A MINOR PROJECT REPORT ON The New Trends Of E-Marketing by online firms

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A) General

BBA IIIrd Semester (Shift)(Section) Batch 2010-2013

Submitted to: Shradha Goyal Assistant Professor

Submitted by: Vishnu Vijayan 05314101711

JAGANNATH INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHOOL KALKAJI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A lot of effort has gone into this training report. My thanks are due to many people with whom I have been closely associated. I would like all those who have contributed in completing this project. First of all, I would like to send my sincere thanks to _______________ for his helpful hand in the completion of my project. I would like to thank my entire beloved family & friends for providing me monetary as well as non monetary support, as and when required, without which this project would not have completed on time. Their trust and patience is now coming out in form of this thesis

CONTENTS

Description Executive Summary Certificate of completion Introduction to topic Objectives Literature review Company Profile Research Methodology Analysis & Interpretation Findings & Inferences Limitations Recommendations and Conclusion Appendices Bibliography

Page No.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. The metaphor of an online catalog is also used, by analogy with mail order catalogs. All types of stores have retail web sites, including those that do and do not also have physical storefronts and paper catalogs. Online shopping is a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-toconsumer (B2C) transactions. In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women. Shopping is fragmented and pyramid-shaped. At the pinnacle are elegant boutiques for the affluent, a huge belt of inelegant but ruthlessly efficient discounters flog plenty at the pyramids precarious middle. According to the anaylsis of Susan D. Davis, at its base are the worlds workers and poor, on whose cheapened labor the rest of the pyramid depends for its incredible abundance. Shopping has evolved from single stores to large malls containing many stores that most often offer attentive service, store credit, delivery, and acceptance of returns. These new additions to shopping have encouraged and targeted middle class women. In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper class. In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if we focus on the demographic characteristics of the inhome shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping. An influential factor in consumer attitude towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated that increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping channels.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

The Internet The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web. The term "Webshop" also refers to a place of business where web development, web hosting and other types of web related activities take place (Web refers to the World Wide Web and "shop" has a colloquial meaning used to describe the place). Buying online introduced new ways of reducing costs by reducing the number of staff needed. It is a more effective way of getting products to people and spreading into different demographics.

Benefits of online shopping 1. Bargaining power of consumers. They enjoy a wider choice 2. Supplier power. It is more difficult for consumers to manage a non-digital channel. 3. Internet increases commoditisation 4. Threat of new entrants. Online means it is easier to introduce new services with lower over-heads 5. Threat of substitutes 6. Rivalry among competitors. It is easier to introduce products and services to different markets

The idea of online shopping predates the World Wide Web, for there are earlier experiments involving real-time transaction processing from a domestic television. The technology, based on Videotext, was first demonstrated in 1979 by Michael Aldrich, who designed and installed systems in the UK, including the first Tesco pilot system in 1984. The first B2B was Thomson Holidays in 1981. In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser. In 1992 Charles Stack created the first online book store, Book Stacks Unlimited (aka Books.com), two years before Jeff Bezos started Amazon. In 1994 other advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut. During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. In 1995 Amazon expanded its online shopping, and in 1996 eBay appeared. In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women. Shopping is fragmented and pyramid-shaped. At the pinnacle are elegant boutiques for the affluent, a huge belt of inelegant but ruthlessly efficient discounters flog plenty at the pyramids precarious middle. According to the anaylsis of Susan D. Davis, at its base are the worlds workers and poor, on whose cheapened labor the rest of the pyramid depends for its incredible abundance. Shopping has evolved from single stores to large malls containing many stores that most often offer attentive service, store credit, delivery, and acceptance of returns. These new additions to shopping have encouraged and targeted middle class women. In recent years, online shopping has become popular; however, it still caters to the middle and upper class. In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. According to research found in the Journal of Electronic Commerce, if we focus on the demographic characteristics of the inhome shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping. An influential factor in consumer attitude towards non-store shopping is exposure to technology, since it has been demonstrated that

increased exposure to technology increases the probability of developing favourable attitudes towards new shopping channels.

Online shopping widened the target audience to men and women of the middle class. At first, main users of online shopping were young men with a high level of income and a university education. This profile is changing. For example, in USA in the early years of Internet there were very few women users, but by 2001 women were 52.8% of the online population. Sociocultural pressure has made men generally more independent in their purchase decisions, while women place greater value on personal contact and social relations. Trends One third of people that shop online use a search engine to find what they are looking for and about one fourth find websites by word of mouth. Word of mouth has become a leading way by which people find shopping websites. When an online shopper has a good first experience with a certain website, sixty percent of the time they will return to that website to buy more. Books are one of the things bought most online. However, clothes, shoes, and accessories are all very popular things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition products, and groceries are increasingly being purchased online. About one fourth of travelers buy their plane tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a purchase. Online shopping provides more freedom and control than shopping in a store. From a sociological perspective, online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to shop. One knows exactly what website to go to, how much the product will cost, and how long it will take for the product to reach them. Online shopping has become extremely routine and predictable, which is one of its great appeals to the consumer.

Logistics Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly, or do a search across many different vendors using a shopping search engine. Once a particular product has been found on the web site of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate

multiple items and to adjust quantities, by analogy with filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to sign up for a permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (though credit card numbers are not accepted by e-mail, for security reasons). Payment Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make payments, however some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as: * Debit card * Various types of electronic money * Cash on delivery (C.O.D., offered by very few online stores) * Cheque * Wire transfer/delivery on payment * Postal money order * PayPal * Google Checkout * Amazon Payments * Bill Me Later * Money bookers * Reverse SMS billing to mobile phones * Gift cards * Direct debit in some countries Some sites will not allow international credit cards and billing address and shipping address have to be in the same country in which site does its business. Other sites allow customers from anywhere to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfillment process.

While credit cards are currently the most popular means of paying for online goods and services, alternative online payments will account for 26% of ecommerce volume by 2009 according to Celent. Product delivery

Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways. Download: This is the method often used for digital media products such as software, music, movies, or images. Shipping: The product is shipped to the customer's address. Drop shipping: The order is passed to the manufacturer or third-party distributor, who ships the item directly to the consumer, bypassing the retailer's physical location to save time, money, and space. In-store pickup: The customer orders online, finds a local store using locator software and picks the product up at the closest store. This is the method often used in the bricks and clicks business model. In the case of buying an admission ticket one may get a code, or a ticket that can be printed out. At the premises it is made sure that the same right of admission is not used twice.

Shopping cart systems Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. These systems do not use an online database. A high end solution can be bought or rented as a standalone program or as an addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the company's own webserver and may integrate into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent. Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops at the same time.

Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as Interchange, and off the shelf solutions as Satchmo, osCommerce, Magento, Zen Cart, OpenCart, VirtueMart, Flying Cart and PrestaShop or the dual licensed PhPepperShop.

Commercial systems can also be tailored to ones needs so that the shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using a framework already existing, software modules for different functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and combined.

Design Why does electronic shopping exist? For customers it is not only because of the high level of convenience, but also because of the broader selection; competitive pricing and greater access to information. For organizations it increases their customer value and the building of sustainable capabilities, next to the increased profits Information load Designers of online shops should consider the effects of information load. Mehrabian and Russel (1974) introduced the concept of information rate (load) as the complex spatial and temporal arrangements of stimuli within a setting. The notion of information load is directly related to concerns about whether consumers can be given too much information in virtual shopping environments. Compared with conventional retail shopping, computer shopping enriches the information environment of virtual shopping by providing additional product information, such as comparative products and services, as well as various alternatives and attributes of each alternative, etc. Two major sub-dimensions have been identified for information load: complexity and novelty. Complexity refers to the number of different elements or features of a site, which can be the result of increased information diversity. Novelty involves the unexpected, suppressing, new, or unfamiliar aspects of the site. A research by Huang (2000) showed that the novelty dimension kept consumers exploring the shopping sites, whereas the complexity dimension has the potential to induce impulse purchases Consumer expectations The main idea of online shopping is not in having a good looking website that could be listed in a lot of search engines and it is not about the art behind the site. It also is not only just about disseminating information, because it is all about building relationships and making money. Mostly, organizations try to adopt techniques of online shopping without understanding these techniques and/or without a sound business model. Rather than supporting the organizations culture and brand name, the website should satisfy consumer's expectations. Many researchers notify that the uniqueness of the web has dissolved and the need for the design, which will be user centered, is very important. Companies

should always remember that there are certain things, such as understanding the customers wants and needs, living up to promises, never go out of style, because they give reason to come back. And the reason will stay if consumers always get what they expect. McDonaldization theory can be used in terms of online shopping, because online shopping is becoming more and more popular and website that wants to gain more shoppers will use four major principles of McDonaldization: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. Organizations, which want people to shop more online for them, should consume extensive amounts of time and money to define, design, develop, test, implement, and maintain website. Also if company wants their website to be popular among online shoppers it should leave the user with a positive impression about the organization, so consumers can get an impression that the company cares about them. The organization that wants to be acceptable in online shopping needs to remember, that it is easier to lose a customer then to gain one. Lots of researchers state that even when site was a top -rated, it would go nowhere if the organization failed to live up to common etiquette, such as returning e-mails in a timely fashion, notifying customers of problems, being honest, and being good stewards of the customers data. Organizations that want to keep their customers or gain new ones try to get rid of all mistakes and be more appealing to be more desirable for online shoppers. And this is why many designers of webshops considered research outcomes concerning consumer expectations. Research conducted by Elliot and Fowell (2000) revealed satisfactory and unsatisfactory customer experiences.[16] User interface It is important to take the country and customers into account. For example, in Japan privacy is very important and emotional involvement is more important on a pensions site than on a shopping site.[11] Next to that, there is a difference in experience: experienced users focus more on the variables that directly influence the task, while novice users are focusing more on understanding the information. There are several techniques for the inspection of the usability. The ones used in the research of Chen & Macredie (2005) are Heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk through and the user testing. Every technique has its own (dis-)advantages and it is therefore important to check per situation which technique is appropriate

When the customers went to the online shop, a couple of factors determine whether they will return to the site. The most important factors are the ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features.[18]

Market share E-commerce product sales totaled $146.4 billion in the United States in 2006, representing about 6% of retail product sales in the country. The $18.3 billion worth of clothes sold online represented about 10% of the domestic market. For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access. Advantages Convenience Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home. A visit to a conventional retail store requires travel and must take place during business hours. Searching or browsing an online catalog can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store. Consumers with dial-up Internet connections rather than broadband have much longer load times for content-rich web sites and have a considerably slower online shopping experience. Some consumers prefer interacting with people rather than computers (and vice versa), sometimes because they find computers hard to use. Not all online retailers have succeeded in making their sites easy to use or reliable. In most cases, merchandise must be shipped to the consumer, introducing a significant delay and potentially uncertainty about whether or not the item was actually in stock at the time of purchase. Bricks and clicks stores offer the ability to buy online but pick up in a nearby store. Many stores give the consumer the delivery company's tracking number for their package when shipped, so they can check its status online and know exactly when it will arrive. For efficiency reasons, online stores generally do not ship products immediately upon receiving an order. Orders are only filled during warehouse operating hours, and there may be a delay of anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to a few weeks before in-stock items are actually packaged and shipped. Many retailers inform customers how long they can expect to wait before receiving a package, and whether or not they generally have a fulfillment backlog. A quick response time is sometimes an important factor in consumers' choice of merchant. A weakness of online shopping is that, even if a purchase can be made 24 hours a day, the

customer must often be at home during normal business hours to accept the delivery. For many professionals this can be difficult, and absence at the time of delivery can result in delays, or in some cases, return of the item to the retailer. Automated delivery booths, such as DHL's Packstation, have tried to address this problem. In the event of a problem with the item - it is not what the consumer ordered, or it is not what they expected - consumers are concerned with the ease with which they can return an item for the correct one or for a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, Online shops are prohibited from charging a restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000. Information and reviews Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mail or phone calls to handle customer questions. Price and selection One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services with many different vendors (though some local search engines

do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines and online price comparison services can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service. Shoppers find a greater selection online in certain market segments (for example, computers and consumer electronics[21]) and in some cases lower prices. This is due to a relaxation of certain constraints, such as the size of a "brick-and-mortar" store, lower stocking costs (or none, if drop shipping is used), and lower staffing overhead. Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though depending on the jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this. Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large orders. Concerns Fraud and security concerns Given the lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud on the part of the merchant than in a physical store. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. With a warehouse instead of a retail storefront, merchants face less risk from physical theft. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers when hackers break into a merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers. A number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become a major concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks. Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into

feeding private information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are a minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages. Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of the online shoppers; the existence of many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to a certain extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services. These include:

Sticking with known stores, or attempting to find independent consumer reviews of their experiences; also ensuring that there is comprehensive contact information on the website before using the service, and noting if the retailer has enrolled in industry oversight programs such as trust mark or trust seal.

Before buying from a new company, evaluate the website by considering issues such as: the professionalism and user-friendliness of the site; whether or not the company lists a telephone number and/or street address along with e-contact information; whether a fair and reasonable refund and return policy is clearly stated; and whether there are hidden price inflators, such as excessive shipping and handling charges.

Ensuring that the retailer has an acceptable privacy policy posted. For example note if the retailer does not explicitly state that it will not share private information with others without consent.

Ensuring that the vendor address is protected with SSL (see above) when entering credit card information. If it does the address on the credit card information entry screen will start with "HTTPS".

Using strong passwords, without personal information. Another option is a "pass phrase," which might be something along the lines: "I shop 4 good a buy!!" These are difficult to hack, and provides a variety of upper, lower, and special characters and could be site specific and easy to remember.

Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spy ware. Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult, however, the criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though these efforts are making it easier to protect yourself online, it is a constant fight to maintain the lead. It is advisable to be aware of the most current technology and scams out there to fully protect yourself and your finances.[23]. One of the hardest areas to deal with in online shopping is the delivery of the products. Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged; however, if the buyer opts not to purchase insurance on their products, they are generally out of luck. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but it is up to their discretion if this will happen. It is important to realize that once the product leaves the hands of the seller, they have no responsibility (provided the product is what the buyer ordered and is in the specified condition). Privacy Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Different legal jurisdictions have different laws concerning consumer privacy, and different levels of enforcement. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise not to use consumer information for these purposes, or provide a mechanism to opt-out of such contacts. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for address and phone number at checkout, though consumers may refuse to provide it. Many larger stores use the address information encoded on consumers' credit cards (often without their knowledge) to add them to a catalog mailing list. This information is obviously not accessible to the merchant when paying in cash. Product suitability Category U.S. online sales (2006)

Apparel, accessories and footwear Computer hardware and software Autos and auto parts Home furnishings

$18.3 billion $17.2 billion $16.7 billion $10.0 billion

Total products sales (excluding travel) $146.4 billion Travel $73.5 billion

Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Examples of this type of company include: Google, eBay and Paypal. Other successful marketers use Drop shipping or affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory. Examples include numerous sellers on eBay. Some non-digital products have been more successful than others for online stores. Profitable items often have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases, they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shut-ins as their typical purchasers.[citation needed] Items which can fit through a standard letterbox such as music CDs, DVDs and books are particularly suitable for a virtual marketer, and indeed Amazon.com, one of the few enduring dot-com companies, has historically concentrated on this field Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online. Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at consumer outletsin such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with retail stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor for success in this niche can consist of providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number their particular version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial numberProducts less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial fittings most notably clothing and products where colour integrity appears important. Nonetheless, Tesco.com has had success

delivering groceries in the UK, albeit that many of its goods are of a generic quality, and clothing sold through the internet is big business in the U.S. Also, the recycling program Cheapcycle sells goods over the internet, but avoids the low value-to-weight ratio problem by creating different groups for various regions, so that shipping costs remain low

COMPANY PROFILE IF PROJECT IS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPANY

Letsbuy.com aims to be one of the largest Internet retailers of branded computer technology and digital lifestyle products with more than 5000 products from top international and domestic brands. Our business philosophy is simple: offer consumers and businesses what they want, when they want it.

Products We offer our customers over 5000 quality products, and our list of product categories and product offerings is growing every day.Letsbuy customers know theyre getting the best prices and exclusive offers on a huge range of computer technology products like desktops, notebooks, printers, mobile phones, networking, digital cameras, software, storage and more. Plus, we offer other interesting products such as LCD TVs, MP3 players, gaming and home electronics. Our direct association with all the major brands means our customers will always find special deals on great products from the biggest names in the industry. And

to help our customers choose the right products, we make it easy to find availability, pricing, reviews and ratings.

Service At Letsbuy.com, our focus has always been on helping customers save time and money. This is why weve invested in building a website that allows them to securely manage their accounts without intervention. Its the empowering, 24/7 self service approach that ensures we keep our customers satisfied, and our prices competitive.

At the beginning of the century, social life was mostly local. It was followed by a period in which commodities were produced on a mass scale. Consumer Marketing operated on mass marketing principles, and business primarily concerned itself with how to built the best sales force. At the end of the century, there is an emerging global culture. The major driver of these changes is technology. Technological change has moved steadily back focussing on the individual. These changes shape the possibility and conduct of business. Marketing is especially tied to communication and transportation revolution. As the tools and reach of marketing increase, the job and responsibilities of marketers have evolved with them. Kotler formalized this evolution with his book "Marketing Management." His key stages are production, sales and brand management. Each of these is strongly motivated by technological opportunities, which permit new methods and new opportunities. A fourth stage, a focus on the individual customer, is also important. As the new technology of the Internet develops, it reinforces the new marketing emphasis - which in many ways is a return to business at the turn of the century. In todays technology driven world, a new fast paced digital economy is emerging. Tomorrow there will be companies that will exist only inside computer networks. Most business transactions will be made electronically, directly from the producer to the consumer, bypassing the supply chain. In the digital marketing environment, the consumer becomes an integral player in the

development of the product. In fact, a consumer might build the product himself from a wide array of parts provided by the Company. It is e-commerce that is changing the way products and services are conceived, manufactured, promoted, priced, distributed and sold. The reason being that it is much cheaper; it allows vast coverage and helps in serving the customer better.

Growth of Internet usage and E-commerce: According to the research report of Goldman Sachs, India will emerge as the second largest Internet market in Asia after China with 70 million users by 2003. It estimates that Indian Internet Users will increase by 130% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 0.5 million users recorded at end of 1998. Also by March 2001, there will be over 80 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and at least 12 private international gateways. As per preliminary findings of the NASSCOM survey, the total volume of E-commerce transactions in India was about Rs.131 crore in the year 1998-99. Out of this volume, about Rs.12 crore were contributed by retail Internet or Business-to-Consumer transactions, and about Rs.119 crore were contributed by Business-to-Business transactions. The survey also revealed that E-Business transactions in India are expected to exceed Rs.300 crore during 1999-2000. Out of this, about Rs.50 crore could comprise of retail transactions. For Business-to-Business transactions, Indian industries are expected to reach online penetration of 2% by 2003 and 8% by 2008.

Product on the Internet usually changes form online, and the user experiences it electronically, in the form of text, images and multimedia. Physical goods are usually presented in the form of a detailed online catalogue that the customer can browse through. Technology allows the user to virtually touch and feel the product on the Internet - rotate it, zoom in or zoom out and even visualize the product in different configurations and combination. Content and software are two avatars of digitized products that can be even distributed over the Internet. On the Internet, E-marketing will be based more on the product qualities rather than on the price. Every company will be able to bring down the cost of its products and hence competition will not be on price. It will rather be on the uniqueness of the product. To be able to attract the customers and retain them, the company will have to provide nouvelle and distinct products that forces the net users to purchase and come back for more.

COMPETITION INFORMATION

Launched in january 2008, naaptol has grown to become india's leading comparison based social shopping portal, the one-stop destination for all shoppers, merchants and market enthusiasts To begin with naaptol does not sell directly. What it does is it initiates' selling. With the sudden upsurge of brands and stores, both online and offline, that claim to sell the best of the products at the most reasonable prices the shopper goes crazy. What is the assurance that the price offered to him is the best? Normally before making a buying decision of an expensive product the consumer does an in depth research on the product from various websites which is an extremely tedious task. He would often wish a single website that would meet all his buying needs. Thus fulfiling this motive is came naaptol.com in january 2008.

Started as a brainchild of two people naaptol has grown to about 60 odd employees within a span of 1 year. Not only in terms of employees but the organization has grown in other respects too. From nil sellers naaptol has grown to 500 stores in its portfolio and still counting. And that's not all! There are about 470 brands that are associated with naaptol which include indiatimes shopping, ferns and petals, home shop 18, j j mehta and the likes. This has all been possible due to the dedicated and efficient team of naaptoleers who strive all along to get nothing but the best. Be it sales, operations, technology or marketing, all teams work in unison with each other to reach the top. Thus for naaptol we are not specifically looking for people who have all the knowledge ,but we are also looking for people who have the 'it' factor. We are looking for people who are full of life, are willing to learn and most importantly are willing to work as a team.

OBJECTIVE

To study how letsbuy.com Create a system that is easily accessible by customers from the comfort of their homes, offices etc. To study letsbuy.com customer perception towards Reduce the flow of human traffic and long queues at banks. To Study the perception towards Reduce the time wasted in going to banks to stay on queues. To study Promote efficient and effective banking for the banks by focusing on those services that still require physical presence at the banking hall.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

SAMPLE SIZE 100 people would take for this report

PRIMARY DATA Data has been collected through one to one interaction and discussion with various people who are involved in the business Event activities to boost its business and brand. Interaction with customers during such Event activities would enable to understand the success ratio of such kind of Event activities. Various products of the company would be discussed with respect to their benefits and advantages. Various insurance players would be compared with respect to their market share and products that they offer.

SECONDARY DATA A secondary data is that data that is required to conduct the study and can be obtained from books, journals, magazines, records etc. Secondary data is data taken by the researcher from secondary sources, internal or external. Secondary data is collected from following sources: 1) Magazines and journals 2) Company websites. 3) Internet 4) Books LIMITATION Many constraints were involved in doing this study. Some of them are as follows. The most significant limitation has been the individuals involved in this study were very busy and did not spare much time in discussion. The sample size selected for the survey was too small as compared to large population.

 The project was carried out only in the Delhi, so findings on data gathered can be best true for Delhi only and not applicable to other parts of state and country. Indian stock market is a market where sentiments play a major role in price; hence 100% accurate predictions cannot be made about its future path

LITRATURE REVIEW
As internet is a global showcase of information at the click of a button, vendors host severs sources to market their good and services internationally and buyers buy these services regardless of where ever they may be located. E-commerce is the buying and selling of garment products via the communications capabilities of private and public computer networks, including the Internet (Rao, 2006: 532). The Internet will bring radical change to automation in trading. By providing a omnipresent public network and standards for communication, the Internet will help businesses lower costs in EDI-like transactions. More importantly, the Internet will make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to participate in automated commerce transactions. Many businesses, be it small, medium, and largewill soon send and receive the majority of their purchase orders and invoices over the Internet (Chaffey, 2007).

The study is analyzing the impact of e-commerce on access to global markets for India. An area where Indian Garment Companies can use E commerce at this stage of its development is at the export front. Companies that export to the developed countries can utilize E commerce to get access to customers in these countries that are using the Internet more and more for their business and also for their personal needs, and where the Internet connectivity is very high.

COMMERCE & E-COMMERCE Commerce is a dissection of trade or production that deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to the end-consumer. Something of economic value is traded for example goods, services, information or money between two or more entities and that is what we called commerce. Commerce works as a central mechanism that drives capitalism and some other economic systems. Commercialization is a process of transforming something into a product, service or activity which one would then use in commerce, which is primarily money transaction. [Watson, Peter, 2005]. The basic difference between Trade & Commerce could primarily be expressed as an abstract notion for buying and

selling, whereas trade may refer to the exchange of a specific class of goods. Today commerce essentially includes a complex range of system and companies that try to maximize their profits by offering various products and services to the market maintain a low production-cost and increasing return on investment. [Davies, Glyn, 2002]. Delivery of goods and services is an essential part of commerce and we call it Trading. Existence of Trade exists is for many reasons such as due to specialisation and division of labor, concentration on a small aspect of production, trading for other products. It exists between regions because different regions would have a comparative and competitive advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions of different size allows for different benefits for mass production [Watson, Peter, 2005]. Advertising and brand promotion and a huge amount of ad spend is definitely an essentials of this game of commerce. When its business, it means a lot of thing included and a large perspective is to reach the end consumer at ease taking care of the return on investment. Trade going International becomes exchange of goods and services across the national borders. This particularly contributes a significant part of the GDP. International trade has increased because of industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational entities and outsourcing. But gradually we entered an era of technological comfort and our life got changed. Life comes with business and therefore, business or just the way we do business got changed as well [Weisbrot, Mark, 2005].

Electronic commerce or e-commerce or eCommerce, means buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The volume of trade done electronically has grown immensely since the spread of the Information Technology and Internet specifically. Variety of commerce is conducted electronically. Innovations in field of electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems has been brought about by e=commerce for the ease of consumer transaction and other benefits. It is the World Wide Web platform on which the modern electronic commerce is done.

Most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items by logistics mode and some serves virtual products. Online retailers are known as etailers and online retail is called e-tail. Contemporary way of trading and commerce is mostly e-commerce oriented or driven and almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web today. (Chaudhury, Abijit; Jean-Pierre Kuilboer, 2002).

E-commerce is considered to be the sales aspect of electronic business. It also consists of the exchange of data in order to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions. The entire meaning of e-commerce has changed over the last three decades. Through the use of technology like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) the electronic transaction of business of goods and commodities and financial transactions are carried on. From signing and agreeing to terms of business till making the actual payment, everything is carried on electronically. The growth and acceptance of automated payment, credit card, debit cards, ATM online shopping and payment, phone banking and many more are only the by products of e-commerce industry. Larger the transaction, ease of business is even better. (Chaudhury, Abijit; Jean-Pierre Kuilboer, 2002).

Terms like e-business, e-commerce, net shopping, online retailing, e-culture, eage, the virtual world and portals are fast becoming part of our new business language (RIGA, 1998). Electronic commerce is defined as sale or purchase of goods or services through the application of information and communication technology from its point of origin to its endpoint along the entire value chain of business processes conducted electronically and designed to enable the accomplishment of a business goal (Wigand, 1997; Kansititorn, Poopparadai and Smutkput, 2005). E-business which primarily includes online purchasing, and providing product and service information, which allow for cutting of costs, improving the quality of goods, and increasing the speed of service (Kleindl, 2000). The world wide web provides a wide range of benefits including a relatively inexpensive means of accessing global markets, niche markets and low cost communication medium (Poon & Swatman, 1997; Kleindl, 2000).

The scope of this study is to understand the potential that e-commerce holds for Readymade Garment exporters in India and also to gain an insight into what new opportunities can be opened up and how best these opportunities can be exploited.

Electronic commerce or e-commerce or eCommerce, means buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The volume of trade done electronically has grown immensely since the spread of the Information Technology and Internet specifically. Variety of commerce is conducted electronically. Innovations in field of electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems has been brought about by e=commerce for the ease of consumer transaction and other benefits. It is the World Wide Web platform on which the modern electronic commerce is done. Most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items by logistics mode and some serves virtual products. Online retailers are known as etailers and online retail is called e-tail. Contemporary way of trading and commerce is mostly e-commerce oriented or driven and almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web today. (Chaudhury, Abijit; Jean-Pierre Kuilboer, 2002).

Terms like e-business, e-commerce, net shopping, online retailing, e-culture, eage, the virtual world and portals are fast becoming part of our new business language (RIGA, 1998). Electronic commerce is defined as sale or purchase of goods or services through the application of information and communication technology from its point of origin to its endpoint along the entire value chain of business processes conducted electronically and designed to enable the accomplishment of a business goal (Wigand, 1997; Kansititorn, Poopparadai and Smutkput, 2005). E-business which primarily includes online purchasing, and providing product and service information, which allow for cutting of costs, improving the quality of goods, and increasing the speed of service (Kleindl,

2000). The world wide web provides a wide range of benefits including a relatively inexpensive means of accessing global markets, niche markets and low cost communication medium (Poon & Swatman, 1997; Kleindl, 2000). Internet is now available through the world and through internet an export firm can reach out to customers who have access to internet. Thus, a firm can reach beyond its geographic location and its current customer segment. In other words, e-commerce has increased the reach of export firms whereby they can operate globally (Kinyanjui, 2002). E-commerce means better quicker customer service. For companies that do business with other firms, adding customer service to the web is a competitive advantage. The overnight package delivery service, where tracking number allows customers to check the whereabouts of a package online, is one good example (Awad, 2006: p.15). It facilitates higher profit margins for the business by reducing the costs of various kinds of commercial transactions and cutting delays in receiving payments from customers. It also saves a lot by replacing manual transactions with electronic transactions. A well prepared eCommerce strategy can increase sales from mere 10 percent to several times within the first six month of implementation. There is a possibility that order size per customer will also increase thanks to some eCommerce functionalities like advanced eCatalog, Notification service, order status viewing system and ability to offer related products (Nowshade Kabir, 2002).

Internet provides a form for interaction between export firms and also between firms and their customers. Through internet suppliers, manufacturers,

distributors, retailers, exporters are able to share information on the inventory and enhance the flow of information and goods through the supply chain. Now the exchange of multimedia information has been made possible which fastens better relationships among the participants. The real time capability of the internet provides a sense of teamwork and shared goals among the participants (Kinyanjui, 2002). The Ecommerce improved image, improved customer service, new found business partners, simplified processors, compressed cycle and delivery time, increased productivity, eliminating paper, expanding access to

information, reduced transportation cost and increased flexibility (Humphrey, 2002).

Many organisations are eager to engage themselves in the e-business trend through the application of the Internet technology which incorporates eminent and fascinating functions such as Interactive Communications, Dynamic inventory, Customer order tracking, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) etc. However, companies are usually are eager to develop their corporate websites which contain typically the same information as they put in the Yellow pages and which is rarely updated. This is an unplanned approach and as a result of such unplanned approach, senior executives are most likely to diminish the budget and human resources involvement and eventually suspend the etransformation project. To successfully transform small and medium- sized firms into e-capable companies, an e-transformation roadmap which focuses on not only the website development, but also the involvement of employees as individuals, project or task teams as groups, as well as the entire company as a single entity. This proposed roadmap consists of eight phases: basic website, interactive website, e-commerce website, effective individual, effective group, effective enterprise, convergence, and new emerging business processes. Initial six phases of the roadmap aims into internal and external development approaches of which the internal development approach is mainly concerned with the transition of effectiveness with a company and is constructed of the development of effective individuals toward the effective enterprise. On the other hand, the external development approach is essentially related to the construction of the website and its functionalities. It is based on the development of a static, information only website to wards e-commerce competent world wide web platform. (Wigand, 1997; Kansititorn, Poopparadai and Smutkput, 2005).

The E-transformation Roadmap

Source

If we talk about only a website, there could many a times of websites that a company can create to infuse customer interaction model for their business such as Basic Website, Interactive Website, E-commerce Website etc. First the organization goes through transformation phase at an individual stage, then transformation at a group level, and then finally it changes or transforms the enterprise as a whole, its perspective and acceptability in the market.

A basic website refers to a static and information only website for any company. This forms a preliminary external development phase that enterprises could use the Internet as the media for disseminating marketing and advertising campaigns and products information. Internet is employed as the same way as they have been using in the conventional promotion mediums such as magazines, newspapers, and product catalogues and so on at this stage. Primarily in this phase it is important to ensure the corporate web presence with the appropriate contents incorporated. In an interactive website, companies construct their websites towards more advanced functions. Such websites are seen as an interactive website which provides the website visitor (e.g. clients, vendors, employees etc) with dynamic and up to date information. Primary concept of the dynamic contents emphasises on the connection and interface between the frontend website and the back-end database systems. The task of an interactive website is to identify the dynamic contents availability on the Internet. But the

ultimate e-transformation comes from e-commerce website where the objective is to construct an e-commerce or online payment enabled website. Through this the customers are able to place sales orders, organise accounts payables; vendors or suppliers are able to remit invoices and receive payments; and the enterprise could arrange payrolls and any other expenses. An important job in this phase is to focus on the development of secure environment that provides all business parties confidently trading through the Internet.

In this phase which is called individual convergence each employee should have suitable IT facilities that will support their individual needs to carry out daily business activities. The appropriate IT facilities support individuals including personal computers, laptops, word processing applications, and spreadsheets applications, building up a consolidated reporting and record management system with just a click of a mouse. The working process and phenomena of an individual worker changes completely. In an effective group approach the development of an effective group as a whole happens within an enterprise. Here an important aspect is team work using the diverse skills of individual employees and resulting efficient outcomes and without a doubt, the IT and information systems are the keys to provide an effective team or group environment. And when moving from the effective group development towards an effective enterprise development, the total transformation happens for the entire working of the firm.

Once the internal and external developments have been done and a mature status of e-commerce has been developed reached the mature status there comes the convergence stage for the company. Through e-commerce website and effective enterprise stages, companies are able to competent to converge both internal and external into a single operation. Due to this convergence phase a number of new business processes are emerging. Such new business processes generally relate to the activities of handling the business behaviors amongst business parties (clients, suppliers, and the enterprise itself), including customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management

(SRM), supply chain management (SCM), and knowledge management (KM) to name a few. E-commerce advantages Some advantages that can be achieved from e-commerce include:

Being able to conduct business 24 x 7 x 365 . E-commerce systems can operate all day every day. Your physical storefront does not need to be open in order for customers and suppliers to be doing business with you electronically.

Access the global marketplace . The Internet spans the world, and it is possible to do business with any business or person who is connected to the Internet. Simple local businesses such as specialist record stores are able to market and sell their offerings internationally using e-commerce. This global opportunity is assisted by the fact that, unlike traditional communications methods, users are not charged according to the distance over which they are communicating.

Speed. Electronic communications allow messages to traverse the world almost instantaneously. There is no need to wait weeks for a catalogue to arrive by post: that communications delay is not a part of the Internet / ecommerce world.

Marketspace. The market in which web-based businesses operate is the global market. It may not be evident to them, but many businesses are already facing international competition from web-enabled businesses.

Opportunity to reduce costs. The Internet makes it very easy to 'shop around' for products and services that may be cheaper or more effective than we might otherwise settle for. It is sometimes possible to, through some online research, identify original manufacturers for some goods thereby bypassing wholesalers and achieving a cheaper price.

Computer platform-independent . 'Many, if not most, computers have the ability to communicate via the Internet independent of operating systems and hardware. Customers are not limited by existing hardware systems' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).

Efficient applications development environment - 'In many respects, applications can be more efficiently developed and distributed because

the can be built without regard to the customer's or the business partner's technology platform. Application updates do not have to be manually installed on computers. Rather, Internet-related technologies provide this capability inherently through automatic deployment of software updates' (Gascoyne & Ozcubukcu, 1997:87).

Allowing customer self service and 'customer outsourcing'. People can interact with businesses at any hour of the day that it is convenient to them, and because these interactions are initiated by customers, the customers also provide a lot of the data for the transaction that may otherwise need to be entered by business staff. This means that some of the work and costs are effectively shifted to customers; this is referred to as 'customer outsourcing'.

Stepping beyond borders to a global view. Using aspects of ecommerce technology can mean your business can source and use products and services provided by other businesses in other countries. This seems obvious enough to say, but people do not always consider the implications of e-commerce. For example, in many ways it can be easier and cheaper to host and operate some e-commerce activities outside Australia. Further, because many e-commerce transactions involve credit cards, many businesses in Australia need to make arrangements for accepting online payments. However a number of major Australian banks have tended to be unhelpful laggards on this front, charging a lot of money and making it difficult to establish these arrangements - particularly for smaller businesses and/or businesses that don't fit into a traditionaleconomy understanding of business. In some cases, therefore, it can be easier and cheaper to set up arrangements which bypass this aspect of the Australian banking system. Admittedly, this can create some grey areas for legal and taxation purposes, but these can be dealt with. And yes these circumstances do have implications for Australia's national competitiveness businesses. and the competitiveness of our industries and

As a further thought, many businesses find it easier to buy and sell in U.S. dollars: it is effectively the major currency of the Internet. In this context, global

online customers can find the concept of peculiar and unfamiliar currencies disconcerting. Some businesses find they can achieve higher prices online and in US dollars than they would achieve selling locally or nationally. Given that banks often charge fees for converting currencies, this is another reason to investigate all of your (national and international) options for accepting and making online payments. In brief, it is useful to take a global view with regard the potential and organisation of your e-commerce activities, especially if you are targeting global customers.

A new marketing channel. The Internet provides an important new channel to sell to consumers. Peterson et al. (1999) suggest that, as a marketing channel, the Internet has the following characteristics:

the ability to inexpensively store vast amounts of information at different virtual locations

the availability of powerful and inexpensive means of searching, organising, and disseminating such information

interactivity and the ability to provide information on demand the ability to provide perceptual experiences that are far superior to a printed catalogue, although not as rich as personal inspection

the capability to serve as a transaction medium the ability to serve as a physical distribution medium for certain goods (e.g., software)

relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers no other existing marketing channel possesses all of these characteristics.

Some of these advantages and their surrounding issues are discussed below in further detail. E-commerce disadvantages and constraints Some disadvantages and constraints of e-commerce include the following.

Time for delivery of physical products . It is possible to visit a local music store and walk out with a compact disc, or a bookstore and leave with a book. E-commerce is often used to buy goods that are not available locally from businesses all over the world, meaning that physical goods need to be delivered, which takes time and costs money. In some cases

there are ways around this, for example, with electronic files of the music or books being accessed across the Internet, but then these are not physical goods.

Physical product, supplier & delivery uncertainty . When you walk out of a shop with an item, it's yours. You have it; you know what it is, where it is and how it looks. In some respects e-commerce purchases are made on trust. This is because, firstly, not having had physical access to the product, a purchase is made on an expectation of what that product is and its condition. Secondly, because supplying businesses can be conducted across the world, it can be uncertain whether or not they are legitimate businesses and are not just going to take your money. It's pretty hard to knock on their door to complain or seek legal recourse! Thirdly, even if the item is sent, it is easy to start wondering whether or not it will ever arrive.

Perishable goods . Forget about ordering a single gelato ice cream from a shop in Rome! Though specialised or refrigerated transport can be used, goods bought and sold via the Internet tend to be durable and nonperishable: they need to survive the trip from the supplier to the purchasing business or consumer. This shifts the bias for perishable and/or non-durable goods back towards traditional supply chain arrangements, or towards relatively more local e-commerce-based purchases, sales and distribution. In contrast, durable goods can be traded from almost anyone to almost anyone else, sparking competition for lower prices. In some cases this leads to disintermediation in which intermediary people and businesses are bypassed by consumers and by other businesses that are seeking to purchase more directly from manufacturers.

Limited and selected sensory information. The Internet is an effective conduit for visual and auditory information: seeing pictures, hearing sounds and reading text. However it does not allow full scope for our senses: we can see pictures of the flowers, but not smell their fragrance; we can see pictures of a hammer, but not feel its weight or balance. Further, when we pick up and inspect something, we choose what we look at and how we look at it. This is not the case on the Internet. If we were

looking at buying a car on the Internet, we would see the pictures the seller had chosen for us to see but not the things we might look for if we were able to see it in person. And, taking into account our other senses, we can't test the car to hear the sound of the engine as it changes gears or sense the smell and feel of the leather seats. There are many ways in which the Internet does not convey the richness of experiences of the world. This lack of sensory information means that people are often much more comfortable buying via the Internet generic goods - things that they have seen or experienced before and about which there is little ambiguity, rather than unique or complex things.

Returning goods. Returning goods online can be an area of difficulty. The uncertainties surrounding the initial payment and delivery of goods can be exacerbated in this process. Will the goods get back to their source? Who pays for the return postage? Will the refund be paid? Will I be left with nothing? How long will it take? Contrast this with the offline experience of returning goods to a shop.

Privacy, security, payment, identity, contract. Many issues arise privacy of information, security of that information and payment details, whether or not payment details (eg credit card details) will be misused, identity theft, contract, and, whether we have one or not, what laws and legal jurisdiction apply.

Defined services & the unexpected . E-commerce is an effective means for managing the transaction of known and established services, that is, things that are everyday. It is not suitable for dealing with the new or unexpected. For example, a transport company used to dealing with simple packages being asked if it can transport a hippopotamus, or a customer asking for a book order to be wrapped in blue and white polka dot paper with a bow. Such requests need human intervention to investigate and resolve.

Personal service . Although some human interaction can be facilitated via the web, e-commerce can not provide the richness of interaction provided by personal service. For most businesses, e-commerce methods provide the equivalent of an information-rich counter attendant rather than

a salesperson. This also means that feedback about how people react to product and service offerings also tends to be more granular or perhaps lost using e-commerce approaches. If your only feedback is that people are (or are not) buying your products or services online, this is inadequate for evaluating how to change or improve your e-commerce strategies and/or product and service offerings. Successful business use of ecommerce typically involves strategies for gaining and applying customer feedback. This helps businesses to understand, anticipate and meet changing online customer needs and preferences, which is critical because of the comparatively rapid rate of ongoing Internet-based change.

Size and number of transactions. E-commerce is most often conducted using credit card facilities for payments, and as a result very small and very large transactions tend not to be conducted online. The size of transactions is also impacted by the economics of transporting physical goods. For example, any benefits or conveniences of buying a box of pens online from a US-based business tend to be eclipsed by the cost of having to pay for them to be delivered to you in Australia. The delivery costs also mean that buying individual items from a range of different overseas businesses is significantly more expensive than buying all of the goods from one overseas business because the goods can be packaged and shipped together.

Reflecting some of the comments above, the following chart (Figure 1.6) shows some of the complaints made by Australian e-consumers .

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Sources influencing your purchase decision Newspaper Television Website Friends and Relatives advice Other (please specify)___________________

Source influences Newspaper Television Website Friends and Relatives advice Other 27 15 46 12 0

Other Friends and 0% Relatives advice 12% Newspaper 27%

Website 46%

Television 15%

Source influences
As per our primary data suggested that people are using Internet to purchase there semi luxuries goods, which they found one of the most reliable sources of information 46% of the people are suggested that website is the most influence source of information of them although first influence that customer receive from the Television as suggested by the 15% of the customer out of 100 people who has been surveyed for the company.

1) Frequency of internet usage Everyday Several times a week About once a week Several times a month

Frequency Internet Surfing Everyday Several times a week About once a week Several times a month 34 13 15 38

of

As per our objective of this study is the scope of online Shopping

for the

Automobile Industry in India, there is obvious growth that Indian industry found as the growing population of the Internet users. 38% of the people suggested that the they are surfing internet several times in a month while 34% of the people suggested them surfing on Internet Every day.

2) internet accessability Home Office Cyber caf Other (please specify)___________________

Surfing Internet from Home Office Cyber caf Other 37 42 12 9

Surfing Internet from

Cyber caf 12% Other 9% Home 37%

Office 42%

Internet Shopping will be the more effective when people either use internet on home or in the office as this question suggested that the 42% of the people said office is the place where they most of time surfing Internet this is one group which is more prospective buyer for the Letbuy.com. 37% of the people suggested that they have Internet in home adding to this 12% of the people suggested that cyber Caf is the place where they are surfing internet.

3) Purpose for internet usage Information gathering Shopping News Stock market E-mailing Other (please specify)_____________________

Purpose For Using Internet Information gathering Shopping News Stock market E-mailing Other 38 9 21 21 10 1

Infect

people

using very frequently internet and the purpose of the using internet is varying also as per our study suggested that the 38% of the people are using Internet for Information gathering adding to this 21% of the people suggested that they are using most of time Internet because of the taking information of Stock market.

One of the surprising result suggested that 9% of the people are using Internet for the shopping. 4) Searching pages on the internet Followed link from another web page By using a search engine Read about it in newspaper/magazine Referred by friends &relatives Other (please specify)_______________________ Finding the proper Website Followed link from another web page By using a search engine Read about it in newspaper/magazine Referred by friends &relatives Other 32 22 28 16 2

Finding the proper website is some time very difficult in fact some time very problematic for the people as per our study suggested that they are using search engine like Google , Yahoo to find the proper website said by the 22% of the people adding to this 28% of the people suggested that they are finding proper website information from the Newspaper and from the Magazine. 32% of the

people suggested that the they are following the web page for finding the internet this is the major area where the online Shopping would be successful.

5) Your online purchases High value products like watches ,computers etc Flowers Cds/videos Travel bookings Other (please specify)_____________________

Purchasing Online High value products like watches ,computers etc Flowers Cd's/videos Travel bookings Other 12 32 19 26 11

Generally Indian people purchasing decision is very historical as adding to this now growing internet uses now customer are ready to purchase the some of them product through Internet. 32% of the people suggested that they are purchasing flowers through Online. Although 26% of the people suggested that people prefer Travel booking. 6) Your Budget for online purchases (Rs)0-500 (Rs)501-5000 (Rs)5001-50000 (Rs)Above 50000

Online Purchasing 0-500 501 to 50000 5001 to 50000 Above 50000 17 59 14 10

As per our study suggested that Indian people are very conservative inters of the online marketing and there spending power, although people are prefer to

purchase through internet and we try to find how many people spending how much money through online. 59% of the people suggested that there purchasing is limited to Rs. 501 to 50000 and only 10% of the people suggested that there spending power is over the above than 50000.

8. The age of the respondents can be shown under the following heads. The respondents can be divided into the following categories

Age of the respondents

16% 6%
0-15 15-30 30-40

31%

47%
40-60

It is known from the graph that the main respondents are belonging to 20 - 30 age-group i.e. 47% people out of surveyed sample size i.e. 100 are under 30 years of age it showing that good business for the online shopping because young want to have a mobile devices with him/her at any circumstances.

FINDINGS AND INFERENCE

The following are a few things an internet marketer can do to maximize the potential of his website: Domain Fault Repair This function directs the web visitor to the right site after she/he potentially may have typed in the wrong Internet address. Site Customization: - One of the web-based CRM most important advantages is the volume of information available to the browsing customer. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of information can be one of the weaknesses of web-based CRM design. Sites that offer customization features allow user to filter the content they see. The future of truly web-based CRM will be the completely one-to-one web sites. When properly customizable on the first visit, the customer on a next entry can choose to see only his/her own preferences. (Example: yahoo.com; my yahoo) Alternative Channels Different ways to contact the company are offered, for instance, Email, Fax toll-free numbers, Postal Address, Call back button and Voice over IP. Local Search Engine Allows the visitor to search on key words to quickly locate specific answers on the website. Membership The visitor can request a password. With this password he can continue surfing on password protected web pages within the website.

LIMITATIONS

Many constraints were involved in doing this study. Some of them are as follows. The most significant limitation has been the individuals involved in this study were very busy and did not spare much time in discussion. The sample size selected for the survey was too small as compared to large population. The project was carried out only in the Delhi, so findings on data gathered can be best true for Delhi only and not applicable to other parts of state and country. Indian stock market is a market where sentiments play a major role in price; hence 100% accurate predictions cannot be made about its future path

RECOMMENDATION Mailing List To receive more information, the visitor can add his/her email address to a list to receive automated emails. Often, this is called a newsletter. Site tour The visitor can follow a tour through the website. Site Map This is a hierarchical diagram of the pages on the website, also called a site overview, site index, or site map. Introduction for First-Time Users Visitors, who enter the site for the first time, can surf to an introduction page. This page contains information about How to use the site most efficiently Chat A main advantage of the Internet is its self-generating advantage. By allowing visitors to interact with each other and with the site, they create content for the site. The chat features allows a visitor to enter a real-time conferencing between two or more users on the website.

All this will help build a relationship with the customer and it will ultimately help the marketer to achieve his objectives. Finally I would like to end by saying that even though the internet has opened up a new avenue for reaching the end consumer; it is still very much an open field. This is true as there is no fixed way or strategy for Shopping on the net. It is still very much an arena where ingenuity and creative thinking very much rule the roost. Thus Shopping as usual has not changed, i.e. it is still the same usual self

CONCLUSION On-Shopping is a hot topic especially in these days of instant results. The

reason why i-Shopping has become so popular is because they provide three major benefits to potential buyers: 1. Convenience: Customers can order products 24 hours a day wherever they are. They dont have to sit in traffic, and a parking space, and walk through countless shops to find and examine goods. 2. Information: Customers can find reams of comparative information about companies, products, competitors, and prices without leaving their office or home. 3. Fewer hassles: Customers dont have to face salespeople or open themselves up to persuasion and emotional factors; they also dont have to wait in line. i-Shopping also provides a number of benefits to marketers: 1. Quick adjustments to market conditions: Companies can quickly add products to their offering and change prices and descriptions. 2. Lower costs: On-line marketers avoid the expense of maintaining a store and the costs of rent, insurance, and utilities. They can produce digital catalogs for much less than the cost of printing and mailing paper catalogs. 3. Relationship building: On-line marketers can dialogue with consumers and learn from them. 4. Audience sizing: Marketers can learn how many people visited their on-line site and how many stopped at particular places on the site. This information can help improve offers and ads. Clearly, marketers are adding on-line channels to find, reach, communicate, and sell. i-Shopping has at least five great advantages. First, both small and large firms can afford it. Second, there is no real limit on advertising space, in contrast to print and broadcast media. Third, information access and retrieval are fast, compared to overnight mail and even fax. Fourth, the site can be visited by anyone from any place in the world. Fifth, shopping can be done privately and swiftly.

The Internet is a powerful tool for strengthening relationships. By offering customers content and time value, E-Shopping has opened new vistas for

marketers. The greatest feature of the digital economy is that it enables the EMarketer to eradicate man traditional barriers before entering new markets. These barriers include economies of scale and geographic positioning. The innate strength of an E-Market comes not from the seamless flows of goods and services from the producer to the customer but in the geometrically increasing returns from converging ideas and technological change the strength of online communities has never been so great, and companies have used them to develop new markets. Notice how Linux distributed free on the Net has been able to build up a faithful customer base. Ultimately here also the marketer has to realize that nothing sells as well as a good product. But the beauty of the Internet is that it offers constant opportunities for product enhancement based on continuous customer feedback. Companies who have tuned their business processes to incorporate these customer responses have been able to leverage the power of the Web to gain competitive advantage.

APPENDICES
Questionnaires

Which source influences the most your purchasing decision? Newspaper Television Website Friends and Relatives advice Other (please specify)___________________

How frequently do you surf the internet? Everyday Several times a week About once a week Several times a month

Generally for what purpose do you use internet for ? Information gathering Shopping News Stock market E-mailing Other (please specify)_____________________

From where do you most often access the internet ? Home Office Cyber caf Other (please specify)___________________

How did you find out about a particular website on the internet ? Followed link from another web page By using a search engine Read about it in newspaper/magazine Referred by friends &relatives Other (please specify)_______________________

What kind of purchases you do online? High value products like watches ,computers etc Flowers Cds/videos Travel bookings Other (please specify)_____________________

What value you would be comfortable for online purchases? (Rs)0-500 (Rs)501-5000 (Rs)5001-50000 (Rs)Above 50000

The age of the respondents can be shown under the following heads. The respondents can be divided into the following categories 0-15 15-30 30-40 40-60

Bibliography Event Management Marketing Management Marketing is Business Lynn Van Der Wagen & Brenda R. Carlos Philip Kotler Walter E. Vieira

Principles of Marketing Kotler & Amstrong

The Fundamentals & Practice of Marketing John Wilmshurst