A Comparative Study Of Physical And Online Electronic Stores

INTRODUCTION

The Internet explosion has opened the door to a new electronic world. Consumers are now able to use the Internet for a variety of purposes such as research, communication, online banking, and even shopping. As a result of these advantages, the Internet is rapidly becoming a main method of communication and of conveniently conducting business. As Internet usage increases globally, the e-commerce market also increases, particularly in countries with well-developed marketing infrastructures. The explosive growth and popularity of social media like Facebook and MySpace, coupled with applications offered with mobile smart phones, contributes to the increasing popularity and purchases of virtual goods, which has been a boom for e-commerce sites and mobile commerce . Social media works in tandem with trust perception as online consumers are more willing to purchase goods and services via word of mouth recommendation from someone they know through a social media website or via a recommendation from an online stranger.

In the context of multi-channel retail, it is well known that customers may research products on one channel and buy on another. Different ways of utilizing the channels are possible. Thus, there is evidence that customers use the online channel for their research and buy at a physical store or they may use the physical store for research and buy online . Shoppers come in two varieties: loyal research shoppers who search and purchase from different channels of the same firm and competitive research shoppers who search using one channel of a firm and buy from a different channel of the competing firm. Thus customers may use Target’s physical stores to evaluate products but purchase in Amazon’s online store if online prices are lower. Our aim is to study and analyze which electronic products consumers prefer buying online and which electronic products they prefer buying physical electronic stores and to study all the factors which the consumer consider while shopping electronic goods.

Objective

To study consumer buying behavior towards physical & online electronic Stores.

To understand and analyze customer perception towards different physical and online electronic stores.

Research MethodologyThe primary methods of data collection that is questionnaire technique was used to collect the data required. No of Respondents include both male and female. Random sampling method has been adopted under the probability sampling technique and about 30 samples have been collected for the study.

Sampling Size:The study was conducted towards Mobile Phone users. 130 respondents were chosen as sample for the study.

Sample design:Quota sampling technique was used for this survey. Under sample design the method of Random Sampling is been used to collect data from the respondents. Primary & Secondary Data:To achieve the objective of the study, the primary data have been collected through questionnaire. This questionnaire aims to gather information related to customers expectations and observations (satisfaction).The secondary data was collected from various websites.

Scaling technique: Arbitrary scale and likert scaling technique is used in this method.

Literature Review

Online Shopping in the United States A recent study reported that the number of Internet users in the U.S. has almost doubled over the last eight years to approximately 220 million in 2008 (Hannah & Lybecker, 2010). However, not all

consumers are turning to the Internet for shopping. While the number of Internet users who have made an online purchase at one time is more than half, this does not explain the disparity between the number of visits websites recorded and the number of actual purchases made online. One report shows that although a website may receive millions of visitors, only about 3% of those visits result in a purchase (Betts, 2001). In addition, another study also reported that about 65% of online shopping carts are abandoned before a purchase is completed (O’Neill, 2001). One explanation of these occurrences is that the majority of consumers are going online to window-shop and plan on making their purchases offline (Forsythe & Shi, 2003). Research is seen as a valuable tool by consumers in their decisions to buy products, but the Internet is not seen as the necessary method of purchase. The Internet and its online capabilities are generally seen as a research tool by consumers, as the Internet is capable of disseminating a large amount of information conveniently. Consequentially, although online capabilities include the ability to complete a purchase transaction, a good portion of consumers utilize the Internet to find information about a product, and then use the information at a physical shopping location. Physical locations have the contrasting capabilities of providing sensory perception information for the consumer to use in their purchasing decisions that the Internet is seen as incapable of satisfying (Shim, Eastlick, Lotz, & Warrington, 2001). A physical location can provide more in the way of direct social interaction with others, and entertainment through the process of shopping amongst physically present objects for a consumer (Shang, et al., 2005). Despite the benefits the Internet may provide in terms of online shopping, consumers may simply be using the Internet as a research tool, not a purchasing medium, to better inform themselves about products in order to make their purchases offline.

Interpretation and Analysis

This Survey was conducted among 130 people and among those 130 respondents 46.9% were males and 53.1% were females.

2.Which age group do you belong to?(130 responses)

Among 130 respondents 53.8% were in age group of 15-24,13.8% between 25-34 age,9.2% between 35-44 age group,16.9% between age group 45-60,6.2% in age group above 60.

3.What is your occupation?(130 responses)

The above pie chart shows the qualification of the 130 respondents

4.Have you purchased any electronic goods recently?(130 responses)

The above data shows that among 130 respondents 75.4% have purchased electronic goods recently and 24.6 percentage have not purchased anything recently.

5.How often do you buy electronic goods? (130 responses)

According to the survey conducted 43.1% often buy electronic goods in the time period 6 months to 1 year i.e majority of the 130 people who were surveyed purchase new electronic products after every 6 months.

6.How do you buy electronic goods?(130 responses)

According to the survey conducted majority of the people i.e 51.5% among 130 respondents buy electronic products from both online and physical electronic stores, 34.6% percent buy from physical stores and 13.8% buy online.

After this question people who have selected the above option were asked specific questions about that section. The questionnaire is divided into 3 sections Online, Physical and Both(Online & Physical) electronic buying behavior.

Both(online &Physical) Electronic store Among 130 respondents 67 people selected this option.

Among 130 respondents 67 people selected this section. From the above data, majority of the people purchased mobile phone and

accessories from online i.e 76.1%.

From the above data , we know that majority of the people purchase consumer durable goods from physical electronic stores.

According to the survey conducted ,among 67 resopndents flipkart, amazon and snapdeal are the most popular online site to purchase electronic items.

According to responses give by the respondents majority of the people cited good customer service, fast delivery,discounts for their preference towards this online shoping.

According to survey conducted vijay sales,croma and reliance digital storesis quite popular while shoping electronic goods from physical electronic store.However 26.9% also purchase from local electronic stores.

According to responses give by the respondents majority of the people cited location,offers and customer service as the main reason for choosing electronic store to buy the products from physical stores.

According to survey conducted, we know that majority of the respondents remained neutral to purchase consumer durable goods online.

From the above data,we know that there is still doubt among consumers that shoping electronic products online is risky as 41.8% ,though 31.3% disagree to this fact.

From the above data, 67.2% i.e majority of the respondents agree to the fact that online stores offer more discounts.

From the above data ,We know that 68.7% agree to the fact that online electronic stores offer wide variety of brands and good product description.

From the above data,we know that majority of the respondents, agree to the fact that online electronic stores give good technical assistence,but 16.4% percent neutral to this question.

From the above data, we learn that majority of the people among 67 respondents,i.e 64.2% always buy from the same online website ,though 35.8% are not loyal.

Among 67 responses only 24 people were loyal to any online site and they mostly preferred flipkart,amazon came 2nd in this regard.and they cited good service and fast delivery as their reason.

From the above data, we learn that majority of the people among 67 respondents,i.e 64.2% always buy from the same physical store ,though 35.8% are not loyal.

Among 67 respondents, only 19 respondents are loyal to any particular physical store. Vijay sales and Croma was the most preferred among these people and they cited customer service and location as the reason.

Online Electronic Stores

From the above data, we learn that 38.9 % among 19 respondents prefer buying online because of discounts and 27.8 % because of all the option given and 27.8% because it is easy to compare products online.

According to the survey conducted,61% buy electronic goods annually and 38.9% monthly.

According to the survey conducted we learn that 56.6% prefer payment through debit/credit card and 38.9% prefer cash on delivery.

From the above pie chart,we learn that 61.% prefer buying from flipkart and 22.2% from amazon and 11.1% from snapdeal.

From the data collected, we learned that majority of them cited timely delivery and discount offers as their reason.

From the above pie chart,we learn that 83.3% i.e majority of people prefer buying mobie phone and accessories from online website.

Above pie chart shows that 50% of the respondents agree,while 27.8% strongly agree and 16.7% are neutral about the discounts offered by online stores are more then physical shops.

Above pie chart shows that 66.7% of the respondents agree, 16.7% strongly agree and 16.7% are neutral about variety of brands offered by online stores are good.

Above pie chart shows that 50% of the respondents agree,33.3% are neutral and 16.7% strongly agree about the after sale services offered by online stores are good.

Above chart shows 27.8% of the respondents agree,27.8% are neutral,16.7% strongly agree,16.7% disagree and 11.1% strongly disagree buying consumer durables online.

Physical Electronic Store Among 130 people surveyed,45 respondent opted for this option.

Above pie chart shows that 46.7% of the respondents prefer physical shops because of various points mentioned,17.8% prefer because of eace in comparison of products and 13.3% prefer because of discounts offered.

Above pie chart shows that 91.1% of the respondents shop annually while 8.9% go for weekly online shopping.

Above pie chart shows that60% of the respondents prefer cash payment and 35.6% prefer payment through debit/credit cards.

Above pie chart shows that 35.7% of the respondents prefer vijay sales, 28.6% prefer Croma, 14.3% prefer reliance digital and 14.3% prefer local electronic shops.

From the data collected, we learned that majority of the people cited location and customer service as their reason.

Above pie chart shows that 44.4% of the respondents prefer consumer durables ,while 40% prefer mobile phone & accessories and 13.3% prefer computer/laptops from physical stores.

Above pie chart shows that 42.2% of the respondents are neutral, while 26.7% disagree and 20% agree about discount offered by online stores.

Above pie chart shows that 37.8% of respondents agree,24.4% are neutral, 22.2% strongly agree and 15.6% disagree about variety of brands offered by physical stores.

Above pie chart shows that 48.9% of the respondents agree ,while 40% strongly agree and 11.1% are neutral about after sale services of physical stores being better then online stores.

Above pie chart shows that 66.7% of the respondents strongly agree and 20% of the respondents agree that they prefer buying consumer durables from physical stores.

Findings

From the survey conducted on Comparative Study of Physical & Online Electronic Stores .We learned that people in age group till 35 prefer both online and offline shopping of electronic goods. And above those age group mostly preferred traditional physical shopping from electronic stores.

Majority of the consumers preferred buying from consumer durable products from physical electronic store because of good technical assistance provided by the salesperson, and majority of the people preferred Croma on this regard. While for good deals like exchange offers of Vijay sales attracted maximum customers, and they also cited nearby location of the store as one of the reason .We also learned that local electronic stores which are not as popular as Vijay Sales ,croma and all are also preferred by the customers.

We learned that majority of the people from all age group and occupation preferred buying mobile phones and its accessories from online electronic stores instead of traditional electronic stores. Most of the consumers preferred Flipkart as their most preferred site for online shopping of electronic items though Amazon is fast catching up in this regard. These two online sites are the most popular among people and they cited good customer service and good offers discount and fast delivery as their reason.

Conclusion

In this advancing technological age most of the people preferred buying all the small electronic items like mobile phone and accessories from online site and consumer durable electronic items from physical stores. This shows that though online sites have become very popular now days but people haven’t given up shopping from physical electronic stores. People still preferred buying from physical stores due to good technical assistance and customer services provided by the physical stores for consumer durable goods.