Disguised Market

Research - Snapdeal
Online Shopping Behaviour Mens Apparel

Research Team : Thunderbolt

Prateek Goel

Vaibhav Pahuja

Priyank Aggarwal

Ria Rochlani

Pankaj Kaushal

Ravi Ranjan Pandey

Table of Contents
About Snapdeal ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Research Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 4
Project Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 4
Research Approach ................................................................................................................................. 5
Game Plot................................................................................................................................................ 5
Options Available to Customers in the 5 Levels.................................................................................. 6
Game Visuals ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Information about men's apparel available on Ecommerce sites .......................................................... 8
Categories ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Price Range ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Top Brands .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Segmentation ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Demographic Factors ........................................................................................................................ 10
Psychological Characteristics ............................................................................................................ 10
Research Insights .................................................................................................................................. 12
Medium of Purchase ......................................................................................................................... 12
Product Preference ........................................................................................................................... 13
Discount Preferences ........................................................................................................................ 14
Compare Prices or Close the deal ..................................................................................................... 15

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Acknowledgement
Generally, individuals set aims, but more often they are not, their conquest are
by the efforts of not one but many determined people.
In performing this assignment, we had to take the help and guideline of some
respected persons, who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this
assignment gives us much Pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude to the
marketing faculty at MDI for giving us guidance for assignment throughout
numerous consultations. We would also like to expand our deepest gratitude to
all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in writing this assignment.
Many people, especially the Illumina team members, have made valuable
comment suggestions on this research assignment which gave us an inspiration
to improve our assignment.
In addition we thank Snapdeal for providing us this opportunity to carry out the
market research in area of E-commerce.
We thank all the people for their help directly and indirectly to complete our
assignment.

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About Snapdeal
Snapdeal is an online marketplace, New Delhi, India. Snapdeal set a niche for
itself in the sphere of e-commerce in India. In 2010, when Kunal Bahl and Rohit
Bansal wanted to start their own business, they chose an offline couponing
business and named it MoneySaver. 15000 coupons were sold in three months
and it was time to take the business to the next level.
Initially started as an offline business, Sneapdeal went online in 2010. It was a
bumpy ride in the first few months. However, the biggest decision of the
founders came in November 2011. Inspired by the success of Alibaba.com, Rohit
and Kunal wanted to create something on similar lines. The deals business was
shut down and an online marketplace was launched instead.
Snapdeal is now one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India
today with the largest online market place. In just two years, the company went
from scrapping their group coupon business and starting an online marketplace
to become a billion dollar company. Its year on year growth is almost 600%.The
average age of the workforce at Snapdeal is 25. Their values Innovation,
Change, Openness, Honesty and Ownership drive them to press for greater
success. The companys growth had been phenomenal but it is their continued
effort to bring the best to the market and their zeal to succeed as the best B2C
(Business to customer) marketplace is what sets them apart.

Great ideas might be important for a business, but it is the confident

implementation of those ideas and the right effort which are more important. It
is action and not mere thought that gives results.

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Research Objectives
Primary Objective:
How does the customer navigate to mens clothing on Snapdeal- Search bar,
navigation bar, banners, Google etc.? How does this behaviour differ on web,
app and M-site.
Secondary Objectives:
If they compare prices on other portals before buying from mens clothing
Process of comparing prices on other portals
If they buy non-branded product if the product is at a cheaper price
If during sale days min 50% is a good communication or upto 70%

Project Methodology
The objective for market research was set as conveyed by Snapdeal and
subsequently methodology was designed keeping in mind the above
mentioned objectives.
Following data sources were referred to, for the market research:

Secondary research resources e.g. Research papers/reports by institutes

& consulting firms to list different set of parameters that influence these
behaviour
Primary data shall be gathered from the people attending the annual fest
at MDI
Data gathered shall reflect behaviour of people from Urban and SemiUrban area and across segments:

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Geographic regions North, South, East and West India

Demographic Gender, age groups(comprising students, professors &
their families and residents of Sukhrali and Gurgaon)
Psychographic Culture/sports/outdoor orientation
Behavioural Occasions/Usage rate/User status(non/ex/trial/regular
user), other buying preferences

Research Approach

Primary data shall be collected through disguised research conducted by

associating research with other fun activities
Secondary research results were used to design the game for primary
research

Game Plot
The game was designed to extract information about the purchase behaviour of
the consumers while buying Mens clothing on E- commerce sites. The setup was
made in the Diwali Mela which was hosted at MDI. Following game was designed
to conduct the research:

The people were told to play a game where they had to select the
displayed badges on which the actual buying choices were depicted
There were five levels in the game and each level had various options for
participants to pick
There were playing cards behind each badge and the participants were
told to pick any of the playing card from the 13 playing cards behind the
each option(badge)
The scores on card of level 1 were multiplied by 1, on level 2 were
multiplied by 2 and similarly the scores were calculated
The scores of all 5 rounds were added and prizes were given based on the
final score they scored
A special prize for the highest scorer in half an hour slot was awarded a
special prize

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Options Available to Customers in the 5 Levels

Website
Mobile App
App

Search bar
Navigation bar
Banner
Google

Branded Apparels
Non Branded Apparels

Evaluation of Alternatives

Minimum 50% discount

Up to 70% discount

Evaluation of Alternatives

Compare products

Complete Shopping

Discovery of Product

Discovery of Product

Purchase Decision/Buying
Value

Game Visuals

The pictures taken during the game depicting various aspects of the game are
shown below

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Schematic diagram of Game setup

Participants

Mobile App

Search bar

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M-site

Navigation bar

Website

Banner

Google

Branded Apparels

Non Branded Apparels

Min 50% Discount

Upto 70 % Discount

Complete Shopping

Compare Prices

Information about men's apparel available on Ecommerce sites

Categories

Polos & Tees

Casual Shirts

Sweatshirts

Sweaters

Jackets

Jeans

Casual Trousers

Formal Shirts

Formal Trousers

Suits & Blazers

Suitings & Shirtings

Inner Wear

Track Wear

Shorts & 3/4ths

Ethnic Wear

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Price Range

Below 500

500 - 999

1000 - 1499

1500 - 1999

2000 - 2499

Above 2500

Top Brands

E-commerce portal

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Top Brands

Private Labels

Segmentation
- Based on primary research data

Demographic Factors

Analysis of Online shoppers in terms of demography is an important aspect. We

analyzed demography in terms of age and gender. The research data reflects
patterns and differences within the age groups such as Does online shopping
attracts elder people or younger people?
Based on survey responses:

AGE GROUPS
31-35
13%

36-40
4%

GENDER

16-20
5%
F
35%

21-25
31%

M
65%
26-30
47%

Psychological Characteristics

Online consumers psychologically deal with themselves and they frequently

question themselves. Motivation make consumers to ask themselves, should
they look a better price or should they shop online more often and these kind of
questions. Perception is one of the important factors that make consumers
examine the security of the web site or the quality of the product. In this case
the seller organisations have to be successful in terms of providing customers a
confidence. Another psychological aspect is personality. The Personality factor
may drive consumers to ask themselves what kind of web sites is best suited for
their personal preferences. Personal preferences manage consumers to decide.
The fourth one is attitude and attitudes can change easily, therefore marketers
are many interested in these features. Consumers try to find out what they like
or not in respect to a particular situation. The last factor is Emotion; they may
consider their last experience. Consumers are affected by choices and emotions
alter with the experience of their choice
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Consumer buying behaviour process

Customer decision process carries five stages, starting with Problem recognition
and following Information search, Evaluation of alternatives Purchase decision
and finally Post Purchase behavior. Problem recognition starts with the
perception of need and moves towards information search where consumer
uses internal and external sources to analyze given information and use that
information in the next step of evaluation of alternatives. While evaluating
alternatives one assessing values of the products by giving weights. Once you
have successfully evaluated alternatives you will move towards purchase
decision where you may encounter three possibilities, from whom to buy, when
to buy and do not buy. Once you have actually made the purchase now it comes
to Post purchase behavior, whether you are satisfied or dissatisfied with your
purchase.
Design of questionnaire was based on the above consumer buying behaviour
process
Problem Recognition
o Given to the Customer / Player
Discovery of Product
o Medium of Purchase
o Navigation flow
Evaluation of alternatives
o Type of Products Branded vs Non Branded
o Discount Range
Purchase Decision/Buying Value of the e-commerce website
o Complete shopping vs Comparison of prices

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Research Insights
Medium of Purchase
Overall
M Site,
20%
App,
42%

Desktop,
39%
MEDIUM OF PURCHASE - FEMALE

MEDIUM OF PURCHASE - MALE

M Site
20%

M Site
20%

App
43%

App
41%

Deskto
p
39%

Deskto
p
37%

Insight: Of the Overall customer/players, 2/3rd displayed affinity for Mobile purchasing
(Apps+ M-site). App buying dominated the three options yet Desktop was a close second.
Similar trends were visible across male and female buyers.

M Site

Desktop

25%

5%

App

25%

38%

30%

36%

48%

Banner on Websites

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20%

3%

18%

52%

Google

Navigation Bar

Others

Search Bar

Insight: After getting on apps or sites customers depicted following trends in

use of navigation medium:
M-site - Search bar dominated as the navigation medium though rest options
were close too. Banner on websites and Google were 2nd most preferred
options.

Desktop Google and Navigation bar/filters clearly dominated over other

navigation mediums.
App Shopping on App customers gave almost equal preference to Search bar
and Navigation bar
Recommendation: Interestingly Banner on websites received a lowly 5%
preference possibly due to low relevance to customer. This avenue of
communication can be better explored

Product Preference

Non
Brande
d
24%

Branded
76%

24%

26%

20%

76%

74%

80%

App

Desktop

M Site

Branded

Non Branded

Insight: Customer/Player displayed a preference for Branded apparels with 76% opting for
it. Buying behaviour was similar across purchasing platforms.

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Discount Preferences

Upto
70% 35%

Min
50% 65%

35%

66%

65%

Female
Min 50%

Male
Upto 70%

Desktop

M-Site
31%

34%

25%

34%

App

40%
28%

60%
69%

75%

66%

60%
72%
40%

Branded

Non Branded

Branded
Min 50%

Non Branded
Upto 70%

Branded

Non Branded

Insights: 65% of the customers displayed preference for Minimum 50% discount across
the platforms reflecting that the word Minimum was more effective in inducing them to
purchase.
The discount preference trends depicted a slight deviation for non-branded apparels for
buyers on App where consumer reflected preference for Upto 70% discount.

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Compare Prices or Close the deal

Male

35%

Female

29%

46%

36%

23%

Compare Price on Aggregator

31%

Compare price on Competitor Site

Complete Shopping

Insight: Around 70%of customers compare prices before closing the deal and
Men are more probable than women to complete the sale without comparing
prices. 46% of women preferred comparing prices on Aggregator that reflects
no affinity to any specific competitor for pricing
The above trends reflect that majority of female are value seekers and dont
close the deal at one go without comparing.

Complete Shopping
Compare price on Competitor Site
29%

Compare Price on Aggregator

31%
55%

26%

45%

App

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35%

28%

25%

29%

20%

36%

33%

21%

41%

Desktop

M Site

Branded

46%

Non Branded

Insight: The segment of people buying branded clothes aswell are price sensitive
and compare prices as reflected from the choice of 2/3rd customer/players.
While buying non-branded clothes aswell the price sensitivity is displayed and
majority of customer/players chose to compare on aggregator reflecting no
loyalty for any specific site.
Surprisingly 55% of people close the deal without comparing prices when they
shop through M-site which is greater than that through App and desktop. This
aberration may be due to small sample size.

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