Business Research Proposal Indian Consumers

Question: Describe about the Business Research Proposal for Indian Consumers. Answer: Introduction: India is changing its traditional behavior rapidly. Those days are now history when people of India used to wait for Sundays to shop. Everything that India does today have changed for the good, be it in the education sector or in the buying behavior of consumers. Technology has played a major part along with the media to change the way the world shops today. There has been past reports which suggest that Indian consumers were not that much educated in the sense that they did not enquire much about a particular product before buying it, but that is not the case anymore (Babbie 2015). They have become product literate. This younger generation is shopping more these days and they are brand conscious, not anymore of those types who for the sake of buying collected anything and everything. The Indian retail sector is a booming industry, an industry that sees itself placed among the top five retail markets of the world based on growth and economic value (Barnes and Hunt 2013). The retail s ector is not constrained to the major cities and metros, but has also made its presence felt in the smaller cities of the country. Hyderabad is a major hub of India. It is the place where India has got some of the biggest universities that attracts a large number of students from all over the country. Students have so much to buy, and so little time to shop because of their other commitments. According to Chatterjee and Ghosal (2014), online shopping has been a major boost for them, where they can shop anytime and every time according to their needs and wants. It is that section of our society that has taken a liking to this e-commerce concept. They find it convenient and time saving than the traditional one. The Online marketers have done well in bridging the gap between the demand and supply that exists in the market due to lack of physical stores or unavailability of certain brands (Mukherjee and Michal 2016). This study will look to focus on the factors that affect the buying be havior of e-commerce customers in Hyderabad. Literature Review: In this study the focus will be on the students of Hyderabad and their buying behavior affecting the e-commerce industries, so the students will be stated as consumers from here on. Consumers purchase or buy a thing in order to satisfy their needs and wants. A particular consumers need and want can depend on a lot of factors based on the age, attitude, fashion style and psychology (Kalia, Kaur and Singh 2015). These are internal in nature; certain external factors too, decide the way and what a consumer purchases, though they are beyond his control (Singh 2016). It is definitely not the first time that a research is been done on the given topic, there has been many in the past and there will be many too in the coming years. Researchers have tried analyzing in different ways on how and what affects the consumers buying behavior and the implications it have on the industry. These factors can be psychological, social or personal. According to Kaur (2014) the factors can be internal or e xternal too. Marketers need to understand the consumers behavior which is generally complex in nature. Many of such factors are beyond the hands of marketers but still they need to take all those parameters into consideration. Consumer behavior is an integral part of marketing, a part which has got tons of importance for the companies engaged in this field (Iyer et al. 2013). Consumer behavior portrays on how an individual or an organization buy or choose goods and dispose them off too based on certain aspects like branding, taste an price. Internet has taken the world by storm and it has provided people with platform that makes shopping easier and smoother like never before. It is fast, it is reliable and the experience it provides is unique. The internet has brought the suppliers and buyers to the same platform where they can interact with each other and sort out on issues which concern any of the parties (Chatterjee 2015). This 21st century has witnessed the uprising of internet commercial business. The world has become a smaller place in real sense with people of one corner of the world getting access to a product lying in another corner of the world (Niranjanamurthy et al. 2013). The global market is going mad over this concept of e-commerce. India is not far behind too, but still needs to cover a lot of distance before it actually declare itself as an e-commerce based country (Waghmare 2012). The e-commerce concept has done one favor to the global consumers. It has reduced the cost of products to a certain level a nd makes it easier for consumers to experience products they never thought they would even a few years back (Kumar 2015). E-commerce is such a concept that has made buying and selling of goods a fun affair. Marketers as well as the consumers need to follow certain easy steps for experiencing e-commerce business on a daily basis (Khan and Uzma 2013). This paper investigates the relationship between the shopping intent of college students in Hyderabad and their perceived expediency. The present focus will be on some of the factors that might influence the students to go for online shopping: - There are certain ways the companies follow in showcasing their products to the consumers through online. They make use of search engine marketing (SEM) for the purpose of web advertising in making their goods and services available on the search engine result pages (SERPs) of top websites like google and bing (Thamizhvanan and Xavier 2013). The whole idea of SEM is to efficiently utilize the search engine advertisements that emerge on SERP. The strategy of targeting the potential consumers through SEM has proved to be successful in recent times. Companies through SEM bring in the desired traffic to their sites which in turn improves their return on investment (ROI) (PT JOSEPH 2015). -there is presence of lots of online shopping malls in the area. This has opened up a window of opportunity for e-retailers to connect not only locally but also internationally. Online Shopping malls generally attract a lot of consumers which is the sole reason why e-retailers join them to bring in more traffic to their websites (Kumar and Dange 2014). The e-retailers are able to produce a lot of information so as to discover marketing opportunities. -Online shopping does save a lot of time and as students are consumers in this study, it is imperative that students do have a lot of other important things to do other than online shopping (Saini 2014). The measure is convenient too as shoppers can find relevant information in the websites regarding the products they want to buy. It helps in enhancing their purchase decision. -there is a possibility of a refund if the online shopper is not satisfied with a particular product after receiving it. E-commerce has given this opportunity to e-retailers where they can have these refund policies for consumer to return back products either for refunds or for exchanges (Mohapatra 2013). -there is this concept of auction websites where consumers can get hold of a lot of products and services with lots on offer. The online shoppers can recommend for this product with the help of compared and evaluated value with auctioneers selling the products to bidders who propose the highest possible price. Hypothesis: The usage of e-commerce is vast globally, but not that much in India and as mentioned, in Hyderabad too. H0: Scope of e-commerce business in India is huge keeping in mind the population at large still not under the influence of internet H1: Scope of e-commerce business in India is not that much keeping in mind the population at large still not under the influence of internet Objectives of the Study: -Identifying the popularity of e-commerce as used by different student groups -To identify the purposes of e-commerce in Hyderabad -Listing out the most favorable products suitable for e-commerce in India Research Design and Methodology: This research paper will make use of the descriptive mix method and based on this the research paper will be designed. The main idea is to do a survey and identify the exact buying behavior of students. The researcher has taken into account three ways through which he would investigate and analyze the collected data in order to come to a conclusion and accomplishment of this project. The first of the three is to make a survey on the currents student of Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology College in Hyderabad. Next in line would be to observe and investigate the buying behavior persisting with the students in their daily lives. For better understanding of the research paper, the researcher has thought of putting in a case study related to the matter. The primary objective of this research study is to recognize the extent to which e-commerce has an effect in the Indian markets and the impact the students in Hyderabad on this sector. As stated earlier, research method is descriptive in nature taking into account both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The survey questions that were provided to students consisted of some quantitative data related to age numbers, income figures and sex to have a broader view on the research study. Variables: All the variables selected for the research study are both objective and subjective. The whole idea is to have a clear view on the purchasing decisions or buying behavior of the students with the help of internet through highlighting the facts about their gender and age groups. There are presences of some other variables like the income level associated with each of them which can in turn give a clear picture the level of participation among the higher and lower income groups. Gnatt Chart A gnat chart is being provided for the whole schedule Research Process: The research process has been carried out by the researcher by visiting the Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology College in Hyderabad and the questionnaires were then handed out to the 100 students who can comprehensively finish it manually. A general overview has been provided for the students to understand what exactly is going on and what the researcher is looking for. Until and unless the students get a clear image of what exactly this is all about, their answers could come from all directions and the whole idea of this research would get subdued. Data Collection and Analysis Techniques: The research papers idea is to come across the different behaviors as shown by students while purchasing or buying products online. For the same, primary data is being given the prime importance where survey is being done on the 100 students from a Hyderabad college. Apart from this questionnaire the students were asked to attend group interviews, as well as in individual level to understand their buying behavior and the knowledge they possess about the purchase decision factors both in offline and online shopping. The correlation technique has been taken into consideration for evaluating the independent data and subjective technique for the dependent ones. The data interpretation is done through qualitative and statistical measures. The researcher made use of the Statistical Package for social science or the SPSS program to interpret the surveyed data along with the usage of Excel. The tabulated data form then is properly analyzed and compared with the help of the any of the above programs. Mean, medians and standard deviations along with the frequencies is put in use to calculate and analyze the descriptive part of the research study. It has been seen over the years that the buying behavior of male students varies from that of the female students which needs to be depicted in this research study in order to have a clearer picture. This comparison between the two genders and their buying behavior both offline and online can be portrayed through scatter plot diagram through the help of SPSS pro gram. Regression analysis could also have been implemented to conclude the exact relation between independent and dependent variables given in the survey questions. Expected Research outcome: To get the perfect results the preparation should be perfect too. A right questionnaire has the ability in finding out the right results associated with a study. In this case, a proper questionnaire can bring about the proper results related to the buying behavior of students. There are certain products which are commonly purchased online by the students like that of train and flight tickets, gadgets, apparels and other accessories. However, there are certain products that do need a touch or a feel before a consumer decides to buy that product, a valid reason for why students might still opt for offline sales in some cases like that of clothes, shoes and certain other things. It is quite imperative that some of the students may not have e-banking services which might affect the students going for online purchase. A thing which has some advantages is bound to have certain issues related with it too. Students not having some of the facilities to go for online purchase is a major issue which can affect the e-commerce industry, plus students also have this notion that it is not viable to share personal details related to debit and credit cards over the internet. Out of the 100 students 40 did mention that to save time they go for online shopping, with the next 25 stating that online shopping offers them with wide range of products than the physical stores apart from being less costly. 20 said that they still do not like the idea of online shopping because they either had bad experiences with it previously or is scared that things might not be easy going online. 10 of the students didnt find it necessary to answer questions properly while the other 5 stating that they are yet to try the online buying experience. The e-commerce industry is definitely growing in India and so in Hyderabad with a lot more people showing interest in it. Around 65% of the students out of 100 had valid reasons on why they go online for shopping. Table 1.Frequency Distribution of the respondents with respect to occupation: Male Students Female Students Percentage working Total Student and part time working 25 15 40 40 Student not working 35 25 60 60 60 40 Male % of students working = 25*100/60 = 41.7% Not working = 35*100/60 = 58.4% Female % of students working = 15*100/40 = 37.5% Not working = 25*100/40 = 62.5% It can be seen from the above data that 41.7% of the male students work part-time along with 37.5% of their females counterparts too which means they have the capacity to go online and shop as they have the money to do it. Out of 100 students, 40% of the total students have the capacity to buy online as they earn money on their own. At the student level, money is a factor for students who rely on their families to provide financial help. Table 2.Frequency distribution of the respondents with respect to their monthly income: Monthly Income 4000-6000 (INR) 6000-8000 (INR) 8000-10000 (INR) Total Male Students working 8 12 5 25 Female students working 10 5 0 15 40 Table 3.Frequency Distribution for Students: Income level Male Female 4000-6000 32% 66.67% 6000-8000 48% 33.33% 8000-10000 20% 0 This table depicts the percentage of students having the highest power to buy online and the group that has the lowest power to shop online in both the male and female category. Income does reflect the power of the group to purchase on a regular basis or once in a while. Table 4.Most bought products and services over the internet: Products and Services Frequency Percent Clothing, Accessories 35 35 Food, Drink 23 23 Electronic goods 14 14 Travel Tickets 25 25 Sporting goods 8 8 Household goods and grocery 5 5 Perfume, cosmetics 25 25 CD, DVD, Computer Games 10 10 The table portrays that student purchases clothing and accessories most through online which is showing as high as 35%. The next item that is being bought the most is the travel tickets, as many of the students from the mentioned university does come from different states and need to travel at times. The funny side of the story is that household goods and grocery items are the least bought items over the internet. The sole reason being in this kind of things it is better to examine the things and then buy rather than blindly purchasing it through online. One needs to nudge the quality of such products before buying. One cannot compromise with the quality factor associated with it. Table 5.Finding or knowing shopping websites: Male Female From Search Engines 33 19 Percentage (%) 55% 47.5% From Advertisements in media 22 24 Percentage (%) 36.67% 60% Recommendation from a friend 18 29 Percentage (%) 30% 72.5 From links (e-mails) 15 21 Percentage (%) 25% 52.5% The above table shows the gender classification and their ways of finding or reaching shopping websites. For male students it is search engines (55%) that yield the highest percentage whereas for females it is the recommendation from a friend (72.5%) that makes the difference. Conclusion: Standing in this 21st century, one can say that e-commerce has taken the world by storm. It has gained a lot of popularity at the global stage, though reports suggest India is still at the growth level when it comes to e-commerce business. But it is fast gaining its pace, and Hyderabad is no different. 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