1.

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The study has been conducted to recognize that, how consumer measure channels for
their purchasing. Specifically, it progresses a conceptual model that addresses consumer value
perception for using the online shopping versus the traditional shopping. Indian consumers are
very particular about their products. The consumer choices vary based upon their preference
towards online shopping versus offline shopping. The internet and traditional shopping both
have their own advantages and disadvantages. Online shopping doesn’t require traveling long
distances, offers more variety, remains functional 24*7, offers huge discounts and extend the
facility of customer reviews. On the other hand, traditional shopping allows customers to
physically examining products which otherwise online shopping lacks. Consumers may use
both the online and traditional mode of shopping depending on their preferences, which results
in fundamentally different behaviours across the two modes of shopping. This study attempts
to throw some light on the differences emerging out of online shopping behaviour and offline
shopping behaviour. The main objective of the study is to examine the factors influencing and
affecting customers to buy apparels in online and offline shopping. Hundred consumers were
interviewed through a questionnaire in Gulbarga region. The study found that offers or
discounts is the major reason for customers to buy apparels in online and fitting & sizes issues
and doubt about quality of apparels are the reasons for customers to buy apparels offline. It is
found that customer’s review, festive sales of online retailers influences customers while
buying apparels online. The study has shown that limited number of collections of apparels in
offline shopping is the major reason for customers not to prefer offline shopping.

Keywords: Consumer, Online Shopping, Offline Shopping, Online Buying Behaviour, Offline
Buying Behaviour, Apparels.

1
 1.2 INTRODUCTION

The fundamental issue which arises in front of a consumer when he/she embarks on
buying something is which mode of shopping they should choose to satisfy themselves. There
are both online and the traditional brick and mortar shops available to fulfill their purchase
interests. This abundance of choice available for consumers has thrown up a serious challenge
for companies regarding the way they should target consumers to maintain competitive
advantages.

In the developed countries like the United States, it has become almost a norm to make
purchases on the online platform especially for apparel products. However, in a developing
Country like India, majority of people still depend on the brick and mortar stores to make
purchases in different categories. Although in the last few years, online shopping has become
quite a craze among the masses especially among the teenagers and youngsters, in absolute
numbers, offline shopping is still way ahead of its online counterpart.

In the present-day context, learning and analyzing consumer behavior is extremely vital
for the success of a business, be it online or offline. Consumers drive the market. All the
business activities are carried out keeping in mind the interests of consumers. Online shopping,
which is a recent phenomenon in the Indian context has gathered steam in the last few years
backed by increasing penetration of internet has resulted in consumers spoiled for choice.
Internet is helping the promotion of products through online advertisements. The healthy
competition between the online stores and the offline brick and mortar counterparts have
ushered in a new era where consumers can pick and choose the medium of shopping to fulfill
their shopping interests. Some of the key differences between the two medium of shopping are
the means of gathering product information, perceived risk and the ability of consumers to
access similar kinds of products according to their preferences.

2
 1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The present study broadly compares the online and offline shopping, specifically the objectives
are:

1. To examine the comparison of online vs offline shopping.

2. To study the factors influencing the consumers to switch from the offline shopping to

online shopping and online to offline shopping to buy apparels.

3. To study the factors affecting consumers to buy apparels in online shopping.

4. To study the factors affecting consumers to buy apparels in offline shopping.

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 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The consumers in today’s era have not only many stores choice, but they also have a
wide variety of channels to choose from. With the start of numerous channels (e.g. Mobile
Commerce, E-Commerce) and a continuous increase in the competition among channels, the
understanding of what incites consumers to purchase from one channel rather than another
becomes progressively important channel design and management.

In recent years, studies distinguished another non-store retail format Internet. Recent
studies investigated why consumers shop through stores, catalogs, or the Internet (Black et al.
2002). The study contributes to the current marketing literature by comparing the offline and
online channel side-by-side. This study also contributes hypothetically and practically to a
better understanding of consumer behavior, particularly the online buying decision process.

The research stream identified explores the importance of the consumer’s situation as
an important driver of online retail sales. Within this research stream the consumer’s situation
is taken to include access issues, demographic issue, product availability, technological
familiarity, experience, trust, and brand and customer service. Clarification of the debate as to
whether it is the product attributes or the consumer’s situation that principally drives the online
purchase decision process will contribute to a better understanding of consumer behavior. The
outcome of the research will assist retailers understand why consumers search and evaluate
products online and then buy them offline and vice versa.

Gulbarga is taken as area of study because no study is being done in the context of
Gulbarga. As Gulbarga is a backward city in Karnataka, I like to take this city as the study area.
This study will give the idea about which shopping will be best for the consumer point of view?
Which option would be preferred by the consumer to shop whether online or offline? This
study will give the clear idea about the internet shopping and traditional shopping.

4
 1.7 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Research
Research is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific
topic. Research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or
suggested solution, collecting, organizing and evaluating data, making decisions and reaching
conclusions and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the
formulating hypothesis.

Research design
Research design is simply the frame work or plan for a study that is used as a guide in
collecting and analysing the data. It is blueprint that is followed in completing a study.

According to “Ker linger” research is the plan structure and strategy of investigation conceived
to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance.

Descriptive research design

Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The
major purpose of descriptive research is description of the as it exists at present. The main
characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only
report what has happened or what is happening.

Data collection
The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Simple random sampling is
constrained to include elements from each of the segment. For the present study the data has
been collected by the following ways.

1. Primary data: Primary data is collected through interviewing the respondents and taking
their responses through questionnaire issued to them. Researcher can expect straight answers
to the questions. The respondents are informed about the significance of the study and
requested to give their fair opinions.

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2. Secondary data: Secondary data collection is a method in which already collected data
will be used for present study. The present study is based on combination of both qualitative
and quantitative data. Secondary is collected from previous studies on this topic, articles and
internet.

Sampling:
The sampling methodology used was Non-Probability sampling technique-Convenience
sampling (A non-probability sampling technique that attempts to obtain a sample of convenient
elements. The selection of sampling unit is left primarily to the interviewer).

Questionnaire:
The questionnaire is formed in such a way that the information required for the study is
acquired from each item. The questionnaire contains 14 questions based on the requirement of
data for research.
 Study area: Gulbarga, Karnataka.

 Sample size: 100

 Population: people from Gulbarga region.

 Study period: 01/01/2018–02/02/2018

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 1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Even though the research has been done with utmost care; it suffers from the following
limitations.

1. The study was restricted to Gulbarga, Karnataka.

2. As the project is a random sample study and is confined to 100 respondents only, it may or
may not picture the entire customer perception.

3. Majority of respondents are students only.

4. The awareness levels of the customers may change from time to time and so there is a
possibility of changes in the research results.

5. Time constraint of 3 months only.

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 2.1 Review of Literature

The extensive literature review has been conducted to gain deeper understanding of
research about online and offline customer and their experience. The review clarifies and
simplifies the dominant dimension consumer consider when they make any online purchase
decision. Following this, the major theoretical gap related to understanding what and why
consumers do, and do not purchase using the Internet is explored with respect to the theories of
retail change and consumer behavior theory with reference to the buying decision process. More
specifically, the study examined the interrelationships among quality, value, satisfaction, and
loyalty when consumers choose to shop online.

Degeratu et al. (2000) show that for some categories the brand name is more important online
than in a traditional shopping environment, but this might depend on the available attribute
information.

An online channel has distinct characteristics from a physical channel (Wang et al., 2013). For
example, the absence of the experience of examining the physical product within an online
channel (Alba et al. 1997).

Earlier studies found that the products that consumers feel they need to touch or try on are
products that require a presence or at least purchase within an offline channel (Chiang and
Dholskia, 2003; Lynch et al., 2001).

Lenvin et al. (2003) found that being able to personally encounter a product prior to purchase
is an underlying factor of the preference for an offline shopping method for products such as
clothing. However, textile and clothing have found the biggest acceptance in online retail and
no branch of the industry is affected by the internet as retail sales have (Heinemann and
Schwarzl, 2010).

An online channel has distinct characteristics from a physical channel (Wang et al., 2013). For
example, the absence of the experience of examining the physical product within an online
channel (Alba et al. 1997).

8
According to Chayapa (2011), the process of making decision are very similar whether the
consumer is offline or online but some major differences are shopping environment and
marketing communication.

Smith and Brynjolfsson (2001) use data from an online shopbot to study the behavior of online
book consumers. They find that brand influences the consumers’ willingness to pay.

Online search isn’t completely free; several papers have estimated positive but modest costs.
Bajari and Hortaçsu (2003), for example, find the implied price of entering an eBay auction to
be $3.20. Brynjolfsson, Dick, and Smith (2010) estimate that the maximum cost of viewing
additional pages of search results on a books shopbot is $6.45. Hong and Shum (2006) estimate
the median consumer search cost for textbooks to be less than $3.00. Nevertheless, while
positive, these costs are less for most consumers than the value of the time it would take them
to travel to just one offline seller.

Dong-Mo Koo, Ji-Hoon Lee (2011) proposed an interrelationship among dominance, energetic
and tense arousal, pleasure and their impact on intention. Results from the from a survey of
406 consumers (217 from offline store customers and 189 online store users) demonstrated that
dominance had a significant positive and/or negative effect on both energetic and tense arousal,
it has no impact on pleasure and intention under both offline and online environment; effect of
dominance on tense arousal was not statistically significant in an online shopping environment;
both energetic and tense arousal has a positive and/or negative impact on pleasure.

Kolko (2000) finds that cities that are farther away from other cities are more likely to make
use of the internet; Forman, Goldfarb, and Greenstein (2005) find that rural areas are on the
margin more likely to adopt participation technologies, as defined above, that aid
communication across establishments; and Sinai and Waldfogel (2004) find that conditional
on the amount of local content on the internet, people in smaller cities are more likely to connect
to the internet than people in larger cities.

Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000) and Clay, Krishnan, and Wolff (2001) find that prices drop due
to the introduction of online book markets.

9
Scott Morton, Zettelmeyer, and Silva-Risso (2001) document that consumers who used an
online service to help them search for and purchase a car paid on average two percent less than
other consumers.

Yaobin Lu (2011) focused on factors that influence users’ intention to transfer their usage from
the offline to the online channel that offer similar services. The study revealed that
innovativeness in new technology and relative benefit had positive effects on users’ intention
to transfer usage. Moreover, the findings of the study also indicated that internet experience
moderates the relationship between relative benefit and consumers’ intention to transfer usage
from offline to online services.

Brown and Goolsbee (2004) find that price comparison websites led prices for term life
insurance policies to fall by 8-15 percent.
Sengupta and Wiggins (2006) document price reductions in airline tickets driven by online
sales.

Waldfogel and Chen (2006), while finding price comparison websites weaken brand effects,
find that brand still matters for sellers in a number of product markets.

Jin and Kato (2006), Resnick et al. (2006), and Cabral and Hortaçsu (2010) both show how
seller reputation on online auction sites is correlated with transaction prices.
Dinlersoz and Pereira (2007), Koças and Bohlmann (2008), and Loginova (2009) construct
models where heterogeneity in consumers’ views toward the substitutability of products sold
in the two segments affects firms’ optimal online strategies.

Tony Ahn, Seewon Ryu, Ingoo Han (2004) explored online and offline features of Internet
shopping malls and their relationships with the acceptance behaviours of the customers. Web
survey with 932 users was conducted in 6 shopping malls in Korea. The study validates
technology acceptance model (TAM) on predicting the acceptance of the Internet shopping
malls. Online and offline features have positive effects on the user acceptance, usefulness,
attitude and intention to use.

Aron M. Levin, Irwin P. Levin, and Joshua A. Weller (2005) for their study used two samples
of size 199 from a large mid-eastern American University and an online survey panel. The

10
study found that the preferences for shopping online or offline were shown to vary across
products, consumers, and stages of the shopping process. When attributes such as large
selection and shopping quickly were predominant, online shopping was preferred. When
attributes such as personal service and ability to see-touch-handle the product were
predominant, offline shopping was preferred.

Junhong Chu etal. (2010) explored the moderating effects of household (e.g., shopping
frequency) and product (e.g., sensory nature) characteristics on brand loyalty, size loyalty and
price sensitivity across online and offline channels of grocery products. Data was collected
from one of the five leading grocery chains in Spain. The study found that the households were
more brand loyal and size loyal but less price sensitive in the online channel than the offline
channel.

Rick L. Andrews Ourso and Imran S. Currim (2004) examined behavioural differences
between consumers attracted to online shopping and traditional supermarket shopping using
actual choice data from an online supermarket and traditional scanner panel data. The study
found that as compared to traditional supermarket consumers, online consumers prefer larger
sizes to smaller sizes, do more screening based on brand names, do less screening based on
sizes, have stronger choice set effects.

Koen Pauwels etal. (2011) found that the offline revenue impact of the informational website
critically depends on the product category and customer segment. The lower online search costs
were especially beneficial for sensory products and for customers distant from the store. In
contrast, customers in a segment reduce their shopping trips, suggesting their online actions
partially substitute for experiential shopping in the physical store.

Dong-Mo Koo, Ji-Hoon Lee (2011) proposed an interrelationship among dominance, energetic
and tense arousal, pleasure and their impact on intention. Results from the from a survey of
406 consumers (217 from offline store customers and 189 online store users) demonstrated that
dominance had a significant positive and/or negative effect on both energetic and tense arousal,
it has no impact on pleasure and intention under both offline and online environment; effect of
dominance on tense arousal was not statistically significant in an online shopping environment;
both energetic and tense arousal has a positive and/or negative impact on pleasure.

11
Isabel P. Enrique and sergio Romàn (2014) examined the role of several consumers’ cognitive
and psychographic traits in their perception of retailers’ deceptive practices (perceived
deception) and the different effects on perceived deception associated with online vis- à-vis in-
store shopping.

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES

Li and Zhang (2002) examined the representative existing literature on consumer online
shopping attitudes and behavior based on an analytical literature review. In doing so, this study
attempts to provide a comprehensive picture of the status of this subfield and point out
limitations and areas for future research. They decided to restrict their search of research articles
to the period of January 1998 to February 2002. The other two criteria for selection are the
articles are empirical in nature, and the articles measure at least one of the identified factors in
our taxonomy they searched three primaries IS conference proceedings volumes: International
Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems
(AMCIS), and Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS). They also
checked the reference sections of the selected articles to identify and include additional
prominent articles in this area. Three out of the five dependent variables (consumer attitudes,
intentions, and purchasing behavior) and three out of the five independent variables (personal
characteristics, vendor/service/product characteristics, website quality) receive the most
attention. This seems to constitute the main stream of research in this area. It is found that
personal characteristics, vender/service/product characteristics, and website quality
significantly affect online shopping attitudes, intention, and behavior. The direct implication of
these findings is that targeting more appropriate consumer groups, improving product and/or
service quality, and improving website quality can positively influence consumer attitudes and
behavior, possibly leading to increased frequency of early purchase and replication purchases
on the part of customers. This methodological matter wants to be addressed in upcoming
research so that a validated instrument can be developed for evaluating consumer online
shopping approaches and behavior.

Chaing and Dholakia (2014) carried out a study in which they examined the purpose the
customer to purchase goods online during their shopping. Mainly there are three variables in
their study those affects the consumer to purchase online or to go offline. Those are the

12
accessibility features of the shopping sites, the type of the products and their characteristic, and
the actual price of the product. The study revealed that the accessibility and the convenience of
the shopping sites create the intention in the customer to purchase or not. When there is difficulty
faced by a consumer to purchase online then the customer switch to the offline shopping for the
purchase behavior and the consumer face difficulty in offline purchasing then they go to the
online purchasing. After relating both the medium of shopping the consumer said that the online
shopping is more convenient for them and gives more satisfaction which inspires the consumer
to purchase online in the internet.

Iyer and Eastman (2014) found that the population of senior who are more literate, more
knowledgeable and who are more aware of the technology and those who have a positive
behavior towards online shopping and internet are more into online shopping. But the population
of senior who are less aware of the internet and the shopping sites are less involved in the
shopping sites because they do not have a positive attitude towards online shopping rather they
are much more interested in offline shopping and the seniors who are more involved in the
internet uses more online sites for purchasing the goods over the internet. The senior which have
more knowledge about the internet and the shopping sites they compare both the shopping i.e.
online and offline shopping for their purchasing of goods. However, their knowledge and the
use of internet by them has no connection with their age and their satisfaction level while
purchasing online.

Danaher et.al (2003) focused on the loyalty of the 100 brands over the online shopping and
offline shopping of 19 product of the grocery. They compared the grocery items of both the
shopping with starting model which is a new segmented of Dirichlet model, this model has
very dominant features which gives the exact classes for the brand choice and gives the real
model for the purchasing behavior. The outcome of the study revealed that the reality of the
high brands by the high market shares bought the online shopping much greater than the
expected. But in case of the small share brand it is just reversed. However, in the traditional
shopping the expectations and the observations are not at all links to the brand share.

Tabatabaei (2009) has explored the opinion of the consumer who are purchasing online and the
consumer who are purchasing from offline market. The objective is to know why the traditional
customer chooses to shop online and what do the factor influence then to purchase online and
what are the factor for them to not use the sites for shopping. He has done a survey of 264

13
respondents in a small mall and then those data were analyzed by him. All the customer of this
study is literate and has knowledge on computer and internet. The survey consists some of the
question like demographic profile, computer knowledge and the knowledge over the internet.
The outcome of the study was that the consumers of online shopping use to shop online more
than one time in a month and the consumer of offline shopping shop one to five times in a year
from shopping sites.

Chaing and Roy (2003) focused on the consumer choice to shop on the internet and at the
physical stores during the information acquisition period. A convenience sample of 34 students
enrolled in undergraduate marketing class to select the product for testing, 56 products were
developed based on the popularity of online shopping. The result shows that the consumer
perceives shopping offline as inconvenient, online shopping intention was expected to be
greater for search products than experience product.

Soopramanien and Robertson (2007) conducted a study in UK on acceptance and practice of

online shopping. Their exploration shows that the online consumers choose different course of
action based on the apparent beliefs. They found that, how socio demographic variables, attitude
and beliefs towards internet shopping effect on the both decision to practice and use of online
shopping channels. They categorized online buying behavior as the one who purchase from
online sites and the one who only browse online sites and purchase from the store, and third
those who do not buy online. The study does not cover the buyers who choose products in stores
and buy online.

Jin and Kato (2004) attempted from that eBay market watch 88% of online graded cards are
graded 8 or above. According to Beckett price guide, the value of a card grade 8 often doubles
the value of card graded 7. This is collective to the experiment outcomes. It was clear that most
graded cards traded online are significantly superior in quality than ungraded cards in both
retail and online market.

14
 3.1 CONCEPT OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE SHOPPING

Online shopping:
Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller
in real time, without an intermediary service, over the internet. Online sites made shopping one
of the easiest tasks possible.
For example: ebay.com, flipkart.com.

Offline shopping:
Retail involves sales of goods from single point (malls, markets, department stores) directly to
the consumer in small quantities for his end use. People purchase product for fulfill their needs
and satisfy their wants in stores.
For example: Reliance mart, big bazaar.

15
How Online Model Works?

How Offline Model Works?

16
List of Top 10 Online Retailers in India:

Amazon.in
The world's biggest e-commerce company is Amazon from the United States of America. Its
Indian subsidiary Amazon.in is also a leading online shopping website in the country. It was
started in 1994 in Washington as a book seller, which later spread its business to segments like
Blue-rays, CDs, DVDs, MP3-MP4 downloading/streaming, electronics, video games,
software, food, furniture, apparels, jewelry and toys so on. Amazon.in is India's biggest online
shopping portal with a net worth of US$ 3,24,25,00,000.

Flipkart.com
Flipkart is an Indian online retail shopping web portal founded by Binny and Sachin Bansal in
2007. It is based in Bengaluru but registered in Singapore. The site was started as Flipkart
Online Services Private Limited. The book 'Leaving Microsoft to Change the World' was the
first ever item sold by Flipkart. Today under the name 'Digi Flip', Flipkart sells a whole range
of products developed on its own including laptop bags, USBs and tablets. Flipkart has grown
up to be one of the largest online shopping outlets in a very short span of time. The net worth
of Flipkart was valued to be as much as US$ 74,96,58,861 in June 2015.

Snapdeal.com
Snapdeal.com is one of the major players in the Indian retail e-commerce industry. It was
founded in 2010 by two brothers Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bahl and is based in New Delhi. It

17
started off as a dealing platform for buyers and sellers but became an online major marketplace
off late. It is amongst the fastest growing online retail companies in the country.

Ebay.in
A U.S.-based multinational online marketing company, ebay.in was founded in 1995 and has
its businesses spread over 30 countries today. It is one of the major online platforms where
people and business units buy and sell products and services. Items from across all categories
including apparels; electronics such as cell phones, cameras, computers, etc.; jewellery; home
appliances; and automobile products can be sold and bought at ebay.in.

Jabong.com
An Indian lifestyle and fashion online major, Jabong.com was founded in 2012 and is
headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It provides a variety of lifestyle and branded fashion
products and items to its customers, which includes shoes, clothes, watches, cell phones, home
decoration products and so on.

Sulekha.com
Sulekha.com is primarily a business-to-business online portal dealing in sale and purchase of
properties and selling of consumer electronics like air-conditioners, solar products, CCTV
camera, security devices and water purifiers. It also provides computer training and academic
and non-academic coaching and training to the students. Sulekha.com also offers various
wedding and party services, home construction and renovation services, job training and home
services. Sulekha.com was founded in 1998 by its present Chief Satya Prabhakar. In June 2015,
the net worth of Sulekha.com was valued to be in tunes with US$ 9,42,50,000.

Shopclues.com
Shopclues.com is the Indian subsidiary of Clues Network Inc., an American company. The
Indian unit was started in 2011 and is based in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is amongst the top e-
commerce companies in India. It was founded by Sandeep Aggarwal, a Washington University
alumnus, and Sanjay Sethi, ex-Global Product Head of eBay. Shopclues has been able to create
its own space and reached great heights in the Indian online shopping industry in a very short
span of time. The net worth of Shopclues.com in June 2015 was US$ 9,09,68,286.

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Myntra.com
Based in Bengaluru, the state capital of Karnataka, Myntra is an Indian online fashion and
lifestyle web portal. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus Mukesh Bansal, Vineet
Saxena and Ahsutosh Lawania founded Mytnra in 2007. It started off as a personalized gift
items oriented marketplace but later turned its focus to online trading in the Indian retail sector,
selling branded products. Today, Myntra is one of the top most preferred online shopping
destinations for Indian consumers, especially for youth. In June 2015, the net worth of
Myntra.com amounted to US$ 6,06,44,504.

Alibaba.com
Alibaba.com is a Chinese online retail shopping site, which is one of the world's biggest e-
commerce outlets. It was founded in 1999 by its present Chairman Jack Ma. It was started as a
business-to-business web portal as a connecting means between foreign investors and Chinese
manufacturers. Today, it has its businesses running on the consumer-to-business, consumer-to-
consumer and business-to-business bases. This particular online portal offers almost every
sellable product to its customers.

Junglee.com
This online shopping retail giant was born recently in 2012 and has grown to be one of the top
retailers so far as e-commerce is concerned. It belongs to Amazon of America, which acquired
it in 1998 and launched it in India as an online shopping portal in 2012. The retailer offers a
wide range of products including electronics, apparels, jewelry, toys, appliances and many
more through millions of sellers. This is where the buyers meet sellers and vice-verse. In June
2015, the net worth of Junglee.com was estimated to be around US$ 1,49,50,00,000.

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TOP 10 RETAIL COMPANIES IN INDIA

Pantaloons
Pantaloons is founded in the year 1997. It is one of the top retail companies in India. It is
headquartered in Mumbai Maharashtra. It is premium Indian clothing retail chain. The first
retail store of Pantaloons was launched in Gariahat, Kolkata. Previously the leading retail
company was controlled by the future group. Now it has taken over by Aditya Birla Nuvo
Limited (ABNL).

Aditya Birla Retail Ltd

Aditya Birla Retail Limited (ABRL) is the retail company of Aditya Birla Group. The company
started its food and grocery sector in the year 2007 after acquiring Trinethra Super Retail. Then
the top retail company expanded its presence across the country by the brand name ‘more” in
two formats that are Supermarkets & Hypermarkets. The company also bagged the award for
best Indian food and grocery retailer. It had also received the food safety management system
certification because of its highest quality standards. It is one of the top retail company offering
a huge range of products that can fulfill all household needs.

Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd

Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. (HRPL) is one of the top retail companies in India. It
is operating in the QSR sub-segment of the informal eating out industry. HRPL is a master
franchisee, which operates McDonald’s branded restaurants in west and south India. Under the
master franchisee arrangement with the McDonald’s Corporation, HRPL is responsible for
providing capital for all business operations, including the real estate interest.

Keval Kiran Clothing Ltd (KKCL)

Keval Kiran Clothing Ltd (KKCL) was incorporated in the year 1981. The company is among
the large branded apparel manufacturers in India. It is also one of the top retailers in India.It is
offering the wide range of apparel products for men and women with branded jeans.

Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd

Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd is one of the top retail brands in India. It is part of Dubai based
retail and hospitality conglomerate, The Landmark group. Lifestyle is offering a huge range of

20
products including fashion accessories, apparel, handbags, beauty products and kid’s apparel
etc.

Provogue India Ltd

Provogue India Ltd was founded in the year 1997. It is one of the top retail companies in India,
headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. In last few years, the company had expanded the range
of its collection to change the changing needs of customers.

Reliance Retail Ltd

Reliance Retail Ltd was founded in the year 2006. It is one of the top 10 retail companies in
India. It is headquartered in Nariman Point, Mumbai India. The leading retail company’s retail
outlets are offering the huge range of products including groceries, apparel, footwear,
electronic goods, farm implement etc. It focuses on consumer goods, travel services, consumer
durables, energy, entertainment and leisure, and health and well-being products, as well as on
educational products and services.

Shoppers Stop Ltd

Shoppers Stop Ltd is Indian Retail Company founded in the year 1991. The company is
headquartered in Mumbai, India. The product range of Shoppers Stop is Discount Department
Store, Hypermarket, Supermarket, and Superstore. The product range of this top retailer is
clothing, fragrances, accessories, handbags, health and beauty products, shoes, jewellery,
cosmetics, home furnishing and decor products.

Titan Company Ltd

Titan Company Ltd was founded in the year 1984. The company is headquartered in Bengaluru
India. It is one of the top retail companies in India. Titan Company Ltd is offering a range of
products including watches, jewellery, bags, eyewear, wallets etc. The company has won
various awards in different categories.

21
3.2 COMPARISON OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE SHOPPING IN LIGHT
OF FIVE STAGE CONSUMER DECISION MAKING MODEL:

The five-stage consumer decision making model is shown Figure.

Even though online and brick and mortar shopping channels are two entirely different mode of
shopping, the five stage consumer decision making model is equally applicable for both the
mode of purchase. Let us discuss each of the five-stage consumer decision making model.

22
i) Need recognition: Irrespective of the mode of the purchase, most decision making starts
with some sort of problem. The consumer feels a difference between the present stage he/she
is in and the ideal stage he/she wants to be in. That missing thing which can satisfy the
customer’s dissatisfaction, is the need of the customer. Marketers need to identify this stage
and offer products and services as per the requirement. For example, if a customer needs to buy
a new set of dress to attend an upcoming marriage ceremony, then this is the need of the
customer.

ii) Information search: Most of us are not experts on everything around us. In this stage we
evaluate the products and services which can satisfy our needs. Apart from our friends, family
members and neighbors, nowadays we can look for information on the websites as well. The
major difference between online and offline shopping regarding this stage is the search cost
involved in it. Whereas in case of offline shopping, it’s time consuming and physically
demanding, in case of online shopping, the search cost is extremely low and it’s a matter of
pressing some keys. This is the stage where risk management commences. Consumers evaluate
the pros vs cons of purchasing a product. Since customers remember good experiences over
bad ones more, it’s advisable to spend considerable amount of time on this stage as customers
don’t want to regret later about the decision they made regarding purchase of a certain product
or service.

iii) Evaluation of alternatives:

This is the stage where products and services are compared with each other to choose the best
ones available. Now this decision is subjective as consumer choice varies from person to
person. One advantage online shopping companies have over their brick and mortar
counterparts is the variety of products available online. Due to the higher varieties, customers
have more options to choose from. Apart from that, the customer review option available online
helps customers to go through the reviews and choose for themselves from the alternatives
available. But one advantage of offline shops in this aspect is the tangibility factor. Customers
can touch and feel the product. They can also get a first-hand demo and try it on themselves.
They can also interact with the salespeople of the store. That helps them to make informed
choices.

23
iv) Purchase:
This is the stage where products and services are purchased after deliberations. In case of
offline shopping, products and services can be used immediately, whereas in case of online
shopping, customers must wait for the courier company to deliver the product. In case of
services like software, it can be downloaded directly from the websites and can be used. At this
stage a customer has either assessed all the facts and come to a logical conclusion, made a
decision based on emotional connections/experiences or succumbed to advertising/marketing
campaigns, or most likely a combination of all of these has occurred.

v) Post purchase evaluation:

The review stage is a key stage for the company and for the customer likewise. Did the product
deliver on the promises of the marketing/advertising campaigns? Did the product match or
exceed expectations? In case the customer is not satisfied with the product and want a
replacement for it, he/she needs to act differently online and offline. In case of a brick and
mortar shop, the replacement can be obtained by visiting the shop during the scheduled working
hour. Whereas in case of an online shop, it requires calling up the customer care to lodge a
complaint, waiting for the courier company to pick up the product and wait for the replacement
to arrive.

24
3.3 COMPARISON OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE PURCHASE BASED ON
CERTAIN PARAMETERS:

i) Convenience: Now, that’s one of the benefits of purchasing through online medium. Unlike
in case of offline purchase, in case of online shopping, consumers don’t need to travel all the
way to the brick and mortar shop, jostle with other consumers during festive seasons rush and
face difficulty finding proper parking space for their vehicles. Online shops are open 24*7 and
products are delivered to the residences or offices of the customers according to their choice.
So, a consumer can just wake up in the middle of the night and place an order for a smart phone
or some apparels. This is one of the major reasons for the popularity of online shopping.

ii) Variety: An online shop is a customer’s delight. No offline shop can offer as much variety
in different product categories as an online shop can. Since online shops do not have to bother
about space crunch, they can make available large varieties of product at the same place. This
large variety gives consumers vast choice which was not available before the advent of this
medium.

iii) Consumer review: This is one of the benefits of the online shopping which helps the
prospective customers to learn about the performance of products from somebody like them
even before they can lay their hands on the products. Once a product is purchased by a customer
through an online store, the customer is requested by the shopping company to upload their
experiences with the product on the portal so that customers other customers can read that and
decide for themselves if they want to purchase it or not. That helps customers to choose the
best products for themselves.

iv) Comparison shopping: As customers, we like to visit few shops before purchasing a
product. In case of offline shopping, that means physically traveling to each shop to check out
the products. That’s both time consuming and physically demanding. But in case of online
shopping, we can effortlessly pull up number of online shopping sites on our devices and
compare the products on them. Based on the comparison and best deal available, we can decide
to purchase from a site.

25
v) Discounts: This is one of the major reasons for consumers specially youngsters purchasing
online. Since online sellers don’t need to go for costly decoration of their shops, employ large
number of salespeople and due to disintermediation, they can offer products and services at a
considerable number of discounts compared to their brick and mortar counterparts.

vi) Availability of unique products: Nowadays it has become almost a fashion for
manufacturers of electronic devices and other product categories to launch their brand-new
products exclusively on a shopping portal. These products are not at all made available in any
offline shops and only the specific online portal gets the exclusive right to sell the product. In
that case, customers are left with no options but to purchase these products on that portal.

vii) Tangibility and trial of products: That’s one of the draw backs of online shopping. In
case of brick and mortar stores, customers can touch the products, feel the products, can get a
first-hand demo and in case of apparels try it out on themselves before purchasing them.
Whereas, online portals offer customers only the pictures and specifications of products which
might not be sufficient in some cases to undertake informed buying. Even though nowadays
some of the e-trailers are offering free trials upon delivery where a customer if not satisfied
with the product or service, can return it immediately. Despite of that, this is one area which
will always hand an advantage to the offline stores against their online counterparts.

viii) Shopping experience: It’s said, shopping is not only about just going through the motion
and making the purchase. The shopping process itself, where we sift through products and feel
the colors, textures and feel them can be extremely enjoyable. Apart from that, shopping in
India is known to be a family outing on weekends or holidays where the entire family goes out
together, purchase products, catch some movies, visits a restaurant to take their meals. It
becomes virtually a get together for families on weekends or holidays which otherwise is not
possible because of hectic work schedules of the family members. Online shopping can’t offer
similar experience. You might be able to purchase products more easily online, but the
experience of spending valuable times with your family members is something which can’t be
replicated by them.

ix) Delivery of products: Unlike in case of brick and mortar shops where upon purchase,
customers can immediately use the products, in case of online shopping, there is considerable
amount of lag time between placing the order and delivery of products which sometimes can

26
extend up to weeks. As a result, products which are of immediate use, can’t be purchased
online. To tide over this problem, online portals have started offering same day delivery or next
day delivery of products as premium services in exchange of certain extra payments.

x) Return of products: That’s something which always pulls down online shopping
companies. Whereas in case of offline shops customers can visit the respective shop to
exchange their products if not satisfied, in case of online shopping it entails calling up customer
care, waiting for the courier for reverse logistics, getting the money back or getting the products
exchanged. Sometimes the entire process might take an entire month. Even though most of the
online shopping sites offer money back guarantees or product exchange facilities, the
experience could be harrowing.

27
 FACTORS AFFECTING ONLINE SHOPPING

Online shopping becomes relevant in the last decade. The kind of business online
retailer are doing is proof enough that they are providing some benefits to customer which
offline shopping does not give to the customer. These are the factors affecting online shopping:

Risk: When customer buy products from online shopping they do not touch or feel the product
in a physical sense .Hence we understand that lot of risk is involve while buying an online
product whether it will reach us on proper time or not is also a concern and also there may arise
a risk of product size and color as it may differ in real view or sense. Sometimes the product
ordered is kind of damaged.

Convenience: Online shopping is much more convenient than offline shopping. Instead of
taking out your vehicle and visit shop to shop you can just sit at your home and do the shopping.
It is convenient to sit at one place and shop the product of our choice without moving from place
to place. Once you have decided on what you want to buy the payment process is seamless and
the order is delivered to your place. Online shopping makes things more convenient. We can
have a lot of choice over there in any kind of material we want to deal with that too without any
fear of dealing with any dealer or distributers. Online shopping is convenient in its real sense
as it does not carry any dealing with issues of asking for wanted items or issues of asking for
desired kind of items which helps in avoiding the part of waiting, asking, questioning about the
product.

Anxiety: People’s anxiety of exploring the sites and experimenting over them is also a matter
of concern. Sometimes people those who are not very known to any sites like flip kart, myntra
or any sites they just feel like it’s a tough kind of activity over net and its complicated in their
sense as they are not very fond of doing online shopping as it takes a time to even understand the
product about its details. This activity makes them irritated and anxieties over any kind of fatal
online dealing.

Previous online experience: How has been a person’s experience in past as far as online
shopping is concerned is a major story of concern. Previous experience is what matters as its
hamper or sometimes it keeps good view or mood of people. There are two experiences one is

28
about good, and another is about bad. Both has its own and different affect in the mind of buyers.
So, these factors also influence online shopping or e shopping.

Pricing Policy: Online retailers gets an inherent advantage in pricing as they don’t have to bear
expenses like store rent, bills etc. They can pass their price directly to customer and generally
offer a lower price to customer than offline market. Even when shipping charges are included
than also it is better than the offline shopping. Hence, determines the level of online shopping.
Lower the price- higher the mood to demand, higher the price –lower the demand. Price of any
commodity also influences the purchasing power of any specific buyer. Consumer generally
prefer mild or normal price with good quality and do not want to spend or expense lot for any
kind of stuff. So, buying and selling both are simultaneously affected by the price of product.

Quality: The quality of product at online sites and offline stores vary a lot and then this
determines the frequency of online shopping. Quality also carries good affecting nature over
any kind of shopping. As consumer or buyer want to have a good quality of product as they
spent their huge sum of money. In general, qualities are a primary need over any kind of
purchasing as it somewhat secure or give a good sense of buying or kind of guarantee about
the product preferred.

Online trust: It depends on customer perception whether they trust a site and its product and
services. Hence the frequency of online shopping also depends upon whether they trust a site
or not. People are different in their nature and thoughts, people trust online dealing people are in
fear of online dealing. Trust carry a lot of points examples- trust about the same product size
quantity weight and security etc.

Tangibility of the product: At the store the customer gets to touch and feel the product they
purchase before buying which help the customer to take the decision to buy the product or not
whether the product will suit the customer need or not. Whether, we can and see feel a product
is also a reason which determines whether a person’s wants to go for shopping or not. Tangibility
of any product also determines the online shopping. Without touching the preferred or desired
substance nobody can get its security about the worthiness or quality or sense of any preferred
product.

29
Delivery time: The product ordered by the customer in online shopping takes a minimum of
six to seven days to deliver the product to the customer. But in offline shopping the possession
of the goods is immediately transferred to the buyer. So, this is a major factor which affects the
online shopping. People want a good delivery time; they prefer to get a product in a desired
time or in short time of duration. Duration is the second major factor affecting the demand of
product.

Income: The person whose income is more, do more online shopping as compare to the person
whose income is less. Income plays a major role to purchase online products. Higher income
people prefers to purchase online more than offline as it gives them reliability and convenient.
Higher the income higher wills the purchasing of online product and vise- versa.

Taste and preference: The taste and preference of the customer vary from customer to
customer and time to time, taste and preference also a factor which influences online shopping.
Taste and preference of age group also matters in online shopping. Old people buy or purchase
product for their kind of use. Young generation or teenagers use to purchase their taste of
product. Taste and preference move in tend of ages and choices. Every customer or buyer
choices are different in nature as per their ages.

Available product and services: Online shopping offer customers more benefit by providing
more variety of goods and services that they can choose from. There are some goods which a
customer can only find online.

30
 FACTORS AFFECTING OFFLINE SHOPPING

Offline shopping has existence since the existence of mankind. Offline shopping gives
different types of benefits to the customer. There are some factors which affect the shopping
offline those are as follow:

Less number of choices: There are limited numbers of choices when it comes to offline
shopping. The numbers of varieties are limited. The ranges of products available in the shops
are limited. Sometimes, the stocks are old and are up for discount and sale. Basically, in offline
or any shop we get less numbers of choices as it consists of manual work. We must choose in
that less number of materials due to manual factor.

Time consuming: It takes a lot of time to go shopping to a store. Distance from home or
workplace to the store is time consuming. It is also time consuming while trying out the outfits
in a store or even going through other products. In off-line shopping customer move one place
to another and one shop to another in search of their desired product.

Information: What generally happens is that the information provided by a shopkeeper isn’t
correct. Also, this information doesn’t always suit our needs. And we buy products according to
what they say when we ourselves don’t have adequate knowledge about the products. Such
purchases are based on goodwill when we happen to know the shopkeepers.

Authenticity: Offline shopping is more authentic than online shopping. While buying the
product we can feel the texture of it and know what it’s like. We exactly know what we are
buying while buying anything offline. But in online shopping, we don’t always know what
exactly we are buying. This is because what we see on the websites is not always what we buy
when the product reaches us.

Taste and preference: The taste and preferences of the customer change from time to time.
While buying any product from a store we have the flexibility and the choice to try out outfits.
But while buying any product from a website we don’t have this facility. Therefore, buying
offline caters more to the changing taste and preferences of the customers.

31
Bargaining: In offline store a customer can do physical bargaining to the seller unlike shopping
online. In online shopping a customer cannot do bargaining as the price of the product is fixed.
Some of the customer purchased products depending upon bargaining so they do not go for
online shopping as they feel shopping online is costlier than the market.

32
 4.1 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1) What is your gender?

Table1: Gender of the respondents

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Male 52 52%

Female 48 48%

Total 100 100%

Graph 1: Gender of the respondents

48%
52% MALE
FEMALE

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 52% of male and 48% female do
shopping. Comparatively male customers are more in number than that of female customers.
This gives a general idea of the sex ratio who is more involved in shopping.

33
2) How often do you buy apparels?

Table 2: Apparels buying behaviour of the respondents

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Frequently (once in a fifteen days) 5 5%

Regularly (at least once in a month) 27 27%

Occasionally (once in a 2 to 6 months) 52 52%

Rarely (once in a year) 16 16%

Total 100 100%

Graph 2: Apparels buying behaviour of the respondents

5%
Frequently (once in a fifteen
16% days)
27% Regularly (at least once in a
month)
Occasionally (once in a 2 to 6
52% months)
Rarely (once in a year)

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 52% of respondents buy apparels
occasionally (once in a 2 to 6 months), 27% of respondents buy apparels regularly (at least
once in a month), 16% of respondents buy apparels rarely (once in a year) and only 5% of
respondents said that, they buy apparels frequently (once in a fifteen days). This means most
of the people buy apparels once in 2 to 6 months. This gives a general idea about frequency of
shopping behavior of customers in a year.

34
3) Which mode of shopping you prefer most to buy apparels?

Table 3: Mode of shopping of the respondents

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Online shopping 10 10%

Offline shipping 26 26%

Both 64 64%

Total 100 100%

Graph 3: Mode of shopping of the respondents

10%

26% Online shopping

Offline shipping
64%
Both

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 64% of respondents buy apparels
both online and offline, 26% of respondents buy apparels in offline and only 10% of
respondents buy apparels in online. This means most of the people prefer to buy apparels both
online and offline. This gives a general idea about customer preference of shopping to buy
apparels.

35
4) Why do you prefer online shopping to buy apparels?

Table 4: Customer reasons to prefer online shopping to buy apparels

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

convenience 15 15%

Ease of comparison of products 14 14%

Offers or discounts 23 23%

We can find products that are not available in

physical stores 15 15%

Ease of product returns and money refunds

12 12%

Customer friendly 5 5%

Cash on delivery and home delivery 16 16%

Total 100 100%

36
Graph 4: Customer reasons to prefer online shopping to buy apparels

convenience

Ease of comparison of
16% 15% products
5%
14% Offers or discounts
12%

15% 23%
We can find products that are
not available in physical
stores
Ease of product returns and
money refunds

Customer friendly

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 23% of respondents buy apparels
online due to offers or discounts, 16% of respondents buy apparels online due to cash on
delivery and home delivery, 15% of respondents buy apparels online due to convenience and
we can find products that are not available in physical stores, 14% of respondents buy apparels
online due to ease of comparison of products, 12% of respondents buy apparels online due to
ease of product returns and money refunds, and only 5% of respondents buy apparels online
due to customer friendly. This means most of the customer prefer to buy apparels due to offers
or discounts. This gives a general idea about customer reasons to prefer online shopping to buy
apparels.

37
5) Why do you prefer offline shopping to buy apparels?

Table 5: Customer reasons to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Trail of the product

25 25%

We can see and feel the quality of product 28 28%

In-store discounts 6 6%

Clearance sales 5 5%

We can spend quality time with friends and

family while shopping 15 15%

Real time payments 4 4%

We can bargain and buy 17 17%

Total 100 100%

38
Graph 5: Customer reasons to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels

Trail of the product

We can see and feel the

17% 25% quality of product
4%
In-store discounts
15%
5% 28%
6%
Clearance sales

We can spend quality time

with friends and family while
shopping
Real time payments

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 28% of respondents buy apparels
offline due to we can see and feel the quality of the product, 25% of respondents buy apparels
offline due to trail of the product, 17% of respondents buy apparels offline due to we can
bargain and buy, 15% of respondents buy apparels offline due to we can spend quality time
with friends and family while shopping, 6% of respondents buy apparels offline due to in-store
discounts, 5% of respondents buy apparels offline due to clearance sales and only 4% of
respondents buy apparels offline due to real time payments. This means most of the customers
prefer to buy apparels offline due to we can see and feel the quality of the product. This gives
a general idea about customer reasons to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels.

39
6) What are the reasons you will not prefer online shopping to buy apparels?

Table 6: Customer reasons not to prefer online shopping to buy apparels

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Fitting and size issues 33 33%

Doubt about the quality of product 34 34%

Fear about the debit/ credit card details 6 6%

No trail of the product 20 20%

Fear about delivery of the product 7 7%

Total 100 100%

40
Graph 6: Customer reasons not to prefer online shopping to buy apparels

Fitting and size issues

7%
Doubt about the quality of
20% 33%
product
6%
Fear about the debit/ credit
34%
card details

No trail of the product

Fear about delivery of the

product

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 34% of respondents not prefer to buy
apparels online due to doubt about the quality of product, 33% of respondents not prefer to buy
apparels online due to fitting and size issues of apparels, 20% of respondents not prefer to buy
apparels online due to no trail of the product, 7% of respondents not prefer to buy apparels
online due to fear about delivery of the product, 6% of respondents not prefer to buy apparels
online due to fear about the debit/credit card details. This means most of the customers not
prefer to buy apparels due to doubt about the quality of product and fitting and size issues of
apparels. This gives a general idea about customer reasons not to prefer online shopping to buy
apparels.

41
7) What are the reasons you will not prefer offline shopping to buy apparels?

Table 7: Customer reasons not to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Huge crowd in fashion outlets 22 22%

Limited number of apparel collections 33 33%

No real time comparison of apparels in

terms of prices, brands etc. 15 15%

Less offers and discounts on apparels 22 22%

Not customer friendly 8 8%

Total 100 100%

42
Graph 7: Customer reasons not to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels

Huge crowd in fashion outlets

8% Limited number of apparel

22%
22% collections

15%
No real time comparison of
33%
apparels in terms of prices,
brands etc
Less offers and discounts on
apparels

Not customer friendly

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 33% of respondents not prefer to buy
apparels offline due to limited number of apparel collections, 22% of respondents not prefer to
buy apparels offline due to huge crowd in fashion outlets and less offers and discounts on
apparels, 15% of respondents not prefer to buy apparels offline due to no real time comparison
of apparels in terms of prices, brands etc., 8% of respondents not prefer to buy apparels offline
due to less offers and discounts on apparels. This means most of the customers do not prefer to
buy apparels offline due to limited number of apparel collections in online. This gives a general
idea about customer reasons not to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels.

43
8) Which of the following online sites you prefer most to buy apparels?

Table 8: Customer preference of online sites to buy apparels

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

41 41%
Flipkart.com

Amazon.com 28 28%

Myntra.com 23 23%

Snapdeal.com 2 2%

Paytm mall.com 0 0%

Others 6 6%
Total 100 100%

Graph 8: Customer preference of online sites to buy apparels

0% 6%
2%

Flipkart.com
23% 41%
Amazon.com
Myntra.com
Paytm mall.com
28%
others

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 41% of respondents prefer to buy
apparels in flifkart.com, 28% of respondents prefer to buy apparels in amazon.com, 23% of
respondents prefer to buy apparels in myntra.com, 6% of respondents prefer to buy apparels in
other sites, 2% of respondents prefer to buy apparels in snapdeal.com. This means majority of
the customers prefer to buy apparels in Flipkart. This gives a general idea about customer
preference of online sites to buy apparels.

44
9) Do social media advertisements influence you to purchase apparels online?

Table 9: Influence of social media advertisements

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 66 66%
No 21 21%

Maybe 13 13%

Total 100 100%

Graph 9: Influence of social media advertisements

13%

21% Yes
No
66%
Maybe

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 66% of respondents agreed that they
will influence by social media advertisements to buy apparels online, 21% of respondents did
not agreed that they will influence by social media advertisements to buy apparels online. This
means majority of the customers will influence by social media advertisements to buy apparels
online.

45
10) If price of the apparels is same on both online and offline shopping, which mode of
shopping you prefer?

Table 10: Customer preference of shopping based on price

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Online shopping 31 31%

Offline shopping 69 69%

Total 100 100%

Graph10: Customer preference of shopping based on price

31%

Online shopping
Offline shopping
69%

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 69% of respondents said they prefer
offline shopping to buy apparels if price is same on both online and offline, 31% of respondents
said they prefer online shopping to buy apparels if price is same on both online and offline.
This means majority of the customers will buy apparels offline if price is same on both online
and offline shopping.

46
11) I prefer online shopping to buy apparels, when the price of apparels is lower than offline
shopping?

Table 2: Customer online shopping preference based on lower prices compare to

offline shopping

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 54 54%
15%
No 15

Maybe 31 31%

Total 100 100%

Graph 11: Customer online shopping preference based on lower prices compare to
offline shopping

31%

Yes
54% No
Maybe
15%

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 54% of respondents they prefer online
shopping to buy apparels if price of apparels is lower than offline shopping, 15% of respondents
they prefer online shopping to buy apparels if price not lower than offline shopping also. This
means majority of the customers will prefer to buy apparels online if price of apparels is lower
than offline shopping.

47
12) Does customer reviews influences you to purchase apparels online?

Table 12: Customer reviews influence on purchases

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 66 66%

No 19 19%

Maybe 15 15%

Total 100 100%

Graph 12: Customer reviews influence on purchases

15%

19% Yes
No
66%
Maybe

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 66% of respondents they are
influenced by customer reviews to buy apparels online and only 19% of respondents they are
not influenced by customer reviews to by apparels online. This means majority of the customers
will be influenced by prior customer reviews to buy apparels online.

48
13) Do festive sales of online like (amazon great Indian sale, flip kart big billion days etc.)
influences you to purchase to purchase apparels online?

Table 13: Festive sales influence on purchases

0ptions No. Of respondents Percentage

Yes 66 66%

No 21 21%

Maybe 13 13%

Total 100 100%

Graph 13: Festive sales influence on purchases

13%

21% Yes
No
66%
Maybe

Analysis & Interpretation: The above graph shows that 66% of respondents they are
influenced by festive sales and only 21% of respondents they are not influenced by festive
sales. This means majority of the customers will be influenced by festive sales of online
shopping retailers to buy apparels online.

49
 5.1 FINDINGS

1. Majority of the respondents who do the shopping online or offline are male.

2. Among 100 respondents 70 percentage of respondents said they buy apparels

occasionally (once in a 2 to 6 months).

3. 64 percentage of respondents said they do prefer both online and offline shopping to
buy apparels.

4. Most of the respondents prefer to buy apparels online due to offers or discounts.

5. Most of the respondents prefer to buy apparels offline due to reason. ”We can see and
feel the quality of apparels while purchasing in offline shopping”.

6. 34 percentage of respondents said they doubt about the quality of products while
purchasing online. It is the main reason behind not to prefer to buy apparels on online
shopping.

7. 33 percentage of respondents said limited number of apparels collections available

while purchasing offline. It is the main reason behind not to prefer to purchase
apparels on offline shopping.

8. Majority of the respondents said they prefer Flipkart while purchasing apparels online.

9. Most of the respondents agreed that they are influenced by social media
advertisements to buy apparels online.

10. 69 percentage of respondents said they prefer offline shopping if price of the apparels
is same on both online and offline shopping.

11. Half of the respondents said they will prefer to buy apparels online if price of apparels
is lower than offline shopping.

12. Majority of the respondents said they will be influenced by customer reviews to buy
apparels online.

13. Most of the respondents said they were influenced by festive sales of online shopping
retailers to buy apparels online.

50
 5.2 SUGGESTIONS

1. As this study shows majority of customers buy apparels online due to offers or
discounts on products. This give a clear picture to all online retailers have to manage
offers or discounts on products regularly and conduct festive or clearance sales in
order to gain more market share.

2. Online retailers should make their websites or apps more customized and user friendly
to make searching products in online more ease.

3. As this study shows most of people buy apparels online after reading customer
reviews. So online retailers must and should focus on the customer feedbacks.

4. Online retailers should promote their products through social media advertisement
because the study shows that majority of people buy online by the influence of social
media advertisements.

5. Offline retailers should make available of more number of latest collections, trends in
apparels in order to compete with online retailers and to gain more market share.

6. Offline retailers should follow innovative ways (like, increase entry and exit doors
and cashiers) to control the huge crowd in retail outlets because this the major reason
for customers not preferring offline shopping to buy apparels.

7. Due to fear about the quality of products most of the customers are not preferring to
buy apparels online. So online retailers should provide a certified quality trust mark
on each and every products in order to attract more customers.

8. Offline retailers should provide more offers or discounts on products to gain more
customers.

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 5.3 CONCLUSION

The present study shows that there are significant differences between consumer
purchase style in online and offline medium of shopping based on certain parameters.
Despite the rapid growth in online sales in India and the projection of further uptick in
this medium of shopping, the majority of consumers in India still prefer the so called
‘real’ shopping experience of brick and mortar shops. As different studies show, it’s
mostly the youngsters who are fueling the amazing growth story of online shopping in
India. Advent of online medium of shopping has no doubt hit the offline stores hard.

Large discounts offered by the e-trailers have indeed put enormous pressure on their
bottom line. Adding with that the ever increasing price of Indian real estate sector has
put the viability of brick and mortar business in doubt. On the other side, despite of ever
growing customer base of online retailers, none of them have broken even yet. Offering
of huge discounts on products and services have proven to be the bane for them. But this
study shows that despite of huge competition from online retailers to offline retailers still
consumers want to prefer offline shopping to buy apparels due to that they can see and
feel the quality of product and to enjoy the shopping experience with family and friends.
Thus both online and offline shopping have different characteristics, advantages and
disadvantages.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) Kuan –Pin Chaing & Ruby Roy Dholakia. (2003). Factor Driving Consumer Intention to
Shop Online: An Empirical Investigation: Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13 (1&2), 177-
183.
2) Brynjolfsson, Erik, Michael D. Smith. 2000. Frictionless commerce? A comparison of
Internet and conventional retailers. Management Sci. 46(4563–585.

3) Cheng Lu Wang. (2001). online shopper Behaviour: Influence of Online Shopping Decision.
Asian Journal of Business Research. Vol.1, No.2.

4) Robert Davis,Bodo Lang & Josefino San Diege. A Comparison of Online and Offline Gender
And Goal Directed Shopping Online.

5) Thijs L.J.Broekhuizen & Wander Jager. (2003). A Conceptual Model of Channel Choice:
Measuring Online and Offline Shopping Value Perception.

Wikipedia, “ONLINE AND OFFLINE SHOPPING”

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 ANNEXURE

“A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON ONLINE SHOPPING AND

OFFLINE SHOPPING WITH RESPECT TO

APPARELS (CLOTHING)”
1. NAME:

2. GENDER

a) Male

b) Female

3. How often do you buy Apparels?

a) Frequently( Once in 15 days)

b) Regularly( At least once in a Month)

c) Occasionally(Once in 2 to 6 months)

d) Rarely (Once in a year)

4. Which mode of shopping you prefer most to buy apparels?

a) Online Shopping

b) Offline Shopping

c) Both

5. Why do you prefer online shopping to buy apparels?

a) Convenience

b) Ease of comparison of products

c) Offers or Discounts

d) We can find products that are not available in the physical stores

e) Ease of product returns and money refunds

f) Customer friendly

g) Cash on Delivery and Home delivery

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6. Why do you prefer online shopping to buy apparels?

a) Trail of the product

b) We can see and feel the quality of the product

c) In store discounts

d) Clearance sales

e) We can spend quality time with friends and family

f) Real time payments

g) We can bargain and buy

7. What are the reasons you will not prefer online sopping to buy apparels?

a) Fitting and sizes

b) Doubt about the quality of the product

c) Fear about the debit/credit card details

d) No trail of product

e) Fear about delivery of the product

8. What are the reasons you will not prefer offline shopping to buy apparels?

a) Huge crowd in fashion outlets

b) Limited number of Apparel Collections

c) No real time comparison of apparels in terms of prices, brands etc.

d) Less offers and discounts on apparels

e) Not Customer friendly

9. Which of the following online sites you prefer most to buy apparels?

a) Flipkart.com

b) Amazon.com

c) Myntra.com

d) Snapdeal.com

e) Paytmmall.com

f) Others

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10. Does Social media advertisements influences you to purchase apparels online?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Maybe

11. If price of the apparels is same on both online and offline shopping, which mode of
shopping you prefer?

a) Online shopping

b) Offline shopping

12. I prefer online shopping to buy apparels, when the price of apparels is lower than
offline shopping?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Maybe

13. Does customer reviews influences you to purchase apparels online?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Maybe

14. Does festive sales of online like (Amazon Great Indian Sale, Flipkart Big Billion
days etc.) influences you to purchase apparels online?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Maybe

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