1. Name of the programme : MBA;

2. Name of the Student :

3. Roll Number :

4. Examination Registration Number :

5. Mobile Number of Student :

6. Name of Study centre :

7. Name of Proposed Guide :

8. Mobile Number of Guide :

ANNEXU RE 1

Director’s copy

Study centre’s copy

FO R MAT FOR PR O J E C T

P R O P OS AL (Two copies mu st be sub mitted to the Stu dy Centre

with the project p rop osal)

Specialization: Marketing

Email:

Email:

9. Institution / Organisation where the guide works:

10. Title of the Project :

SIGNATURE OF STUDENT

Title : A study on Customer Satisfaction in online Retail Shops

NEED FOR THE STUDY

This increases the importance of our research work and the need to study the online shopping in India ie) www.snapdeal.com, www.ebay.com, www.easypurchase.in

This study has enabled us to gather the views of online customers in India with respect to what they expect and what has made them remain loyal or satisfied to the product or service.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In order to develop a framework for the study consumer behavior it is helpful to begin by

considering the evolution of the field of consumer research and the different paradigms of

thought that have influenced the discipline. As described here, a set of dimensions can be

identified in the literature, which can be used to characterize and differentiate the various

perspectives on consumer research.

It is argued that consumer behaviour itself emerged as a distinct field of study during the

1960s; and is characterized by two broad paradigms, the positivist and the non-positivist.

The positivist paradigm encompasses the economic, behavioural, cognitive,

motivational/trait/attitudinal, and situational perspectives; these perspectives are referred to

as the traditional perspectives as they pre-date the development of the non-positivist

paradigm. The positivist paradigm, which is still the dominant paradigm, emphasizes the

supremacy of human reason and that there is a single, objective truth that can be discovered

by science. This paradigm regards the world as a rational and ordered place with a clearly

defined past, present, and future. The assumption of rationalism is therefore fundamental to

the traditional perspective.

The opposing, non-positivist paradigm, envelops the interpretive and postmodern

perspectives, which have emerged more recently during the period post-1980 to date. The

proponents of this emerging perspective argue that positivism overemphasizes the rational

view and the ideology of a homogenous social culture and thereby denies the complex

social and cultural world in which consumers live. This paradigm instead stresses, the

importance of symbolic and subjective experience and the idea that consumers construct

meanings based on unique and shared cultural experiences, and thus there can be no single

unified world view.

Unsurprisingly, the two paradigms differ in their views on the benefits derived from

consumption and the objectives that underscore consumer research. The traditional,

positivist perspective takes a very utilitarian approach to the benefits from consumption.

While the non-positivist perspectives place much greater emphasis on the symbolic

dimensions of choice. The objective of non-positivist research endeavour is to achieve a

better understanding of consumer behaviour with no specific intent to influence consumer

processes. Conversely, outcomes of positivist research are directed toward advancing the

goals of marketing practice

Predispositions (Before Purchase)

According to Thorelli et al (1975), the prospective buyer possesses a certain stock of

cognitive content, including his own personality or self-concept, attitudes and opinions both

in general and on specific products, and stored information and past experience. This stock

has been formed as a result of his interaction with his environment over time, and it will

help determine the environment in which he places himself in the future as well as influence

his perceptions of that environment.

Product Need:

As a result of either cognitive activity or some environmental stimulus, the buyer recognizes

a need which is capable of being satisfied by a product or service. In other words, the need

is often triggered by internal or external stimuli. Some authors also take this need

recognition stage as the entry point. Chaston (2001) argues that the potential consumer will

not implement any of the other steps in the buying process until need recognition has

happened.

External Search:

Thorelli et al (1975) describe that this stage represents all search of the external

environment for alternative solutions as well as for information helpful in evaluating these

alternatives. The search for information occurs on an internal and external basis (Gilbert,

1999). The internal search for information from previous experience might be relevant to

the present purchase situation. The extent and nature of external search for information

likely in any given purchase has been the subject of a great deal of research. When

searching for information in the external environment (e.g., friends and family), consumers

focus on those relevant attributes that are available and are diagnostic (Dick et al., 1990).

Evaluation of Alternatives:

This stage consists of the physical and cognitive activities involved in comparing

alternatives on the basis of information gathered from external search above.

According to Kotler (2000), the consumer arrives at attitudes toward the various brands

through an attribute evaluation procedure and most buyers consider several attributes in

their purchase decision. These attributes used by consumers for evaluation are also called

choice criteria. Jobber (2001) has made a good summary of these choice criteria. In fact,

consumers attempt to optimize the trade-off between product benefits, product costs, the

desired personal utilityies and other variables.

Purchase Activity:

Purchase activity involves the actual final decision and physical activities

involved in making (or not making) the purchase. This stage includes the actual transaction.

However, as suggested by Kotler (2000), perceived risks of a consumer can heavily

influence his decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a purchase decision. Therefore it is

necessary for marketers to understand factors that might provoke perceived risk in

consumers and work out solutions to reduce that.

Post Purchase Behaviour:

This step is concerned primarily with the buyer’s use of the product purchased. After

purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or

dissatisfaction which will influence a consumers’ subsequent behaviour. Dissatisfied

consumers may abandon or return the product, they may even complain to the other group

(Kotler, 2000). It is clear that satisfactions and dissatisfactions created by product

performance will be important determinants of attitudes and information stored as inputs to

future purchase decisions.

Predispositions (After Purchase and Use):

This stage suggests that following the purchase process, the buyer (or non-buyer) is left with

cognitive content which may be quite different from that which was present at the beginning

of the process. Buyers may change their attitudes, information and experience due to

reasons of time and events. All of these may serve to change substantially the nature of the

decision process for future purchases of the same type.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

The primary objectives of the study was

To study and analyze academic and empirical research in the area of online

customer satisfaction in India.

To develop a questionnaire and conduct qualitative online survey in order to

understand the expectations of Indian customers from online shopping.

To study about the comparison of 3 online shops in india ( www.ebay.in,

www.snaldeal.com,www.easypurchase.in)

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

The secondary objectives of the study was

Utilization of Likert scaling, simple random sampling tools and NPS (Net

Promoter Score) model to analyze the obtained data from questionnaire

Finally we will come up with some conclusions and recommendations for the

online sellers on the basis of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis and

results of our thesis work.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data Collection

The Project describes the overall procedure used to collect data for the thesis work. From the Marketing point of view normally we use the combination of qualitative and quantitative research.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research consists of some technical procedures. These procedures are essential for the survey response. There are many factors involved in the qualitative research.

Following is the description for qualitative data collection.

Questionnaire Design

From firms perspective customer satisfaction dimensions such as availability, responsiveness, timeliness, completeness, and convenience need to be measured by questionnaire.

Availability should be the degree for which customer could contact the supplier. There where the supplier could react promptly according to the requirement of the customer fulfils the responsiveness dimension of customer satisfaction for example constantly response to the customer feedback receive via website.

The time frame for the delivery of goods or services is another dimension of customer satisfaction. Firms have to make sure that the job is finished and customer is satisfied of the completion of his demand or requirement. Firms also need to enhance their professional behavior and manners to keep their customer satisfied and retained, for example offering customized solutions thus making virtual purchase a convenient method of shopping

LIMITATIONS

One can find numerous statistical and economic studies on customer satisfaction and loyalty with regards to physical store shopping. But this research on measuring the customer satisfaction and loyalty of online shoppers in India is rare of its kind.

This increases the importance of our research work and the need to study the online shopping in India.

This study has enabled us to gather the views of online customers in India with respect to what they expect and what has made them remain loyal or satisfied to the product or service.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The online customers of India are satisfied with their local websites, security in online payment and the quality and timely delivery of goods. Also, for security purposes, most of the Indians prefer third party mediation for their online payments.

Indians do not effectively make use of the online customer service/support facilities in case of inconvenience. This shows that they are not encouraged by the online sellers to make effective use of service and support provided on online shopping websites. Indian online shoppers hesitate to provide feedback about a product or service purchased online. This is very important for both online sellers and buyers.

By giving positive feedback, the customer is indirectly recommending the product to prospective buyers. On the other hand, negative feedback helps the online sellers to improve the quality of products/services thus attracting more people towards online shopping. Therefore, online sellers should encourage customers to provide feedback for their entire online purchases.

REFERENCES

Bibliography

Books

2007, OECD Science, Technology and Industry scoreboard: Innovation and performance inthe global economy, p. 112 – 114.

Armstrong, G &Kotler, P 2009, Marketing An Introduction (9th ed.), Pearson Prentice Hall,New Jersey. Barker, R &Angelopulo, G 2006, Integrated organizational communication, Juta& Co. (Pvt) Ltd, Cape Town.

Barnes, JG (2006), Building your customer strategy: a guide to creating profitable customerrelationships, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, P 17-28.

Best,RJ (2005), Market-based management: Strategies for Growing customer value andprofitability, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey, P 7-20.

Black, K 2009, Business statistics: for Contemporary Decision Making (6 ed), John Wiley & Sons, USA, p. 343.

Buttle, F 2004, Customer relationship management: concepts and tools, ElsevierButterworth-Heinemann, MA. Carroll, J &Broadhead, R 2001, Selling online: how to become a successful e-commerce merchant, Dearborn Trade, Canada.

Chaffey, D 2002, E-business and e-commerce management: strategy, implementation, andpractice, Pearson Education, England, p.6.

Chaffey, D, Chadwick, FE, Johnston, K & Mayer, R 2009, Internet marketing: Strategy,implementation and practice (4 ed), Pearson Education, England.

\Websites :

www.snapdeal.comwww.easypurchase.inwww.ebay.com

(SIGNATURE OF STUDENT) (SIGNATURE OF GUIDE)