides the opportunity to communicate more often with a much broader circle of people
than one can reach by telephone or by mail in a conveniently way. India to email constitutes the
major activity on the Internet. It was found that more elderly people are increasingly using email as
compared to the younger generations.
In India the top five online activities are e-mail, surfing, chatting, search and job search. Some
of the sites, which are commonly used for these particular activities, are:
• Yahoo -Most preferred communication portal, tops for email and chat
• Indiatimes –Best event and sports news provider.
• Naukri-Best recruitment portal
• Google-Best information domain
• Shaadi-Best for matrimonial services
• eBay-Best online shopping portal
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• The rapid growth of cybercafés across India
• Access to Information
• The increase in the number of computer users
• Reach to net services through broadband
• Middle-class population with spending power is growing. There are about 200million of
middle-class population good spending powers. These people have very little time to spend
for shopping. Many of them have started to depend on the internet to satisfy their shopping
desires.
The figures from IAMAI show that the internet users in India will grow to 200 million by 2010.
Around 25% of regular shoppers in India are in the 18-25 age groups, and 46% are in the 26-35-
year range.
• Indian online matrimonial sector is worth around $230 million.
• Worldwide e-commerce is only growing at the rate of 28% since India is a younger market,
the growth of e-commerce is expected at 51% in the coming years.
• In line with global trends finally, India has also started shopping online these days. As per the
study by IAMAI online shopping in India has risen from $11million in 1999-2000 to $522
million in 2008 and it is expected to rise above $700 million by end March 2010.
• Indians are also Shopaholics like other Asians. There is a strong booming young adult
population in India with good levels of disposable income.

Payments
Online shoppers commonly use a credit card 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., offered by very few online stores)
• Cheque/ Check
• Debit card
• Direct debit in some countries
• Electronic money of various types
• Gift cards
• Postal money order
• Wire transfer/delivery on payment
Some sites will not accept international credit cards, some require both the purchaser’s billing
address and shipping address to be in the same country in which site does its business, and still, other
sites allow customers from anywhere to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction
might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card was
declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment process.

Findings
• 41% of respondent are in the age group of 26-40.
• 59% of respondents are male.
• 43% of respondents are qualified as post-graduation.
• 36% of respondents are business people, 36% of respondents are working as professionals.
• 50% of respondents are lives in a city.
• 99% of respondents are using the internet.
• 36% of respondents are more than five years experience using the internet.
• 95% of respondents are aware of online shopping.
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• 36% of respondents are the source of visiting online advertisement.
• 74% of respondents are purchase to visit online shopping website.
• 43% of respondents are bought railway tickets online.
• 43% of respondents are amount frequently business people.
• 46% of respondents are most access the internet through mobile apps.
• 50% of respondents are plans to buy movie tickets.
• 36% of respondents are motive to buy for pricing of goods, 36% of respondents are felt its
saves time.
• 34% of respondents are purchased through Flipkart website.
• 44% of respondents are the payment made through debit cards.
• 66% of respondents have debit cards for online shopping.
• 93% of respondents are said yes for flexible to register in online shopping.
• 71% of respondents are said yes for providing domestic and foreign products in online
shopping.
• 93% of respondents are said yes that online shopping helps to locate website layout.
• 86% of respondents are said yes that online shopping provides them timely services.
• 29% of respondents are worried about giving their credit card number.
• 28% of respondents are neutrally satisfied for experience in online shopping.
• 34% of respondents are the highly satisfied price of online shopping.
• 31% of respondents are satisfied with receiving products timely in online shopping.
• 29% of respondents are neutrally satisfied with the security of transaction in online shopping.

Suggestions
• The source of awareness of online shopping is less than an offline advertisement.
• The number of respondents was not spending more than 20,000 the for online shopping.
• The monthly income would be based on the quality of the product will avail of online
shopping.
• The payment of respondents in credit card is less in online shopping.
• The international debit cards and international credit card are used less in online shopping.
• Some of the respondents are highly dissatisfied with experience in online shopping.
• Most of the respondent are worried about giving out their credit card number with whom
they may not be familiar.
• Few respondents are the purpose of visiting online shopping website for inquiry purpose
only.

Conclusion
Online shopping is becoming common in today’s life. The study indicates that most of the
customer having experience of online shopping. The customer’s perception of online shopping
varies from person to another person. Most of the consumers prefer to buy some selected products
online because they will get heavy discounts in comparison to store purchases. Also, the consumers
feel that there are good websites available which can be trusted for purchases. The consumers
perceive that shopping online gives them larger options to choose from. Shopping online is very
convenient as one has to just open a laptop or PC to shop rather than getting ready and pass through
rush hour traffics. Shopping online saves time and money along with lesser effort is required in
comparison to store purchases. Consumers feel that carrying cash or credit cards all the way to
the store is meaningless if one can purchase the same product from their home. The educated
consumers are aware of the buying procedures online which they feel are pretty simple. The only
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worry of consumers is regarding the trustworthiness of some websites since they have to give their
credit card details to shop online. Many of the consumers are aware of the various online scams
due to which they are very concerned and reluctant while providing their credit card information
online. Also, the online purchases take a longer time in shipments and deliveries. The psychology
of an Indian consumer is still the same as of checking the product physically before purchasing it,
which creates a mental hurdle for online shopping.

References
Journals
Dolatabadi, H. R., & Poursaeedi, A. (2012). An Analysis of Factors Affecting on Online Shopping
Behavior of Consumers. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4 (5),81-98.
Kannaiah, D. (2015). Consumers Perception on Online Shopping. Journal of Marketing and
Consumer Research, 13, 14-20.
Khitoliya, P. (2014). Customers Attitude and Perception Towards Online Shopping. Indian journal
of research, 3 (6), 18-21.
Krishnamurthy. (2015). Customer perception and response towards online marketing in Chennai
city. Asia Pacific Journal of Research, 1 (XXVII), 44-56.
Kumar, P. (2013). A Study on Customer Perceptions towards Online Promotions. IRC’S
international journal of multidisciplinary research in social & management sciences, 1 (3),
116-124.
Ling, G. H. (2012). Factors influencing consumers’ attitude towards e-commerce purchases through
online shopping. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2 (4), 223-230.
Puranik, R.,& Bansal, A. (2014). A Study of Internet Users Perception towards E-shopping. Pacific
Business Review International, 6 (9), 37-44.
Sapna. ( 2016). Customer Perception Towards Online Shopping. International Research Journal of
Commerce and Law, 3 (2), 17-22.
Shukla, R. (2016). Gender effect on customers perception towards online shopping. BVIMSR’s
Journal of Management Research, 8 (1), 25-30.

Websites
www.google.com
www.ebay.com
www.mythra.com
www.snapdeal.com
www.flipkart.com
www.onlineshopping.com

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