Marketing research project: Study of factors affecting the purchase intention of online shoppers in India (firm specific: Flipkart)

Abstract

E-commerce industry sector has transformed the Indian economy significantly. The market is expected to observe growth to 200 billion USD by 2026 from 38.5 billion USD (2017). The main reasons behind the increasing awareness of e-commerce in Indian population are rapidly growing smartphones and internet penetration. In 2017, the total revenue from ecommerce was observed to be 39 billion USD which is expected to cross mark of 120 billion USD by 2020 with CAGR of 51% (the highest growth rate in the World).1 The factors like rapidly growing smartphone penetration, upcoming advanced internet services, drops in the internet accessibility costs, launch of 4G in India and increasing customers’ disposable income and wealth are the major drivers of e-commerce growth in India. The government initiatives like Digital India, Make in India, Innovation fund are also adding up to the growth od E-commerce sector. With the current growth rate, India is expected to become the second largest e-commerce market by 2034 by surpassing United States. 1 In next 2 years, future of retail industry would move towards personalization, i.e., the brands would be focusing on individual preferences of the shoppers instead of segment’s buying behaviour. The shoppers would be preferring to E-commerce platforms due to values like convenience, friendly shipping and return policies. 2 According to a BCG report, Online purchasing behaviour can be determined primarily from number of years the user has been online (Digital Maturity) and not by age, gender or his/her location.3 Customer Satisfaction plays an important role in online purchasing as the cots of getting new customers on the platform and retaining are higher compared to the conventional brick and mortal stores (Zhang, Dixit and Friendmann, 2010). Research has been made on factors affecting the purchase intention of online shoppers in the foreign context (Harisno and Deborah Herby, Indonesia, 2018) but has not been significantly tested in Indian market. As the e-commerce penetration has been increasing year on year, it is important for e-commerce players like Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, Snapdeal, etc. to study the factors affecting the purchase intention of online shoppers. The project The project focuses on the factors affecting the purchase intention of the Online shoppers in India context from the Flipkart’s point of view. The project would be providing the strategies which should be implemented by the Flipkart to remain competitive in such a volatile Indian environment.