A Study on the Factors Influencing Online Buying in Fast Moving Consumer Goods with Particular Reference to Household Items
Internet impact on retailing has been tremendous and it has provided the retailers another channel through which to reach customers situated far away. The internet penetration in the country is 11.4 % as per the latest figures. The E ??commerce space is growing by 47 % to more than $460 billion in 2011 ( IAMAI) The online buying has provided huge benefits to customers like 24/7 convenience shopping, saving time, discounts, more choice and assortment of goods, and price comparisons across brands. At present the online retail Industry is Rs 2500 crores and growing at 35 % annually. It is expected to reach Rs 7000 cr by 2015 ( Assocham 2011 ) In this study attempt has been made to identify factors responsible for buying online and also factors impacting customers for not buying through online household essentials. In the study demographic profile of the customers were looked into. The study is limited to Bangalore city only. Based on the literature survey, hypotheses have been developed. Out of 500 questionnaires distributed across Bangalore city, about 362 fully filled questionnaires were got and this was used for the study. The respondents profile and descriptive statistics has been analysed for online and non ?? online respondents. . Factor analysis has been done to find out the minimum factors involved in the online and non online buying decision. Hypotheses testing have been done using relevant tests. Some recommendations have been made on the strategies which Online retailers can adopt to attract more online buyers by taking care of some of their concerns. Some of the key findings of the study are:-- o Non - Online buyers feel there is lack of security of transactions in online shopping. o Non - Online buyers feel Touch and feel is important for buying household essentials. o One of the Reasons for Non ?? Online buyers not adopting online buying is they consider it is difficult to return goods. o Non ?? online buyers who are in the age group (36 -55yrs) are reluctant to switch to online buying.