A Research Report

On
A Study On Online Buying Behaviour Of Customers
Towards Books
Submitted for the partial fulfilment for the award of the degree
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University, Bhilai

Submitted By,
Shrishti Shrivastav

MBA - 2nd SEMESTER

(2022)

Approved By,
Dr. Souren Sarkar
Head Of The Department

Guided By,
Prof. Vinita Rai
Assistant Professor

Shri Shankaracharya
Technical Campus
Faculty Of Management Studies
Junwani, Bhilai (C.G) - 490020

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DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE

I the undersigned solemnly declare that the report of the research work entitled A STUDY

ON BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF CUSTOMERS TOWARDS BOOKS is based on my own work carried

out during the course of my study under the supervision of Professor VINITA RAI.

I assert that the statements made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of my

research work. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief the report does

not contain any part of any work which has been submitted for the award of MBA degree or

any other degree/diploma/certificate in this University or any other University of India or

abroad.

_______________
__
(Signature of the
Candidate)

Name -Shrishti Shrivastav

Enrollment No. - XX1092

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: CERTIFICATE FROM THE SUPERVISOR

This is to certify that the work incorporated in the report A STUDY ON CONSUMER BUYING
BEHAVIOR TOWARDS BOOKS is a record of research work carried out by SHRISHTI
SHRIVASTAV bearing Enrollment No.: XX1092 under my/our guidance and supervision for the
part full fillment for the award of MBA Degree of Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical
University, Bhilai (C.G.), India.

To the best of my knowledge and belief the Report

i) Embodies the work of the candidate him/herself,

ii) Has duly been completed,

iii) Is up to the desired standard both in respect of contents and language for
external viva.

___________
(Prof. Vinita Rai)
Assistant
Professor

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
S.NO PAGE.NO

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CHAPTER-1=> INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

In the introduction chapter the research background, problem, aims and design of research
will be described. The design and structure of the dissertation will be outlined
and presented as well.

Research Background -
As the use of internet starts to grow it has now brought a shift of paradigm in the shopping
pattern that was traditional towards more advanced methods with continuous rapid growth
of internet users which indicates that there is also increase in the use of internet for making
online purchases. The spread of shopping online has motivated significant investigation over
consumer recognition of using internet as a purchasing medium. Online presence is
essential to survive in the digital world and internet technology makes book stores more
significant. So companies are focusing on online medium to gain competitive advantages.
The rising number of internet users is determined by the growth and development of
technology called
as broadband along with change in consumer behaviour that accepts technological changes
.It is mentioned that internet is the most widely used medium of communication and there
is no other channel like internet that consists of characters and functions that brings
convenience for the customer’s purchase. Accordingly Convenience of buying is one of the
reasons that was primary for the customers who preferred to purchase online. The use of e-
commerce has become a significant distribution channel and enables the customers to
directly compare and purchase products from the seller.

The internet had been identified to be the most crucial contributor of the revolution of
information technology and had become a platform for major business trades and the
purchase of books by college and university students have rapidly increased and they are
required to purchase books on each of the semesters and classes
where billions are spent on books alone .There is a tough competition between sales of
physical (print) and digital books Amazon is in a fast pace to dominate the world of books to
digital media by promoting Kindle which is an e-book reader.

 Research Focus and Aims –

1. Research focus
There is increasing competition on the online market and the customers can communicate
directly with dealers of products and services and have variety of options to choose from
which affects the behaviour of the customer. Although on based research conclusion on
customer’s perception and social influences to point out few implications for online book

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retailers. It appears to have lacked deeper research on customer behaviour in a wider
context. In our city many of internet users use online comparison of products, but out
of them only will actually buy the products online. There is a need to study about customers
in the area of the perceived value that affects the attitude which determines the future
purchase intention.

Mostly there has been hardly any research on customer online behaviour of
print books. Accodingly students are aware of technological gadgets know-how but prefer
using print books in academics rather than e-books which is in conflict with the view of
prediction that in future e-books are likely to replace print books. Thus there is a scope for
exploratory research in order to find out the wider factors affecting consumer behaviour in
online book purchase of print books. In order to bring a sustainable repeated online purchas
e it is significant to evaluate the customer adoption of online buying activities of print
books. The findings of this research will serve as an implication for online book retailers to
acquire better understanding of customers that will help in developing effective marketing
strategies.

2. Research Aims
The study aims to evaluate the extent of perceived customer behaviour that compels
a potential customer to purchase a product as well as the perceived behaviour after
purchase that will also help in understanding the behaviour that leads to repeat online
purchase in regard to print books through online channel. In order to have an in depth
knowledge of consumer, it is necessary to comprehend the aspects inducing the customer’s
behaviour. The customer’s perception before making purchase and future intention for
repeat purchase is investigated in the literature. Convenience, risk, accessibility, relativeadv
antage and attitude towards online shopping are reviewed in depth that lead the
formulation of research objectives

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CHAPTER – 2 => INDUSTRY PROFILE

“ S CHAND GROUP ( PUBLICATIONS)”

S. Chand Group is one of India's oldest and largest publishing and education services
companies, founded in 1939 and based in New Delhi. The publishing house prints books for
primary, secondary and higher education sectors. It was the first company in India to get
the ISO certification. Books of this publishing house are distributed across India and South
Asia, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa.
The company operates from over 25 offices and branches and employs a workforce of over
2000 employees. In 2013, Forbes India named it as the fastest growing player in the
education sector, and the group claims to sell over 10,000 titles to over 40,000 schools and
educational institutes

S. Chand Group

Type Public

Traded as NSE : SCHAND

BSE : 540497

Industry Publishing and education services

Founded In 1939

Founder Shyam Lal Gupta

Headquarters New Delhi, India

Key people Himanshu Gupta (managing director

Dinesh Kumar Jhunjhunwala (executive
director)

Website www.schandgroup.com

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CHAPTER- 3=> LITERATURE REVIEWS
The review of literature makes it clear that in the context of consumer behaviour and online
shopping. It shows that there have been several studies done on
consumer behaviour on online shopping. The factors affecting customer’s decision in the pr
e- purchase stage are analysed as well as the customer experience after purchase. Most
importantly we come to understand the factors that initiate the consumer to make
future purchase online that could serve as implications for online retailers in understanding
consumer behaviour. There have been quite a large number of researches done on
e-books purchases but very little evidence has been found on online purchase of
print books. As a result rather than presenting a criticism of previous research on the topic,
this literature will assist in building a platform for examining the factors influencing
consumer behaviour on purchase of print books online. The literature further analyses the
tendency of customer to make repeat online purchases based on the research objectives.
The objectives are further developed from the literature into six headings that includes sub-
headings to prevent deviation and accuracy of focus towards the research objectives:

1.Perception on relative advantage

2. Perception on accessibility of information

3. Perceived order accessibility

4. Perception on risk

5. Attitude towards online books shopping

6. Future intention to buy books online

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 Future intention to buy books online
It is important to understand the pre and post purchase behaviour as it enables to
target prospective customers and to endorse goods in the long term .After the initial
adoption on online purchase, the customers need to make continuous effort to use internet
as a searching and purchasing tool. Even if
customers prefer intensive purchase through online channel, it does not promise that they
would continue to make the same commitment in the future . This
post purchase behaviour is also called as “innovation continuance. The future purchase
behaviour involves “repurchase, repeated usage or replacement with upgraded products
after the initial adoption.

 Attitude towards online book shopping

How online shopping suits the customer needs:
In relate to online purchases, the customer has the tendency to perceive the quality of after
sales support as a risk that hinders his future needs. Customers use online channel of
shopping depending on the type of product that he needs. There are main factors that
influence the customer to make
online purchase such as “motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudeS.

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CHAPTER – 4 => RESEARCH METHODOLOGYS
 Introduction
The Research methods chapter will describe the adopted research strategy that is
experimental. The means of collection of relevant data was quantitative approach. It will
describe the selected population for sample frame and sampling methods. The pilot test
was conducted from the research questionnaires. It will further let the reader know about
the apparent short comings and issues with the chosen investigation approach and its
application.

 Research Strategy -:

This research aims to explore the attitudes of the customer that is affected by his
perceptual responses, including the customer’s future intention to make repeat online
purchase. Empirical data will be collected and analysed to find out the customer’s behaviour
but the issue of which research strategy to be embraced in the study arises. The study of
this research is focused to highlight the in depth study of discovering the key customer
perceptions in a university situation in regard to several inter associated goals such as
degree of customer perception on relative advantage, information accessibility,
order accessibility and perceived risk to comprehend the attitudes of general students and
to also to understand the post graduate or higher level students view to enhance a
broader perspective of the study.
The main emphasis of the study will be a particular studydivision that is the general
university undergraduate, postgraduate students. Thus it becomes essential to determine
which nature of research strategy to be used that will aid in the study of the present
theories that supports emphasis and to obtain different
student’s perception to attain a more affluent understanding of occurrence in a wide and co
mplex university environment.

According to - Robson, (2002) states that “

“ A good design, one in which the components work harmoniously together, promote
efficient and successful functioning; a flawed design leads to poor operation or failure”

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 Research plane table -:

RESEARCH PLAN
Research Design Descriptive

Research Method Used Survey

Research Technique Used Questionnaire

Data Collection Bhilai and near by location

Sampling Plan convenience

Sample Size 47

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CHAPTER – 5=> DATA COLLECTIONS, ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
 ANALYSIS -:
This chapter is the most important part of the research and will present the analysis of data
collected through a Quatitative survey method. The reliability and validity was confirmed in
the previous chapter and in this chapter the analysis of the tested survey will be analysed
using advanced statistical method to test the parametric and non- parametric data. Through
pie charts, graphs, tables etc.

 Collections of Survey Data=:

(1).AGE ->

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(2).PEOPLE WHO EVER PURCHASEDS ONLINE BOOKS OR NOT ->

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(3).NUMER OF PURCHASE DONE OVER LAST YEAR ->

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(4).SATISFACTION LEVEL OF THE PEOPLES ->

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(5).MOSTLY PREFERABLE APPS FOR ONLINE PURCHASING BOOKS ->

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(6).WHICH MODE IS MORE CONVENIENT OF ONLINE BUYING ->

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(7).MOSTLY DEMANDING BOOKS ->

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(8).DURATION OF PEOPLE VISITING TO THE WEBSITE ->

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CHAPTER – 6 => RECEMENDATIONS

In this chapter the findings from the various analysis will be presented .The data was
derived from students through online survey. The data of customer’s, attitude and future
intention to make
online purchase online was collected through online survey. The online questionnaire is pres
ented in the Appendix. The research analysis needs to be critically synthesized with the
literature review.
The literature review points out the competitive advantages of online shopping
and predicts a rapid future growth and usage in marketing but there is unclear understandin
gof consumer (students) behaviour in purchasing books online. The research found that
students have experienced in-flexibility of accessing anytime and also they did not consider
neither cost effective nor time saving.
It is concluded that there is clear evidence of difference of student’s perception with
the perception of outside populations (non-students). Most students in our area have strong
financial support that led to ignorance of price of books. It can also be established that
students are bounded to time constraints that they cannot wait for the time required on
online delivery.

CHAPTER – 7 => LIMITATIONS

As presented in the research the objective is to understand the consumer behaviour
on books purchase online. The research was replicated and extended from an existing journ
al containing online grocery consumer behaviour. The research framework indeed helped in
finding the critical and significant behaviour of customers in relate to
online book purchase behaviour. However it cannot be guaranteed that the grocery researc
h framework will be equally significant when researching books consumer behaviour and
cannot be depended as there is constant changing of concepts and understanding of online
shopping pattern. Since the research focuses on one product, it could lack deficiency in the
aspect of generalizability if other products were to be analysed. Although the research
framework had a wide consideration for identifying the factors influencing book
purchase behaviour, is still lacks deeper research in the concerned field. The
restraint experienced at the process of data collection was during when the survey
invitation link was posted in the student discussions forum; the administrator removed the
link to survey as it was assumed to be spam. This resulted in restriction to access about
potential target respondents.

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CHAPTER – 8 => CONCLUSION
The conclusions of this research helped to understand the distinct behaviour of students
customers in relate to buying books from the online channel. Apparently gives an
implication for online book retailers that student purchasing behaviour are quite different
from the non-student consumer behaviour. It should be noted that the most significant
factor driving the students to make online purchase was quick delivery of books
regardless of its time and cost. There is a rapid increase of online shopping pattern as
internet is growing and available at more affordable rates. Thus considering internet growth
and logistics as a critical success factor, online retailers can reformulate and adopt new
delivery systems that are quicker than the present methods. The result of this research
initiates the need for further research in the field of book delivery logistics where
unnecessary time gap can be effectively identified and rectified to maintain more efficient
delivery of books. Since customers find it difficult to search and compare the books they
desire to purchase, it is recommended that Universities should have a separate website that
consists of details of all academic literature and the reviews written by the past students. It
is suggested that the website must have direct link to supplier’s webpage that will ring ease
for the student to find the required book. Customers are likely to pay additional costs for
speedy delivery which opens the doors for retailers to formulate different pricing strategies.
There is a stiff competition between online and offline book sellers, thus the players need to
implement world class marketing practice in order to succeed.

REFERENCES -:
 Textbook publisher in India Online book seller in new Delhi S Chand Group.
 Global India Marketing Intelligence. Schandgroup.com, Retrived 5 march (2016).

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 Udit Mishra 29 August (2013), S Chand India’s fastest Growing Educational Publisher.
 Yoh, et al, (2003), children et , al (2001), Keen at, al (2004), Ha and Stoel (2009).
 Oppenheim and ward, (2006).

THANK YOU

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