Academic literature on the topic 'Indian retailing online'

<p>E-retailing is entering into the Indian retail scenario in a noticeable way and online grocery retailing holds a promise of acceptance by the Indian customers. This paper attempts to discover the market potential of online grocery retailing in India and consumers’ perception towards its different aspects. Confirmatory factor analysis proposes that there are five underlying dimensions (<em>convenience</em>, <em>value for money</em>, <em>variety</em>, <em>loyalty</em> and <em>ambient factors</em>) governing the selection of mode for grocery purchase. Thereafter Binary-Logistic Regression has been employed to analyze the impact of these five broad perceptual dimensions upon the acceptance/rejection of online grocery retailing. The respondents accorded the highest importance to the factors <em>value for money</em> and <em>convenience</em>. The study suggested that issues like meeting customer expectations and preferences in terms of delivering value for money, quick and convenient purchasing, smooth delivery process, and reducing risk perceptions are critical for establishing online grocery retailing as an effective alternative to traditional brick and mortar retailing.</p>

Purpose Shopping motivation has been extensively explored in traditional marketing context but less in online shopping. Utilitarian attribute of online shopping is one of the success factors of e-retailing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utilitarian shopping motivation in online shopping and validate these factors through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from the 183 regular online shoppers. The collected data were analysed through exploratory factor analysis and CFA using Amos 22 version. Findings This paper explored the utilitarian shopping motivation of online shopping into five factors, i.e. information availability, accessibility, searchability, product availability and convenience. Research limitations/implications The research is conducted on online shoppers to measure their utilitarian motives of shopping online. Further research may be conducted to investigate other motives of online shopping. The sample is taken from Central India which is not enough to generalise the findings. Research may be conducted in other regions and on different segment of respondents to know the impact of geographical variance on utilitarian perspectives of online shoppers. Originality/value This paper addresses a significant input in online retailing platform, and it will contribute to the theory of shopping motivations in online shopping context and provide valuable inputs for developing online marketing strategies. The findings of the study also aid to retail practitioners in analysing retailing’s current transformation due to digitalization.

The project focuses on exploring the problems arises from traditional purchase of cement and the future prospects of online cement retailing instead of going through traditional retail channel or non-trade and its future adoption potential in Indian cement market. Exploratory research was done initially with sample size 10 in which customers include individual home builder, masons, engineer/architect, contractor and builders to find out the present problem associated in traditional purchase of cement. The questionnaire listing factors which helps in finding potential adoption of online purchase of cement is administered with a sample of 50 customers.

Purpose Although prior works in online retailing have addressed the influence of trust on customer responses, they conceptualized trust as a single dimension. Based on social-psychological literature and sociological literature, this study proposes that consumer trust in an online retailer has two principal forms: cognitive trust and affective trust. The purpose of this paper is to examine various factors influencing the development of each form of customer online trust and the subsequent effect on customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty intention (LI). Design/methodology/approach Survey approach is employed to validate the research model. Data are collected from 334 Indian consumers and using structural equation modeling the causal pathways of the model are investigated. Findings The results show that cognitive trust and affective trust are empirically distinguished variables in online retailing context. Cognitive trust and affective trust are found to mediate the relationship between perceived website quality, security and privacy policy, prior-interaction experience, perceived e-tailer reputation and shared value and CS. CS also positively influences LI toward the online retailer. Practical implications The paper provides interesting insights about Indian consumers’ evaluation of online retailers. These useful insights would enable both international and national online retailers to develop and apply different strategies to improve customer trust, which is a key driver of CS and LI. Originality/value Drawing from signaling theory and organizational studies literature, this paper investigates the relationship between different antecedents and affect-based and cognition-based trust in online retailing context. In particular, this is the first study to examine multi-dimensional nature of consumer trust in online retailing context. Besides, this paper clearly shows that cognitive trust and affective trust are the mediating variables that positively affect CS toward online retailers and help in building strong customer LI.

E-retailing has emerged as a significant player in the retail industry in India. The major cutthroat competition happens between Flipkart, Amazon, and Snap deal. These merchants have a significant competitive edge on electronic goods over other merchants in Indian online shopping portals. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand and analyses the universal perception and satisfaction quotient of customers in India concerning to the purchase of electronic goods via these e-commerce merchants. We have used hypothesis testing and analysis of variance to understand customer satisfaction and customer perception. The results show that overall customer satisfaction is the highest for Flipkart. Also, the physical appeal and the quality of the product are the main reasons which impact the customer's perception toward not shopping online. This study is original in itself because it is limited to the purchase of electronic goods only from the emerging e-retail merchants- Flipkart, Snap deal, and Amazon in India.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a conceptual model to establish how consumer innovativeness can be used as a variable to positively influence online retailing adoption intention both directly and reducing consumer perceived risk (PR). Design/methodology/approach – The literature concerning personal innovativeness toward information technology and major components of PR have been systematically reviewed to develop a conceptual model. The impact of innovativeness and PR on online shopping adoption intention has been empirically validated by structural equation modeling using a sample of 433 internet users in India. Findings – Results reveals consumer innovativeness as a key construct to improve online retail adoption intention both directly and by its effective role in reducing consumer risk perception of using internet channel for making purchase of physical goods. Originality/value – There is a lack of studies which connect consumer innovativeness and PR in the online retailing context especially in Indian scenario. The results expand one’s knowledge on this relationship, propounding interesting empirical evidence of the model among current and potential online shoppers.

With the rapid adoption of online retailing in India, retailer focus has undergone a paradigm shift. From service and relationship focus, online retailers now focus on customer experience as a strategic differentiator for sustainable competitive advantage. In this context, the aim of this article is to conceptualize and empirically test an integrated model of online customer experience (OCE) with antecedents, components and outcome variables along with the role of the moderating role of gender using structural equation modelling. Overall, results support the proposed model and confirm the relationships drawn from the literature. The study contributes to knowledge creation in the OCE domain. Implications for both research and practice are discussed along with limitations and future research directions.

The increased use of smartphones and tablets, along with advanced security features being offered by the online retailers are adding strength to e-commerce industry. Growing at an astonishing rate at 85%, as against 65% growth of regular shopping over the previous year, internet retailing in India touched US $10.672 billion in 2013, making it one of the most anticipated destinations for national and multinational online retailers. Several web portals are looking to capture a share of this huge market. This study gains importance as Indian arms of multinational online selling companies like Amazon and eBay are fighting various home-grown players like Snapdeal, Flipkart and many more. The objective of this paper is to identify and rank the factors that influence the selection of web portal among online shoppers in India. Exploratory study was conducted to identify various precursors of web site selection for online shopping. Twenty-four variables identified from this study were used to create a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire was then administered among 203 shoppers in India using convenience sampling. To determine the factors that influence the selection of web portals. Principal Component Analysis with Varimax Rotation was used. The study condensed the comprehensive set of twenty-four variables into six factors that have a direct influence on consumers' choice of online buying website. These were transaction security, augmented benefits, user experience, cognitive stimuli, personalized assurance and web atmospherics. This is against the general perception that shoppers prefer the web portals with best user experience and attractive web atmospherics. The online buying population of the world's third largest economy selects the portals based on the primary motive of security in a transaction. Adding to the existing knowledge on shoppers' selection of online buying portals, the study reveals the prevalence of a multitude of antecedent factors and distinct patterns with respect to constituents of these factors. Findings of this research may be used as guidelines for the development of multi-dimensional strategic framework by online retailing firms.

Learning outcomes By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to conduct a marketing environmental analysis to aid strategic decisions; analyse the first-mover advantages of a retail firm and how these can be sustained; comprehend online retail business models and the challenges therein; understand the trade-offs of online/offline retail experiences specific to an emerging market’s beauty and personal care sector; conceptualize and formulate actionable growth strategies that balance the individual and collective requirements of brick and mortar and retail e-commerce environments. Case overview/synopsis The case is set in 2022, right after Nykaa – the pioneer of beauty and wellness e-commerce platforms in India makes a blockbuster stock market debut in 2021. Starting in 2012 with a disruptive online model for selling beauty and wellness products online in India, Nykaa had come a long way with expansions in physical retail and other segments such as fashion. The firm, which initially aimed to be a virtual store, is now thinking of aggressively expanding in the brick-and-mortar retail space as it opens its 85th retail outlet. Falguni S. Nayar, founder and CEO of Nykaa, wanted to roll out 300 physical stores targeting 100 cities in India in the next couple of years. She aspired to establish Nykaa as a category leader as the “Indian Sephora” in the beauty and personal care market. Nykaa’s first-mover advantage in the online beauty and personal care marketplace worked well to establish it as a brand with positive endorsements by digital shoppers that enhanced the investment potential with potential financiers. However, the pandemic had brought every physical retailer to the online platform. Most e-commerce platforms dealing in grocery to lifestyle had added personal care products to their existing merchandise. Additionally, several start-ups had ventured into the online marketplace. Online was a cluttered marketplace with little to no differentiation. In this bloodbath, would the first-mover advantage for Nykaa in the online space still count as a competitive advantage? Nayar was all set to expand Nykaa’s physical presence aggressively. The concern was that the beauty and personal care segment had also moved online as a function of long stay-at-home periods. In the post-pandemic times, would the customer indeed revert to brick and mortar once again? Nykaa was also into product formulations, but so was every big and small player in the space. What was the differentiated winning formula for the consumer’s heart and mind? Complexity academic level The case can be effectively used in foundation courses in marketing and a wide range of specialized courses on marketing management (core/foundation course), retail marketing and e-commerce/digital marketing and e-commerce for B-school learners. The complex decision points faced by an innovative e-commerce start-up firm on its road to market expansion make the case suitable for niche courses such as Marketing for Start-ups. Moreover, learners in executive MBA programs with considerable experience can benefit from the case analysis that balances a growing retail company’s long- and short-run objectives. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

PurposeThis study analyzes how omnichannel integration influences customer patronage intention, highlighting the moderation effect of consumer service experience consciousness. Additionally, it also examines the sequential mediating role of consumer empowerment and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a survey method to collect data from 336 young Indian consumers, having experienced omnichannel retailing. Data were analyzed using SPSS PROCESS macro to examine both the mediating and moderated relationships.FindingsThe results confirm that a customers' perceived online–offline channel integration increases their patronage intention directly and through the mediating role of consumer empowerment and satisfaction. Additionally, as a moderator, consumer service experience consciousness does not necessarily impact consumer patronage interest through the mediating role of consumer empowerment. Nevertheless, it does have a negative impact through the mediating role of consumer satisfaction.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights into designing online–offline retailing integration, based upon which, proposes several recommendations for increasing customer satisfaction and patronage intention.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is among the first studies to highlight the theory of consumer empowerment in the context of omnichannel retailing. Thus, it contributes to the extant literature on omnichannel retailing while investigating the moderating role of consumer service experience consciousness.

Anecdotal evidence, from industry reports, suggest that consumption patterns in India are increasingly moving away from functional needs to lifestyle considerations. However, there is not much empirical evidence regarding this. Studies have also established the profitability of retaining customers and the importance of understanding and linking the demographic profiles of customers to behavioural pattern. In this study, we make an attempt to understand the antecedents of behavioural loyalty of customers shopping online for groceries in India. We work towards developing a novel framework for quantifying the habitual component of behavioural loyalty. We obtained the anonymised transaction history of about 8000 customers from an online retailer. At the outset we examined the differences in buying behaviour in the demographic variables, in terms of the purchase frequency, purchase volume, mode of payment, voucher usage, inter-purchase time and the number of complaints raised. We found a significant difference between the order values before and after a complaint was raised by the customer. Paradoxically, the mean in the group before complaint was found to be higher than after the complaint. We examined this further with the backdrop of literature examining the existence of habitual component in behavioural loyalty. We developed a habit score to quantify habit. We plotted the estimated log order value on the Habit Score and the Log day difference between orders. From the plot, we saw that higher the habit score, higher the improvement of order value by a larger gap between purchases. In the subsequent Latent Growth Curve model we clearly saw that with the inclusion of the habit score, the model fit indices improved. The logit regression model, fitted based on the variables identified by the study was accurately able to predict the behaviourally loyal customers. We then drew out the managerial and policy implications based on the results of the analysis.

Omnichannel retailing is an integrated experience that melds the advantages of physical stores with information-rich online shopping. To offer a seamless omnichannel shopping experience, retailers need to understand what drives customers towards omnichannel and what dissuades them away from omnichannel. Also, retailers need to build cross channel synergies with effective decision-making regarding order fulfillment. Thus, with this premise, this study addresses a class of problems related to omnichannel with specific research objectives to (a) understand customer-specific drivers and barriers for the adoption of omnichannel (b) rank those drivers and barriers according to their importance (c) classify omnichannel customers according to sociodemographic characteristics and buying behavior, and (d) propose a solution methodology for fulfillment decision problem in omnichannel. To address these objectives, this study is confined to the apparel industry in India and the required primary data is collected from Mumbai and Bangalore as they are among top five Indian cities in terms of omnichannel orders and their price-value. For addressing the first research objective, 10 unique drivers for the adoption of omnichannel retailing in the Indian apparel industry (D-AOCRIAI): Improved Shopping Experience, Reduced Effort, Social Influence, Habit, Hedonic Motivation, Technology Development, Enhanced Promotion, Sporadic Event, Personalization, and Integrated Supply chain and 9 unique barriers (B-AOCRIAI): Inconsistency in Offering, Channel Discord, Lack of Trust, Data Privacy Concern, Lack of Infrastructure and Resources, Psychological Hinderance, Poor Customer Support, Inefficient Order Fulfillment, and Difficulty due to Sporadic Events and their measurement variables are identified. Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approaches are used to propose an initial conceptual framework for each of D-AOCRIAI and B-AOCRIAI using data from 12 domain experts and 23 customers. The proposed conceptual framework for each of D-AOCRIAI and B-AOCRIAI is statistically validated and finalized by following descriptive research methods including confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The data required for statistically finalizing the proposed framework is collected from 850 customers comprising of 448 adopters and 402 non-adopters of omnichannel by developing an appropriate questionnaire. From the total variance (R2) explained with respect to D-AOCRIAI (R2 = 0.86) and B-AOCRIAI (R2 = 0.71), final version for each of the frameworks is constructed. Further, it is evident that Drivers: Improved Shopping Experience, Reduced Efforts, and Social Influence directly and positively impact omnichannel adoption. Also, Barriers: Lack of Trust, Psychological Hindrance, and Lack of Infrastructure and Resources directly and negatively impact omnichannel adoption. To address the second research objective, the identified unique drivers and barriers are ranked using MCDM methods: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Best Worst Method (BWM) respectively using data collected from the group of 36 customers by developing suitable questionnaire for each of these MCDM methods. From the results obtained, it is observed that the most important drivers are: Reduced Effort, Improved Shopping Experience and Enhanced Promotion. Similarly, the most important barriers are Data Privacy Concerns, Psychological Hinderance, and Inconsistency in Offering. Classification models are developed with approaches: decision tree, random forest, and adaptive boosting to address third objective – that is classifying the customers into adopters and non-adopters of omnichannel based on their sociodemographic characteristics using data from all 850 respondents. It appears from the results that Age, Profession, and Income were found to be the most significant sociodemographic characteristics impacting the adoption of omnichannel. Further, adopters of omnichannel are segmented based on the buying behavior (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value) using K-Means clustering into 4 different clusters: Omni-connected, Omni-consistent, Omni-spenders, and Omni-hesitant. Finally, to address the fourth research objective of the research, a solution methodology for the decision problem of online order fulfillment in omnichannel is developed by formulating the problem as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model with the objective of cost-minimization. The problem configuration considers a deterministic demand over multiple periods and computes product flow across various locations in a retailer’s network. From the optimal solution obtained, it appears that fulfillment of online orders through ‘warehouse’ and ‘direct-to-customer center’ is more cost effective. The research problems considered in this study can serve as empirical evidence to assist retailers in developing cluster-wise omnichannel strategies. Retailers should focus on offering an improved, personalized, and convenient shopping experience while ensuring data privacy and mitigating inconsistencies. Though this research has achieved all the planned objectives, there are certain limitations. The inferences of the study cannot be generalized at the pan-India level across different product categories. The proposed classification models for clustering use self-reported ordinal values from customers regarding their buying behavior. The proposed mathematical model for order fulfillment uses deterministic demand. Future research could validate the proposed models for across different geographies and product categories. Also, the independent decision problem of ‘omnichannel fulfillment’ can be treated as an integrated decision problem with pricing, inventory, and last-mile delivery.

Abstract E-commerce involves the transaction of goods and services, the transfer of funds, and the exchange of data. It draws on technologies like mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, and online transaction processing. In recent days, on sudden, unexpected advent of Covid-19, e-commerce has reached a higher place in the world of digitalization. This case study highlights online shopping versus traditional marketing. It also highlights the products which were of less importance and less in demand by consumers until the Covid-19 pandemic situation, gained more demand by young entrepreneurs to showcase their products on online retailing marketplaces. The spread of online retailing has spawned many internet entrepreneurs hawking obscure or regionally known products. So when is the long tail market viable?

The emergence and rapid escalation of e-retailing has triggered many changes in daily life of the shoppers as well as the marketers. E-retailing is playing a major role in the Indian economy and is expected to change the current scenario of shopping from physical stores to e-stores. Similarly, changes in consumers' attitudes along with the availability of cheaper and reliable technology have led to a significant growth in online sales around the world. The chapter aims to examine the shoppers' attitudes towards e-shopping and also to find the critical reasons for not shopping through online. The results reveal that the shoppers are still hesitating to purchase online. The most important reasons for not shopping online are preferring to buy by touching and feeling, online security and privacy, and customer service quality. The factors influencing to buy online are being able to get detailed product information, product delivery, convenience, product quality, and competitive prices. These results also have some practical implications for managers and strategists of e-stores.

Abstract Flipkart is not an Indian company since it is registered in Singapore and majority of its shareholders are foreigners. Because foreign companies are not allowed to do multi-brand e-retailing in India, Flipkart sells goods in India through a company called WS Retail. Other third-party sellers or companies can also sell goods through the Flipkart platform. Flipkart now employs more than 15,000 people. Flipkart allows payment methods such as cash on delivery, credit or debit card transactions, net banking, e-gift voucher, and card swipe on delivery. On 15 September 2007, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (not related) started Flipkart as an online bookstore. The two had known each other since 2005 when they attended the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi) together and were colleagues at Amazon briefly. Eleven years later, the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, has agreed to buy a controlling stake in the company, Softbank chief executive officer Masayoshi Son said today (09 May). Flipkart’s journey has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride. The company went from record-breaking investments and an acquisition spree to failed business experiments and devaluations—only to bounce back.

The Internet has changed the way many consumers shop, not just in the digital domain, but also in the physical world. E-tailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all “commerce” conducted via the Internet. It refers to that part of e-commerce which entails the sale of product merchandise and does not include sale of services viz. Railway tickets, airlines tickets, job portals, etc. In 2012, the size of India's e-commerce market was USD 10 billion, while that of the e-tailing market was USD 0.6 billion. The current small size of e-tailing has led to it rarely being assessed on standalone basis. It is either clubbed with e-commerce or with brick & mortar retail, which, while not incorrect, does not allow for e-tailing's evaluation on its own merit. Consumer's perception regarding shopping has been changed with the introduction of internet media. Retail industry has witnessed major revolution in the changing technology oriented business scenario of the twenty-first century in India. Internet has shrunk the entire World. The rules of the game in retailing are fast changing with the introduction of Information Technology. The e-Retailing website is the front door of the online store that interacts between the e-retailer and consumers. The electronic retailing (e-Tailing, e-Retailing, internet retailing etc.) is the model of selling of retail goods using electronic media, in particular, the internet. In this research paper the authors propose to explore the factors contributing to the growth of e–Retailing in India and to investigate conceptually the issues and challenges involved in e- Retailing An attempt in this paper will also be made to study the present scenarios of e-tailing opportunities, its market, the viabilities and trends.

The main purpose of the chapter is to empirically analyze the impact of trust, innovation, usefulness, concentrated product category, and customer support service on commitment which in turn influences eWOM and sustainable consumption. Sustainable consumption ultimately influences sustainable competitive advantage. The study has adopted SEM approach, where an instrument was developed in the form of structured questionnaire (using both EFA and CFA) regarding the above-mentioned variables. A survey has been conducted via online and offline mode in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (India) and a sample of 589 respondents has been drawn randomly from the population of e-shoppers. The results of the study have revealed that sustainable online shopping dimensions have a significantly positive impact on the commitment which in turn has a significantly positive influence on eWOM and sustainable consumption. The study has unique contribution in the online retail industry, which is continuously incurring huge losses in the online marketplace by incorporating sustainability dimensions in B2C business models.

Online retailing has been continuously increasing in India, and easy access to the internet has completely overhauled the status of online shopping in the country. Based on the technology acceptance model, this chapter attempts to outline the factors influencing the buying decisions of women consumers in the Tirupathi district in Andhra Pradesh. The study throws light on various factors, namely technology, security, social media, convenience, buying intentions, which influence women purchasing decisions. The chapter uses convenience sampling to select 390 sample units and uses Karl Pearson correlation, linear regression, multiple regression, and SEM for the analysis. The results showed that technological factors, convenience, and security significantly affected buying intentions of online women consumers. In turn, buying choices significantly positively impacted buying decisions. However, social media has a poor effect on their buying intentions. The study has several theoretical and practical implications for future marketing researchers.