Online vs Mall Shopping

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GROUP-14

ONLINE SHOPPING V/S MALLSHOPPING: A STUDY TO FIND

OUT WHY CONSUMERS ARE

MOTIVATED TO SHOP ONLINE

OVER SHOPPING IN MALL IN

KERALA

user[Email address]

Naveen Gopal M- P14196Sarath S.R.- P14151

Santo Antony – P14150

Ajay Subramanian- P14104

Sharon Liz Varghese – P14270

Neema Prakash – P14197



1

CONTENT

CHAPTER PAGE NO.

I Introduction 2

Research purpose 6

Scope of the study 6

Significance of the study 7

II Theoretical framework 7

III Research methodology 14

IV Finding 15

V Suggestions and Recommendations 20

Limitations 21

VI Reference 21



2

ONLINE SHOPPING V/S MALL SHOPPING: A STUDY TO FIND

OUT WHY CONSUMERS ARE MOTIVATED TO SHOP ONLINE

OVER SHOPPING IN MALLS IN KERALA

ABSTRACT

In order to develop the best results of online services for a particular product, marketers must

determine which key attributes are perceived by their target market to be delivered better online

and the reasons for which their targets prefer shopping online over the mall shopping that is available

to them. A survey was administered to find out why consumers are motivated to shop online over

the mall shopping option available to them in Kerala.

INTRODUCTION

The project analyses why customers

are motivated to shop online (e-commerce)

over shopping malls in Kerala. Online shopping

has turned out to be a phenomena in the past

two years in India. The strides they have made

in the market has been huge and was able to

attract a whole new bunch of customers who

have less time but also are tech savvy.

The shopping trends of people has changed

dramatically over the past few years, apart

from shopping from retail stores people were

given the option to shop from internet which

changed the game of the retail industry. The

new mode of shopping mode came in different

names such as online shopping, internet

shopping, network shopping or web based

shopping, which enabled the customer the

ultimate convenience of shopping from home

without having to visit the retail stores.

Convenience is not the only factor that attracts

the customers as the online shopping portals

offers discounts that beat the offers byretailers by a long way. The retailers are not

able to lower the prices but their online

competitors are able to offer discounts that

attracts the customers very much. In

marketing understanding consumer’s

attraction to marketplace environment of

different types is important. And this research

is one such kind trying to understand why

consumers prefer to shop online rather than

shopping from stores.

The research kind of deals with the study as to

understand the motivation of customers as to

why they prefer the online shopping and

understand the dynamics of the retail sector

environment right now and also the mentality

of the customers as to why they are motivated

to shop online is it because of the convenience

factor or the offers on different products

provided by the online retailers.

E-commerce offers many online marketing

opportunities to companies worldwide and

along with high rapid growth of online

shopping; it has impressed many retailers to

sell products and services through online

channel to expand their market. Big brands has

started to introduce their own online portalswhere their products are being sold



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exclusively. For example Raymond has

introduced its own online portal and even has

a plan to slowly cut down its retail stores. What

online stores does is that not just convenience

or pricing but also the fact the reach it has.Even if the customer is stays in a rural area the

product can reach them where they are

without the customer going all the way to get

the product. Online shopping or marketing is

the use of technology (i.e., computer, internet)

for better marketing performance.

In an online store all the products are

described through text, with photos and with

multimedia files and even has videos

explaining to the customer each and every

specialty or the benefit of the product. Many

online stores will provide links for extra

information about their products and also the

fact that they provide the customers who has

brought the product to write reviews about the

product and also to rate the product enables

the customer to identify faster which productis good enough and which one is not. Also the

rating given for each product ensures the

quality of the product i.e. customers are given

option to rate the products which enables

other customers to understand the quality and

popularity of the product.

They often make available, safety procedures,

instructions, manufacture specification and

demonstrations (Tech target, 2007-2012).

Benefits of E-commerce have been grown very

fast because of many advantages associated

with buying on internet as the lower

transaction and search cost as compared to

other types of shopping. Online shopping

allows consumers to buy faster, more

alternatives and can order products and

services with comparative lowest price (Cuneyt

& Gautam, 2004). Consumer’s attitude

towards online shopping refers to their

psychological state on terms of making

purchases.

The process of buying behavior process

consists of five steps. The steps involve the,

customers first identifying a need or want and

then define the requirements necessary to

satisfy that need. Secondly, the customers

gather information and evaluate the options of

products that satisfy their need or want that

are available. Once the customer identifies or

knows their options, they will look to make a

purchase which will include shopping for or

negotiating the best price they can achieve.

Lastly, consumers will go through several

factors which limits or influence final decision

and they will evaluate whether or not they

made a good decision.

Customer purchasing decisions are influenced

by perception, motivation, learning, attitudes

and beliefs. The perception is reflected to on

how the customers select, organize, and

interpret information to form knowledge. The

motivation is reflected to the customer’s

desire to meet their own needs. Learning is

reflected to the customers’ behavior

experience arising. Attitudes are reflected to

customers’ steadily favorable or unfavorable

assessments, feelings, and inclinations

towards object or idea. Finally, Beliefs is

reflected to customers’ thoughts about a

product or service (Kotler & Armstrong, 1997).

THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE

CONSUMER INTENTION TO PURCHASE

ONLINE

There are many factors and influences that

affect customers in related to the motivation

factor as to why they prefer online shoppingover shopping from malls. The purchasing



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decision process as explained starts long

before actual purchase and continues long

after. Usually in more routine purchases,

consumers often reserve or skip some of

purchase decision process. These are some ofthe factors that motivates the customer to

shop online over shopping at malls.

Search Engines

Internet users basically used search engines to

find out needed information. Search engines

provides information regarding anything under

the sun and even of things over the sun. If a

customer types in a product electronic

retailers make sure that details of the product

and availability of it comes first on these search

engines and also when a customer clicks on the

link to find out about the product, website

quality can satisfy and serve the particular

demand of the customer.

Conveniences

Convenience and saved time were offered by

online shopping which were two motivating

factors for online purchases. The main reason

that motivated consumers to shop online was

conveniences these convenience came not just

in the form of time but also in the form of the

discounts, special offers, timely reminders of

the offers etc. online retailers even study your

search pattern and show suggestions aboutproducts based on our search history they go

into such detail to ensure our needs are met

even before we have identified them. Timely

reminders about offers are sent to your email

about offers and discounts i.e. if you mark

down a product or add to cart the online retail

portal would provide you timely reminder of

the product and the offer it has right now thus

enabling us to purchase cheaply. Convenientaccess to product information could facilitate

and help shoppers’ making an online

purchases decision (Loshe & Spiller, 1999).

Price

Price was a critical factor for customer ononline shopping (Heim and Sinha, 2001).

However, Li et al. (1999) argued that often

online shoppers were not price-sensitive,

cause of these consumers’ price comparisons

among different e-retailers on each product

was time consuming and the price difference

was very small. But the generation Y doesn’t

believe that argument they believe the offers

that online retailers provide them is much

better than the one they get from a retailer in

a mall. For instance when a shirt costs Rs 1000

in a retail shop in a mall who has to consider

many factors such as paying the rent,

electricity etc. but the customer could buy the

three shirts of the same brand and quality from

online portals.

Brand

Brand was defined as the quality related to the

products or services. Often, brand was

referred to the seller’s reputation and

consumer loyalty in associated with the seller

(Haig, 2001). Brands and features increases as

more information is obtained, knowledge of

the available and consumer awareness (Kotler

& Armstrong, 1997). E-retailers shouldstrengthen shopper trust and believe by

buying famous Website such as google.com to

promote the online purchase rate (Wu, 2002).

The main players when it comes to online

retailers in the perspective of Kerala is

Amazon.com and Flipkart who is sweating it

out to achieve market leadership and gain

competitive advantage and thus offering more

and more offers and trying to lure incustomers. And customers has built a trust or



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a bond with these players and are enjoying the

honey moon period of the online retailer

industry.

Refund

Online consumers demanded that e-retailers

should provide an unconditional refund policy

if the online costumer were not satisfied with

the product (Lee, 2002). The customers who

are not satisfied with the product are able to

return the money and get back their whole

money and thus online retailers create a

differentiation among its normal retail

competitors through this activity as well. E-

retailers should have refund policies to

convince online consumers that they easily

return products and get refunds if they are not

satisfied, or exchange products for free within

a reasonable timeframe (Bishop, 1998).

COD

Cash on delivery is one of the best features of

shopping online i.e. when a customer orders

he/she doesn’t have to make the payment

online then and there instead they can order

and collect the product from the delivery guy

who comes to make the delivery and see if the

product matches their need or want and then

if satisfied pay the cash if not return the

product to the delivery guy.

Promotion

E-retailers might use promotions with time

limits to encourage consumers to shop on

Website (Haig, 2001). Big billion day celebrated

by Flipkart is a typical example of this they

provided customers with the ultimate

shopping experience when it comes to

purchasing branded products at a really low

rate and achieved sales of very high quantityearning them revenue in crores.

Security

Security was a critical successful factor for e-

commerce. Retail e-commerce would fail if

Internet users feel on lacking a great degree of

confidence (Kesh et al., 2002). The primary

reason indicated of the most buyers who didn’t

shop online cause of afraid to reveal personal

credit card information to retailers or over the

internet (Rao, 2000). But as mentioned earlier

in the study even though people tend to have

an inertia when it comes to adopting a new

technology but the times have changed and

the generation in Kerala is very much techsavvy and online payments are preferred now

over carrying cash to the malls in a way the

customers have developed much more trust in

online payments which further motivates them

to shop online rather than go offline and shop

from retailers.

Thus study indicates the motivation factors of

the consumers in Kerala to purchase online

rather than shopping at malls. As from the

study it is clear that online retailers often have

much lower overhead and have been very

good at offering competitive prices over the

normal retailers, but physical stores or the

retailers still win hands down when it comes to

same day service and online retailers are

working on making their delivery system much

faster and if possible on the day of order itself

and they have started implementing it at

metros. Overall, when it comes to loyalty

customers still develop more loyalty to stores

they visit in person and thus are more likely to

overspend when shopping offline as well.

Nevertheless, e-Commerce in general has been

steadily growing since 2004 and shows no sign

of waning. Amazon has already announced

plans for their 30 minute delivery drones andrecently patented "anticipatory shipping",

http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/01/28/why-amazons-anticipatory-shipping-is-pure-genius/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/01/28/why-amazons-anticipatory-shipping-is-pure-genius/



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which will somehow deliver packages before

they are ordered (presumably in a DeLorean).

Brick and Mortar will need to remain

competitive in the same day service arena if it

hopes to endure the changing marketplace.

A 2013 survey by Continuum, revealed that the

number one motivating factor for both online

and in store shopping is convenience. People

don't want the process of purchasing to feel

like a chore and will usually choose the path of

least resistance, even if it means paying more

money. In fact, price was third on the list,

meaning that the area in which it is mostdifficult for physical stores to compete is only a

factor one quarter of the time. However,

'showrooming', the process of shopping in

store then buying online, continues to be an

issue worth fighting, and retailers who make

buying in store more appealing are less likely

to fall victim to the online undercutting.

All in all in conditions related the Kerala thestudy has shown us that convenience as the

major motivation for customers when it comes

to shopping online and the trend of people

shifting from brick and mortar to online only

tend to increase in the coming years in Kerala.

RESEARCH PURPOSE

The purpose of this research is primarily to

identify the main motivators that make the

consumers prefer online shopping over mall

shopping. The findings of the research will be

the implications for both the online retailers as

well as the shop retailers in malls to identify

the motivators or the factors that make the

consumer purchase from online websites. This

is not just of importance to the online retailers

but the mall shop keepers will also be able to

identify the aspects of improvement and

where to focus their marketing strategies on.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The topic that we are conducting the study is -Online shopping v/s Mall shopping: A study to

find out why consumers are motivated to shop

online over shopping in mall in Kerala. E-

Commerce is very popular nowadays. People

buy online products that meet their daily

needs – even a tooth paste. But for that e-

commerce sites like flip kart, amazon, snap

deal, etc. have to develop a trust in the market.

Trust is very essential to successfully promote

new products and services. There are social

commerce constructs like reviews and ratings,

forums and communities, and

recommendations and referrals which play a

major role in the decision making of a

customer. A customer just won’t simply buy a

product. He first checks the user opinion and

reviews about the product. These are possible

only through online. While purchasing offline,

customer only gets the product details and

opinion from the shopkeeper. But if the

customer is purchasing through online, if

someone comments that the product is not

worth the money, then no one buys the

product because they were able to identify the

qualities of the product. So these social

commerce constructs play a major role in the

decision making process. So these social

constructs generates a social word of mouth

among customers regarding new products and

services. This social word of mouth is much

faster than the normal word of mouth because

people are more into social networking now.

While shopping online no customer ask

another customer whether the product is good

or not. They only ask the shopkeeper. Theshopkeeper can give good review even if the

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-continuum-study-reveals-top-reasons-people-choose-to-shop-online-and-in-stores-186175482.html

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-continuum-study-reveals-top-reasons-people-choose-to-shop-online-and-in-stores-186175482.html



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product has a bad quality. Another factor that

makes people prefer online shopping is the

convenience. They can buy any product, from

toothpaste to furniture, by simply sitting at

their home or office with a single click. And theproduct the product will be delivered to them.

They don’t have to go and collect. Another

factor is that e commerce websites give

customers a lot of combo offers and discounts.

So if the same product can be brought from

online without any effort and still getting

discount, people won’t go to malls. Then the

return policy is also a factor. If the product is

damaged they can give back the product.There is guaranteed return policy for e

commerce websites.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

At any given time there are millions of people

online and each of them is a potential

customer, due to the rapid development of the

technologies surrounding the internet, it has

become most important to understand why

consumers purchase online. Analysing

consumer behaviour is not a new

phenomenon. The renowned marketing expert

Philip Kotler has published several works on

the topic of consumer behaviour theories.

Here understanding the consumer closely is

related to the directions in which the company

would take its marketing strategies.

Analysing consumer behaviour is not a new

phenomenon. Since online retailing is a new

retailing medium and online consumer

behaviour, one must identify what influences

the online consumer. These factors need to be

taken into account by online retailers in order

to satisfy the customer. Just like the sides of

two coins, these factors also point out why the

consumers prefer this over the mall and other

shops. Thus these results would also help the

shop keepers to direct their services including

these factors such that more customers would

then prefer mall shopping.

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

“Human rational behavior is shaped by a

scissors whose two blades are the structure of

task environments and the computational

capabilities of the actor.” (Simon, 1990, p. 7)

In the era of globalization electronic marketing

is a great revolution. Over the last decade

maximum business organizations are running

with technological change. Online shopping or

marketing is the use of technology for better

marketing performance. And retailers are

devising strategies to meet the demand of

online shoppers; they are busy in studying

consumer behavior in the field of online

shopping, to see the consumer attitudes

towards online shopping. Therefore we have

also decided to study consumer’s attitudes

towards online shopping and specifically

studying the factors influencing consumers to

shop online.

Generally speaking the trend of e-commerce

has been increased rapidly in the recent years

with the development of internet and due to

the easy accessibility of internet usage. Easy

access to internet has driven consumers to

shop online in fact according to the University

of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

communication policy (2001), online shopping

is third most popular activity on the internet

after email using and web browsing. Books,

airline tickets/reservations, clothing/shoes

videos/games and other electronic products

are the most popular items purchased on the



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internet. (ACNielsen Report on Global

Consumer Attitudes towards Online Shopping,

2007).

Online shopping is used as a medium for

communication and electronic commerce, it is

to increase or improve in value, quality and

attractiveness of delivering customer benefits

and better satisfaction, that is why online

shopping is more convenience and day by day

increasing its popularity. Not only benefits but

also risk is associated with online shopping.

Generally speaking internet users avert online

shopping because of credit-card fraud, lack of

privacy, non-delivery risk, lack of guarantee of

quality of goods and services. Concerned

authorities are devising policies to minimize

the risk involved in e-business.

On the other hand E- commerce has been

grown very fast because of many advantages

associated with buying on internet because of

lower transaction and search cost as compared

to other types of shopping. Through online

shopping consumers can buy faster, more

alternatives and can order product and

services with comparative lowest price.

(Cuneyt and Gautam 2004). Therefore

Marketers have carefully analyzed the

consumers’ attitude and behavior towards the

online shopping and spend billions of dollars to

facilitate all the demographics of online

shoppers.

Consumer’s attitude towards online shopping

refers to their psychological state in terms of

making purchases over the Internet. Online

buying behavior process refers to the products

purchased online. The process of online buying

behavior consists of five steps and it is similar

to traditional shopping behavior (Liang and Lai

2000). For instance, consumer recognize theneed for buying some product (book), they

refers to the internet to buy online and start to

search for the information and look for all the

alternatives and finally make a purchase which

best fits to their needs. Before making final

purchase consumers are bombarded byseveral factors which limits or influence

consumers for the final decision. The main

theme of the study is to know the factors that

influence the consumer’s attitudes and

behaviors towards online shopping.

Researchers will also focus on how consumers

form such attitudes with the help of models

and who are truly the online shoppers.

Our problem area that is ’what influences

consumers to buy online’ will determine the

attractive factors that influence consumers to

shop online and those factors will help

marketers to formulate their strategies

towards online marketing respectively. In

order to gain competitive edge in the market,

marketers need to know the consumer

behavior in the field of online shopping. So it isimportant to analyze and identify the factors

which influence consumers to shop online in

order to capture the demands of consumers.

Other than the factors which influence

consumers to shop online, online shopper’s

demography in terms of Age, gender, income

and education is equally important to define

their strategies accordingly.

As online shopping is a new medium so the

consumer behavior in the field of online

shopping is also pretty diverse in nature

compare to traditional consumer behavior, so

it is equally important for one to identify what

factors influence consumers to shop online. In

order to reach towards purchase decision, it

consists of several factors which influence

consumers to shop online. These factors are

important for retailers to compete in the



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market and to make their product more

compatible.

i) What factors influence consumers

to shop online?

Our research objective is to work on factors

that influence consumers to shop online. We

have decided to study factors such as

Convenience, Time Saving, Return Policy,

Security etc... While it is important to

investigate the motivation behind consumer

purchasing but it is equally important to find as

how the consumers form attitudes and

behaviors towards online buying becauseconsumer attitude towards purchasing online

is a conspicuous factor affecting actual buying

behavior. When marketers get to know the

factors affecting online buyer’s behavior then

it create huge opportunity for the marketers to

develop the marketing strategies accordingly

and turn the potential customers into actual

ones and retain the exiting buyers and make

them loyal ones.

Consumer buying behavior process which

helps in understanding what influence

consumer to purchase online. After studying

online shopping the researchers have

recognized that consumers start with some

kind of need or a problem that arouse some or

the other way which needs to be filled and

then you move towards information searchand finally you purchase. This buying process

helps in explaining the steps one follows to

reach to actual purchase. Theory of planned

behavior (TPB) proposed by Icek Ajzen (1988,

1991) as an extension to Theory of Reasoned

Action. This is also an important concept as it

provides a link between attitudes and

behavior. It helps one to understand how one

can change the behavior of people. This theorywill be helpful in understanding how consumer

changes their behavior to shop online than

physical store purchases.

Technology acceptance model (TAM) that is

developed by (Fred Davis and Richard Bagozzi)

(Davis 1989, Bagozzi & Warshaw 1992) is an

information system theory that sets out to

study the users acceptance towards particular

system. Writers have selected this theory as it

is commonly used theory while studying

consumer’s attitudes towards online shopping.

As online shopping is a modern technology and

in our research we are going to study different

factors that influence consumers attitudes

towards online shopping, such as Website

Design/ Features, convenience and Security.

And TAM will help us understand how

consumer form attitudes towards particular

system and in our case it is online shopping.

Last but not least it is an extension to the

theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen &

Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975.

As the opening quote illustrates, consumer

behavior is determined by the interaction

between the properties of personal

information processing systems and the

properties of task environments. Consumer

decision processes are constructive in nature

— constructed by the decision makers

themselves (Bettman et al., 1998) as well asthe context of the particular external

environment (e.g., information presentation

format, time pressure) in which the decisions

are made (Bettman, Johnson, Luce and Payne,

1993; Bettman and Kakkar, 1977; Coupey,

1994; Payne, 1982).

From the perspective of consumers, the

Internet has changed their relationship with

sellers because of the unprecedented increase



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in the number of choices and levels of control

over the message (Sheth and Sisodia, 1999). It

has also changed the decision making

environment by the amount, type, and format

of information available to consumers (Alba etal., 1997; Bakos, 1997) because it provides

tools for information storage, for information

search and for decision analysis. Tools such as

bookmarks, search engines, and decision aids

(shopbots) are likely to influence consumer

information search behavior. In addition, the

Internet has transformed consumer behavior

in two ways: (1) transformation of the

consumers into online shoppers that requiresthe usage of computers, and (2)

transformation of the physical stores into a

marketspace that is information technology

intensive (Koufaris, Kambil and LaBarbera,

2001). In order to understand online consumer

behavior, it is necessary to include the

interaction between the combined roles of

consumer/computer user and information

technology provided by the online stores.

Personal factors such as domain and system

expertise as well as system factors such as

information load and interruptions will impose

certain search costs on consumers and

influence online information search.

As a market discontinuity (Mahajan and Wind,

1989), the Internet is likely to have a profound

effect on how consumers construct and adjusttheir decision-making processes appropriately

to the new decision-making environment. How

are expectations about changes in consumer

search behavior being realized in an online

environment? The remainder of this chapter

presents a conceptual framework to

understand consumer search behavior in an

online environment.

Figure 1-2 proposes a conceptual framework of

consumer information search in an online

environment. In the consumer decision

process, information search begins when

consumers recognize a purchase problem. Tosolve this problem, consumers have the choice

of searching for information from two

channels. They can search for information

exclusively online or off-line, or in combination

(Peterson et al., 1997). The specific choice of

information channels is likely to influence the

amount of information searched in the Web-

based market (Peterson et al., 1997). The

process of online information search ischaracterized by the human-computer

interaction termed navigation, which is

influenced by system and personal factors.

Consequently, these factors will affect the

amount of information in an online

environment.

Figure 1-2. Conceptual framework of online

search behavior

Consumer Channel Choice

With the Internet as an additional option,

consumers can choose (1) whether to focus on

a product or service category, or a brand at any

stage of the information acquisition process,

(2) whether to use the Internet or a

conventional retail channel for information

acquisition, and (3) whether to use the Internetor a conventional retail channel for the final



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transaction and brand acquisition (Peterson et

al., 1997). There are four possible choice

outcomes:

Search online and purchase off-line

Search off-line and purchase online

Search and purchase online

Search and purchase off-line

This chapter only focuses on consumers’

decision to search for information and

purchase online.

Purchasing online requires consumers tochange their conventional behavior.

Behavioral change is difficult and often

requires incentives such as explicit monetary

savings or increased convenience. Several

empirical studies have attempted to provide

some insights on the factors influencing

consumers to engage in online shopping

(Bellman et al., 1999; Degeratu et al., 1999;

Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997).

In their survey, Jarvenpaa and Todd (1999)

found that convenience was the single most

salient benefit of online shopping. Similarly,

Degeratu et al. (1999) found online shoppers

to have higher incomes and higher opportunity

costs. They are likely, therefore, to be more

convenience sensitive and less price sensitive.

Bellman et al. (1999) also found that onlinebuyers have “wired lifestyles,” are “time

starved,” and “seek new ways to find

information and buy things that are faster and

more convenient.” In summary, these studies

suggest that consumers who decide to shop

online often expect minimal external search

cost. Therefore, when consumers perceive that

shopping off-line is inconvenient, they are

likely to use the Internet for informationacquisition. In other words, for consumers to

search for information online, the perceived

external search cost is lower in an online

environment than in the physical market.

In the online environment, external search

costs have been significantly reduced to mouse

clicks. However, information in such an

environment is highly visual and perceptual. It

is likely to increase cognitive search costs that

affect consumers’ search for information. In

addition, information search online is

characterized by human-computer interaction

requiring consumers’ ability and knowledge to

acquire information (Hodkison et al., 2000;

Spence, 1999). In order to search online,

consumers must not only be able to locate the

Web sites of interest and move between sites

but also to acquire information within the

sites. There are several ways to identify the

location of Web sites: (1) via search engine, (2)

via manual entry of a URL, and (3) via memory-

aid of a browser such as bookmarks. Given the

vast amount of information available on theInternet, these search techniques will affect

consumer information search (Hodkison et al.,

2000). As a result, the Internet imposes a

certain degree of cognitive search cost on

consumers, negatively impacting the amount

of information searched.

Effects of Personal and System Factors

In the information-rich online environment,consumers need to be transformed as

computer users as well (Koufaris et al., 2001).

They must be able to identify the location of

information and employ efficient search

techniques, hence, personal variables such as

domain and system expertise are likely to

affect consumers’ search for information.

Further, coupled with personal variables,

system factors such as interruption andinformation load are likely to impose search



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costs on consumers and influence the amount

of information search.

Personal Variables

Domain Expertise

Domain expertise involves knowledge that

allows consumers to solve problems quickly

and effectively. It is defined as the ability to

identify, evaluate and exploit marketplace

opportunities, and consists of mental

representations which guide consumer search

behavior. The way-finding paradigm suggests

that consumers have a cognitive map built on

three types of spatial knowledge — landmark,

route and survey knowledge (Hodkison et al.,

2000; Spence, 1999). This cognitive map

consists of a form of “general knowledge of the

world that aids humans in navigation tasks”

(Dillion et al., 1993, p. 172). For example,

consumers may have some knowledge of the

use of search engines and of the specific portal

sites for a variety of product offerings. Becauseof this cognitive map, consumers are able to

“plan routes, avoid becoming lost, or identify

shortcuts” (Dillion et al., 1993, p. 173) during

information search. Consumers with broader

cognitive maps are able to identify information

easily and efficiently.

Apart from the way-finding paradigm, both the

economics and psychology literature

conceptualize knowledge as product-related

knowledge including objective and subjective

knowledge (Brucks, 1985). Objective

knowledge is conceptualized as what a

consumer actually knows, whereas subjective

knowledge is defined as the consumer’s

perception of the amount of information

he/she knows about the product category.

The conceptual relationship between abilityand external information search activity is

similar (Cacioppo & Petty, 1986). Perceived

ability to search is defined as “the perceived

cognitive capability of searching for and

processing information” (Spreng and Schimt,

1996, p. 248). It involves cognitive processingability, knowledge of procedures for searching,

and knowledge of sources of information

(Brucks, 1985). Empirical studies have found

knowledge to be positively related with

information search in the physical

environment (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987;

Putrevu and Ratchford, 1997; Urbany, Dickson

and Kalapurakal, 1996).

It is necessary to note that knowledge of the

electronic environment could precede the

knowledge of product categories and thus play

an important role in the process of information

search in an online environment. In order to

search for information online, consumers must

know where to search for product

category information of interest. In this

research, knowledge is broadly defined toinclude knowledge of electronic markets as

well as product categories. Unlike the familiar

physical environment, where consumers are

exposed to the location of stores in a myriad of

ways, exposure to Web sites occurs from more

active browsing or bookmarking behaviors.

Since the Internet, particularly online

shopping, is a new phenomenon, identifying

online stores is often aided by directories fromportals or advertising media. Therefore,

consumers with a higher level of domain

expertise will search for more information

between sites because they are able to

effectively locate the information and evaluate

the information in the search process.

System Expertise

In order to search for information in an onlineenvironment, consumers must possess a basic



13

capacity to manipulate and interact with the

physical interface of a search system. For

example, the abilities to begin and end, to read

from the screen, to make selections from

various types of menus, and manage variousfunctions on the computer are characteristics

of system expertise. It is defined as skills

needed to use computers as well as navigate

the WWW. As Ratchford et al. (2001) point out,

fixed cost to using the Internet is high. Not only

do consumers need access to a computer

system and the Internet but also a

considerable amount of knowledge is required.

Similarly, Hodkison et al. (2000) noted that

consumers’ search techniques will seriously

affect their decision processes. Expectedly,

computer skills as well as search techniques

are likely to influence consumers’ ability to

efficiently locate and search for information

and will thus impact the level of perceived

search cost.

System Variables

Information Load

The distinctive capability of the Internet is to

provide access to a tremendous amount of

information, including information of low

value to the consumer, such as inaccurate

search queries, recommendations based on

the consumer’s previous purchase,

unorganized information, etc. These may

increase information load and impose a

cognitive processing burden on consumers.

Information overload has been found to

influence the consumer decision process

(Jocoby, 1974; Jocoby, Speller and Berning,

1974) and decrease the amount of information

search (Cook, 1993).

In addition, research by Jansen et al. (2000)with the Excite search engine found that

consumer queries on the Web are brief. Most

users did not go beyond their first and only

query. Based on these findings, it is likely that

high information load increases external

search costs and thus prevents consumersfrom accessing more information.

Interruptions

The Internet is an interactive information

search and decision environment for

consumers, providing them with greater

control over information. Features such as

banner ads, pop-up windows, and intelligent

agents that make purchase recommendationsare being used frequently by marketers to

push information, to attract consumer

attention, and to promote sales. Other

interactive features such as surveys and user

registration act as distractions to the

consumers’ search process and further affect

their decision performance and satisfaction

(Xia and Sudharshan, 2000).

Empirical studies on interruptions indicate

they distract subjects from the current activity,

and demand the allocation of cognitive

capacity for processing the interruption

(Kahneman, 1973). An interruption leads to

extra time needed for the original task (Laird,

Laird and Fruehling, 1983). Additionally,

Norman and Bobrow (1975) suggest that

interruptions distract attention and place greatdemands on cognitive processing. In order to

keep the consumer motivated, there must be

an appropriate level of interruption (Xia and

Sudharshan, 2000). Beyond a certain

threshold, interruptions may become seriously

dysfunctional. As the frequency of

interruptions increases, cognitive demand may

become very high and the task may become

onerous, causing severe frustration. Therefore,it is likely to increase consumers’ perceived



14

search cost and reduce external information

search.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methodology is the design process for carrying

out research or the development of a

procedure and is not in itself an instrument for

doing those things. According to Clifford

Woody “research methodology comprises of

defining and redefining problems, collecting,

organizing and evaluating data, making

deductions and researching to conclusions.

Generally for any research study, both primary

and secondary research is done which

facilitates in better understanding of the entire

study.

This research was conducted on defined

population. Data was collected through

questionnaire.

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design refers to the overall

strategy that you choose to integrate the

different components of the study in a

coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring

you will effectively address the research

problem. It constitutes the blueprint for the

collection, measurement, and analysis of data.

The study conducted was through an exploratory

study. This article tries to give insights on why

people prefer online shopping over mall shopping.

Since the purpose of this study is to provide a

better understanding and resolve ambiguity

concerning to why people are motivated to buy

online, we have thus undertaken an exploratory

study.

RESEARCH TOOL

The main tool used for the collection of data is

the questionnaire. The questionnaire was

designed in Google forms and this was

circulated across the respondents through

mail.

SAMPLING DESIGN

A sample design is the framework, or road

map, that serves as the basis for the selection

of a survey sample and affects many other

important aspects of a survey as well.

The sampling design used here is convenience

sampling.

POPULATION

The population considered for this study are

the consumers who purchase online as well asoffline in Kerala.

SAMPLING SIZE

The total number of data entries collected

were 314. But 9 entries had to be removed due

to incompleteness. Thus the final sample size

used for the study is 305.

DATA ANALYSIS TOOLS

The data for this study has been analysed in

excel using simple percentage analysis. And

their diagrammatic representation is depicted

using pie charts and bar graphs.



15

FINDINGS

The survey was done to study why customers

preferred online shopping over shopping in

malls in Kerala. The sample size considered forthe study is 305. The consumers were asked as

to what are the reasons for which consumers

prefer to shop online rather than from malls.

From the 305 respondents, 180 respondents

were male which constitute around 59 percentof the total respondents and 125 respondents

were female which constitute around 41

percent of the total respondents.

One of the survey question was, ‘how often the

customer’s purchase through online shopping

sites’. From the survey results 146 replied that

they shop moderately through online mode,

which is around 48 percent. From the resultsof the survey 101 respondents (33 percentage)

respondents made regular purchases through

online mode and only 19 percent respondents

shopped rarely through online mode.

The respondents were divided into three age

groups, 18-30 years, 31-50 years, 51 and

above. From the survey results 52 percent of

the total respondents were of the age group

18-30 years. These group mainly consisted of

college students, young working professionalsetc. Twenty seven percent of the total

respondents were of the age group 31-50

years. The remaining 21 percent of the

respondents were in the age group 51 and

above.

180

125

Gender

Male Female

101

146

58

How often do you purchase

online?

ReguLarly Moderately Rarely

52%

27%

21%

21%

AGE GROUP

18-30 Tears 31-50 Years 51 and above



16

The 63 percent of the respondents were from

urban area and 37 percent of the respondents

were from rural area.

From the survey taken we found that 59

percent of the respondents were unemployed

19 percent of the respondents were students.

The remaining 23 percent of the respondents

were employed.

Here 39 % of the people agree with the fact

that people prefer online shopping as it

matches their purchase recommendations

with their needs. Also 25 % percent strongly

agrees to the statement. 20% people areneutral to the statement while 11% people

disagrees to the fact that online shopping

doesn’t it matches their purchase

recommendations with their needs and 5 %

strongly disagrees to the statement.

From the survey results we found that almost

76 respondents, which constitutes of 25

percent of the total respondents agree to the

statement that they prefer online shopping as

it enables them to order products which are

tailor made for them. Around 17 percent of

respondents strongly agree to the statementmentioned above. Almost 33 percent

respondents were neutral to the statement.

Only 4 percent respondents are strongly

disagreeing to the statement and 20 percent

respondents are disagreeing to the statement.

73

125

Place of residence of the

respondents

Rural Urban

69

179

57

The respondents were

Employed Unemployed Student

0

50

100

150

Number Of Respondents

I prefer online shopping because it

makes purchase recommendations

that match my needs

Strongly Disagree Disagree

Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

20

40

60

80

100

120


I prefer online shopping as it enables

me to order products that are tailor-

made for me


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree



17





it provides them timely reminders about offers

and discounts. Around 26 percent of

respondents strongly agree to the statement

mentioned above. Almost 24 percent of the

respondents were neutral to the statement.Only 4 percent respondents are strongly







the website has search button which enablesthem to locate products. Around 28 percent of

respondents strongly agree to the statement

mentioned above. Almost 19 percent of the

respondents were neutral to the statement.

Only 4 percent respondents are strongly







the website is responsive to any problems they

encounter. Around 14 percent of respondents

strongly agree to the statement mentioned

above. Almost 21 percent of the respondents

were neutral to the statement. Only 7 percent

respondents are strongly disagreeing to the

statement and 14 percent respondents are

disagreeing to the statement.

0

20

40

60

80100

120


I prefer online shopping as the

website provides me with timely

reminders of offers and discounts


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

50

100

150

% Of Respondents

I prefer online shopping because

website has a search tool that enables

me to locate products


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

50

100

150


I prefer online shopping becausewebsite is responsive to any problems

that I encounter


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree



18





the website provides a one stop shop for their

shopping. Around 26 percent of respondents











the website is very convenient to use. Around

33 percent of respondents strongly agree to

the statement mentioned above. Almost 18

percent of the respondents were neutral to the

statement. Only 2 percent respondents are

strongly disagreeing to the statement and 8

percent respondents are disagreeing to the

statement.




statement that they prefer online shopping asthey feel comfortable shopping at the website.

Around 24 percent of respondents strongly

agree to the statement mentioned above.

Almost 23 percent of the respondents were

neutral to the statement. Only 3 percent




0

50

100

150


I prefer online shopping

because website provides a

“one-stop shop” for my

shopping


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

50

100

150



because website is very

convenient to use


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

50

100

150



because I feel comfortable

shopping at the website


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree



19





the products are not available in the local

markets. Around 25 percent of respondents











it provides them with better deals. Around 36percent of respondents strongly agree to the

statement mentioned above. Almost 15

percent of the respondents were neutral to the

statement. Only 4 percent respondents are

strongly disagreeing to the statement and 7

percent respondents are disagreeing to the

statement.





it provides provision for guaranteed return

policy. Around 20 percent of respondentsstrongly agree to the statement mentioned






0

50

100


I prefer online shopping as

the products are not available

in the local markets


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

20

40

60

80

100

120


I prefer online shopping as it

provides me with better deals


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree

0

50

100

150


I prefer online shopping asthere is provision for

guaranteed return policy


Neutral Agree

Strongly Agree



20

RECOMMENDATIONS

In this study the percentage of male

respondents are 59% and female was 49% of

which majority are from urban peoples

decisions rather than from rural areas. For

effective survey it should be included and also

percentage of males and females should be

equal.

In this survey half of the people uses online

shopping websites moderately and 33 present

uses regularly so in order to changes peoples

mind online shoppers should bring best offers

that they can’t refuse also they should bring

new products with different verity also they

constantly survey peoples new fashion

according to that they will update their

product features.

The survey consists more of youths. That is

people in age group 18-30. This huge numbers

are because they really need online shopping

website because their life style is very busy and

they didn’t have time for spending shopping to

much so according to convenience they shop

from online retailers. But in future online

shoppers also give importance to other age

groups and also their interested products also.

Matching the purchase recommendations with

the needs of the employees are crucial as in the

survey conducted 39 % of the people agree

with the fact that people prefer online

shopping as it matches their purchase

recommendations with their needs. Also 25 %

percent strongly agrees to the statement. This

creates a situation where in the consumers

have a tendency to shop over online websites

as they provide recommendations according totheir needs and past searches for a product.

The main attractiveness of online shopping is

clothes. People will choose clothes if they are

comfortable with them and also it should be

correct fit for them. The main disadvantages of

online shopping is that they can’t trial theclothes before buying so in order to counter

that they will produce more cloths with more

different sizes so people will get their correct

fit and as a result they will choose online

shopping.

Other important feature of online shopping is

that they give good discounts to products at

perfect timing. So every people use onlineshopping because of that. The only challenge

for that is they should convey these offers to

everyone that is proper advertising is needed

for that. So people will know about the offers

and will buy those products .Offers that are

provided by the websites can never be given by

the shops in malls. Thus consumers are highly

attracted and captured because they are able

to get the same product and at same qualitybut at a price lesser than they normally buy.

Why online shopping customers choose

because of convince, that is they can choose

their products from their home also they can

track their product where it is currently. Only

thing they should consider that. They should

widen their areas so people from different

places can order the products. Thus consumers

are well aware of the fact where their products

are currently and when would these products

reach them. It involves the customers to get

indulged into the whole process of online

shopping.

From the survey main advantage of online

shopping is that they can purchase many

products at a single website. If malls need to

compete with the online sites they’ll have to



21

accommodate a variety of brands demanded

and also a huge variety in the products offered

like e-commerce sites.

Images of goods make them look morecorporeal and authentic to your organization

and are a prevailing sales tool. It is a good idea

to add images of the product and create a

portfolio to attract customers. By vigilantly

analysing sales each time put up the product

images, shoppers will get to know which part

of website is it best to put manufactured goods

for greatest impact.

Also bring more products that are not available

in local markets with fewer prices and give

offers to products which are available in

markets.

The main suggestion for online shoppers is that

the products quality. If the quality is not good

the customers will prefer traditional shopping.

And also they should improve the services. Andalso return policy that is people will get their

money back if the product is not good. This is

because a huge number of consumers prefer

inline shopping over the mall shopping as there

are easy return policies available to them. This

creates a sense of security which even the

normal shops are not able to provide the

customers.

Establish a list of reliable subscribers by

collecting the customers' e-mail addresses.

This will permit to regularly keep up a

correspondence with the subscribers, build

associations of reliance and fidelity, and sell

them products or services.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The data collection was confined to only a

small area since constraints were faced during

data collection. The replication of the study at

different regions would enable better

generalizability of the findings of the study. At

the same time data collection during real

shopping experience could have elicited better

responses improving findings.

The sample for the present study comprised of

305 shoppers. This sample is only a very small

proportion of the entire population of retail

shoppers in the country. Therefore, research

studies with much larger sample size would be

required to ensure appropriate generalization

of the findings of the study.

The study was limited to individual shopping

behaviour. India being a collectivistic country,

most of the shopping happens in a family set

up. Consideration of family shopping

behaviour might have revealed interestingfindings.

The present study has relied largely on

quantitative methodology of data collection

(though qualitative methodology was used to

a limited extent) and is therefore restrictive.

Therefore, more of qualitative methodology of

data collection should be undertaken in future

to provide wider perspective to the present

study.

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