A Study on Online Shopping Behaviour in A Small City – Popularity, Confidence and Limiting Factors
Keywords:
online shopping, consumer behavior, online purchase behavior, online shopping platformsAbstract
Online shopping is blooming in India with a fast pace. With cheap mobile tariffs and better telecom infrastructure, people are becoming more and more active and aware online and in response, tapping this opportunity companies are reaching the prospects through online platforms. With products available online the wants and desires of small cities consumers are fulfilled which are otherwise left unfulfilled because of various factors like poor supply chain management, low profitability from branded outlets in small cities etc. This paper focuses on online shopping behavior of consumers in small cities, how confidently they participate on an online shopping platform, and what are the factors that are limiting the growth of online shopping in these cities or the factors that are causing low-confidence regarding these platforms. To investigate upon these matters, data was collected through the structured questionnaire circulated among people of more than 18 years of age. The findings indicate that while online shopping is growing popular in small cities, still some major roadblocks are trust issues related to quality, returns, refunds and payment modes. The study indicated that majority of people have atleast 1 bad experience with online shopping and that quality issue is the top reason for it.
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