PROJECT REPORT

ON

A study on the impact of pandemic on e- commerce space

sales as well as on consumer behavior pattern

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

requirement of Bachelor of Commerce
(Hons.) (B.COM (H))

B.COM (HONS) VITH SEMESTER (MORNING)

BATCH 2018-2021

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr. Ruchi Singhal Priyanka
Associate Professor 02714188818

JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

SCHOOL KALKAJI

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A lot of effort has gone into this training report and for that I would like all those who
have contributed in completing this project.

I am highly intended and extremely thankful to Dr. Ruchi Singhal, Assistant

Professor, JIMS Kalkaji who as my guide was a constant source of inspiration and
encouragement to me. The strong interest evinced by her has helped me in dealing
with the problems I faced during the course of project work.

I express my profound sense of gratitude to them for their timely help and co-
operation in completing the project.

Lastly, I would like to thank my entire beloved family & friends for providing me
monetary as well as non – monetary support, as and when required without which
this project would not have completed on time. Their trust and patience is now
coming out in the form of this thesis.

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 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

This is to certify that PRIYANKA enrollment number 02714188818 pursuing

B.COM(HONS.) from Jagannath International Management School, Kalkaji has
successfully completed her Project Report on the topic, “A STUDY ON THE
IMPACT OF PANDEMIC IN E- COMMERCE SPACE SALES AS WELL AS ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR PATTERN” under my guidance and her work is
appreciable.

She has taken care of all necessary aspects and has shown keen interest and
utmost sincerity during the completion of this project file.

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 DECLARATION

I, Priyanka , a student of Bachelor’s of Commerce (hons.) from JIMS, Kalkaji

hereby declare that I have completed Project Report on the topic, “A study on the
impact of pandemic on e- commerce space sales as well as on consumer
behavior pattern” as a part of the course requirement under the guidance of Dr.
Ruchi Singhal(Faculty Guide).

I further declare that the information presented in this project is true and original to
the best of my knowledge.

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 CONTENTS

CHAPTER Description Page No.

No.
1 Executive Summary 9-11

2 Introduction to the Topic 12-26

3 Company Profile 27-35

4 Objectives 36-37

5 Literature review 38-48

6 Research Methodology 49-53

7 Analysis & Interpretation 54-73

8 Limitations 74-75

9 Conclusion 76-77

10 Recommendations 78-79

11 Bibliography 80-84

12 Appendices 85-89

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 List of Tables

S.No. Table Title Page No.

1 Gender 54

2 Age group 55

3 Educational Qualification 56

4 Purchased goods online 57

5 Reason for purchasing goods online 58

6 Website they prefer most 60

7 Products they purchase online 62

8 Modes of payment 64

9 Bought things during past one year 65

10 Get more information or not 67

11 Satisfied with online shopping 68

12 Safe and secure 69

13 Offers are satisfactory 70

14 Recommend online shopping to others 71

15 Offline shopping gets replaced 72

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 List of Figures
S.No. Figure Title Page No.

1 Ecommerce 13

2 Ecommerce models 14

3 Amazon 28

4 Organizational Structure Of Amazon 30

5 Flipkart 32

6 Revenue of Flipkart Private Limited 35

7 Gender 54

8 Age group 55

9 Educational Qualification 56

10 Purchased goods online 57

11 Reason for purchasing goods online 58

12 Website they prefer most 60

13 Products they purchase online 62

14 Modes of payment 64

15 Bought things during past one year 65

16 Get more information or not 67

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17 Satisfied with online shopping 68

18 Safe and secure 69

19 Offers are satisfactory 70

20 Recommend online shopping to others 71

21 Offline shopping gets replaced 72

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 CHAPTER 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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 Executive Summary

E-commerce is sharing of business information, maintaining business relations and

conducting transactions by means of telecommunication network. E-tailing is the use of
electronic media to enter into a transaction of sale or purchase by customer and the
marketer, which benefit both the parties in a long run. E-tailing comes under B2C
(business to customer) category in e-commerce which allows making purchase through
any medium that is Desktop, Laptop, Mobile phone tablet etc. Major E-tailers are
working on marketplace model which will be the focus of research.

Positive and negative impact on consumer’s willingness to shop decides the buying
behavior but in online context pre-purchase intention is the key to online buying
behavior as consumer’s have ample of choices just a click away. The increasing
significance to research on online shopping arises as E-tailing industry has gained
momentum and attracted huge chunk of youth but its customers are still evolving.
Research can sum up the reasons why customer are shifting from physical stores to
online stores, what marketing factors affect what kind of online shoppers as well as at
what stage consumers feel satisfied and become loyal towards a web store.

With the help of Review of literature factors affecting online buying behavior were
studied, but there lack of research on online marketing factor affecting buying behavior.
As e-tailing industry is still evolving, major research were concerning demographic
aspects of customers or issues relating to security, website features. But minimal
research was conducted on customer orientation and online marketing factors combine.

Research is undertaken to understand Indian Youth Online buying behavior in light of

consumer orientation and how various factor affect customer Satisfaction and Loyalty. It
is a descriptive research and data is collected through questionnaire to respondents
who have done online shopping. Sample size of 85 usable responses was considered
for analysis of study and the research area is general public. Tools used for research
are bar graphs and pie charts and tools used for analysis are numbers and percentage.

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Some major outcome of the research;” 24X7 Presence” is the most important reason for
customers to shift from physical store to online store followed by “better price”, “better
variety”. Largest numbers of customer doing online shopping are “Goal oriented”.
Differently oriented shoppers perceive Promotion and Technology differently in building
buying behavior while all other factors are perceived by all the customers in a similar
manner. Product, Promotion and Security had a direct impact on customer satisfaction,
which implies absence/inadequacy of expected online marketing factors creates no
satisfaction. Similarly Product and Security had a direct impact on Customer Loyalty.

Online stores must strive to provide wide product assortment as well as brand
assortment on competitive price to the market to attract more and more customers.
Online stores should devise strategies, promotions, web appearance keeping Goal
oriented shopper in mind; as they are the real shoppers who will turn loyal in future.
Online stores should focus on technical aspects of mobile shopping application keeping
it updated and adding new features to create customer interest.

Research will benefit E-tailing industry, Online Sellers/Vendors, Researcher and

students. Future researcher can work on Customer loyalty as it is build through
repetitive purchase and re-purchase behavior, focusing on limited online stores with
fixed set of customers, this type of in-depth study keeping customers from varied
backgrounds engaged throughout the research will provide with much relevant data

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 CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION

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 Introduction

What is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce, also known as electronic

commerce or internet commerce, refers
to the buying and selling of goods or
services using the internet, and the
transfer of money and data to execute
these transactions. Ecommerce is often
used to refer to the sale of physical
products online, but it can also describe
any kind of commercial transaction that
is facilitated through the internet.
Fig.1: Ecommerce

Whereas e-business refers to all aspects of operating an online business, ecommerce

refers specifically to the transaction of goods and services.

The history of ecommerce begins with the first ever online sale: on the August 11, 1994
a man sold a CD by the band Sting to his friend through his website Net Market, an
American retail platform. This is the first example of a consumer purchasing a product
from a business through the World Wide Web—or “ecommerce” as we commonly know
it today.

How does e-commerce work?

E-commerce is powered by the internet, where customers can access an online store to
browse through, and place orders for products or services via their own devices.

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As the order is placed, the customer's web browser will communicate back and forth
with the server hosting the online store website. Data pertaining to the order will then be
relayed to a central computer known as the order manager -- then forwarded to
databases that manage inventory levels, a merchant system that manages payment
information (using applications such as PayPal), and a bank computer -- before circling
back to the order manager. This is to make sure that store inventory and customer
funds are sufficient for the order to be processed. After the order is validated, the order
manager will notify the store's web server, which will then display a message notifying
the customer that their order has been successfully processed. The order manager will
then send order data to the warehouse or fulfillment department, in order for the product
or service to be successfully dispatched to the customer. At this point tangible and/or
digital products may be shipped to a customer, or access to a service may be granted.

Platforms that host e-commerce transactions may include online marketplaces that
sellers simply sign up for, such as Amazon.com; software as a service (SaaS) tools that
allow customers to 'rent' online store infrastructures; or open source tools for companies
to use in-house development to manage.

Types of e-commerce models

Generally speaking, when we think of e-

commerce, we think of an online commercial
transaction between a supplier and a client.
However, and although this idea is right, we can
be more specific and actually divide e-commerce
into six major types, all with different
characteristics.

Fig.2: Ecommerce models

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There are 6 basic types of e-commerce:

1. Business-to-Business (B2B)
2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
3. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
4. Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
5. Business-to-Administration (B2A)
6. Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)

1. Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce encompasses all electronic transactions of
goods or services conducted between companies. Producers and traditional commerce
wholesalers typically operate with this type of electronic commerce.

2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
The Business-to-Consumer type of e-commerce is distinguished by the establishment of
electronic business relationships between businesses and final consumers. It
corresponds to the retail section of e-commerce, where traditional retail trade normally
operates.

These types of relationships can be easier and more dynamic, but also more sporadic
or discontinued. This type of commerce has developed greatly, due to the advent of the
web, and there are already many virtual stores and malls on the Internet, which sell all
kinds of consumer goods, such as computers, software, books, shoes, cars, food,
financial products, digital publications, etc.

3. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) type e-commerce encompasses all electronic
transactions of goods or services conducted between consumers. Generally, these
transactions are conducted through a third party, which provides the online platform
where the transactions are actually carried out.

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 4. Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
In C2B there is a complete reversal of the traditional sense of exchanging goods. This
type of e-commerce is very common in crowdsourcing based projects. A large number
of individuals make their services or products available for purchase for companies
seeking precisely these types of services or products.

Examples of such practices are the sites where designers present several proposals for
a company logo and where only one of them is selected and effectively purchased.
Another platform that is very common in this type of commerce are the markets that sell
royalty-free photographs, images, media and design elements, such as iStockphoto.

5. Business-to-Administration (B2A)
This part of e-commerce encompasses all transactions conducted online between
companies and public administration. This is an area that involves a large amount and a
variety of services, particularly in areas such as fiscal, social security, employment,
legal documents and registers, etc. These types of services have increased
considerably in recent years with investments made in e-government.

6. Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)
The Consumer-to-Administration model encompasses all electronic transactions
conducted between individuals and public administration.

Examples of applications include:

 Education – disseminating information, distance learning, etc.

 Social Security – through the distribution of information, making payments, etc.
 Taxes – filing tax returns, payments, etc.
 Health – appointments, information about illnesses, payment of health services,
etc.

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Applications of Ecommerce

1. Retail and Wholesale

Ecommerce has numerous applications in this sector. E-retailing is basically a B2C,

and in some cases, a B2B sale of goods and services through online stores
designed using virtual shopping carts and electronic catalogs. A subset of retail
ecommerce is m-commerce, or mobile commerce, wherein a consumer purchases
goods and services using their mobile device through the mobile optimized site of
the retailer. These retailers use the E-payment method: they accept payment
through credit or debit cards, online wallets or internet banking, without printing
paper invoices or receipts.

2. Online Marketing

This refers to the gathering of data about consumer behaviors, preferences, needs,
buying patterns and so on. It helps marketing activities like fixing price, negotiating,
enhancing product features, and building strong customer relationships as this data
can be leveraged to provide customers a tailored and enhanced purchase
experience.

3. Finance

Banks and other financial institutions are using e-commerce to a significant extent.
Customers can check account balances, transfer money to other accounts held by
them or others, pay bills through internet banking, pay insurance premiums, and so
on. Individuals can also carry out trading in stocks online, and get information about
stocks to trade in from websites that display news, charts, performance reports and
analyst ratings of companies.

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4. Manufacturing

Supply chain operations also use ecommerce; usually, a few companies form a
group and create an electronic exchange and facilitate purchase and sale of goods,
exchange of market information, back office information like inventory control, and
so on. This enables the smooth flow of raw materials and finished products among
the member companies and also with other businesses.

5. Online Booking

This is something almost every one of us has done at some time – book hotels,
holidays, airline tickets, travel insurance, etc. These bookings and reservations are
made possible through an internet booking engine or IBE. It is used the maximum by
aviation, tour operations and hotel industry.

6. Online Publishing

This refers to the digital publication of books, magazines, catalogues, and

developing digital libraries.

7. Digital Advertising

Online advertising uses the internet to deliver promotional material to consumers; it

involves a publisher, and an advertiser. The advertiser provides the ads, and the
publisher integrates ads into online content. Often there are creative agencies which
create the ad and even help in the placement. Different types of ads include banner
ads, social media ads, search engine marketing, retargeting, pop-up ads, and so on.

8. Auctions

Online auctions bring together numerous people from various geographical locations
and enable trading of items at negotiated prices, implemented with e-commerce
technologies. It enables more people to participate in auctions. Another example of
auction is bidding for seats on an airline website – window seats, and those at the
front with more leg room generally get sold at a premium, depending on how much a
flyer is willing to pay.

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Ecommerce Platforms

India is known for its large population. At 1.37 billion, it’s one of the most inhabited
places in the world, second only to China. Still, of its billion-plus people, internet
penetration is quite low, coming in at 41 percent of the total population, roughly 500
million of the 1.37 billion in the country.

Despite the low internet penetration, the e-commerce sector in India is still massive,
thanks to the overall population size. It was worth US$ 48.5billion as of 2018 and is
expected to quadruple to reach US$ 200 billion by 2026.

A few examples of Ecommerce marketplace platforms in India:

1. Amazon India: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 322.54 million.

2. Flipkart: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 242.62 million.
3. Alibaba: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 175.95 million globally (4.19
percent in India).
4. Snapdeal: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 56.41 million.
5. Myntra: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 48.03 million.
6. IndiaMART: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 47.23 million.
7. BookMyShow: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 43.25 million.
8. Nykaa: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 20.84 million.
9. First Cry: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 16.94 million.
10. 1mg: Estimated number of monthly visitors: 14.62 million.

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Consumer Online Buying Behavior

Pre-purchase intention is the key to consumer’s online buying behavior, which decides
whether they buy online or not. Online buying behavior consists of studies related to
factors influencing these intentions. A compilation of some of the determinants
researchers have examined are: “transaction security, vendor quality, price
considerations, information and service quality, system quality, privacy and security
risks, trust, shopping enjoyment, valence of online shopping experience, and perceived
product quality”.

The lists of factors having a positive or negative impact on consumers’ willingness to

shop do not vary much from that of offline buying store. However, the sensitivities
customer display for individual factor might be very different in online retail scenario.
Factors like “price sensitivity, importance attributed to brands or the choice sets
considered in online and offline environments” can be significantly different from each
other.

 Shopping Orientation

i. Goal oriented shoppers: (Customers by Need) These types of shoppers go to the

retailer to satisfy a specific need to buy a particular product.
ii. Experimental Oriented shopper: (Customers searching for something new) These
types of shoppers are searching for new experience or product without any specific
need in mind.
iii. Mixed Oriented Shoppers: These types of shoppers enter in a store with a specific
need but also search for new products and experiences.
iv. No Orientation: these shoppers do not have any intention to either buy nor are they
looking for a specific product they just casually browse.

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  Reasons for shift to Online Stores (Advantages)

i. Time Saving: Initially when online shopping was introduced to the consumers
companies claimed it will save your time and efforts. Obviously it is time saving without
going out from home or office you are exposed to wide variety of products. But reverse
view point suggest shopping is for recreation and people go out and enjoy while doing
shopping. In the study its importance level will decide what consumer believes.

ii. 24X7 Presence: No store are open for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, even “9
eleven” stores close at night, this is an attractive feature to shift if you feel you are too
busy during the day to shop, consumers can shop anytime according to their schedule.

iii. Convenience: Imagine sitting at home on a Sunday morning and no hassle to go

out drive on high traffic roads, search for parking, park the car, while shopping in store
search for products, stand in queue for billing. Online shopping sounds so much
convenient, to shop online at your comfort level.

iv. Product hard to find: Online shopping has reduced the search cost of consumers
as you no longer have to roam around n number of stores to find a suitable product for
yourself, moreover you can get a product which you would have hardly imagined to get
in your city.

v. Better variety: As online stores don’t have physical boundaries it can get products
for you from any part of the world, which definitely provides you a better variety. For
consumers world market has come to their doorstep.

vi. Better Price: Online stores provide better price to the customers as middleman is
eliminated from the transaction cycle, now manufacturer or whole sellers can directly
sell the products at much lower prices.

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vii. Product Information: While shopping online customers get much needed product
information through customer reviews and ratings as well as description of product
provided on the website which makes it easy for customers to decide.

 Factors affecting online buying

i. Product: Product is a main element of market offering. Superior quality products and
services that provide unmatched customer value is a key to achieve market leadership.

ii. Price: With online buying consumers can easily compare the price with just a single
click and online retailers have to be careful in devising pricing strategy to match the
competitors and consumer’s expectations.

iii. Place: Place provide convenience, product information and personalization for vastly
different types of consumers and businesses. Goods are directly delivered at
customer’s desired place (office/home) and place is replaced by delivery.

iv. Promotion: Promotion are run to attract new customer and convert customer from
physical store to online marketplace. Habit of online retail is being developed in
customers and is lured to compare price and deals and go for best deals.

v. Technology: Technology with reference to online retail relate to web user interface,
website features, all the technical aspects linked with online buying. It plays a pivotal
role, as without user friendly, easy to use web interface all the activity related to online
retail are a complete waste.

vi. Service: Service is an important aspect of their offering as product is offered by

online retailer, service is offered by the intermediaries that are the websites. It includes
how they take care of their individual customers at every point of interaction, their return
and exchange policy, fast response to queries etc.

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vii. Security: Online retail and security have become inseparable terms, most research
were conducted with reference to security issues faced by customers. Online retailers
are also taking major steps to eliminate all the loopholes in security. Information privacy,
security of transactions and non delivery risk were the major issues faced. It is assumed
people prefer to purchase from renowned websites to do away with these issues.

 Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

• Satisfaction: “Satisfaction is derived when actual performance of a product exceeds

expected performance of a product. If the actual performance does not match
expectations, the customer is disappointed. If it matches expectations, the customer is
satisfied. When actual performance exceeds expectation the customer is delighted”.

• Loyalty: Oliver defines loyalty as “A deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a

preferred product or service in the future despite situational influences and marketing
efforts having the potential to cause switching behavior”.

“The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is not

proportional. Suppose on a scale of 1 – 5, customer satisfaction is rated. At a very low
level of satisfaction (level one), it implies customers do not like the product/seller and
may promote the company negatively. At middle levels that is; 2 - 4 customers is fairly
satisfied but do not hesitate witch when provided with a better offer. At level five, the
customer is highly satisfied and is likely to repurchase and even spread good word of
mouth about the retailer. High satisfaction or delight creates an emotional bond with the
brand or company”.

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  Mobile Shopping Application

As mobile applications are gaining importance in E-tailing and all the major players have
launched their mobile application, part of research studies the acceptance of shopping
via mobile application. Mobile penetration has provided E-tailers with n number of
opportunity to stay connected to customers at any point of time and even to an extent
they can practice push marketing.

Further to study the online consumer behavior towards adaptability of mobile shopping
application keeping some points in mind statements were framed;

i. Comfort: How comfortable customer is using and accessing the E-tailer through
mobile shopping application and whether it has replaced laptops/PC.

ii. Screen size: Comparing the screen of mobile phone which is too small in
comparison to laptop/PC, respondents were asked whether they find it convenient to
shop.

iii. Shopping on the go: Using a mobile shopping application helps customer shop
anywhere, anytime. People can utilize their free time while travelling or waiting to shop
online. Respondents were asked whether they feel the same.

iv. Product comparison: Mobile shopping application has made product comparison
too easy, while shopping at physical store customers can search product with its price
and features and decide from where to buy, it has bought more transparency in the
market. Respondents were asked whether they agree to the statement.

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Impact of COVID-19 on Ecommerce

As news of COVID-19 spread and as it was officially declared a pandemic by the World
Health Organization, people responded by stocking up. They bought out medical
supplies like hand sanitizer and masks and household essentials like toilet paper and
bread. Soon, both brick-and-mortar and online stores were struggling to keep up with
demand, and price gouging for supplies became rampant.

Humans respond to crises in different ways. When faced with an uncertain, risky
situation over which we have no control, we tend to try whatever we can to feel like we
have some control.

Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist at the University of the Arts London was
quoted by CNBC as saying: “Panic buying can be understood as playing to our three
fundamental psychology needs.” These needs are autonomy (or the need to feel in
control of your actions), relatedness (the need to feel that we are doing something to
benefit our families), and competence (the need to feel like smart shoppers making the
correct choice).

These psychological factors are the same reasons “retail therapy” is a response to
many different types of personal crises; however, during a pandemic there are added
layers. One is that the global spread of COVID-19 has been accompanied by a lot of
uncertainty and at times contradictory information. When people are hearing differing
advice from multiple sources, they have a greater instinct to over-, rather than under-,
prepare.

Secondly, there is the crowd mentality. Seeing other people buying up the shelves and
then seeing a scarcity of necessary products validates the decision to stock up. No one
wants to be left behind without any resources.

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Factors that Will Continue to Drive Ecommerce Growth

Let's look at some of the reasons that customers are likely to continue shopping more
and more online.

 New shopping habits. Due to quarantine, people's way of buying items has
changed. The situation has persisted long enough for these patterns to become
ingrained. Certainly, when stores open customers will venture out more.
However, this doesn't mean they'll suddenly stop the fairly addictive, and
comforting feeling of shopping online.

 COVID-19 fears aren't going to disappear overnight. Even when the

quarantine ends, people will be cautious and many will still prefer shopping from
the safety of their homes.

 The rapid growth of mobile devices is making it easier than ever to browse
and shop online. Customers can place orders one-handed from the device that
is likely in their hand or pocket at all times.

 Even as some items became scarce in physical stores there were options
for ordering online. And things like toilet paper that became nonexistent in brick
and mortar stores could be ordered or pre-ordered online.

Convenience, wide selection, and savings have spurred online retail since the
beginning. This will continue exponentially as e-commerce becomes even more popular
and competitive.

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 CHAPTER 3
COMPANY PROFILE

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 Company’s Profile

Fig.3: Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the provision of online retail shopping services. It

operates through the following business segments: North America, International, and
Amazon Web Services (AWS). The North America segment includes retail sales of
consumer products and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as
www.amazon.com and www.amazon.ca. The International segment offers retail sales of
consumer products and subscriptions through internationally-focused websites. The
Amazon Web Services segment involves in the global sales of compute, storage,
database, and AWS service offerings for start-ups, enterprises, government agencies,
and academic institutions. The company was founded by Jeffrey P. Bozos in July 1994
and is headquartered in Seattle, WA.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMAZON

Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeffrey P. Bozos. Jeff Bezos incorporated the
company (as Cadabra) in July 1994. The name Amazon was founded soon after
because the Amazon River is the largest in the world, and the letter “A” would help the
company to show up at the top of alphabetical lists. and the site went online
as Amazon.com in 1995. The name Amazon was founded soon after because the
Amazon River is the largest in the world, and the letter “A” would help the company to
show up at the top of alphabetical lists. The one thing that made them famous was their
books. Their first profit was reached in the last quarter of 2001.The logo itself is the
company name. Amazon, with an arrow below, pointing from A to Z, representing that

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they could provide every product in the alphabet and also customer satisfaction, as it
forms a smile. Amazons headquarters is in Seattle Washington United States. A major
provider of cloud computing services.

Amazons stock was opened to the public in 1997 under the Nasdaq symbol AMZN at
the price of $18.00 per share. The stock prices over the past 10 years have increased
from around $20 a share to nearly $170 per share. The last great climb in stock prices
began in 2008 and the company has managed to stay on top. Amazon's goal for the
stock price is $400. The progress has gradually continued steadily over the years and
there is no sign that this company’s growth will stop anytime soon. One thing that is the
similar between the Amazon of today and the Amazon of 20 years ago is that there are
still many problems.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF AMAZON.COM

Although the Amazon.com service and experience were and still are at the core of the
company’s success, the characteristics of the company’s organizational structure also
play a huge role.
The thing about Amazon’s organizational structure is that it enables extensive top-down
control over global e-commerce operations. This is ideal because the company has
various operations in different business areas. As a leading online business, it’s
imperative for Amazon to maintain a structure that supports its diverse and rapidly
expanding market reach.

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 Fig.4: Organizational Structure Of Amazon

Amazon’s organizational structure is a functional one that focuses on different business

functions and components as bases for defining the interactions and reporting
relationships among these different components. As you can see from Amazon’s org
structure that we’ve recreated with our org chart tool Organism, it consists of three
primary components:
1. An overarching global hierarchy
2. Global groups based on function
3. Geographic divisions with their own sub-divisions

AMAZON CURRENT SALES

Amazon’s net income more than tripled to $8.1 billion in the first three months of 2021,
exceeding the record set in the fourth quarter of 2020. Sales in North America
increased by 39.5% while international sales shot up by 60.4%.
1. Net sales of $108.518 billion, a 43.8% increase from $75.452 billion in the same
quarter in 2020. Net product sales accounted for $57.491 billion, up 37.4% year
over year from $41.841 billion. Net service sales, which include Amazon’s
fulfillment services for sellers on its marketplaces, hit $51.027 billion, up 51.8%
from the prior year’s $33.611 billion.

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2. North American net sales of $64.366 billion, up 39.5% from $46.127 billion in the
first quarter of 2020. North America accounted for 59.3% of total net sales in the
first quarter of 2020, or 67.7% of sales excluding Amazon Web Services.
3. International net sales totaling $30.649 billion, up 60.4% from $19.106 billion in
the first quarter of 2020. International accounted for 28.2% of total net sales in
the fourth quarter, or 32.3% of sales, excluding AWS.
4. Amazon Web Services revenue hit $13.503 billion during the quarter,
up 32.1% from $10.219 billion a year earlier. AWS sales accounted for 12.4% of
consolidated revenue in the first quarter of 2020.
5. Other revenue, including Amazon’s rapidly growing advertising business,
totaled $6.905 billion, up 76.8% from $3.906 billion in the same period in 2020.
6. Revenue from subscriptions, including Prime member fees, was $7.580 billion,
up 36.4% from $5.556 billion in the same period in 2020.
7. Amazon’s operating income rose 103.2% to $8.865 billion from $3.989 billion.
AWS earned $4.163 billion in operating income, an increase of 35.4% from
$3.075 billion a year ago. That profit represented 47.0% of Amazon’s Q1
operating income, down from 77.1% in the same quarter last year.
8. Net income of $8.107 billion, up 219.8% from $2.535 billion in the same period in
2020.
9. Spending on fulfillment increased 43.4% to $16.530 billion, up from $11.531
billion in the same period in 2020.

31
 Company’s Profile

Fig.5: Flipkart

Flipkart is one of India’s leading e-commerce marketplaces. It was founded in October

2007 and its headquarters are in Bangalore. It was founded by Sachin Bansal and
Binny Bansal. This online venture was initially started as an online bookstore and as the
popularity of the company grew, it expanded and diversified its operations.
It started selling other items such as music, movies, and mobile phones. As the
revolution of e-commerce gained momentum in India, Flipkart grew at an accelerated
pace and added several new product lines in its portfolio. Flipkart has 100 million
registered users and more than a million sellers on its electronic commerce platform. To
ensure prompt delivery to its customers, the company has invested in setting up
warehouses in 21 states.

HISTORY OF FLIPKART

Flipkart was originally started as an online book store in October 2007. To start Flipkart,
the founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal left their jobs at Amazon and took a huge
risk to start a venture of their own. When the founders thought of starting Flipkart as a
company the market at that time was not so much vibrant and was not adapted to the e-
Commerce sector that much.

This means e-commerce in India was mostly non-existent at that time and there was no
certainty about its future. Still, the Bansals decided to take this risk and now it has
turned out to be a huge success.

32
One of the major problems that Flipkart tackled during its initial years was online
payments because at that time, people in India were averse to make online payments to
a virtual store, due to fear of frauds and loss of money.
To deal with this issue, Flipkart launched its ‘Cash on Delivery’ service, which helped to
build confidence among online buyers. It also made significant efforts to improve the
supply chain system, which helped the company to ensure timely delivery to its
customers.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF FLIPKART

There are top five shareholders of the Flipkart, the list is as follows:-
1. Walmart – Holds 81.3% Stake
2. Tiger Global – Holds 4.77% Stake
3. Binny Bansal – Holds 4.2% Stake
4. Microsoft – 1.53%
5. Accel 1.38 per cent,
6. Iconiq Capital 0.98 per cent,
7. Temasek 0.29 per cent and
8. UBS 0.19 per cent

*Others would include the investments by DST Globals, Morgan Stanley, NEA
Ventures, Iconiq, and many other big anchor investors.
Flipkart is the company which is incorporated in the year 2011 in Singapore and
registered itself with the Singaporean government. Flipkart Pvt Ltd is the main holding
and the parent company under which there are many subsidiaries involved.
There are three subsidiaries under Flipkart Pvt Ltd. They are:
 Myntra
 PhonePe
 Upstream Commerce Ltd.
 Jabong.com
 Ekart

33
  FK Myntra Holdings Private Limited
 DSYN Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 AdIQuity Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 Ugenie, Inc.
 Jeeves Consumer Services Pvt Ltd
 Mallers, Inc.

Under the above three companies, there are five other companies which have been
incorporated in India. They are:
 Flipkart Payment Gateway Services Pvt Ltd (Which provides the payment
gateway services with the product called payzippy)
 Flipkart India Pvt Ltd (Wholesale cash and carry entity)
 Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd (Flipkart.com is owned by this company and all the
technology related issues is seen by this company)
 Digital Media Pvt Ltd (It is a dormant company which doesn’t files its return)
 Digital Management Services Pvt Ltd (It is an enterprise which runs letsbuy.com)

FLIPKART CURRENT SALES

Flipkart Private Limited reported a revenue amounting to approximately 346.1 billion

Indian rupees in the financial year 2020 in India. Additionally, the e-commerce player
had an increase of 12 percent in its revenue, compared to the previous year. Flipkart is
one of India's largest online retailers along with Amazon India. In 2018, American retail
giant Walmart acquired the home-grown retailer for 16 billion U.S. dollars became a 77
percent-stakeh older.

34
Revenue of Flipkart Private Limited between financial year 2014 and 2020

Fig.6: Revenue of Flipkart Private Limited

35
CHAPTER 4
OBJECTIVES

36
 Objectives

 To understand the consumer behavior on Ecommerce platforms during covid

pandemic.

 To identify the customer satisfaction level in buying goods online.

 To know which platform does the public use most for ordering and what they
prefer to order the most.

 To study the growth of Ecommerce industry in India.

37
 CHAPTER 5
LITERATURE REVIEW

38
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Agarwal Devendera (2012) The paper provides a deep insight into E-commerce,
beginning from history as to how the concept of E-commerce came into existence in
year 1970 in the form of “EDI (electronic data interchange)”. Electronic commerce was
identified as the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology
such as “Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)” and “Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)”.
WWW came into existence in year 1990; Commercial business on the Internet was
strictly prohibited till 1991. But later the Internet became popular worldwide around
1994, it is when the first internet online shopping started, it took about five years to
introduce security protocols and DSL allowing continuous connection to the Internet. By
the end of 2000, many European and American business companies offered their
services through the World Wide Web.

Khosla and Kumar (2017) in their analytical report mentioned that some of the trends
expected to come in near future in e- commerce can be growth in omni channels, niche
businesses, mergers and acuisitions, tapping more rural markets, rise in internet
marketing, focus on services, rise in digital payment modes, better infrastructure and
supply chain management.

Mahipal, D., (2018) in his paper mentions different phases of internet from year 1995
to present era. Further, the study concludes that there will be tremendous growth in
coming years provided there is security in legal framework and e-commerce so that
domestic and international trade could expand.

Seth, A., Wadhawan, N., (2016) mentions that retailers are required to go beyond their
boundaries in order to get compatible with new digital business era. Digitalization is no
more a choice now, rather it has become a necessity for all retailers. This could
include transformation of business models, incorporating technological investments,
getting tech-savvy with new advancements.

39
Kumar, N., (2018) in his report mentions tremendous growth in e-commerce is
expected to rise 4 times by year 2021 in comparison to 2015. Major contributors to this
growth are going to be smartphones and internet users, rise in awareness among
general public, better internet services, digitalization of most of the initiatives with the
support of government, entry of foreign investors and business players, advanced
payment options available to consumers but Government need to take steps to provide
proper legal framework and minimize obstacles in growth.

Shahjee, R., (2016) states that e-commerce has given a platform to companies to
display their varied products and to make it easy for consumers to quicky find out
products of their interest, which was comparatively difficult by marketing traditionally.
But on the contrary, e commerce is facing lot of difficulties related to infrastructural
capabilities and computer and internet lack of knowledge among consumers, specially
rural consumers.

Shettar, M., (2016) suggested that proper knowledge and understanding of legal
framework and possible issue and risk management is required for businesses these
days. The growing e commerce in India has attracted the attention of global players
too. With the increase in SMEs, FDI and MNCs more and more employment
opportunies are granted to consumers, thereby increasing their buying capacity.

Mitra (2013) highlights the importance of e-commerce, stating that this is going to be
future for purchasing and shopping. The government needs to provide assistance in
legal framework to that business could widen up their horizons and work with new
advanced technologies and business practices, along with secured transactions.

Chen Kuanchin (2004) With the growing need of internet software in day to day life, it
has posed a challenge as internet user’s login with different goals. E-commerce
websites are tempted to clutter the limited online marketing space with information
which is of not much use to the user. It becomes a major challenge as different users
visit same website with different goals.

40
Goele S. Chanana N. (2012) mentions in their study that some of the industries like
Travel and tourism, electronic, hardware products and apparel are going to boom in
the coming future with the help of e-commerce. Some of the factors which will
contribute to this growth are M-comerce, replacement guarantees, different payment
modes, logistics and shipment options, product quality standards, customer care
services.

Melao (2008), E-Commerce probably began with electronic data interchange in the
1960s. However, he suggests that it was only in the 1990s, primarily via the Internet,
that E-Commerce has emerged as a core feature of many organizations. In his opinion,
the hope was that E-Commerce would revolutionize the ways in which organizations
interact with customers, employees, suppliers and partners. Some saw e- Business
as part of a recipe to stay competitive in the global economy. The term “E-Commerce”
has a very broad application and means different things to different people.
Furthermore, its relation with e-commerce is at the source of many disagreements.

Brahm Canzer (2009), A more comprehensive definition of E-Commerce is: “The

transformation of an organization’s processes to deliver additional customer value
through the application of technologies, philosophies and computing paradigm of the
new economy.” In a simple sense, E-Commerce can be defined as, “the organized
effort of individuals to produce and sell, for profit, products and services that satisfy
society’s needs through the facilities available on the Internet”.

Yen-Yi (2006) Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and
external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely
with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their
customers. E- Business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the
functions that occur using electronic capabilities.

Taylor and Murphy (2004) The Stages theory has been widely used as a way of
examining the adoption and progression of various aspects of electronic business in

41
organizations. The main assumption of the Stages theory is that organizations progress
towards electronic business through a number of clearly defined and successive
stages or phases. Each adoption stage or phase is characterized by the existence of
distinctive applications, benefits and problems while it reflects a particular level of
maturity in terms of the use and management of Information Systems and Information
Technologies

Mendo and Fitzgerald (2005) Within the Staged adoption models, early stages of
electronic business adoption are typically characterized by gaining access to the
Internet followed by the use of relatively simple applications, such as electronic mail (e-
mail), in order to dispense and gather information. Later, the business starts to publish
a wider range of information in order to market its products or services and perhaps
provide after-sales support. The deployment of electronic commerce practices comes
next, allowing the users of the corporate site to order and/or pay for goods and
services. In the most mature stages, the corporate website is fully integrated with the
various back office systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer
relationship management (CRM), and integrated supply chain management (SCM)
applications

According to Melao (2008) the clear commonalities among these definitions, include
the improvement of business processes and the use of ICT in intranets, extranets and
the Internet to conduct business. He defines E-Commerce as the use of ICT as an
enabler to (re)design, manage, execute, improve and control business processes both
within and between organizations. Thus, front and back-office integration and multi-
channel integration become crucial in E-Commerce, which requires a challenging
process improvement approach to support the necessary organizational, technological
and social changes.

Basu and Muylle (2007) companies can gain two fundamental types of benefits from E-
Commerce. These are generally described as: Value Creation or Value Enhancement
for one or more of a company’s stakeholder groups; and Lower Cost of providing

42
goods and services to the market place. Examples under Value Creation include
Improvement in internal and external communication through effective e- marketing,
Increment of sales through an e-commerce website integrated with a back office
systems and Improvement in supplier relations and productivity through collaborative
workspaces (Basu and Muylle, 2007). And examples under Lower ost are: reduction in
communication and travel costs using online meeting tools; shared workspaces and;
benefit from license free open source alternatives to proprietary software.

A. K. Sohani (2009) Businesses also see tremendous opportunities for cost saving,
revenue generation, increased market share, marketing and market access, and
improving customer service through direct links that facilitate speedy enquiry and
feedback. Similarly, consumers can inter alia, access the world market through the
virtual economy on the Internet, choose from a wider variety of products, and shop in
the comfort of their homes. Globalization and specifically liberalization of communication
networks have all facilitated this break-through that further presents a massive boost for
international trade.

Mendo and Fitzgerald (2005) Electronic business can be approached in many different
ways, depending on the specific business process that might be carried out through
the Internet. Thus, several Internet usage profiles or approaches are possible. A
company must determine which profile or combination of profiles best suits its
particular business context and strategy .

Windrum and Berranger (2002) suggest that the commercial benefits of E-Commerce
lie in five areas. Firstly, firms are able to expand their geographical reach. Secondly,
important cost benefits lie in improved efficiency in procurement, production and
logistics processes. Thirdly, there is enormous scope for gaining through improved
customer communications and management. Fourthly, the Internet reduces barriers to
entry for new market entrants and provides an opportunity for small firms to reorient
their supply chain relationships to forge new strategic partnerships.

43
According to Windrum and Berranger (2002) it is hypothesized that many of the factors
affecting the successful adoption of new technologies such as E-Commerce are
generic in nature and that the successful adoption of internet technologies in part
depends on how these are used in conjunction with the other technologies and
management practices that form a ‘technology’ cluster.

Wang, Lin and Tang (2003) claims that in the 1990s e-banking was under-utilised as
business organizations used it only to market their products and services. Thornton
and White (2001), examined customer orientations and usage of financial distribution
channels in the Australian financial industry, found that more recently most financial
institutions, faced with competitive pressure after the introduction of deregulation in
1983, have rethought their strategies to take full advantage of IT. Rafiu (2007) opines
that the challenge to expand and maintain banking market share has influenced many
banks to invest more in making better use of the Internet. The emergence of e-banking
had made many banks rethink their IT strategies in competitive markets. This findings
suggest that the banks that fail to respond to the emergence of e-banking in the market
are likely to lose customers and that the cost of offering e-banking services is less
than the cost of keeping branch banking.

Karjaluoto (2002) indicated that banks have the choice to offer their banking services
through various electronic distribution channels technologies such as Internet
technology, video banking technology, telephone banking technology, and WAP
technology. They also indicated that Internet technology is the main electronic
distribution channel in the banking industry. In other words, e-banking as an online
banking that involves the provision of banking services such as accessing accounts,
transferring funds between accounts, and offering an online financial service.

Kumar (2013) Youth spends maximum time over internet surfing but the study covered
the percentage of youth use internet other than surfing. It was found in previous studies
that online purchase acceptance raises when user perceive a streamline transaction
process i.e. order placing, payment & delivery. Finding a right product quickly holds

44
importance that can be controlled through navigation tools, search capabilities of a
website. Most customers are motivated by price and convenience of shopping rather
than experimental shopping. It was also found that online shopping is always planned
and trust in retailer, privacy of customers are important motivators. Majority of
customers like to shop for customized or specialty products online.

Ayo (2006) investigated the prospects of e-commerce based on ability, motivation and
opportunities (AMO) model and observed that virtually all companies have online
presence. The paper reported the motivation and opportunities for e-commerce as low
based on lack of e-Payment infrastructure and access to information and
communication technology (ICT) facilities.

Bela (2007) Matching e-tailing strategies to customers’ behavior: Three level of

Interaction” focuses on partnership level between the customer and E-tailer depending
upon the information they are willing to share. Partnership level focuses on e-business
strategies to develop a long term relationship which results in loyalty. For example
customers sharing their preference are more likely to develop a strong partnership with
E-tailer as compared to customers who do not share their preferences.

Darshan (2006) This behavioral research aimed at exploring consumer’s shopping

orientations, identifying actual and potential online shoppers, their behavioral facets,
their expectations of and their experiences with online shopping. Short term users in
the study are classified as those who have been using internet for less than 2 years
and long term users for 2 or more years, light users are those using the internet for
less than 19 hours per week.

Chiemeke (2006) conducted an empirical investigation on adoption of e-banking in

Nigeria. The study identified the major inhibiting factors to Internet banking adoption in
Nigeria such as, insecurity, inadequate operational facilities including
telecommunications facilities and electricity supply, and made recommendations on
how Nigeria banks can narrow the digital divide. Also, the report revealed that Internet

45
banking is being offered at the basic level of interactivity with most of the banks having
mainly information sites and providing little Internet transactional services.

Park Chung Hoon (2003) A research model for the consumer purchase behavior in
online shopping is constructed in the paper further tested and validated. It consists on
online store attributes which combine form consumer perception for the online store
(product information quality, service information quality, user interface quality, security
perception and site awareness). Information satisfaction and relational benefits are
considered to affect consumer shopping behavior.

Desai Hardik kumar V. (2012) The paper studies experience of rural India of using E-
commerce and problems faced by the population to perform online purchase. It also
studies the reach of E-commerce in rural India. The area of research emphasize on
rural sector of Gandevi Taluka, near Navsari district. It includes Villages like Salej,
Gadat, Amalsad, Sonwadi, Icchapor, Khakhwada, Ancheli, Pathri, Ajarai, Dhanori, and
Andhel. Amongst the sample selected 76% were computer literate and 65% were
aware of Ecommerce but only 21% had used E-commerce medium for shopping.

Gupta S.L. (2009) The study focuses on the aspect that “urban Indian youth is more of
an online surfer than an online shopper”. It has long way to go with dynamic upgrade
technology of E-commerce. A small number of “urban Indian youth” has started
accepting the role of internet in shopping. The paper has studied how youth and its life
is influenced by the internet. Study covered respondents between age group 18-25 in
Noida region.

Aneesh Reddy (2020) Consumers move towards digital Aneesh Reddy explained that
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the way we work has totally changed, the way we used
to shop and communicate with people. People are only going out only to buy essential
items from the retail stores and sill they are worried to go out to buy essential gods
because they are constantly worried about getting infected. Reddy said that according
to trifecta, due to a cheaper 4G network and constantly increasing consumer wealth,

46
Indian EE-commerce is expected to grow to US$200 billion by 2026. But these
projections were based on the pre-covid19. But as COVID-19 hit India, the surging
demand of e-commerce for the past few months is so high that the e-commerce industry
could hit $200 billion much earlier.

Bansal.S (2020) Opinion will consumer behavior see shift post-covid-19 Shuchi Bansal
said that, as a consequence of COVID-19 lockdown, there would be a major shift in the
supply chain and an increased consumption of e-commerce portals through the internet.
It has been estimated that the online stores engaged in sales of groceries and other
FMCG products could see a massive shift in demand to avoid going out to crowded
shops and marketplaces. After analysing the consumer buying behaviour from the time
India first encountered COVID-19 till the time it went under the lockdown, it could be
said that people have become more conscious about health and hygiene and there
would be fewer visits to stores and more online shopping for customers.

Nath.S (2020) Did the lockdown accelerate the digitization of India Inc? Sanstuti Nath
threw light on the term 'digital consumption'. Her study on the consumption patterns of
consumers post-pandemic lockdown, showed that the e-commerce companies have
seen a significant growth of 70-100% for essential commodities. And this sudden
adaption of digital platforms can be allocated to mobile advertising. Top companies and
brands were already benefiting themselves from these platforms, and also now post
lockdown this whole scenario is going to change how consumers buy.

Mukherjee.W, Bailay.R, Srivastava. A (2020) consumer goods flying off the shelves
Covid-19 lockdown has witnessed a sudden rise in the online sales of consumer goods
like groceries through the emerging online platforms like Grofers, big basket, etc. in the
form of panic buying. Various FMCG companies have witnessed a 20-25% rise in the
sales of these goods in each category. E-commerce companies like these have stated
that they are stocking these goods in advance as compared to the pre-lockdown period
and are seeing this as an opportunity to encourage customers to go online shopping
and benefit from the same.

47
Shashidhar.A (2020) Covid-19: FMCG majors Amul, Godrej, ITC hike output up to 20%
as anxiety buying spikes Due to the pandemic lockdown consumers have been
witnessing stocking out of consumer goods like milk, flour, rice, groceries and personal
care products like soaps, sanitizers, handwashes, etc. And in this time e-commerce
platforms have been trying their best to meet the consumer's demand for FMCG
products. FMCG companies like Amul, Godrej, and ITC have raised their production as
well as rates as a result of a huge increase in the demand for these goods. They stated
that this has been due to the reason that people are preferring to be confined in their
homes and buy goods that are contact-free through these portals and see this as a
great opportunity for the e-commerce industry in the country to boost and emerge as a
profitable platform in the coming years. And with the end of this lockdown period,
consumer's buying behavior and preferences are going to change drastically.

Yatti Soni (2020) The Reset: Covid-19 Highlights Direct-To-Consumer Potential For
Indian Ecommerce Even before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, e-commerce
becoming the need the every household. Due to the pandemic now e-commerce is only
supplying the essential goods so that consumers feel safer and not be fearful to go out
to buy essential goods from retail stores. According to Capgemini's research on
consumer sentiment, this report states that the consumer of e-commerce is going to
increase from 46% to 64% over the next to nine months.

Anirudh Laskar (2020) Lockdown impact: India e-commerce market picks pace, may
touch 7 trillion rupees by 2023 Due to the coronavirus pandemic it has pushed the
consumer to shift from offline retail stores to online shopping, according to CAGR it says
that in 2023 Indian e-commerce would be 7 trillion rupees by 2023. CAGR mentioned
that the annual growth of e-commerce is 19.6% between 2019 and 2023. The major
growth can be seen in the 2 leaders of e-commerce Flipkart and Amazon. And because
of online shopping, the shipments of smartphones in India rose by 8% YOY to 152.5
million units, which makes India the fastest growing market among the top 20 in the
world.

48
 CHAPTER 6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

49
 Research Methodology

Research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed
phenomenon. Research involves inductive and deductive methods. Inductive research
methods are used to analyze an observed event. Deductive methods are used to verify
the observed event. Inductive approaches are associated with qualitative research and
deductive methods are more commonly associated with quantitative research.

The process used to collect information and data for the purpose of making business
decisions is called as Research Methodology. The methodology may include
publication research, interviews, surveys and other research techniques, and could
include both present and historical information.

The purpose of methodology is to describe the purpose involved in the research work.
This includes the overall research design, the data collection method. Research
methodology refers to the various sequential steps to be adopted by a researcher in
studying a problem with certain object or objective in view.

Research Design

A Research Design is a methodical, well-organized procedure utilized by a researcher,

or a scientist to carry out a scientific study. It is a comprehensive co-existence of
already identified elements and any other information or data leading to a reasonable
end result. The research design is required to follow a pre-planned, well-thought-out
methodology, in agreement with the pre-selected research type, in order to come up
with an error-free, authentic conclusion.

50
Types of Research Design:

 Exploratory Design :
As the name suggests, exploratory research is conducted to explore a group of
questions. The answers and analytics may not offer a final conclusion to the
perceived problem. It is conducted to handle new problem areas which haven’t
been explored before. This exploratory process lays the foundation for more
conclusive research and data collection.

 Descriptive Design :
Descriptive research focuses on expanding knowledge on current issues through
a process of data collection. Descriptive studies are used to describe the
behavior of a sample population. In a descriptive study, only one variable is
required to conduct the study. The three main purposes of descriptive research
are describing, explaining, and validating the findings. For example, a study
conducted to know if top-level management leaders in the 21st century possess
the moral right to receive a huge sum of money from the company profit.

 Explanatory Design :
Explanatory research or causal research is conducted to understand the impact
of certain changes in existing standard procedures. Conducting experiments is
the most popular form of casual research. For example, a study conducted to
understand the effect of rebranding on customer loyalty.

Methods of Data Collection:

Data collection is a systematic process of gathering observations or measurements.

Whether you are performing research for business, governmental or academic
purposes, data collection allows you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights
into your research problem.

51
There are two types of data collection methods namely primary data collection and
secondary data collection.

 Primary Data :

Primary data is the kind of data that is collected directly from the data source
without going through any existing sources. It is mostly collected specially for a
research project and may be shared publicly to be used for other research.
Primary data is often reliable, authentic, and objective in as much as it was
collected with the purpose of addressing a particular research problem. It is
noteworthy that primary data is not commonly collected because of the high cost
of implementation. Main methods to collect primary data include:

 Questionnaires
 Interviews
 Observation

 Secondary Data :

Secondary data is the data that has been collected in the past by someone else
but made available for others to use. They are usually once primary data but
become secondary when used by a third party. Secondary data are usually
easily accessible to researchers and individuals because they are mostly shared
publicly. This, however, means that the data are usually general and not tailored
specifically to meet the researcher's needs as primary data does. Main methods
to collect secondary data include:

 Census
 Surveys
 Internet
 Journals, books, newspapers

52
Thus, the data is collected through primary source (questionnaire) and the
research is descriptive in nature. The research is conducted among 85
individuals. The data has been collected in the form of questionnaire from these
85 individual respondents on various factors that can help me to understand the
buying behavior of consumers by Ecommerce.

RESEARCH PROCESS IN THIS PROJECT/STUDY:

 Research Type : Descriptive

 Data Collection : Primary Data
 Population : Public (individual)
 Sample Size : 85
 Research Area : General Public
 Research Tools : Bar Graphs and Pie Charts
 Tools of Analysis : Numbers and Percentage

53
 CHAPTER 7
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

54
 Analysis and Interpretation

1) What is your gender?

Male 45

Female 40

Table 1

Fig. 7: Gender

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 45 respondents are male and the rest are female. The
respondents are chosen randomly. It was random sampling method of choosing
respondents.

55
2) What age group do you belong to?

10-20 40

21-30 28

31-40 13

40 above 4

Table 2

Fig. 8: Age group

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 40 are belongs to age group of 10-20, 28 are belongs to

age group of 21-30, 13 are belongs to age group of 31-40 and 4 are belongs to
age group of 40 and above. It was random sampling of choosing respondents.

56
3) What is your educational qualification?

Upto 12th class 40

Graduate 23

Post Graduate 14

Professionally Educated 8

Table 3

Fig.9: Educational Qualification

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 40 respondents are qualified upto 12 th class, 23

respondents are graduated, 14 respondents are post graduated and 8
respondents are professionally educated. The respondents are chosen randomly.

57
4) Have you purchased mostly goods online?

Yes 68

No 17

Table 4

Fig.10: Purchased goods online

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 68 respondents i.e., 80% have purchased mostly goods

online while other 17 respondents i.e., 20% may not purchase mostly goods
online. As it all depends on their preference.

58
5) Why do you purchase goods online?

Time Saving 72

More Convenience 51

Wide variety and 58

Information
Better Prices 65

Table 5

Fig. 11: Reason for purchasing goods online

 INTERPRETATION:-

When asked, why they purchases goods online, the following responses are
evaluated:
 84.7% respondents purchases goods online because of time saving.
 60% respondents purchases goods online because of more convenience.

59
 68.2% respondents purchases goods online because of wide variety and
information.
 76.4% respondents purchases goods online because of better prices.

It has been analyzed that people like to see content mostly in the form of
videos and pictures. And it depends on the preference of people to people.

60
6) Which website do you prefer the most?

Amazon 78

Flipkart 65

Snapdeal 13

Myntra 41

IndiaMART 16

Table 6

Fig. 12: Website they prefer most

 INTERPRETATION:-

When asked, which website they prefer the most, the following responses are
evaluated:
 91.7% respondents prefer Amazon.

61
 76.4% respondents prefer Flipkart.
 15.2% respondents prefer Snapdeal.
 48.2% respondents prefer Myntra.
 18.8% respondents prefer IndiaMART.

Thus, it is clear that people prefers Amazon and Flipkart most.

62
7) What do you prefer buying online?

Apparels and Fashion 55

goods
Books 12

Grocery 53

Mobiles, Laptops and 61

Tablets
Electronic items 74

Home Furnishings 26

Footwear 58

Others 8

Table 7

Fig. 13: Products they purchase online

63
 INTERPRETATION:-

When asked, what they prefer online, the following responses are evaluated:
 64.7% respondents purchase apparels and fashion goods.
 14.1% respondents purchases books.
 62.35% respondents purchases grocery.
 71.7% respondents purchases mobiles, laptops and tablets.
 87% respondents purchases electronic goods.
 30.5% respondents purchases home furnishings.
 68.2% respondents purchase footwear.
 9.4% respondents purchase other things.

It has been analyzed that people are mostly interested in products like
apparels and fashion, grocery and electronic items. It depends on the interest
area of the person.

64
8) How do you pay for online shopping?

Cash on Delivery 77

Debit Card 51

Credit Card 39

Internet Banking 62

Table 8

Fig. 14: Modes of payment

 INTERPRETATION:-

When asked, what the purpose of using social networking sites is, the following
responses are evaluated:
 90.5% respondents use cash on delivery for online shopping.
 60% respondents use debit card for online shopping.
 45.8% respondents use credit card for online shopping.
 72.9% respondents use internet banking for online shopping.

So, it can be seen that there are mixed responses about how the consumers
pay for online shopping.

65
9) How many times have you bought things online? (during past one year)

Never 0

1-2 times 8

3-5 times 26

6-10 times 34

11 and more times 17

Table 9

Fig. 15: Bought things during past one year

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 8 respondents bought 1-2 times, 26 respondents bought

3-5 times, 34 respondents bought 6-10 times and 17 respondents bought 11 and
more times things from online shopping. It seems that most of the respondents
bought mostly things from online.

66
10) Do you think that online shopping enables you to get more information about
products than offline shopping?

Yes 30

No 16

Maybe 39

Table 10

Fig. 16: Get more information or not

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 30 respondents say yes, 16 respondents say no and rest of

the respondents say maybe about the online shopping enables to get more
information about products than offline shopping.

67
11) Are you satisfied with shopping online rather than buying from retail shops?

Very Satisfied 12

Satisfied 38

Neutral 30

Dissatisfied 5

Very Dissatisfied 0

Table 11

Fig. 17: Satisfied with online shopping

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 12 respondents are very satisfied, 38 respondents are

satisfied, 30 respondents are neutral and 5 respondents are dissatisfied with
shopping online rather than buying from retail shops.

68
12) Do you think that online shopping is safe and secure?

Highly Secured 10

Moderately Secured 35

Neutral 33

Not Secured 7

Totally Unsafe 0

Table 12

Fig. 18: Safe and secure

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 10 respondents say highly secured, 35 respondents say

moderately secured, 33 respondents say neutral, 7 respondents say not secured
about that online shopping is safe and secure.

69
13) Do you think that offers provided by the companies in online shopping is
satisfactory?

Yes 71

No 14

Table 13

Fig.19: Offers are satisfactory

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 71 respondents are agreed and rests of them are

disagreeing that the offers provided by the companies in online shopping is
satisfactory.

70
14) Do you recommend online shopping to your friends and family?

Yes 80

No 5

Table 14

Fig.20: Recommend online shopping to others

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 80 respondents recommend online shopping to their family

members and friends while rests of them are not.

71
15) Do you think that e-commerce industry is going to replace your traditional offline
shopping?

Yes 32

No 13

Maybe 40

Table 15

Fig. 21: Offline shopping gets replaced

 INTERPRETATION:-

Out of 85 responses, 32 respondents say yes, 13 respondents say no and

remaining respondents say maybe about that e-commerce industry is going to
replace their traditional offline shopping.

72
CHAPTER 8
LIMITATIONS

73
 Limitations

 The responses from the respondents could be biased which ultimately affects the
results shown by marketing research.

 The sample size is limited to 85 respondents because of this corona pandemic. It

is not possible to take face to face survey in this situation. So, the only option
available is taking online survey through questionnaire.

 Difficulty in reaching some types of participants, such as those who do not have
internet access or any network issues at their end.

 One more problem had risen during online survey, which is some people ignored
or deleted the questionnaire as may be they are not interested in filling up the
online form or may be gets annoyed.

74
CHAPTER 9
CONCLUSION

75
 CONCLUSION

 Most of the responses are submitted by the males as compared to females and
most of the respondents belong to age group of 10-20 whose educational
qualification is upto 12th class.

 There are various e-commerce platforms from which Amazon and Flipkart are
the most used platforms by the customers and they pay their bills for online
shopping is through cash on delivery, debit card, credit card and also internet
banking.

 Many of the consumers prefer to buy mostly goods like apparels and fashion,
grocery, electronics items and also footwear by online shopping because it saves
time, more convenient, wide variety and information about products and better
prices than retail shops.

 Most consumers are satisfied with the online shopping rather than offline
shopping because they feels that online shopping is safe and secure. So, they
also recommend it to their family members and friends.

 Online shopping enables customers to get more information about products as

compared to offline shopping and also offers provided by companies in online
shopping is more reliable. So, it might be possible that traditional offline shopping
is get replaced by e-commerce industry in coming years

76
 CHAPTER 10
RECOMMENDATIONS

77
 RECOMMEDATIONS

 Video marketing: More creative ways to attract audiences, video usage is

becoming a key scope of interest for revenue growth. Video is no longer
considered a niche skill or category when trying to expand the types of content
that your company can produce. The costs and skills required for video
production have gone down tremendously in the past years, making it a highly
efficient way of conveying complex information about your brand.

 Guided selling: Guided selling is a form of product recommendation that makes

suggestions and provides product information based on both statistical data and
on the answers shoppers provide to questions related to the product or how the
product will be used.

 Fast checkout: The best experience that buyers can have is a fast checkout and
a fast payment. ASOS has allowed users to register using email address,
Facebook, Twitter, or Google accounts – they also have a one-page checkout
containing billing address, delivery address, delivery type (such as standard or
faster delivery options), payment details (including PayPal) which all makes for
an incredibly efficient checkout.

 Enhanced Customer Engagement: The improved customer experience will

guarantee a higher customer engagement rate. When the customer feels valued
and, at the same time, finds your website user-friendly, your chances of
engagement will be enhanced. Keeping a one-to-one relationship with every
customer is simply impossible, however, that does not mean you can not engage
them in a meaningful way.

78
 CHAPTER 11
BIBLIOGRAPHY

79
 Bibliography

Websites:-

 Introduction :-

o https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/covid-19-ecommerce/#conclusion
o https://www.progress.com/blogs/the-growing-importance-of-ecommerce-
in-a-post-covid-19-
world#:~:text=More%20and%20more%2C%20customers%20now,into%2
0the%20post%2Dpandemic%20future.
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce

 Literature Review:
o Aggarwal, M. (2014, November). Escalating Development of E-Commerce
in India. International Journal Of Scientific Research, 3(11), 78-79.
o Khosla, M., Kumar, H., (2017). Growth of e-commerce in India: An
analytical review of literature. IOSR journal of Business and
Management. 19(6), 91-95.
o Mahipal, D., (2018).E-commerce Growth in India: A study of Segments
Contribution. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal. 2(2).
o Seth, A., Wadhawan, N., (2016). Technology Revolutionizing Retail
Practices in Digital Era. International Journal of Recent Research
Aspects, 60-62.
o Kumar, N., (2018). E-Commerce in India: An Analysis of Present Status,
Challenges and Opportunities. International Journal of Management
Studies. (5), 2(3), 90-95.
o Shahjee, R., (2016). The Impact Of Electronic Commerce On Business
Organization. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies.4

80
 (27), 3130-3140.
o Shettar, M., (2016). Emerging Trends of E-Commerce in India: An
Empirical Study. International Journal of Business and Management
Invention. 5 (9), 25-31.
o Mitra, A., (2013).E-Commerce in India- A Review. International Journal of
Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research. 2 (2), 126-132.
o Goele, S., Chanana, N., (2012). Future of e-Commerce in India.
International Journal of Computing & Business Research. Proceedings of
‘I-Society 2012’ at GKU, Talwandi Sabo Bathinda, Punjab.
o Aulakh, G. (2015, September). Retrieved from
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/ali
baba-ant- financial-invest-about-680-million-in-paytm-up-stake-to-
40/articleshow/49148651.cms
o Awais, M., & Samin, T. (2012, March). Advanced SWOT Analysis of E-
Commerce. International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 9(2),
569-574.
o Chanana, N., & Goele, S. (2012). Future of E-Commerce In India.
International Journal of Computing & Nusiness Research.
o Das, D. K., & Ara, A. (2015, July). Growth of E-Commerce in India.
International Journal Of Core Engineering & Management, 2(4), 25-33.
o Deshmukh, S. P., Deshmukh, P., & Thampi, G. (2013, July).
Transformation from E-commerce to M-commerce in Indian Context.
International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 10(4), 55-60.
o Franco, D. C., & S, B. R. (2016). Advantages And Challenges Of E-
Commerce Customers And Businesses: In Indian Perspective.
International Journal of Research - GRANTHAALAYAH, 7-13.
o Gangeshwer, D. K. (2013). E-Commerce or Internet Marketing: A
Business Review from Indian Context. International Journal of u- and e-
Service, Science and Technology, 6, 187-194.
o Gunasekaran, A., Marri, H., McGaughey, R., & Nebhwani, M. (2002). E-
commerce and its impact on operations management. International

81
 Journal Of Production Economics, 185-197.
o Gupta, A. (2014, January). E-Commerce : Role Of E-Commerce In
Today's Business. International Journal of Computing and Corporate
Research, 4(1).
o Mac, R. (2014, October). Retrieved from
https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2014/10/2
8/softbank-bets- big-on-india-with-627-million-snapdeal-investment/amp/
o Mishra, S. V., & Kotkar, D. S. (2015, February). A Study on Current
Status of E-Commerce in India: A Comparative Analysis of Flipkart and
Amazon. International Journal of Advance Research in Computer
Science and Management Studies, 3(2), 133-137.
o Numberger, S., & Renhank, C. (2005). The Future of B2C E-Commerce.
Electronic Markets, 269-282.
o Raghunath, A., & Panga, M. D. (2013). Problem and Prospects of E-
Commerce. International Journal of Research and Development - A
Management Review, 2(1), 59-68.
o Ray, S. (2011). Emerging Trend of E-Commerce in India: Some Crucial
Issues, Prospects and Challenges. Computer Engineering and Intelligent
Systems, 18-36.
o Rina, D. (2016, March-April). Challenges and Future Scope of E-
commerce in India. International Journal of Emerging Trends &
Technology in Computer Science, 5(2), 232-235.
o Khare, A. &Rakesh, S. (2011). Antecedents of online shopping behaviour
in India: An examination. Journal of Internet Commerce, 10(4), 227-244.
o Sumanjeet. (2010). The state of e-commerce laws in India: A review of
information technology act. International Journal of Law and
Management, 52(4), 265-282.

82
 Company Profile:
o Amazon:-
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)
 https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/flipkart-com-2
 https://www.karobargain.com/blog/amazon-upcoming-sale/

o Flipkart:-
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipkart
 https://caknowledge.com/organizational-structure-of-flipkart/
 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1053314/india-flipkart-
revenue/#:~:text=Flipkart%20Private%20Limited%20reported%20a,
compared%20to%20the%20previous%20year.

 Research Methodology:
o https://www.questionpro.com/blog/research-design/
o https://gradcoach.com/what-is-research-methodology/

 Questionnaire for analysis:

o https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdma4ZYdKTRMcrxS8rg9y6
W62OUbGSuyMZjXBvIVSyipqHOQ/viewform?usp=pp_url

83
CHAPTER 12
APPENDICES

84
 Appendices

1) What is your gender?

o Male
o Female

2) What age group do you belong to?

o 10-20
o 21-30
o 31-40
o 40 above

3) What is your educational qualification?

o Upto 12th class
o Graduate
o Post Graduate
o Professionally educated
o Other:-

4) Have you purchased mostly goods online?

o Yes
o No

85
5) Why do you purchase goods online?
□ Time saving
□ More convenience
□ Wide variety and information
□ Better prices
□ Other:-

6) Which website do you prefer the most?

□ Amazon
□ Flipkart
□ Snapdeal
□ Myntra
□ IndiaMART
□ Other:-

7) What do you prefer buying online?

□ Apparels and fashion goods
□ Books
□ Grocery
□ Mobile, laptop and tablets
□ Electronic goods
□ Home furnishings
□ Footwear
□ Other:-

86
8) How do you pay for online shopping?
□ Cash on Delivery
□ Debit card
□ Credit card
□ Internet banking
□ Other:-

9) How many times have you bought things online? (during past one year)
o Never
o 1-2 times
o 3-5 times
o 6-10 times
o 11 and more times

10) Do you think that online shopping enables you to get more information about
products than offline shopping?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe

11) Are you satisfied with shopping online rather than buying from retail shops?
o Very satisfied
o Satisfied
o Neutral
o Dissatisfied
o Very dissatisfied

87
12) Do you think that online shopping is safe and secure?
o Highly secured
o Moderately secured
o Neutral
o Not secured
o Totally unsafe

13) Do you think that offers provided by the companies in online shopping is
satisfactory?
o Yes
o No

14) Do you recommend online shopping to your friends and family?

o Yes
o No

15) Do you think that e-commerce industry is going to replace your traditional offline
shopping?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe

88