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7/25/2019 Online vs Mall Shopping
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/online-vs-mall-shopping 1/23
GROUP-14
ONLINE SHOPPING V/S MALLSHOPPING: A STUDY TO FIND
OUT WHY CONSUMERS ARE
MOTIVATED TO SHOP ONLINE
OVER SHOPPING IN MALL IN
KERALA
user[Email address]
Naveen Gopal M- P14196Sarath S.R.- P14151
Santo Antony – P14150
Ajay Subramanian- P14104
Sharon Liz Varghese – P14270
Neema Prakash – P14197
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1
CONTENT
CHAPTER PAGE NO.
I Introduction 2
Research purpose 6
Scope of the study 6
Significance of the study 7
II Theoretical framework 7
III Research methodology 14
IV Finding 15
V Suggestions and Recommendations 20
Limitations 21
VI Reference 21
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ONLINE SHOPPING V/S MALL SHOPPING: A STUDY TO FIND
OUT WHY CONSUMERS ARE MOTIVATED TO SHOP ONLINE
OVER SHOPPING IN MALLS IN KERALA
ABSTRACT
In order to develop the best results of online services for a particular product, marketers must
determine which key attributes are perceived by their target market to be delivered better online
and the reasons for which their targets prefer shopping online over the mall shopping that is available
to them. A survey was administered to find out why consumers are motivated to shop online over
the mall shopping option available to them in Kerala.
INTRODUCTION
The project analyses why customers
are motivated to shop online (e-commerce)
over shopping malls in Kerala. Online shopping
has turned out to be a phenomena in the past
two years in India. The strides they have made
in the market has been huge and was able to
attract a whole new bunch of customers who
have less time but also are tech savvy.
The shopping trends of people has changed
dramatically over the past few years, apart
from shopping from retail stores people were
given the option to shop from internet which
changed the game of the retail industry. The
new mode of shopping mode came in different
names such as online shopping, internet
shopping, network shopping or web based
shopping, which enabled the customer the
ultimate convenience of shopping from home
without having to visit the retail stores.
Convenience is not the only factor that attracts
the customers as the online shopping portals
offers discounts that beat the offers byretailers by a long way. The retailers are not
able to lower the prices but their online
competitors are able to offer discounts that
attracts the customers very much. In
marketing understanding consumer’s
attraction to marketplace environment of
different types is important. And this research
is one such kind trying to understand why
consumers prefer to shop online rather than
shopping from stores.
The research kind of deals with the study as to
understand the motivation of customers as to
why they prefer the online shopping and
understand the dynamics of the retail sector
environment right now and also the mentality
of the customers as to why they are motivated
to shop online is it because of the convenience
factor or the offers on different products
provided by the online retailers.
E-commerce offers many online marketing
opportunities to companies worldwide and
along with high rapid growth of online
shopping; it has impressed many retailers to
sell products and services through online
channel to expand their market. Big brands has
started to introduce their own online portalswhere their products are being sold
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exclusively. For example Raymond has
introduced its own online portal and even has
a plan to slowly cut down its retail stores. What
online stores does is that not just convenience
or pricing but also the fact the reach it has.Even if the customer is stays in a rural area the
product can reach them where they are
without the customer going all the way to get
the product. Online shopping or marketing is
the use of technology (i.e., computer, internet)
for better marketing performance.
In an online store all the products are
described through text, with photos and with
multimedia files and even has videos
explaining to the customer each and every
specialty or the benefit of the product. Many
online stores will provide links for extra
information about their products and also the
fact that they provide the customers who has
brought the product to write reviews about the
product and also to rate the product enables
the customer to identify faster which productis good enough and which one is not. Also the
rating given for each product ensures the
quality of the product i.e. customers are given
option to rate the products which enables
other customers to understand the quality and
popularity of the product.
They often make available, safety procedures,
instructions, manufacture specification and
demonstrations (Tech target, 2007-2012).
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 (Cuneyt
& Gautam, 2004). Consumer’s attitude
towards online shopping refers to their
psychological state on terms of making
purchases.
The process of buying behavior process
consists of five steps. The steps involve the,
customers first identifying a need or want and
then define the requirements necessary to
satisfy that need. Secondly, the customers
gather information and evaluate the options of
products that satisfy their need or want that
are available. Once the customer identifies or
knows their options, they will look to make a
purchase which will include shopping for or
negotiating the best price they can achieve.
Lastly, consumers will go through several
factors which limits or influence final decision
and they will evaluate whether or not they
made a good decision.
Customer purchasing decisions are influenced
by perception, motivation, learning, attitudes
and beliefs. The perception is reflected to on
how the customers select, organize, and
interpret information to form knowledge. The
motivation is reflected to the customer’s
desire to meet their own needs. Learning is
reflected to the customers’ behavior
experience arising. Attitudes are reflected to
customers’ steadily favorable or unfavorable
assessments, feelings, and inclinations
towards object or idea. Finally, Beliefs is
reflected to customers’ thoughts about a
product or service (Kotler & Armstrong, 1997).
THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE
CONSUMER INTENTION TO PURCHASE
ONLINE
There are many factors and influences that
affect customers in related to the motivation
factor as to why they prefer online shoppingover shopping from malls. The purchasing
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decision process as explained starts long
before actual purchase and continues long
after. Usually in more routine purchases,
consumers often reserve or skip some of
purchase decision process. These are some ofthe factors that motivates the customer to
shop online over shopping at malls.
Search Engines
Internet users basically used search engines to
find out needed information. Search engines
provides information regarding anything under
the sun and even of things over the sun. If a
customer types in a product electronic
retailers make sure that details of the product
and availability of it comes first on these search
engines and also when a customer clicks on the
link to find out about the product, website
quality can satisfy and serve the particular
demand of the customer.
Conveniences
Convenience and saved time were offered by
online shopping which were two motivating
factors for online purchases. The main reason
that motivated consumers to shop online was
conveniences these convenience came not just
in the form of time but also in the form of the
discounts, special offers, timely reminders of
the offers etc. online retailers even study your
search pattern and show suggestions aboutproducts based on our search history they go
into such detail to ensure our needs are met
even before we have identified them. Timely
reminders about offers are sent to your email
about offers and discounts i.e. if you mark
down a product or add to cart the online retail
portal would provide you timely reminder of
the product and the offer it has right now thus
enabling us to purchase cheaply. Convenientaccess to product information could facilitate
and help shoppers’ making an online
purchases decision (Loshe & Spiller, 1999).
Price
Price was a critical factor for customer ononline shopping (Heim and Sinha, 2001).
However, Li et al. (1999) argued that often
online shoppers were not price-sensitive,
cause of these consumers’ price comparisons
among different e-retailers on each product
was time consuming and the price difference
was very small. But the generation Y doesn’t
believe that argument they believe the offers
that online retailers provide them is much
better than the one they get from a retailer in
a mall. For instance when a shirt costs Rs 1000
in a retail shop in a mall who has to consider
many factors such as paying the rent,
electricity etc. but the customer could buy the
three shirts of the same brand and quality from
online portals.
Brand
Brand was defined as the quality related to the
products or services. Often, brand was
referred to the seller’s reputation and
consumer loyalty in associated with the seller
(Haig, 2001). Brands and features increases as
more information is obtained, knowledge of
the available and consumer awareness (Kotler
& Armstrong, 1997). E-retailers shouldstrengthen shopper trust and believe by
buying famous Website such as google.com to
promote the online purchase rate (Wu, 2002).
The main players when it comes to online
retailers in the perspective of Kerala is
Amazon.com and Flipkart who is sweating it
out to achieve market leadership and gain
competitive advantage and thus offering more
and more offers and trying to lure incustomers. And customers has built a trust or
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a bond with these players and are enjoying the
honey moon period of the online retailer
industry.
Refund
Online consumers demanded that e-retailers
should provide an unconditional refund policy
if the online costumer were not satisfied with
the product (Lee, 2002). The customers who
are not satisfied with the product are able to
return the money and get back their whole
money and thus online retailers create a
differentiation among its normal retail
competitors through this activity as well. E-
retailers should have refund policies to
convince online consumers that they easily
return products and get refunds if they are not
satisfied, or exchange products for free within
a reasonable timeframe (Bishop, 1998).
COD
Cash on delivery is one of the best features of
shopping online i.e. when a customer orders
he/she doesn’t have to make the payment
online then and there instead they can order
and collect the product from the delivery guy
who comes to make the delivery and see if the
product matches their need or want and then
if satisfied pay the cash if not return the
product to the delivery guy.
Promotion
E-retailers might use promotions with time
limits to encourage consumers to shop on
Website (Haig, 2001). Big billion day celebrated
by Flipkart is a typical example of this they
provided customers with the ultimate
shopping experience when it comes to
purchasing branded products at a really low
rate and achieved sales of very high quantityearning them revenue in crores.
Security
Security was a critical successful factor for e-
commerce. Retail e-commerce would fail if
Internet users feel on lacking a great degree of
confidence (Kesh et al., 2002). The primary
reason indicated of the most buyers who didn’t
shop online cause of afraid to reveal personal
credit card information to retailers or over the
internet (Rao, 2000). But as mentioned earlier
in the study even though people tend to have
an inertia when it comes to adopting a new
technology but the times have changed and
the generation in Kerala is very much techsavvy and online payments are preferred now
over carrying cash to the malls in a way the
customers have developed much more trust in
online payments which further motivates them
to shop online rather than go offline and shop
from retailers.
Thus study indicates the motivation factors of
the consumers in Kerala to purchase online
rather than shopping at malls. As from the
study it is clear that online retailers often have
much lower overhead and have been very
good at offering competitive prices over the
normal retailers, but physical stores or the
retailers still win hands down when it comes to
same day service and online retailers are
working on making their delivery system much
faster and if possible on the day of order itself
and they have started implementing it at
metros. Overall, when it comes to loyalty
customers still develop more loyalty to stores
they visit in person and thus are more likely to
overspend when shopping offline as well.
Nevertheless, e-Commerce in general has been
steadily growing since 2004 and shows no sign
of waning. Amazon has already announced
plans for their 30 minute delivery drones andrecently patented "anticipatory shipping",
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which will somehow deliver packages before
they are ordered (presumably in a DeLorean).
Brick and Mortar will need to remain
competitive in the same day service arena if it
hopes to endure the changing marketplace.
A 2013 survey by Continuum, revealed that the
number one motivating factor for both online
and in store shopping is convenience. People
don't want the process of purchasing to feel
like a chore and will usually choose the path of
least resistance, even if it means paying more
money. In fact, price was third on the list,
meaning that the area in which it is mostdifficult for physical stores to compete is only a
factor one quarter of the time. However,
'showrooming', the process of shopping in
store then buying online, continues to be an
issue worth fighting, and retailers who make
buying in store more appealing are less likely
to fall victim to the online undercutting.
All in all in conditions related the Kerala thestudy has shown us that convenience as the
major motivation for customers when it comes
to shopping online and the trend of people
shifting from brick and mortar to online only
tend to increase in the coming years in Kerala.
RESEARCH PURPOSE
The purpose of this research is primarily to
identify the main motivators that make the
consumers prefer online shopping over mall
shopping. The findings of the research will be
the implications for both the online retailers as
well as the shop retailers in malls to identify
the motivators or the factors that make the
consumer purchase from online websites. This
is not just of importance to the online retailers
but the mall shop keepers will also be able to
identify the aspects of improvement and
where to focus their marketing strategies on.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The topic that we are conducting the study is -Online shopping v/s Mall shopping: A study to
find out why consumers are motivated to shop
online over shopping in mall in Kerala. E-
Commerce is very popular nowadays. People
buy online products that meet their daily
needs – even a tooth paste. But for that e-
commerce sites like flip kart, amazon, snap
deal, etc. have to develop a trust in the market.
Trust is very essential to successfully promote
new products and services. There are social
commerce constructs like reviews and ratings,
forums and communities, and
recommendations and referrals which play a
major role in the decision making of a
customer. A customer just won’t simply buy a
product. He first checks the user opinion and
reviews about the product. These are possible
only through online. While purchasing offline,
customer only gets the product details and
opinion from the shopkeeper. But if the
customer is purchasing through online, if
someone comments that the product is not
worth the money, then no one buys the
product because they were able to identify the
qualities of the product. So these social
commerce constructs play a major role in the
decision making process. So these social
constructs generates a social word of mouth
among customers regarding new products and
services. This social word of mouth is much
faster than the normal word of mouth because
people are more into social networking now.
While shopping online no customer ask
another customer whether the product is good
or not. They only ask the shopkeeper. Theshopkeeper can give good review even if the
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product has a bad quality. Another factor that
makes people prefer online shopping is the
convenience. They can buy any product, from
toothpaste to furniture, by simply sitting at
their home or office with a single click. And theproduct the product will be delivered to them.
They don’t have to go and collect. Another
factor is that e commerce websites give
customers a lot of combo offers and discounts.
So if the same product can be brought from
online without any effort and still getting
discount, people won’t go to malls. Then the
return policy is also a factor. If the product is
damaged they can give back the product.There is guaranteed return policy for e
commerce websites.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
At any given time there are millions of people
online and each of them is a potential
customer, due to the rapid development of the
technologies surrounding the internet, it has
become most important to understand why
consumers purchase online. Analysing
consumer behaviour is not a new
phenomenon. The renowned marketing expert
Philip Kotler has published several works on
the topic of consumer behaviour theories.
Here understanding the consumer closely is
related to the directions in which the company
would take its marketing strategies.
Analysing consumer behaviour is not a new
phenomenon. Since online retailing is a new
retailing medium and online consumer
behaviour, one must identify what influences
the online consumer. These factors need to be
taken into account by online retailers in order
to satisfy the customer. Just like the sides of
two coins, these factors also point out why the
consumers prefer this over the mall and other
shops. Thus these results would also help the
shop keepers to direct their services including
these factors such that more customers would
then prefer mall shopping.
THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
“Human rational behavior is shaped by a
scissors whose two blades are the structure of
task environments and the computational
capabilities of the actor.” (Simon, 1990, p. 7)
In the era of globalization electronic marketing
is a great revolution. Over the last decade
maximum business organizations are running
with technological change. Online shopping or
marketing is the use of technology for better
marketing performance. And retailers are
devising strategies to meet the demand of
online shoppers; they are busy in studying
consumer behavior in the field of online
shopping, to see the consumer attitudes
towards online shopping. Therefore we have
also decided to study consumer’s attitudes
towards online shopping and specifically
studying the factors influencing consumers to
shop online.
Generally speaking the trend of e-commerce
has been increased rapidly in the recent years
with the development of internet and due to
the easy accessibility of internet usage. Easy
access to internet has driven consumers to
shop online in fact according to the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
communication policy (2001), online shopping
is third most popular activity on the internet
after email using and web browsing. Books,
airline tickets/reservations, clothing/shoes
videos/games and other electronic products
are the most popular items purchased on the
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internet. (ACNielsen Report on Global
Consumer Attitudes towards Online Shopping,
2007).
Online shopping is used as a medium for
communication and electronic commerce, it is
to increase or improve in value, quality and
attractiveness of delivering customer benefits
and better satisfaction, that is why online
shopping is more convenience and day by day
increasing its popularity. Not only benefits but
also risk is associated with online shopping.
Generally speaking internet users avert online
shopping because of credit-card fraud, lack of
privacy, non-delivery risk, lack of guarantee of
quality of goods and services. Concerned
authorities are devising policies to minimize
the risk involved in e-business.
On the other hand E- commerce has been
grown very fast because of many advantages
associated with buying on internet because of
lower transaction and search cost as compared
to other types of shopping. Through online
shopping consumers can buy faster, more
alternatives and can order product and
services with comparative lowest price.
(Cuneyt and Gautam 2004). Therefore
Marketers have carefully analyzed the
consumers’ attitude and behavior towards the
online shopping and spend billions of dollars to
facilitate all the demographics of online
shoppers.
Consumer’s attitude towards online shopping
refers to their psychological state in terms of
making purchases over the Internet. Online
buying behavior process refers to the products
purchased online. The process of online buying
behavior consists of five steps and it is similar
to traditional shopping behavior (Liang and Lai
2000). For instance, consumer recognize theneed for buying some product (book), they
refers to the internet to buy online and start to
search for the information and look for all the
alternatives and finally make a purchase which
best fits to their needs. Before making final
purchase consumers are bombarded byseveral factors which limits or influence
consumers for the final decision. The main
theme of the study is to know the factors that
influence the consumer’s attitudes and
behaviors towards online shopping.
Researchers will also focus on how consumers
form such attitudes with the help of models
and who are truly the online shoppers.
Our problem area that is ’what influences
consumers to buy online’ will determine the
attractive factors that influence consumers to
shop online and those factors will help
marketers to formulate their strategies
towards online marketing respectively. In
order to gain competitive edge in the market,
marketers need to know the consumer
behavior in the field of online shopping. So it isimportant to analyze and identify the factors
which influence consumers to shop online in
order to capture the demands of consumers.
Other than the factors which influence
consumers to shop online, online shopper’s
demography in terms of Age, gender, income
and education is equally important to define
their strategies accordingly.
As online shopping is a new medium so the
consumer behavior in the field of online
shopping is also pretty diverse in nature
compare to traditional consumer behavior, so
it is equally important for one to identify what
factors influence consumers to shop online. In
order to reach towards purchase decision, it
consists of several factors which influence
consumers to shop online. These factors are
important for retailers to compete in the
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market and to make their product more
compatible.
i) What factors influence consumers
to shop online?
Our research objective is to work on factors
that influence consumers to shop online. We
have decided to study factors such as
Convenience, Time Saving, Return Policy,
Security etc... While it is important to
investigate the motivation behind consumer
purchasing but it is equally important to find as
how the consumers form attitudes and
behaviors towards online buying becauseconsumer attitude towards purchasing online
is a conspicuous factor affecting actual buying
behavior. When marketers get to know the
factors affecting online buyer’s behavior then
it create huge opportunity for the marketers to
develop the marketing strategies accordingly
and turn the potential customers into actual
ones and retain the exiting buyers and make
them loyal ones.
Consumer buying behavior process which
helps in understanding what influence
consumer to purchase online. After studying
online shopping the researchers have
recognized that consumers start with some
kind of need or a problem that arouse some or
the other way which needs to be filled and
then you move towards information searchand finally you purchase. This buying process
helps in explaining the steps one follows to
reach to actual purchase. Theory of planned
behavior (TPB) proposed by Icek Ajzen (1988,
1991) as an extension to Theory of Reasoned
Action. This is also an important concept as it
provides a link between attitudes and
behavior. It helps one to understand how one
can change the behavior of people. This theorywill be helpful in understanding how consumer
changes their behavior to shop online than
physical store purchases.
Technology acceptance model (TAM) that is
developed by (Fred Davis and Richard Bagozzi)
(Davis 1989, Bagozzi & Warshaw 1992) is an
information system theory that sets out to
study the users acceptance towards particular
system. Writers have selected this theory as it
is commonly used theory while studying
consumer’s attitudes towards online shopping.
As online shopping is a modern technology and
in our research we are going to study different
factors that influence consumers attitudes
towards online shopping, such as Website
Design/ Features, convenience and Security.
And TAM will help us understand how
consumer form attitudes towards particular
system and in our case it is online shopping.
Last but not least it is an extension to the
theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975.
As the opening quote illustrates, consumer
behavior is determined by the interaction
between the properties of personal
information processing systems and the
properties of task environments. Consumer
decision processes are constructive in nature
— constructed by the decision makers
themselves (Bettman et al., 1998) as well asthe context of the particular external
environment (e.g., information presentation
format, time pressure) in which the decisions
are made (Bettman, Johnson, Luce and Payne,
1993; Bettman and Kakkar, 1977; Coupey,
1994; Payne, 1982).
From the perspective of consumers, the
Internet has changed their relationship with
sellers because of the unprecedented increase
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in the number of choices and levels of control
over the message (Sheth and Sisodia, 1999). It
has also changed the decision making
environment by the amount, type, and format
of information available to consumers (Alba etal., 1997; Bakos, 1997) because it provides
tools for information storage, for information
search and for decision analysis. Tools such as
bookmarks, search engines, and decision aids
(shopbots) are likely to influence consumer
information search behavior. In addition, the
Internet has transformed consumer behavior
in two ways: (1) transformation of the
consumers into online shoppers that requiresthe usage of computers, and (2)
transformation of the physical stores into a
marketspace that is information technology
intensive (Koufaris, Kambil and LaBarbera,
2001). In order to understand online consumer
behavior, it is necessary to include the
interaction between the combined roles of
consumer/computer user and information
technology provided by the online stores.
Personal factors such as domain and system
expertise as well as system factors such as
information load and interruptions will impose
certain search costs on consumers and
influence online information search.
As a market discontinuity (Mahajan and Wind,
1989), the Internet is likely to have a profound
effect on how consumers construct and adjusttheir decision-making processes appropriately
to the new decision-making environment. How
are expectations about changes in consumer
search behavior being realized in an online
environment? The remainder of this chapter
presents a conceptual framework to
understand consumer search behavior in an
online environment.
Figure 1-2 proposes a conceptual framework of
consumer information search in an online
environment. In the consumer decision
process, information search begins when
consumers recognize a purchase problem. Tosolve this problem, consumers have the choice
of searching for information from two
channels. They can search for information
exclusively online or off-line, or in combination
(Peterson et al., 1997). The specific choice of
information channels is likely to influence the
amount of information searched in the Web-
based market (Peterson et al., 1997). The
process of online information search ischaracterized by the human-computer
interaction termed navigation, which is
influenced by system and personal factors.
Consequently, these factors will affect the
amount of information in an online
environment.
Figure 1-2. Conceptual framework of online
search behavior
Consumer Channel Choice
With the Internet as an additional option,
consumers can choose (1) whether to focus on
a product or service category, or a brand at any
stage of the information acquisition process,
(2) whether to use the Internet or a
conventional retail channel for information
acquisition, and (3) whether to use the Internetor a conventional retail channel for the final
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transaction and brand acquisition (Peterson et
al., 1997). There are four possible choice
outcomes:
Search online and purchase off-line
Search off-line and purchase online
Search and purchase online
Search and purchase off-line
This chapter only focuses on consumers’
decision to search for information and
purchase online.
Purchasing online requires consumers tochange their conventional behavior.
Behavioral change is difficult and often
requires incentives such as explicit monetary
savings or increased convenience. Several
empirical studies have attempted to provide
some insights on the factors influencing
consumers to engage in online shopping
(Bellman et al., 1999; Degeratu et al., 1999;
Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997).
In their survey, Jarvenpaa and Todd (1999)
found that convenience was the single most
salient benefit of online shopping. Similarly,
Degeratu et al. (1999) found online shoppers
to have higher incomes and higher opportunity
costs. They are likely, therefore, to be more
convenience sensitive and less price sensitive.
Bellman et al. (1999) also found that onlinebuyers have “wired lifestyles,” are “time
starved,” and “seek new ways to find
information and buy things that are faster and
more convenient.” In summary, these studies
suggest that consumers who decide to shop
online often expect minimal external search
cost. Therefore, when consumers perceive that
shopping off-line is inconvenient, they are
likely to use the Internet for informationacquisition. In other words, for consumers to
search for information online, the perceived
external search cost is lower in an online
environment than in the physical market.
In the online environment, external search
costs have been significantly reduced to mouse
clicks. However, information in such an
environment is highly visual and perceptual. It
is likely to increase cognitive search costs that
affect consumers’ search for information. In
addition, information search online is
characterized by human-computer interaction
requiring consumers’ ability and knowledge to
acquire information (Hodkison et al., 2000;
Spence, 1999). In order to search online,
consumers must not only be able to locate the
Web sites of interest and move between sites
but also to acquire information within the
sites. There are several ways to identify the
location of Web sites: (1) via search engine, (2)
via manual entry of a URL, and (3) via memory-
aid of a browser such as bookmarks. Given the
vast amount of information available on theInternet, these search techniques will affect
consumer information search (Hodkison et al.,
2000). As a result, the Internet imposes a
certain degree of cognitive search cost on
consumers, negatively impacting the amount
of information searched.
Effects of Personal and System Factors
In the information-rich online environment,consumers need to be transformed as
computer users as well (Koufaris et al., 2001).
They must be able to identify the location of
information and employ efficient search
techniques, hence, personal variables such as
domain and system expertise are likely to
affect consumers’ search for information.
Further, coupled with personal variables,
system factors such as interruption andinformation load are likely to impose search
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costs on consumers and influence the amount
of information search.
Personal Variables
Domain Expertise
Domain expertise involves knowledge that
allows consumers to solve problems quickly
and effectively. It is defined as the ability to
identify, evaluate and exploit marketplace
opportunities, and consists of mental
representations which guide consumer search
behavior. The way-finding paradigm suggests
that consumers have a cognitive map built on
three types of spatial knowledge — landmark,
route and survey knowledge (Hodkison et al.,
2000; Spence, 1999). This cognitive map
consists of a form of “general knowledge of the
world that aids humans in navigation tasks”
(Dillion et al., 1993, p. 172). For example,
consumers may have some knowledge of the
use of search engines and of the specific portal
sites for a variety of product offerings. Becauseof this cognitive map, consumers are able to
“plan routes, avoid becoming lost, or identify
shortcuts” (Dillion et al., 1993, p. 173) during
information search. Consumers with broader
cognitive maps are able to identify information
easily and efficiently.
Apart from the way-finding paradigm, both the
economics and psychology literature
conceptualize knowledge as product-related
knowledge including objective and subjective
knowledge (Brucks, 1985). Objective
knowledge is conceptualized as what a
consumer actually knows, whereas subjective
knowledge is defined as the consumer’s
perception of the amount of information
he/she knows about the product category.
The conceptual relationship between abilityand external information search activity is
similar (Cacioppo & Petty, 1986). Perceived
ability to search is defined as “the perceived
cognitive capability of searching for and
processing information” (Spreng and Schimt,
1996, p. 248). It involves cognitive processingability, knowledge of procedures for searching,
and knowledge of sources of information
(Brucks, 1985). Empirical studies have found
knowledge to be positively related with
information search in the physical
environment (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987;
Putrevu and Ratchford, 1997; Urbany, Dickson
and Kalapurakal, 1996).
It is necessary to note that knowledge of the
electronic environment could precede the
knowledge of product categories and thus play
an important role in the process of information
search in an online environment. In order to
search for information online, consumers must
know where to search for product
category information of interest. In this
research, knowledge is broadly defined toinclude knowledge of electronic markets as
well as product categories. Unlike the familiar
physical environment, where consumers are
exposed to the location of stores in a myriad of
ways, exposure to Web sites occurs from more
active browsing or bookmarking behaviors.
Since the Internet, particularly online
shopping, is a new phenomenon, identifying
online stores is often aided by directories fromportals or advertising media. Therefore,
consumers with a higher level of domain
expertise will search for more information
between sites because they are able to
effectively locate the information and evaluate
the information in the search process.
System Expertise
In order to search for information in an onlineenvironment, consumers must possess a basic
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capacity to manipulate and interact with the
physical interface of a search system. For
example, the abilities to begin and end, to read
from the screen, to make selections from
various types of menus, and manage variousfunctions on the computer are characteristics
of system expertise. It is defined as skills
needed to use computers as well as navigate
the WWW. As Ratchford et al. (2001) point out,
fixed cost to using the Internet is high. Not only
do consumers need access to a computer
system and the Internet but also a
considerable amount of knowledge is required.
Similarly, Hodkison et al. (2000) noted that
consumers’ search techniques will seriously
affect their decision processes. Expectedly,
computer skills as well as search techniques
are likely to influence consumers’ ability to
efficiently locate and search for information
and will thus impact the level of perceived
search cost.
System Variables
Information Load
The distinctive capability of the Internet is to
provide access to a tremendous amount of
information, including information of low
value to the consumer, such as inaccurate
search queries, recommendations based on
the consumer’s previous purchase,
unorganized information, etc. These may
increase information load and impose a
cognitive processing burden on consumers.
Information overload has been found to
influence the consumer decision process
(Jocoby, 1974; Jocoby, Speller and Berning,
1974) and decrease the amount of information
search (Cook, 1993).
In addition, research by Jansen et al. (2000)with the Excite search engine found that
consumer queries on the Web are brief. Most
users did not go beyond their first and only
query. Based on these findings, it is likely that
high information load increases external
search costs and thus prevents consumersfrom accessing more information.
Interruptions
The Internet is an interactive information
search and decision environment for
consumers, providing them with greater
control over information. Features such as
banner ads, pop-up windows, and intelligent
agents that make purchase recommendationsare being used frequently by marketers to
push information, to attract consumer
attention, and to promote sales. Other
interactive features such as surveys and user
registration act as distractions to the
consumers’ search process and further affect
their decision performance and satisfaction
(Xia and Sudharshan, 2000).
Empirical studies on interruptions indicate
they distract subjects from the current activity,
and demand the allocation of cognitive
capacity for processing the interruption
(Kahneman, 1973). An interruption leads to
extra time needed for the original task (Laird,
Laird and Fruehling, 1983). Additionally,
Norman and Bobrow (1975) suggest that
interruptions distract attention and place greatdemands on cognitive processing. In order to
keep the consumer motivated, there must be
an appropriate level of interruption (Xia and
Sudharshan, 2000). Beyond a certain
threshold, interruptions may become seriously
dysfunctional. As the frequency of
interruptions increases, cognitive demand may
become very high and the task may become
onerous, causing severe frustration. Therefore,it is likely to increase consumers’ perceived
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search cost and reduce external information
search.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Methodology is the design process for carrying
out research or the development of a
procedure and is not in itself an instrument for
doing those things. According to Clifford
Woody “research methodology comprises of
defining and redefining problems, collecting,
organizing and evaluating data, making
deductions and researching to conclusions.
Generally for any research study, both primary
and secondary research is done which
facilitates in better understanding of the entire
study.
This research was conducted on defined
population. Data was collected through
questionnaire.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design refers to the overall
strategy that you choose to integrate the
different components of the study in a
coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring
you will effectively address the research
problem. It constitutes the blueprint for the
collection, measurement, and analysis of data.
The study conducted was through an exploratory
study. This article tries to give insights on why
people prefer online shopping over mall shopping.
Since the purpose of this study is to provide a
better understanding and resolve ambiguity
concerning to why people are motivated to buy
online, we have thus undertaken an exploratory
study.
RESEARCH TOOL
The main tool used for the collection of data is
the questionnaire. The questionnaire was
designed in Google forms and this was
circulated across the respondents through
mail.
SAMPLING DESIGN
A sample design is the framework, or road
map, that serves as the basis for the selection
of a survey sample and affects many other
important aspects of a survey as well.
The sampling design used here is convenience
sampling.
POPULATION
The population considered for this study are
the consumers who purchase online as well asoffline in Kerala.
SAMPLING SIZE
The total number of data entries collected
were 314. But 9 entries had to be removed due
to incompleteness. Thus the final sample size
used for the study is 305.
DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS
The data for this study has been analysed in
excel using simple percentage analysis. And
their diagrammatic representation is depicted
using pie charts and bar graphs.
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FINDINGS
The survey was done to study why customers
preferred online shopping over shopping in
malls in Kerala. The sample size considered forthe study is 305. The consumers were asked as
to what are the reasons for which consumers
prefer to shop online rather than from malls.
From the 305 respondents, 180 respondents
were male which constitute around 59 percentof the total respondents and 125 respondents
were female which constitute around 41
percent of the total respondents.
One of the survey question was, ‘how often the
customer’s purchase through online shopping
sites’. From the survey results 146 replied that
they shop moderately through online mode,
which is around 48 percent. From the resultsof the survey 101 respondents (33 percentage)
respondents made regular purchases through
online mode and only 19 percent respondents
shopped rarely through online mode.
The respondents were divided into three age
groups, 18-30 years, 31-50 years, 51 and
above. From the survey results 52 percent of
the total respondents were of the age group
18-30 years. These group mainly consisted of
college students, young working professionalsetc. Twenty seven percent of the total
respondents were of the age group 31-50
years. The remaining 21 percent of the
respondents were in the age group 51 and
above.
180
125
Gender
Male Female
101
146
58
How often do you purchase
online?
ReguLarly Moderately Rarely
52%
27%
21%
21%
AGE GROUP
18-30 Tears 31-50 Years 51 and above
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The 63 percent of the respondents were from
urban area and 37 percent of the respondents
were from rural area.
From the survey taken we found that 59
percent of the respondents were unemployed
19 percent of the respondents were students.
The remaining 23 percent of the respondents
were employed.
Here 39 % of the people agree with the fact
that people prefer online shopping as it
matches their purchase recommendations
with their needs. Also 25 % percent strongly
agrees to the statement. 20% people areneutral to the statement while 11% people
disagrees to the fact that online shopping
doesn’t it matches their purchase
recommendations with their needs and 5 %
strongly disagrees to the statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
76 respondents, which constitutes of 25
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
it enables them to order products which are
tailor made for them. Around 17 percent of
respondents strongly agree to the statementmentioned above. Almost 33 percent
respondents were neutral to the statement.
Only 4 percent respondents are strongly
disagreeing to the statement and 20 percent
respondents are disagreeing to the statement.
73
125
Place of residence of the
respondents
Rural Urban
69
179
57
The respondents were
Employed Unemployed Student
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping because it
makes purchase recommendations
that match my needs
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping as it enables
me to order products that are tailor-
made for me
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
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From the survey results we found that almost
114 respondents, which constitutes of 37
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
it provides them timely reminders about offers
and discounts. Around 26 percent of
respondents strongly agree to the statement
mentioned above. Almost 24 percent of the
respondents were neutral to the statement.Only 4 percent respondents are strongly
disagreeing to the statement and 8 percent
respondents are disagreeing to the statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
126 respondents, which constitutes of 41
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
the website has search button which enablesthem to locate products. Around 28 percent of
respondents strongly agree to the statement
mentioned above. Almost 19 percent of the
respondents were neutral to the statement.
Only 4 percent respondents are strongly
disagreeing to the statement and 8 percent
respondents are disagreeing to the statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
133 respondents, which constitutes of 44
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
the website is responsive to any problems they
encounter. Around 14 percent of respondents
strongly agree to the statement mentioned
above. Almost 21 percent of the respondents
were neutral to the statement. Only 7 percent
respondents are strongly disagreeing to the
statement and 14 percent respondents are
disagreeing to the statement.
0
20
40
60
80100
120
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping as the
website provides me with timely
reminders of offers and discounts
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
50
100
150
% Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping because
website has a search tool that enables
me to locate products
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping becausewebsite is responsive to any problems
that I encounter
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
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From the survey results we found that almost
120 respondents, which constitutes of 39
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
the website provides a one stop shop for their
shopping. Around 26 percent of respondents
strongly agree to the statement mentioned
above. Almost 20 percent of the respondents
were neutral to the statement. Only 3 percent
respondents are strongly disagreeing to the
statement and 10 percent respondents are
disagreeing to the statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
120 respondents, which constitutes of 39
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
the website is very convenient to use. Around
33 percent of respondents strongly agree to
the statement mentioned above. Almost 18
percent of the respondents were neutral to the
statement. Only 2 percent respondents are
strongly disagreeing to the statement and 8
percent respondents are disagreeing to the
statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
123 respondents, which constitutes of 40
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping asthey feel comfortable shopping at the website.
Around 24 percent of respondents strongly
agree to the statement mentioned above.
Almost 23 percent of the respondents were
neutral to the statement. Only 3 percent
respondents are strongly disagreeing to the
statement and 9 percent respondents are
disagreeing to the statement.
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping
because website provides a
“one-stop shop” for my
shopping
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping
because website is very
convenient to use
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping
because I feel comfortable
shopping at the website
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
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From the survey results we found that almost
87 respondents, which constitutes of 29
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
the products are not available in the local
markets. Around 25 percent of respondents
strongly agree to the statement mentioned
above. Almost 21 percent of the respondents
were neutral to the statement. Only 8 percent
respondents are strongly disagreeing to the
statement and 15 percent respondents are
disagreeing to the statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
114 respondents, which constitutes of 37
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
it provides them with better deals. Around 36percent of respondents strongly agree to the
statement mentioned above. Almost 15
percent of the respondents were neutral to the
statement. Only 4 percent respondents are
strongly disagreeing to the statement and 7
percent respondents are disagreeing to the
statement.
From the survey results we found that almost
130 respondents, which constitutes of 43
percent of the total respondents agree to the
statement that they prefer online shopping as
it provides provision for guaranteed return
policy. Around 20 percent of respondentsstrongly agree to the statement mentioned
above. Almost 17 percent of the respondents
were neutral to the statement. Only 8 percent
respondents are strongly disagreeing to the
statement and 11 percent respondents are
disagreeing to the statement.
0
50
100
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping as
the products are not available
in the local markets
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping as it
provides me with better deals
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
0
50
100
150
Number Of Respondents
I prefer online shopping asthere is provision for
guaranteed return policy
Strongly Disagree Disagree
Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree
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RECOMMENDATIONS
In this study the percentage of male
respondents are 59% and female was 49% of
which majority are from urban peoples
decisions rather than from rural areas. For
effective survey it should be included and also
percentage of males and females should be
equal.
In this survey half of the people uses online
shopping websites moderately and 33 present
uses regularly so in order to changes peoples
mind online shoppers should bring best offers
that they can’t refuse also they should bring
new products with different verity also they
constantly survey peoples new fashion
according to that they will update their
product features.
The survey consists more of youths. That is
people in age group 18-30. This huge numbers
are because they really need online shopping
website because their life style is very busy and
they didn’t have time for spending shopping to
much so according to convenience they shop
from online retailers. But in future online
shoppers also give importance to other age
groups and also their interested products also.
Matching the purchase recommendations with
the needs of the employees are crucial as in the
survey conducted 39 % of the people agree
with the fact that people prefer online
shopping as it matches their purchase
recommendations with their needs. Also 25 %
percent strongly agrees to the statement. This
creates a situation where in the consumers
have a tendency to shop over online websites
as they provide recommendations according totheir needs and past searches for a product.
The main attractiveness of online shopping is
clothes. People will choose clothes if they are
comfortable with them and also it should be
correct fit for them. The main disadvantages of
online shopping is that they can’t trial theclothes before buying so in order to counter
that they will produce more cloths with more
different sizes so people will get their correct
fit and as a result they will choose online
shopping.
Other important feature of online shopping is
that they give good discounts to products at
perfect timing. So every people use onlineshopping because of that. The only challenge
for that is they should convey these offers to
everyone that is proper advertising is needed
for that. So people will know about the offers
and will buy those products .Offers that are
provided by the websites can never be given by
the shops in malls. Thus consumers are highly
attracted and captured because they are able
to get the same product and at same qualitybut at a price lesser than they normally buy.
Why online shopping customers choose
because of convince, that is they can choose
their products from their home also they can
track their product where it is currently. Only
thing they should consider that. They should
widen their areas so people from different
places can order the products. Thus consumers
are well aware of the fact where their products
are currently and when would these products
reach them. It involves the customers to get
indulged into the whole process of online
shopping.
From the survey main advantage of online
shopping is that they can purchase many
products at a single website. If malls need to
compete with the online sites they’ll have to
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accommodate a variety of brands demanded
and also a huge variety in the products offered
like e-commerce sites.
Images of goods make them look morecorporeal and authentic to your organization
and are a prevailing sales tool. It is a good idea
to add images of the product and create a
portfolio to attract customers. By vigilantly
analysing sales each time put up the product
images, shoppers will get to know which part
of website is it best to put manufactured goods
for greatest impact.
Also bring more products that are not available
in local markets with fewer prices and give
offers to products which are available in
markets.
The main suggestion for online shoppers is that
the products quality. If the quality is not good
the customers will prefer traditional shopping.
And also they should improve the services. Andalso return policy that is people will get their
money back if the product is not good. This is
because a huge number of consumers prefer
inline shopping over the mall shopping as there
are easy return policies available to them. This
creates a sense of security which even the
normal shops are not able to provide the
customers.
Establish a list of reliable subscribers by
collecting the customers' e-mail addresses.
This will permit to regularly keep up a
correspondence with the subscribers, build
associations of reliance and fidelity, and sell
them products or services.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The data collection was confined to only a
small area since constraints were faced during
data collection. The replication of the study at
different regions would enable better
generalizability of the findings of the study. At
the same time data collection during real
shopping experience could have elicited better
responses improving findings.
The sample for the present study comprised of
305 shoppers. This sample is only a very small
proportion of the entire population of retail
shoppers in the country. Therefore, research
studies with much larger sample size would be
required to ensure appropriate generalization
of the findings of the study.
The study was limited to individual shopping
behaviour. India being a collectivistic country,
most of the shopping happens in a family set
up. Consideration of family shopping
behaviour might have revealed interestingfindings.
The present study has relied largely on
quantitative methodology of data collection
(though qualitative methodology was used to
a limited extent) and is therefore restrictive.
Therefore, more of qualitative methodology of
data collection should be undertaken in future
to provide wider perspective to the present
study.
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