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Top1. Introduction
With the swift advancements in the Internet technology, e-commerce has emerged as an important industry for the consumers and the businesses. E-commerce which comprises of many online applications like online banking, ticket booking, online trading etc. has made the flow of information fast and has reduced the transaction costs significantly. One such e-commerce application is online shopping. The use of the Internet as a buying channel has witnessed an unparalleled success. Many agencies believe that the worldwide online market is poised to reach new heights in the coming years. In 2016, the global online sales were $2.3 trillion which is anticipated to touch $4.5 trillion in 2021. Similarly, the number of online shoppers in 2016 was around 1.5 billion which is expected to reach 2.2 billion in 2021 (Statista, 2018).
India, one of the rapidly mushrooming e-commerce markets in the world witnessed an online sale of $39 billion in 2017. The retail e-commerce sales are projected to touch $120 billion by 2020 (IBEF, 2018). The growing number of online shoppers in India is one of the prime reasons for the success of online shopping. The digital shoppers are increasing every year from 130 million in 2016 to a projected 330 million in 2020 (Statista, 2018). The important point to focus upon is the growing number of female online shoppers in India. These days many women are shopping online for different products and services. The total number of online female shoppers is expected to increase at a quick rate and reach 150 million by the end of 2020 (IAMAI, 2018). It is anticipated that India will have a five-fold increase in the number of female shoppers by 2020 (Kearney, 2016).
The other prominent rationale to study the female consumer behavior is because women are fueling the growth engine of the world economy (Silverstein and Sayre, 2009). In US, women nearly control 85% of the global consumer spending and make 70% of major financial decisions for themselves and their families. Female consumers are hailed as multiple markets in one as they buy products for themselves, husbands, children, elderly parents and so on. It is also estimated that female consumers in the US control $14 trillion of assets which is anticipated to rise to $22 trillion in 2020 (Krasny, 2012; Walter, 2012). Across the globe, women control around $36 trillion of total wealth (Bank of Montreal Wealth Institute, 2015). Women now represent the biggest market opportunity in the world and female consumer purchasing power exceeds the GDP of India and China combined (Forbes, 2013). Women are quickly becoming “prominent creators of wealth” and there is a gradual increase of their representation in the workforce (Ernst & Young, 2013) and it is very likely that by 2028 they will control 75% of all household spending (GenAnalytics, 2017). Similarly, the contribution of women to India’s GDP is around 18 percent (McKinsey Global Institute, 2015) and according to the study by Holodny (2015), women themselves represent the second largest economy in the world based on earned income as compared to GDP.