Shopper's Stance Towards Web Shopping: An Analysis of Students Opinion of India

Introduction

The Internet has become a global communication medium and is increasingly being used as an innovative means for marketing of products and services by the retailers. With the hasty growth of network technology, internet has a strong impact on the worldwide market conditions. Web stores are offering many benefits over traditional shopping channels and this medium has become a competitive threat to traditional retail outlets. In the present competitive marketing conditions, internet has captivated the attention of all the retail marketers. The shoppers are rapidly adopting web shopping as a shopping channel and is becoming more popular day-to-day in India. The e-retailers need to understand the various factors affecting the shoppers buying attitude, so that they can further develop their marketing strategies to attract and retain the customers (Bhatt, 2014).

Web shopping is defined as a computer activity or exchange performed by a customer via a computer-based interface, where the shopper’s computer is connected to, and can interact with, a retailer's digital storefront through a network. Changes in the Indian retail sector have cropped up as companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Olx, etc., have started to sell their products to the consumers over the internet (Sen, 2014). However, Indian consumers are now becoming more sophisticated and smart. Hence, it has become the key force behind driving the trend for e-shopping. Web shopping is one such marketing service which is available to the shoppers uninterruptedly for 24 hours a day from any location where the shoppers have accessibility to internet. The popularity of this medium of exchange has allowed the existence of a free market with intense competition (Richa, 2012). The rise of social networks and mass adoption of mobile devices is acting as a channel to accelerate further shaping the web shopping trends for the Indian market.

Today, the shoppers are more connected than ever before and have more information and choices at their fingertips. They are leaving behind their preferences, behaviour and interests, which create a knowledge ground for e-business companies to analyze behaviour pattern and offer more interesting and competitive products (Ganapathi, 2016). In the typical web shopping process, when potential customers recognize a need for some product or service, they go to the Internet and search for need-related information. However, rather than searching actively, at times potential shoppers are attracted by information about products or services associated with the felt need. They then evaluate alternatives and choose the one that best fits their criteria for meeting the felt need. Finally, a transaction is conducted and post-sales services provided. Online shopping attitude refers to consumers’ psychological state in terms of making purchases on the Internet (Parikh, 2006).

An e-retailer interested in selling products from web store will constantly have to search for an edge in the fierce competition. Since there are many potential customers, it is of more important to be able to understand what a shopper wants and needs. The online growth rates still specify that the online channel will play a more profound role in shoppers shopping behavior (Kala and Sharma, 2015). Inarguably, online channel present different shopping experiences even when the same products are purchased. Hence there is a lot of potential rise in the market for the enterprises to study the impact of web shopping in the current marketing environment.