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Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738
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International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Data Science (ICCIDS 2018)

Analysis of shopping trends employing E-Commerce

Applications: A Comparative Case Study
International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Data Science (ICCIDS 2018)
Varun Guptaa*, Vaibhav Khannab, Biswa Mohan Sahoo c
Analysis of shopping trends employing E-Commerce
a,
Applications:
Amityb
School of EngineeringA Comparative
& Technology(ASET), Case Study
Amity University, Noida (India)
c
Amity University, Greater Noida (India)
Varun Guptaa*, Vaibhav Khannab, Biswa Mohan Sahoo c
Abstract a,b
Amity School of Engineering & Technology(ASET), Amity University, Noida (India)
The research is conducted to analyze the c prevalent shopping trends found amongst e-commerce sites (say A and B)
Amity University, Greater Noida (India)
by doing the survey of Indian population samples taking attributes of two leading companies. The survey was
conducted by distributing the questionnaires to a small segment of people belonging to different age groups. The
results indicated that the people perceive their products on the variables like price, quality, satisfaction, packaging,
Abstract
customer service etc. Everything from website design, proper categorization of the product, information and reviews
The research
regarding the isproduct,
conducted to analyze
delivery the prevalent
services, and returnshopping trends the
policies affect found amongstofe-commerce
possibility a buyer to sites (say aAproduct
purchase and B)
by doing
from the surveye-commerce
that particular of Indian population
site.People samples taking to
were surveyed attributes of two
know about the leading
specific companies. The makes
criterion which surveythem
was
conducted
select by distributing
a particular site to the questionnaires
shop. Categorizationto a ofsmall segment
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in website belonging to different
maximum age groups.
discounts, return The
and
results indicated
cancellation thatand
policies the faster
peoplereturns
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are their products
the major on which
reason the variables likestated.It
the people price, quality, satisfaction,
is observed packaging,
that overall people
customer
like to useservice
Company etc. Everything
A site morefrom ratherwebsite design, proper
than Company B or anycategorization
other site. Itofisthe product,
also information
observed that peopleandpreferred
reviews
regarding the
Company A dueproduct,
to theirdelivery services, service,
better customer and return policies
quality affect theof
or packaging possibility of a buyer
the product.On to purchase
account of website a product
design,
from thatquality,
product particular e-commerce
packaging, site.People
customer services,were
andsurveyed
return and to cancellations,
know about the thespecific criterion
researchers which
found that makes
Company themA
select
has an aupper
particular
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to shop. B Categorization
based on theseofareas.products in website design, maximum discounts, return and
cancellation policies and faster returns are the major reason which the people stated.It is observed that overall people
*©Corresponding
2018 The Authors.
like author. Published
to use Company
by Elsevier Ltd.
A site more rather than Company B or any other site. It is also observed that people preferred
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
E-mail
Company address:vgupta7@amity.edu
Peer-reviewAunder
due to their betterofcustomer
responsibility service,
the scientific qualityofor
committee thepackaging of Conference
International the product.On account of website
on Computational design,
Intelligence and
product quality,
Data Science (ICCIDSpackaging,
2018). customer services, and return and cancellations, the researchers found that Company A
has an upper hand over Company B based on these areas.
1877-0509© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
* Corresponding
Peer-review author.
under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and
E-mail
Data address:vgupta7@amity.edu
Science (ICCIDS 2018).

1877-0509© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and
Data Science (ICCIDS 2018).

1877-0509 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Data Science
(ICCIDS 2018).
10.1016/j.procs.2018.05.148
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence and
Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738 1729
Data Science (ICCIDS 2018).

Keywords:Shopping trends, E-commerce sites.

1. Introduction

There are various parameters that enable customers to take decision about selecting e-commerce sites for shopping.
This paper aims to analyze those parameters that strengthen the shopping decision of customers.Consumer
preference is a new field of study. It is an attempt to understand and predict human actions regarding purchase
decisions. Consumer decides what to purchase, why to purchase, for whom to purchase, from where and how much
to purchase. Gone are the days when markets were the only means of purchasing goods and services for now
everything can be found on the internet. Goods and services are made available to millions of people located
anywhere around the world through e-commerce sites. E-commerce sites provide the means to the humans by which
they can fulfill their requirements by just sitting at their homes.
Consumers play a vital role in the growth of economic level and their preferences should be considered as the top
priorities by the manufacturers. Preference can be referred to as taste which is unique for every individual. It deals
with choice that a person makes between alternatives and the possibility of ranking them based on happiness,
satisfaction, enjoyment, gratification and the utility they provide.Consumers are very selective when it comes to
purchase something. Their preferences affect the demand-side factor and their beliefs and opinions matter a lot to e-
commerce sites so as to be able to expand further.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the primary aim for this paper and the objective of
the surveyfor achieving our aim. Section 3 explains the methodology. Section 4 contains the survey details. Section
5 contains the research questions followed by the result analysis and the final section contains Conclusion.

2. Objective of the survey

 To study about the factors which the consumers find appropriate while shopping online through sites.
 To find out the site which is mostly preferred by the people to shop online.

3. Methodology

 Data collection through Questionnaires by visiting the people in nearby residential area & students.
 The analysis of data.
The populations in the Age group from 15 and above men or women are considered. The two e-commerce sites
allow the below 18 to use their site for buying provided it’s done under supervision of a guardian or parent
(statement expression varies from company to company but meaning remains the same).Age groups were divided by
the researcher as from below 18, 18-30, 31-45, 46-60 and above 60 respectively.

4. Survey Details:

The Researchers conducted a small survey to analyze the prevalent shopping trends of the Indian population.
Questionnaires were handed out to the people which contained simple questions to find out their preferences.
Questionnaire is attached as Annexure –I.
Based on their responses the criteria which are necessary for every e-commerce site to survive in today’s
competition were noted.Data was collected and accordingly analyzed to fulfill the objectives of this
survey.Respective charts of each question indicate the proportion of choices made by the respondents.
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Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 3

5. Result Analysis:

The results as revealed by analysis of collected data forvarious asked questions are asgiven below:

AGE GROUPS

9% 18% Below 18
27% 18-30

37% 31-45
9%
46-60
Above 60

Fig.1 Pie chart showing percentage of different Age Groups

Refereeing to Figure 1, the Researcher found out through result analysis that the majority of the people who prefer
online shopping lies between the age group 18-30 years.
People in the age group of 18-30 years mostly prefer online shopping as they find it more convenient to shop using
internet on any device.People in the age group of 46-60yrs are in the second place however those above 60 don’t
prefer to rely on these sites for their purchases. However, online shopping is most prevailing amongst females
(Figure 2).

GENDER

45%
MALE
55%
FEMALE

Fig.2 Pie chart showing gender percentage

The collected data per question asked in questionnaire is as under:

1. How often do you visit e-commerce sites like Company A, Company B etc.?
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50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
45.45%
20.00%
27%
10.00% 18.18%
9.09%
0.00%

Fig.3 Percentage of people depending upon their usage of site

Maximum respondents replied that they use these sites on weekly basis. However, there were only few who use
them daily for their purchases.18.18% of them use them yearly and out of which there some who have never used
these sites for shopping.

2. How often do you find what you are looking for through e-commerce sites?

80.00%
60.00%
40.00% 63.63%
20.00% 18.18% 18.18%
0.00%

Fig.4 Percentage of people showing their satisfaction level

Most of the respondents often find what they are looking for on such sites as per their requirement.The researcher
found that some of them however fail to do so and those who don’t even use these sites opted never.

2. Why do you prefer online shopping?(If no then skip this question)

Rate the following statements on the scale of 1-5 (1=”Do not agree” and 5=” completely agree”)

A. wide variety from which to choose

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Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 5

45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00% 44.40%
20.00% 33.30%
15.00% 22.20%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%

Fig.5 Percentage of people showing their level of agreement on wide variety

44.44% respondents highly agreed that they prefer online shopping as they get a wide variety of products online
than in the markets.33.3% slightly agree with this reason and 22.2% of them were neutral.

B. product information and reviews

50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
44.40%
20.00% 33.30%
10.00% 11.10% 11.10%
0.00%

Fig.6 Percentage of people showing their level of agreement regarding the information provided of the product.

The researched found that 11.10% also completely agreed to the fact that the information of the product available
and their respective reviews help them in knowing more about the product. However the same percentile is indicated
by those who were not sure about this.

C. The prices offered are appropriate /discount or coupons

 Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738 1733
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60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00% 55.50%
20.00%
22.20%
10.00% 11.10% 11.10%
0.00%

Fig.7 Percentage of people showing their level of agreement on the prices

The researcher found that many people prefer online shopping as the prices of the products and the discount or
coupons applied on them make it more suitable to their budget.

D. Reasonable return and exchange policy

70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00% 66.60%
30.00%
20.00%
22.20%
10.00% 11.10%
0.00%

Fig.8 Percentage of people showing their level of agreement on returns & cancellations.

It was found that 66.6% respondents completely agree that they find it much easier to return and exchange the
products as compared to the exchange policies in the Indian markets.

4.Have you had any bad experiences while using any e-commerce sites?
1734 Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738
Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 7

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 60%
0.3 40%
0.2
0.1
0

Yes 45.45% No 54.54%

Fig.9 Percentage of people showing their shopping experience.

Majority of the respondents had positive experiences however 45.5% were negative regarding this.Bad packaging
and poor or below expectation quality of the product were major reasons why many people faced bad experiences.

5. How would you rate your overall customer experience (i.e.in terms of environment, privacy &
security)?(1=”extremely bad” and 10=”Excellent”)

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fig.10 Percentage of people as per their rating of experience.

Maximum of the respondents rated their experience 8/10 for online shopping. Poor ratings were given by those who
had bad experiences. Online shopping has emerged out in the past decade still no one gave the perfect 10.

6. Based on your personal experiences which of these sites do you most commonly use?
 Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738 1735
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60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00% 58.30%
20.00%
10.00% 16.60%
8.30% 8.30%
0.00%

Fig.11 Percentage of people showing their choice of preference.

According to the maximum respondents Company Asite is the one which they come across the most when it comes
to shopping online.Company B users were observed in the second level. However, some of the people use other sites
than the ones mentioned.

7. Would you like to change anything about your preferred site?

60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00% 44.40% 55.50%
20.00%
10.00% 11.10%
0.00%

Yes 75% No 25%

Fig.12 Percentage of people showing the changes they would like to see.

Out of the 75% who agreed, 44.40% agreed that it would be better if the sites offer a faster delivery service and a
majority replied that they would like to minimize the international shipping charges applied on the certain
products.25% respondents replied that they wouldn’t like to change anything about their preferred site.
1. It is observed that 37% i.e. majority of the respondents belong to the age group of 18-30.
2. It is observed that 55% of the respondents are female while 45% of the respondents are male.
3. It is observed that there are some of the respondents that don’t prefer online buying.
4. It is observed that 45.45% of the respondents use e-commerce sites almost weekly.
5. It is observed that 63.63% of the respondents often find what they are looking for through these e-
commerce sites.
6. It is observed that 44.4% of the respondents agree to the fact that they find a wide variety of products
online.
7. It is observed that 54.54% of the respondents have had good online shopping experiences through their
1736 Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738
Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 9

preferred site which is mostly Company A.

8. It is observed that 60% of the respondents rated their experience of online shopping 8/10.
9. It is observed that 58.30% respondents chose Company A over any other site.
The Researchers found from the analysis that maximum number of people chose Company A over Company B or
any other e-commerce sites. Those who preferred Company A were asked for reasons why they opted so. The
following are the reasons provided by them:
 The discounts applicable on the products are more than the other sites which make the prices even more
reasonable. The prices are slightly lower than that of Company B as most of the items in Company B are fully
priced and have negligible discounts.
 Well categorization of items which makes it more user friendly. Easier to find items if the design and selection
tabs are simple to use.
 The packaging of the product is slightly better. Packaging of the product leaves an impression on the customers
and determines whether he/she will visit the site again.
 Return procedure is fast and Company A makes sure that their customer is satisfied by rechecking the status of
the delivery of the item in comparatively less time.

6. Conclusion

A good reputation is real advantage for the e-commerce site.Company A emerged out over other sites as it has great
packaging, delivery service, after sales service and awesome returns and cancellations. Company B also has great
packaging though it comes second as per customer satisfaction. Both the sites have equal preference on considering
the design of the website.It is concluded from the facts collected by the researcher that mostly people prefer to buy
through Company A than Company B as it is better than the latter in many areas concerned when it comes to shop
online.

7. References

[1]. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th Edition, by John W.
Creswell.
[2]. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation 4th Edition, by Sharan B. Merriam (Author),
Elizabeth J. Tisdell.
[3]. The Craft of Research, Third Edition, by Wayne C. Booth (Author), Gregory G. Colomb (Author), Joseph M.
Williams.
[4]. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 3rd Edition, by William M. K. Trochim (Author), James P.
Donnelly.
[5]. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches 3rd Edition, by John W.
Creswell.
[6]. Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginner's Guide to Doing a Research Project 2nd ed. Edition, by
Uwe Flick.
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ANNEXURE-1

Note: Please read the details about the research carefully. Your contribution is valuable to us. If you are
comfortable then please fill the form but filling the form is not binding.

QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Age:
Gender:
(Please attach ID proof)s
 Q.1 How often do you visit e-commerce sites like Company A, Company B etc.?
a) Daily
b) Weekly
c) Monthly
d) Never
 Q.2How often do you find what you are looking for through e-commerce sites?
a) Often
b) Sometimes
c) Never
 Q.3 Why do you prefer online shopping?(If no then skip this question)

Rate the following statements on the scale of 1-5 (1=”Do not agree” and 5=” completely agree”)
a) wide variety from which to choose (1-5)
b) product information and reviews (1-5)
c) The prices offered are appropriate /discount or coupons(1-5)
d) Reasonable return and exchange policy (1-5)

 Q.4 Have you had any bad experiences while using any e-commerce sites?
a) If yes, please specify from the following:
i) Unavailability of the product for a long time
ii) unorganized returns or cancellations
iii) bad packaging or quality of the product
b) No
 Q.5 How would you rate your overall customer experience (i.e.in terms of environment, privacy &
security)?(1=”extremely bad” and 10=”Excellent”)

Ans. :(1-10)
 Q.6 Based on your personal experiences which of these sites do you most commonly use?
a) Company A
b) Company B
c) Others
d) None

 Q.7 Would you like to change anything about your preferred site?
a) If yes,
1738 Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 132 (2018) 1728–1738
Varun Gupta et al. / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2018) 000–000 11

i) Faster delivery service

ii) Improve website design (in terms of categorization of products)
iii) Minimize international shipping charges
b) No