Online-Consumer Behavior In E-Commerce

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING INDUSTRY

Growing interest by consumers to point and click their way through nearly all aspects of daily life has fueled the Internet economy to develop services and sell products online even in areas that were once the sole domain of traditional businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies. Businesses that sell consumer products online have been coined as “e-retailers” and as “e-grocers” in the case of online grocery retailers. Some of the reasons why an increasing number of consumers buy groceries online are common to all Internet purchases, including better prices, larger selection, convenience, and time savings. Home delivery of items purchased online is appealing to those

Scholars and practitioners of electronic commerce constantly strive to gain an improved insight into consumer behavior in cyberspace. Along with the development of E-retailing, researchers continue to explain E-consumers behavior from different perspectives. Many of their studies have posited new emergent factors or assumptions which are based on the traditional models of consumer behavior, and then examine their validity in the Internet context.

1.2 CURRENT SCENARIO OF ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING INDUSTRY

The evolution of online grocery stores is still in its infancy in India. However, purchasing grocery online is getting as popular as purchasing electronic gadgets online. Analysts and researchers claim that huge sales of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets is behind the booming online market. Nowadays, there is no element of surprise in finding people ordering all they want to possess online. Online grocery stores sell grocery of various brands to customers.

They sell groceries at very competitive rates and consumers have a second thought when they are buying grocery from a local store. The user interface of an online grocery website is designed in a user-friendly way allowing easy access to products being purchased online. Sufficient discounts and online coupons are offered to attract consumers who are looking to save some

This is the type of e-commerce that deals with relationships between and among businesses. About 80% of e- commerce is of this type, and most experts predict that B2B ecommerce will continue to grow faster than the B2C segment. Eg: indiamart.com, eindiabusiness.com, tradeindia.com etc.

Business-to-consumer (B2C):

Business-to-consumer e-commerce, or commerce between companies and consumers, involves customers gathering information; purchasing physical goods (i.e., tangibles such as books or consumer products) or information goods (or goods of electronic material or digitized content, such as software, or e-books); and, for information goods, receiving products over an electronic network.

It is the second largest and the earliest form of e-commerce. Its origins can be traced to online retailing (or e-tailing). Thus, the more common B2C business models are the online retailing companies such as flipkart.com Amazon.com, snapdeal.com etc.

Business-to-Government