IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS OF CONSUMERS

SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF CONSUMERS IN INDIA

ON

ONLINE

-Dahiya Richa Associate Professor cum Director (o/c), JK Business School,

Damdama Lake road, Gurgaon
INTRODUCTION
On-line shopping is a late marvel in the field of E-Commerce and is most likely
going to be the fate of shopping on the planet. The top two of the top 10
products bought on the Net by online buyers in India are train tickets (53 per
cent) and air tickets (45 per cent). Although India is underpinned by a paid pace
of urbanization, a robust economic expansion and rising spending power hold
huge potential in this field. The bigger part of the organizations are running their
on-line entries to offer their items/administrations on-line. In spite of the fact that
internet shopping is exceptionally normal outside India, its development in Indian
Market, which is a substantial and key customer business, is still not in
accordance with the worldwide business sector.
Early studies showed Internet buyers behaviour to be influenced by gender,
marital status, residential location, age, education, and household income were
frequently found to be important predictors of Internet purchasing (Fram &
Grady, 1997; Kunz, 1997; Mehta & Sivadas, 1995; Sultan & Henrichs, 2000). The
research in hand uses Qualitative and Quantitative examination routines to
concentrate on the effect of Demographic elements of buyers on-line shopping
parameters like fulfilment of their shopping needs and makes an attempt to
study the impact of a customer demographic factors on its customer satisfaction
which he derives shopping online.
OBJECTIVE
Consumer behaviour is the study of the processes involved when an individual
selects, purchases, uses or disposes of products, services, ideas, or experiences
to satisfy needs and desires (Solomon, 1998). All together for the Internet to
extend as a retail channel, it is critical to comprehend the consumers attitude,
intent and behaviour in light of the online buying experience. The objective of
the study is to uncover that on-line shopping in India is altogether
influenced by different Demographic variables like age, sexual
orientation, conjugal status, family size and pay. The findings of the study
could be further utilized by the scientists and professionals for leading future
studies in the comparative range.
DATA COLLECTION
A survey among 150 internet users, including both users and non-users of online
shopping, was carried out to understand why some purchase online while others
do not. The results suggested that convenience and saving of time drive Indian
consumers to shop online; while security and privacy concerns dissuade them
from doing so.
The developed hypothesis studies the impact of the considered demographic
variables on the customer satisfaction. However rather than checking the impact
of one independent variable on one dependent variable, we can also do a
comparative analysis like-

H2: Males are more satisfied with online shopping as compared to females.
The same can be done between married/unmarried etcetera.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
H1: Demographics factors of consumers significantly impact the online shopping
behaviour of the consumers.
H1.1: Age of consumer significantly impacts online shopping parameters of
consumer.
H1.2: Gender of consumer significantly impacts online shopping parameters of
consumer.
H1.3: Marital Status of
parameters of consumer.

consumer

significantly

impacts

online

shopping

H1.4: Income of consumer significantly impacts online shopping parameters of

consumer.
H1.5: Family Size of consumer significantly impacts online shopping parameters
of consumer.
H1.6: Education of consumer significantly impacts online shopping parameters of
consumer.
H1.7: Ability to use internet of consumer significantly impacts online shopping
parameters of consumer

MAJOR LEARNINGS
STATISTICAL
Moreover the study being exploratory gave insights about-:
1. Importance of reviewing existing literature which helps in validation
and extraction of the important variables and factors and helps in
formulation of hypotheses.
2. A Cross-sectional (at a point of time) survey of respondents was done
using a structured questionnaire for descriptive phase.
3. The use of judgemental and snowball sampling although at prima facie
was to have a convenience in the data collection but the study being done
in 2012 where the total e-commerce market stood at 40,300 Crore
Rs(approx. one-third of current market cap.) and collecting data from
credit card users involved using some references and hence judgemental
sampling. However such sampling method involves higher chances of bias
on part of researcher and also reduces the applicability of collected data
further studies.
4. Data was collected from primary as well as secondary sources. Primary
sources were in-depth interviews and questionnaires whereas secondary
sources were journals, newspapers, national and international

publications, internet, personal books and libraries. This highlights the

importance of both of such data. While primary data was used in collecting
the sample and test the hypotheses, secondary data was used in
formulating such hypotheses and understanding the traits of population
better.
Some more insights about the tests used are as follows-:

SAMPLE SIZE The sample size for questionnaire was 598. Questionnaire was
pilot-tested on a sample of 35 to ensure the validity of the survey instrument.
However, post elimination of incomplete responses, unreturned questionnaire
and invalid answers, the final sample size used for analysis was 580. The sample
for questionnaire was collected from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and
Bangalore. The sample was mainly collected from metros and big cities assuming
the high Internet diffusion rate. TABLE 1- SAMPLE SIZE FOR QUESTIONNAIRE
Survey Respondents
City No. of Respondents
Delhi 137
Mumbai 123
Chennai 104
Bangalore 119 Hyderabad 115 Total 598
SAMPLINGTECHNIQUE Judgmental and snowball sampling were used. Initial set of
respondents was selected on the basis of judgemental sampling. Subsequently
additional units were obtained on the basis of information given by initial sample
units and then further referrals were taken from those selected in the sample. In
this way sample was grown by adding more and more referral-based respondents
until it reached the limiting number (150/city). Judgemental sampling was based
on the following parameters: The sample comprised of people who have done
online shopping. Only those people having credit cards were part of the
sample. The sample comprised of people whose minimum qualification was at
least Graduation. The sample was taken from metropolitan cities assuming
high internet diffusion rate.
STATISTICAL TOOL To meet the research objectives and to test proposed
hypotheses, the data analysis technique used in the study was ANOVA.
INFERENCES & LEARNINGS (NON-STATISTICAL)
The findings of the study can be used by specialists in relooking or redesigning
their strategies for online-shopping. Some of the major practical implications
being1. Online sites ought to give careful consideration to the female portions
as results demonstrate that females shop more in web shopping when
contrasted with men. So organizations ought to devise the approaches and

2.

3.

4.

5.

procedures to draw in more number of females in this fragment in future

moreover.
The existing online sites like Amazon, Flipkart neednt explicitly have a
separate advertisement for people of different age groups(say teen vs
adults) as age doesnt has any significant impact on the overall intention
to shop online. They can be targeted with a single advertisement leading
in cost savings.
The findings show that marital status does not influence any of online
shopping parameters. Such a finding can be because of the nascent stage
of online shopping in India, due to which single/married people are mainly
using Internet for their specific needs. Other researches have shown
different patterns of shopping by single and married people and the
evolution of online shopping in the future might witness the same trend.
The earlier studies found Income to be significant factor affecting a
customer online shopping behaviour, however the same doesnt holds
true as the present study shows that income doesnt affects the online
shopping behaviour. Such a change shows the willingness on customer
side towards online shopping over the traditional medium.
Family size and ability to use internet are some of the factors directly
related to the online shopping behaviour and the study doesnt
contributes, rather affirms the behaviour of such variables.

However the above stated has to be taken with a pinch of salt, the results hold
true predominantly for metropolitan cities, and on a sample having specific
traits. So if the target group for a manager is a segment belonging to this
population then the findings of this paper can be applied. In case such findings
are applied to any target group of tier II and III cities, the results may not hold
true.
LIMITATIONS
1. The study considers only those people who have credit cards while
nearly 60 % of all online shopping done in India is via Cash on Delivery or
COD and 28% by debit card mode and there might be a significant
difference in the behaviour of these persons who form majority of the
population.
2. The sample comprises of people whose minimum qualification was at
least Graduation, however the % of graduated population in tier II and III
cities stands between 7-11%. The behaviour depicted by comparatively
less educated population might significantly vary.
3. The primary cities considered into study are metropolitan, however with
more internet penetration in Tier II and III cities, the findings of this study
might not be directly applicable in such areas and a fresh research needs
to be undertaken.
Moreover the extensive use of judgement and snowball sampling makes
the data collection extensively convenient and the sample focus on very
specific traits making it less applicable if customers having one or more
different traits are targeted.
ALTERNATIVE TOOL SUGGESTION
FINDING FROM THE SUGGESTED TOOL

DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS
LESSON LEARNT