Study on The Impact of Online Shopping

Through this project we will get to know about what percentage of people prefer online shopping over offline shopping. The main aim of the research was to check whether the offline retailers are getting profit or the online websites retailers. We will conduct a survey and figure out which mode of shopping is more convenient and easier for consumers. We will also get to know about the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping and why people prefer online shopping over offline shopping and what all problems do they face why shopping online. We will get to know what all things do people buy online.

Intriduction

The increase in technology gives great opportunities to the seller to reach the consumer in much faster, easier and in economic way. Online shopping is emerging very fast from the past few years. Nowadays millions of people shop online, some go for offline shopping and some people go for both kind of shopping. In today’s scenario online shopping is more demanding and cheaper than the offline shopping. While making any purchase consumers choose the best medium which is suitable for them as per their needs. Online shopping saves time but at the same time the person should also have internet access to shop online and should have to wait for some days for their order. The people who are knowledgeable shop more frequently from internet than the rest of the population. Some of the most commonly used shopping websites are Amazon, Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra and many more.

Nowadays online shopping is becoming more popular than offline shopping. Some of the reasons why online shopping is gaining more interest of the buyer are:

Online shopping is more convenient than offline shopping. We can order anything from grocery to clothes to furniture. Everything is available online at best price and we can get it on our doorsteps. We can have a lot of variety there and order it as per our choice.

Online shopping is much more cheaper than offline shopping. Online retailer provides heavy discounts as compared to the stores. As the prices are low the demand will be more. If the prices of the commodities will be more buyers will shift to offline shopping. And the demand of online products will decrease. People will buy more and more things from online. Online shopping is best for brand freak people. They can get their clothes from their favourite brands at their doorsteps.

As the consumer is spending so much money on a commodity he/she will expect the best quality also. And they will get it online. The quality of the online products are so good that the buyer cannot resist himself from buying it again.

Online products have delivery time of minimum six to seven working days. So this is the other factor affecting online shopping.

Variety is itself a factor which influence the market. The buyer gets so much variety of products online that it gets difficult for him what to buy and what not to. There are some products which the buyer finds online only. He/She will not get so much variety at the store. Larger the variety of the product, more the demand.

Bricks and Clicks means the buyer can buy the product both online and offline(at the store).Some of the popular brands have their offline stores as well as online websites like H&M, Zara, Zivame, Shoppers Stop, Allen Solly etc. The consumer gets the benefit of this. They can go to the store check their size and order it online when they will get it cheaper on sale. This is the advantage of online shopping. If we like a product on the store and we want some another colour in that we can check it online on their website and order it later.

Comparison:

We can compare different products while shopping online. For ex. If a looking for a mobile phone and we are confused among few we can compare them online. Where we get to know about all the features and which is the best for us as per our choices. If we like a pattern of shirt and we want some more variety of that pattern only, we gets it right below it. We see some similar products as per our choices. In this way online websites helps us a lot.

Disatvantages of Online Shopping:

When we order something online. We have to wait for our order for some days usually a week. If we want something urgent then online shopping is definitely not for us. If we don’t get the correct size we have to wait for so long.

If we don’t know our accurate size we can’t shop online. Sometimes we can’t trust on online measurements. The person who is ordering for the first time will definitely hesitate to order. If our size is not correct we will have to wait for another week to get the correct size.

We always need internet connectivity to order something online. There are no offline websites. Online shopping is not useful for people living in rural areas as they don’t know much about technology and they hardly have internet access. So this is the most negative thing about online shopping.

Online Shopping websites have more choices, more variety which leads to more confusion in consumers mind. The buyer gets confused and gets addicted to online shopping as they get everything at reasonable prices at their doorsteps. They spend so much time surfing on different shopping websites.

These e-commerce websites deliver their products to specific areas only. They don’t have access to all the places. Like people living in outskirts of the city can’t shop online as their products can’t be delivered to their places. This is the disadvantage of online shopping.

When we shop online we cannot touch and feel the quality of the product. Though its already written there but we still don’t get satisfy by not touching the product. This is the main thing which doesn’t allow people to buy things online. Some people don’t get satisfaction by only seeing the product.

Some online websites don’t have much flexibility in refunds and mode of payments. If we don’t like the product and we want refund back, some portals send their refund in their wallets only. The consumer obviously wants their refunds in their mode of payment only. They don’t allow consumer to choose their mode of refund.

Survey on Online Shopping

29 respondents were taken into consideration. They were asked to answer the questions.

The pie chart shows the percentage of male and female shop online. It shows that 46.4% of males go for online shopping and 53.4% of females go for online shopping. It means that more females are involved in online shopping. This gives an idea of sex ratio who is more involved in online shopping.

The pie shows that how often people shop online. 64.3% people shop after every few months. The pie chart determines that 14.3% people shop every week and the same percentage of people shop every two week. And the rest of the people don’t shop online.

The above pie chart determines that how people get to know about the online products they shop. It shows that 40.7% of people gets to know through social media. And 11.1% of people gets to know through friends. The percentage of people who gets to know about the product through advertisements is 25.6%. And 22.2% of the people gets information through other media.

Just 11.1% of the people get to know about the products being sold online through their friends.

The above graph shows that 74.1% of the people purchase clothes online. The demand of clothes is more because the buyer gets them at reasonable price. The graph shows that 29.6% of the people order books and electronics items online. 25.9% of the people buy accessories online as we can see more variety of accessories online. Just 11.1% of the people buy groceries online. 7.4% of the people don’t even shop online. They consider offline shopping better than online shopping. And only 3.7% of the people order home furnishing items online as they get more variety of furniture at the showrooms.

In the above bar graph people are asked about if they think that online shopping is more convenient than offline shopping. 10 respondents answered the question in positive. And 6 respondents said that they don’t think online shopping is more convenient than offline shopping.

The pie chart shows what all websites do people shop from. 14.8% of the respondents shop from Amazon. Amazon is a shopping websites where we get everything from clothes to books to furniture. And the same percent of people shop from Flipkart too that is 14.8%. Rest of the people shop from other websites like Snapdeal, Myntra, Jabong, Shein, Homeshop18 and H&M.

The above pie chart shows that if people think that online shopping is more costly than offline shopping. 71.4% of the respondents don’t think that online shopping is more costly than offline shopping. And 17.9% of the people don’t have any idea about it. 10.7% of the people think that online shopping is more costly than offline shopping.

The last question that was asked from the respondents was that if they think that online shopping will take over offline shopping in future or not. 50% of the people replied in positive. And 39.3% of the people don’t have any idea about this question. The rest percent that is 10.7% of the people think online shopping will not take over offline shopping in future.

Methodology:

Aim: Our research is basically based on impact of online shopping on buyer.

Research instrument: For this I used the questionnaire method to know whether online shopping is gaining more interest over offline shopping.

I used the questionnaire method because of the following reasons:

1. It’s the most easiest and the simplest way to conduct a research.
2. This method doesn’t require any money and is time saving at the same time.
3. Respondent can give his/her views freely.
4. All the answers will be confidential.
5. We will not reveal the name of the respondent.

Conclusion:

In today’s scenario online shopping is becoming more popular than offline shopping. More and more people are shifting to online shopping and are very happy and satisfied to shop online. They get more variety of products at a very reasonable cost. People spend so much of their time on online shopping. Websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra are the most popular shopping websites. The survey shows that online retailers are getting more profit than offline retailers. People are getting more discounts online. They get extra discounts during festive seasons also. Online shopping is very convenient and time saving at the same time. In future online shopping will definitely take over offline shopping.