REPORT ON

The impact of online shopping on departmental stores

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Post Graduate
Diploma in Management Studies
Academic year 2015-17
SUBMITTED BY
NIKITA MUDRAS
AGNEL NOOJIBALTHILA
MANOJ YADAV
KISHAN GUDIGAR
SHRUTI SHARMA
YASHVI BHAYANI
MEHUL SHAH
UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF
Prof. BAISAKHI BANERJEE

Aditya Institute of Management Studies and Research

Borivali, Mumbai

ABSTRACT
In this paper an attempt has been made to highlight the impact of the increasing trend of
online shopping over the various fixed shop retailers. Retailers comprise of a large section of
the population and a larger population is dependent upon these retailers. But the advent of estores with their attractive incentives and wide varieties has slapped on their face the fear of
uncertainty and helplessness. This study looks into the various aspects about how retail
businesses are being affected and also the various recovery mechanisms they are coming up
with to counter those e-stores in their race of survival. This paper also unravels the effect
upon the profitability of the various concerns due to increasing trend for online shopping.
Although the periodicity of the study is less yet an effective attempt has been made to
enlighten the scenario along with concrete suggestions.

TABLE OF CONTENT

SR.NO.

TITLE

Page
No

Introduction

Research Methodology

Literature Review

Data Analysis

10

Conclusion

21

Limitations

21

10

References

22

11

Annexure

23

INTRODUCTION
Purchasing products or services over the Internet, online shopping has attained immense
popularity in recent times mainly because people find it convenient and easy to shop from the
comfort of their home or office and also eased from the trouble of moving from shop to shop
in search of the good of choice. Online shopping (or e-tail from electronic retail or eshopping) is a form of e-commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods and
services over the internet through a virtual shop. Some of the leading online stores currently
in India are Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Homeshop18, Myntra etc. Retail is a process of
selling goods and services to customers through multiple channel of distribution. Retail
stores may be small or big but they mostly operate in the same line as purchasing to sale.
Retail form of business is as old as civilization and is the most basic form of business. Types
of Retail Stores are like- Departmental Stores - A department store is a retail store which
offers wide range of products to the end-users under one roof. In a department store, the
consumers can get almost all the products they aspire to shop at one place. Discount Stores Discount stores also offer a huge range of products to the end-users but at a discounted rate.
The discount stores generally offer a limited range and the quality in certain cases might be a
little inferior as compared to the department stores. Supermarket - A retail store which
generally sells food products and household items, properly placed and arranged in specific
departments is called a supermarket. A supermarket is an advanced form of the small grocery
stores and caters to the household needs of the consumer. Mom and Pop Store (also called
Kirana Store in India) - Mom and Pop stores are the small stores run by individuals in the
nearby locality to cater to daily needs of the consumers staying in the vicinity. They offer
selected items and are not at all organized. Malls - Many retail stores operating at one place
form a mall. A mall would consist of several retail outlets each selling their own merchandise
but at a common platform.
The Internet has many advantages over retail stores. Firstly, the choice, whereas the bookstore
at the corner of the street or the nearby cloth store hardly offers 5000 references on its stalls
or 20 designs of a particular garment of same size, Amazon has got hundreds of thousands of
variety. Internet is full of online retailers offering 10 times or even 100 times more products
than the average retailer can possibly dream of. For an e-commerce website, the costs of
storing and referencing a product represent a small fraction of the cost as compared to the

cost of storing and referencing a product for "physical" stores. From the customer satisfaction
and availability of services, online shopping is creating a major impact upon the retail stores.

TOPIC CHOSEN: The impact of online shopping on departmental stores

NEED FOR THE STUDY

This study is very much relevant to present times as this will make awareness about the
impact of e-stores upon retail stores. The sudden surge in online shopping and customers
have adjusted to it to a greater extent which is a real cause for concern for the thousands of
retailers who have a small shop offering a small variety of products which are their main
source of livelihood. This study wants to unravel the real scenario and also look into the
threat that looms over the various small scale retailers. In this study an attempt has been made
so that retailers are aware of the upcoming threats so that they can make appropriate
arrangements to face such challenges. Dynamism stands the base of the current scenario.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The research has been conducted with the following objectives:
I.
II.
III.

To study the effect on footfall of retail stores due to the advent of e-stores
To analyse the effect upon pricing strategies of retail stores.
To analyse the change in business strategies to achieve customer satisfaction.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The current research is causal in nature. Causal Research explores the effect of one thing on
another and more specifically, the effect of one variable on another. The research is used to
measure what impact a specific change will have on existing norms and allows market
researchers to predict hypothetical scenarios upon which a company can base its business
plan.

Source of data
There are two sources of data that need to be established in order to conduct a good analysis.
The first type is a primary source. This is the initial material that is collected during the
research process. Secondary sources are based upon the data that was collected from the
primary source. Secondary sources take the role of analysing, explaining, and combining the
information from the primary source with additional information.

Primary Data
This section is emphasizing on the data that has been collected first hand. This
research involves measurement of conducting interviews, which is using
questionnaires. Through this way, it is easier to identify where the data does come
from and how it is collected and analysed. Direct Personal Interview method where
interview will take place with the owners of different retail stores. Investigation
through schedules at the various units for appropriate information.
Secondary Data
In this section, data will be analysed and utilized in order to further study when this
research in completing. Secondary data will be collected from research articles
available on EBSCO and JGate.

Data Collection Techniques

3

The data for the study has been collected through applying the following techniques: Direct
Personal Interview and Investigation through schedules.
Data Representation Tools-The data collected are classified, tabulated and represented
through chart and bar diagram.

Sampling
For the study a sample of 50 retail stores has been selected on the basis of convenience
sampling under non-probability sampling for the purpose of the research.
Sampling Techniques- For the study convenience sampling technique has been applied on the
basis of suitability for the availability of information and which has a substantial share in the
market so as to give more accurate picture of the impact of online shopping.

Description of Questionnaire
The demographic information such as age, gender will be asked in the beginning of the
questionnaire. Then it will follow up with question that will touches more on the research.
The survey conducted is in the presence of an interviewer. However, respondents are free to
ask if there is any doubt.

Data Analysis
The list of data is test valid and reliable in the core choice model in several different ways.
The data is tested for how is the consumer being influenced while impulse buying, customer
response and the reliability of the coefficient estimates and so on. The hypothesized
relationships were tested using the multiple regression analysis of SPSS 16.0 for Windows.
The SPSS 15.0 is a system which includes t-test, one-way ANOVA, cross tabulations, chisquare, and correlation analysis was conducted to identify differences among user groups.
Besides that, SPSS can generate useful tables and graphs such as line charts, pie charts, bar
charts and so on for better decision-making. With SPSS, it is easy to understand the variable
among the effect of e-service quality. The system will change all reported independent and
dependent variable to numeric codes.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Showrooming and Web rooming
Sarita (2014), conducted a study on the effect of web rooming vs showrooming in the current
scenario of online shopping and e-commerce boom. Showrooming is the process where
people do research for products in a store and purchase the items online. Whereas, web
rooming is the process where people research the products online and thereafter they go to
the stores to buy it. Web rooming is just like a pre purchase research which is done by most
people. If we look at the previous years, it shows a rapid growth in the online shopping and
online research about the products. She observed that Web rooming has definitely had an
impact on showrooming, especially among younger buyers. Younger people prefer to shop
from the stores after checking all the information about the product online one of the major
reason for this behaviour being instant acquisition of the product. Similarly a vast majority
adopts showrooming due to unmatched deals and discounts offered online. Thus, the
researcher came to the conclusion that whether customer chooses showrooming or web
rooming, the common thing will be the shopping as per his/her preference of better product at
lesser price with good quality.

Consumer Preference
N. Anitha has said about consumer preference towards online retailing. Online retailing is the
process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller through internet
without any intermediary service. Consumers may browse numerous websites on the Internet
and attempt to match what they want to the product or service information available. The
Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and 3 years
from 100 million to 200 million. However, it took only a year to move from 200 to 300
million users. It was found that the difficulties faced by the consumer are Disclosure of
personal information, Personal feel/touch on products is missing, Suspicion on Timely
delivery of the products, Lack of trust on confidentiality of Website, etc. Online retailers can
concentrate on the social interactive websites so that the conversion rate of information will
be more compared to the traditional advertising.

Local and Electronic Markets

5

Chris Forman Rath et al (January 2009) spoke about Competition between Local and
Electronic Markets: How the Benefit of Buying Online Depends on Where You Live. It was
examined that the trade-off between the benefits of buying online and the benefits of buying
in a local retail store. When a store opens locally, we find evidence that people substitute
away from online purchasing, demonstrating that consumers appear to respond to increased
convenience in the offline channel. It also show that offline entry decreases consumers'
sensitivity to online price discounts. It was analysed that how offline retail store entry
influences buyer choice online.

Online Shopping
Reid Goldsborough (October 2002) examines the various changes and steps being taken to
ensure that online shopping becomes safer and trustworthy for the consumer. In his study he
observes that online shopping is no longer as dangerous and risky as it was believed to be a
few years with the advent of websites that track fraudulent web businesses. Also the credit
card policy provided by credit card companies is that the limit of the liability is restricted to
$50 in case of fraudulent transactions. However the author also observes that these measures
are not fool-proof due to various reasons. The author thus concludes that just like any other
thing on the internet, online shopping isnt risk free but this should not stop buyers from
benefitting from it.

Purchase Behaviour
Francisco Javier et al (January 2015), the purpose of this research is to examine the variables
that influence buying behaviour for a sample of social network sites users who are offline
buyers of hospitality services. Subsequently, we do the same of social network sites users
who are online buyers in the same sector. We compare both types of clients and discuss their
different purchasing behaviour. The dependent variable was to buy or not to buy a tourist
service and the independent variables were: the social network sites use, social identity, and
Word-of-Mouth. The data set was collected in Chile and Spain from a sample of on-line
questionnaires. The main result of this study is the clear difference in consumer behaviour
between people who buy online tourist services and those who buy these services in travel
agents or other traditional channels. The main contribution of this paper deals with the
influence of social network sites on offline and online shopping in the hospitality sector.
6

Brick and mortar stores

Deepti Chaudhar, this articles is written that growth in brick and mortar stores, but this retail
channel is no withering away in a hurry. We analysis that financials of 24 large B&M retailers
in India 18 are rated by crisil. This proves that B&M Models can still give online retailers a
run for the money. While India Ecommerce market is expected to grow 50% in next five
years. Our focus is on initiatives such as reorienting stores profiles and well thought out
expansion have enabled organisation B&M retailers to reduce loss and generate profits faster.
Another trend was it ties up between B&M and etailers such as Snapdeal. B&M retailers are
also improving the quality of their private labels by investing in design capabilities In large
cities where etailers have made strong inroads in products like books and electronic which
they do not need the experience of brand but B&M retailers may need to reinvent themselves.

Strategizing for Traditional retailers

Dharani.G et al (June. 2015), the study focuses on the Indian youth and their preferences in
online shopping. The main focus is on the apparels category and changes youth would like to
see in it. The question of profitability and sustainability is also raised. Problems such as
variation in apparel brand size-measurements, customer risk perception, and delivery and
payments issues are also raised. A survey was conducted amongst a group of youth between
the ages 16-25. This was done to gain an insight into the shopping preferences of consumers.
Through online & offline sources and also to know about their feedback and suggestions.
Customers are fickle and lack loyalty. A few customers are brand conscious the remaining are
looking out for discounts & offers. There is movement toward the integration of online and
offline retail stores.

Multichannel Retailers
Arpita Agnihotri (14 Jan 2015), Brick & Mortar stores must create an online presence to
leverage their physical advantages against pure online retailers to maximize profitability. The
various areas of implementation and improvement are mentioned in this study. To show how
B&M stores may become Multi-channel Retailers to leverage their physical presence to gain
loyal customers and an advantage over pure online retailers. Multi-channel Retailers need to
7

focus on three vital aspects and threshold resources while formulating their e-commerce
strategy:
(a) Sophisticated technology,
(b) Strategic networks with partners, and
(c) Optimal management of inventory.
Areas of focus for Multi-Channel Retail: User-friendliness, Crowdsourcing, Leveraging Risk
of Financial Information Loss, Maintaining Variety, Leveraging Brand Name to Search for
Network Partners, Inventory and Distribution Management.

Shopper Buying Behaviour

Rajesh Panda et al (October 2013 - March 2014), examines Internet is rapidly becoming the
main tool for communication and business convenience. With a growing number of
households turning towards the Internet and the world of e-commerce to shop, invest, make
payments, and do online banking, new technological advancements will have to come about
to make these transactions secure. The Objective of the Study was to understand the drivers
of online shopper buying behaviour in Pune. The study was conducted on 220 shoppers using
20 attributes, on a five point Likert scale ranging from 1: Not at all important, to 5: Extremely
important in terms of importance of the attributes in online shopping. In addition to the
above, the questionnaire contained information regarding the demographics (age, income)
and behaviour (frequency of purchase, monthly usage) of shoppers. Online retailing is very
different from the store formats of retailing. The research made an attempt to find out the
triggers that influence shopper buying behaviour in online retail formats. The review of
literature gave insights into the online buying behaviour.

Direct Selling
Dr. Smita Mishra et al, some suppliers, in order to reduce profit stripping in several stages by
the intermediate vendors, they start to find their own personnel for the product sale, or try to
use mobile technology to assist product sale, the new generation of selling ways such as
Direct Selling, Marketing and internet shopping are thus generated. Strategy toward the
development of multiple channels for Direct Selling. Made them to come up with this study.
The objective of the study was to point out the factors influencing consumers choices
8

between online shopping and traditional shopping, secondary data was collected in this
research topic included are reasons behind the growth of e commerce, essentials for making
online shopping effective. The growth of e-commerce industry is increasing at a very high
pace. People nowadays are more willing to shop online rather than going in physical stores.
People are more comfortable in online shopping as they can review and compare various
branded and non-branded items and can make decisions on the basis of price and quality.

DATA ANALYSIS
Retail stores generally operated in the traditional lines of business except a few superstores
that brought in certain modification in their business patterns, but the advent of online
shopping in recent times has put an upon them because they had been losing on several
ground. The study has been made on several grounds to understand the aspects of impact
upon the business of various retailers that to some extent has led to a change in their
strategies.

Reliability and Validity

The reliability of the scale was assessed using Cronbach Alpha coefficient. This method is
applied to calculate the internal coordination of the measurement instruments including
questionnaires or tests which measure various specifications. Table 1 illustrates Cronbach
Alpha coefficient for each factor. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of all variables were greater
than the minimum cut-off score 0/6.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha

Based

on N of Items

Standardized Items
.872

.858

26

It refers to the ability to reproduce the results again and again as required. This is essential as
it builds trust in the statistical analysis and the results obtained. Reliability statistic helps us to
know whether the data which is collected for my study is genuine or not whether it will give
me the positive results for my study survey. As we can see that the reliability statistic of our
study data is 0.872 which is good for bad reliability test.

Descriptive Statistics for variables

An application of five-point Likert scale to measure responses, ranging from Total Disagree =
1 to Total Agree = 5, explains that 20 sections in the survey questionnaire can be regarded as
supported by respondents if the section is scored above 3 in the scale. The first section of the
survey results in 3.08 of mean score, indicating that respondents have seen a decrease in
10

average turnover in the past three years. Section 2 through to section 7 is constructed to
measure various aspects of the impact of online shopping upon retail trade. The average mean
scores of majority of variables propose the relevant awareness of respondents on various
factors impacting retail trade. On the other hand, the variable discounts given to customers
emotion scored less than 3 (1.44) in mean scale may suggest that this variable is not rated as
strongly as more variety of stock (3.898).
Descriptive Statistics
N
There has been decrease in average turnover

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Std. Deviation

Variance

49

1.00

5.00

3.0816

1.03756

1.077

49

1.00

5.00

3.8980

.77041

.594

49

1.00

5.00

3.6531

1.03181

1.065

50

1.00

4.00

1.4400

.61146

.374

36

1.00

5.00

3.4444

.96937

.940

38

1.00

5.00

3.0526

.95712

.916

in the past three years

You keep more variety of stock at your store
now-a-days
You provide after sale services of
personalized nature to your customers.
You have increased the percentage of
discounts given to customers.
Your presence on the internet has boosted
awareness
Your presence on the internet has increased
your sales turnover

Factor Analysis
To continue towards the main analysis, factor analysis has been performed to identify the key

dimensions affecting impulse purchase of products provided at these superstores. The

respondent ratings are subject to principal axis factoring with varimax rotation to reduce
potential multicolinearity among the items and to improve reliability on the data. Ten items
are reduced to four orthogonal factor dimensions which explained 67.695% of the overall
variance indicating that the variance of original values is well captured by these four factors.

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.
Approx. Chi-Square
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Df
Sig.

.834
301.205
45
.000

11

From the table above, it is observed that KMO is 0.834 that is more than the required value of
0.60. It indicates that there is no error in 83.4% of the sample and in the remaining 16.6%,
there may be some sort of error. Bartletts test of sphericity indicates that strength of
relationship among variables is strong as Sig. is below 0.05. It presents good idea to proceed
to factor analysis for the data.
The value of Chi-square test (301.205 with significance level 0.000) signifies the rejection of
null hypothesis. It means there is a significant difference between the factors affecting
impulse buying decisions.
Table showing the analysis of the various aspects of the impact of online shopping upon retail
trade.
List of questions:
Has there been any decrease in average
turnover in the past three years
Is there any decrease in profit margin?
Have you made any increase in discount
rates offered to customer in recent times?
Do customers ask for discount before
making purchases?
Do you keep more variety of stock at your
store now-a-days?
Do you provide after sale services of
personalized nature to your customers?
Do you advertise about you enterprise?
Do you provide home delivery services to
your customers?
Is there an increase in window shopping in
recent times?

Yes
40

No
10

48
37

02
13

45

05

05

45

36

14

27
12

23
38

40

10

Interpretation of the table

The table highlights that there has been a decrease in turnover in most of the enterprises with
a figure as high as 80%. Most of the retailers has also agreed to a decrease in their profit
margin in recent years as more discounts are been given by them to the customers in order to
ensure a higher amount of sales. More customers are seen to as for discount in recent times.
Retailers now-a-days try to maintain a good variety of stock and also provide various types
of customer oriented services in order to attain and retain customers. An alarming signal is
the increase in window shopping which explains that prospective consumers do not turn into
actual consumers.

12

Diagram: Diagram showing the analysis of the various aspects of the impact of online
shopping upon retail trade

Analysis and Interpretation

Turnover: Retailers over a period of three years under study has noticed a
considerable decline in their turnover as compared to years back. Some has reported if not
decline but stagnancy in their growth which is a warning signal for the enterprise.
Profit margin: Online shops has brought in a price war in the market and the main
sufferers of this price war are the retailers. In order to survive, most of these retailers too has
made an attempt to lower their prices but considering their high cost of operation these
retailers has to sacrifice on their margin.
Discount: The retailers are at an alarming rate increasing their discounts in order to
stand with the online stores who woes the customers with unbelievable discounts. Although
the retailers cannot compete with the online stores in terms of discount but it has to lower its
prices to a relative extent to survive the market.
Variety of stocks: Online stores maintain a wide variety of stocks and retailers fail in
this context to the e-stores by a wide margin but most of the retailers as found by the survey
has no inclination to compete with the online stores in this regard. The defeat is accepted.
Retailers cannot maintain a large stock as that might have a negative impact of unsold stock
at the end of the year which in turn might bring in huge loses to the concern.
Customer services: More and more retailers are now opting for customer services to
13

build upon a loyalty. Repair and maintenance to installation and insurance, retailers are
leaving no stones unturned to specialize in areas in which online shops fail. Retailers are now
starting up with home delivery services in the same line of the online shops. Also after sale
services are provided with a smile.
Window shopping: There has been a trend in recent years for customers to browse the
products in a physical store and buy it from an online store at a reduced price. Retailers now
have more prospective customers than actual ones.
Advertisement: The retailers now-a-days are more involved in advertisement
campaign than ever before in order to increase their sales. Retailers leave no occasions to take
advantage of the situation to advertise their firm.
The table and the diagram highlight the fact about all these aspects and it shows that
there is a negative trend on all these aspects with regard to the retailers.
Q.1 Please mention your Retail Business Format

Retail Business Format

Dollar Store; 4%

Department Store; 30%

Specialty Store; 44%

Discount Store ; 2%
Supermarket; 8%
Warehouse Store; 2%
Mom and Pop Store; 10%

Department Store

Discount Store

Mom and Pop Store

Specialty Store

Supermarket
Malls

Warehouse Store
Dollar Store

ANALYSIS: The majority of the retailers (44%) interviewed were having a specialization in
a particular business in order to survive. We have enquired with a variety of stores including
Footwear Stores, Cold storages , Garment Stores, Lighting Stores, Electronic Stores and
Book Stores.
INFERENCE: They all have different business models with a few having a limited exposure
to the risk of online retailers. For Ex: In a cold storage outlet interviewed, it was found out
14

that an online cold storage business was started with great initial buzz. Its success only lasted
for a few months due to the lack of logistics support, co-ordination and spoilage of the
products. Other businesses having a greater exposure to online retailer risk than most. Ex:
Books stores interviewed attested that their sales had dropped significantly with the advent of
online bookstores such as Amazon, Flipkart added with the digitization of texts formats.
Department Stores having general goods consist of 30% of the total sample surveyed.
Warehouse Stores with generally cater to retailers and bulk buyers such as companies, and
housing societies consists of 2% of the sample taken.

2. Has on-line stores affected sales in your business?

On-line stores affecting sales

NO; 38%

YES; 62%

YES

NO

ANALYSIS: Yes, 62% of the retailers with businesses a majority of which are specialty
stores, Mom & Pop stores and department stores say that their performance or sales have
shown a dip in the last 3 years.
INFERENCE: It can be inferred that the basic nature of the business, location, and
immediacy of the need of the product play a major role in the decision making of the
consumer to purchase the product online or offline.
The anti-fragility of the businesses of retailers that have survived through harsh times and
coped with new competitors are evident in the data given above.

15

Q3. Due to the arrival of online shopping footfall in the store has

Arrival of online shopping affect on footfall in store

Increased; 10%

Remained the Same; 44%

Decreased; 46%

Increased

Decreased

Remained the Same

IN
FERENCE: As per the data, specialty stores are the most hit in which they have witnessed
the most amount of loss in footfall to their respective stores. Department stores and larger
retailers havent witnessed any significant reduction in the number of people entering their
shops. In fact, a few department stores have actually witnessed an increase in the amount of
footfall in their stores.

Q.5 The media channels you use?

16

MEDIA CHANNELS
Others
Social Media
SMS
TV Ads
Hoardings
Pamphlets
Magazines
Newspaper
0

6
Series 1

10
3

12

14

16

18

ANALYSIS: Among the 70% of retailers that advertise 34% prefer to use newspaper as a
means of reaching the consumers. 26% prefer to give out pamphlets in local societies,
through deliveries, as handouts & with local newspaper supplements.
INFERENCE: A few retailers (6%) are even using SMSs to send reminders and seasonal
offers to their own customer base. Social Media is gaining steady momentum with a solid
8%. 16% prefer other mediums such as sponsorships, Direct Mail, Radio, Outdoor Signs, etc.

Q.8 a) Decrease in average turnover in the past three years

17

TURNOVER
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither Agree Or
Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

INFERENCE: 22% specialty store owners agree that that their turnover has decreased in the
past 3 years. This may or may not be related to the advent of the online retailers depending
upon the type of business. 30% of the retailers neither agree nor disagree suggesting that the
business has shown its normal fluctuations in prosperity and gloom without adverse effect
from the commencement of online retailers. 16% retailers disagree meaning that their
businesses have achieved satisfactory profits or superior profits.

B) You have increased the percentage of discounts given to customers.

18

Discounts given to customers

Strongly Agree; 10%
Disagree; 18%

Neither Agree Or
Disagree
; 26%

Agree; 46%

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Neither Agree Or
Disagree

INFERENCE: 56% of the retailers surveyed stated that they have increased the amount of
discounts given to customers to keep themselves relevant and competitive in the market. Of
the ones who are in disagreement (18%), the specialty store owners and other stores sell at
MRP rates. 26% of the retailers who are neither in agreement nor in disagreement state that
the discounts given were promotional or seasonal in nature.
Q8d. Do you provide after sale services of personalized nature to your customers?

After-sale Services
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

19

INFERENCE: As can be seen by the graph 66% of the retailers provide after sales services
such as installations, repairs, maintenance and demos in order to gain a loyal following of
customers. These retailers focus on services which online retailers cannot provide thus having
a competitive advantage of being physically present in a given location.

20

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
E-commerce is consistently taking up a larger proportion of consumer time and spending.
There are several driving factors for consumers to shop online with price, convenience in
shopping and wide range of available products being the primary. The major findings of the
study are as follows:
a. Turnover and profit margin of the retailers has considerably decreased in the past few
years.
b. Retail stores are now-a-days more engaged in services related to customer
satisfaction.
c. Although the retailers are not able to keep a wide variety in their stock, they attempt
to keep the best of them so as to affect more sales.
d. Customers are seen to make window shopping at an alarming higher rate to have a
physical look at the product and buy that product online at a reduced rate.
e. Retail stores are now starting up with home delivery services of their various products
at the door step of their customers.
f.

The consumers become more comfortable with the experience of purchasing online
with the convenience and product range become relatively more important as a deciding
factor for shopping online.

SUGGESTIONS
Retailers have to change their attitude towards the market. Todays is a consumer
market and as a result the priority is the consumer satisfaction. The firm has to be in the good
books of the consumer. Better quality products, fair price and friendly after-sale services are
the basic areas in which the business has to concentrate to a remarkable extent. Additional
services should be provided to the consumers to woe them and build upon a loyalty which in
turn would ensure a stable sales in the years to come.
21

CONCLUSION
The face of retail has changed. The advent of technology in recent period being the
primary reason for it. Today, retailing means going into shopping centres, going online and
going mobile. In all these, small retailers miss out somewhere. But the nearby store is always
the most important concern for all reason and seasons. It needs to revive not just survive. The
retail stores needs to simply uplift its pattern of business and face the competitive world with
a more positive outlook. E-stores and retail stores both have to survive, none at the cost of the
other. Its not just about the livelihood it gives to the thousands of people but also the
convenience and the steadfastness of a fixed retail store.

LIMITATIONS
In spite of all sincere efforts, the study is not full proof in nature. It suffers from variety of
limitations due to the following reasons:

The study is limited to Mumbai city only.

Besides that, the detailed study has been conducted taking on 50 retail stores based
upon convenient sampling.

Data pertaining to the study has been collected for a period of only 3years.

Time is also a limiting factor as the study is conducted in a very short span of time.

22

REFERENCES
[1] Dharani.G & Mridula Sahay (June. 2015), Strategizing for Traditional retailers to
gain a competitive advantage, IOSR Journal of Business and Management
(IOSR-JBM) ,Volume 17, Issue 6.Ver. II, Pp 81-83
[2] Arpita Agnihotri (14 Jan 2015), Can Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Successfully
Become Multichannel Retailers? Journal of Marketing Channels, Volume 22,
Issue 1, Pp 62-73
[3] Dr. Smita Mishra & Ms. Megha Grover, A Study of Impact of Online Shopping
on Direct Selling, Research Journal of Commerce and Behavioural Science.
[4] Deepti Chaudhar, Brick-and-mortar stores growing despite retail boom
[5] Reid Goldsborough (October 2002) ,Making it safer to shop online
[6] Chris Forman, Anindya Ghose Stern & Avi Goldfarb Rotman (January 2009),
Competition Between Local and Electronic Markets: How the Benet of Buying
Online Depends on Where You Live, Management Science Volume 55, Issue 1,
Pp. 4757
[7] Sarita , Webrooming vs Showrooming, The International Journal Of Business
& Management
[8] N. Anitha ,Consumer Preference towards Online Retailing
[9] Rajesh Panda & Biranchi Narayan Swar (October 2013 - March 2014), An
Exploratory Study to Identify the Determinants of Shopper Buying Behaviour,
IJBIT, Volume 7,Issue 1, Pp 52-59
[10] Francisco Javier Rondn-Catalua, Jorge Arenas-Gaitn & Correa (January
2015) , Travel Buying Behavior in Social Network Site Users: to Buy Online vs.
Offline, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research,
Volume 10, Issue 1, Pp 49-62

ANNEXURE

23

Name of Retail Store:

Name of Retailer:
(Optional)
Year of Establishment:
Address:

1. Please mention your Retail Business Format:

Department Store

Discount Store

Supermarket

Mom and Pop Store

Specialty Store

Malls

Warehouse Store
Dollar Store

2. Has on-line stores affected sales in your business?

Yes
No
If yes, How?

3. Due to the arrival of online shopping footfall in the store has:

Increased

Decreased

Remained the Same

4. Do you advertise about your enterprise?

Yes
No
5. If Yes, what are the media channels you use? (Multiple Choice)
Newspaper

Magazines

Pamphlets

Hoardings

TV Ads

SMS

Social Media

Others

6. How much of your advertising budget is allocated?

0-20%

20-40%

40-60%

60-80%

Above 80%

7. Do you provide home delivery services to your customers?

Most of the times

Only specific customers

No such service

Every time
24

8. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Statement Form

Strongly
Disagre
e

Disagree

Neither
Agree Or
Disagree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

There has been decrease in average

turnover in the past three years
You have increased the percentage of
discounts given to customers.
You keep more variety of stock at your
store now-a-days
You provide after sale services of
personalized nature to your customers.
9. Has there been an increase in Window Shopping in recent times?
(Customers finding out prices & leaving.)
Yes

No

10. Do customers compare and bargain based on online prices?

Yes

No

11. If yes, then how are you coping with it?

12. Have you considered doing business on the online front?

Yes

No

13. Do you have a website or presence on social media?

Yes

No

14. If yes, which social media platform do you use? (Multiple Choice)
Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

WhatsApp
25

Other

(Please Mention)

15. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Statement Form

Strongly
Disagre
e

Disagree

Neither
Agree Or
Disagree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Your presence on the internet has

boosted awareness.
Your presence on the internet has
increased your sales turnover

16. How often do you conduct sales promotions to improve business?

Every Week

Every Month

Every Few Months

On Festivals and Occasions

Every Alternative Month

17. What do you think of their heavy discount models?

26