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 ecommerce 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 Targets physical stores to
evaluate products but purchase in Amazons 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 Methodology
The 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 (ONeill, 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 4560,6.2% 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 havent 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.