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International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
A STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE COLLEGE
STUDENTS IN THEIR ONLINE SHOPPING
R. Muthukrishnan* & Dr. K. Niranjanaa Devi**
* Assistant Professor, GRD Institute of Management, Dr. G. R. Damodaran College of
Science, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
** Professor, GRD Academy of Management, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
Cite This Article: R. Muthukrishnan & Dr. K. Niranjanaa Devi, “A Study on the Problems Faced by the
College Students in their Online Shopping”, International Journal of Computational Research and Development,
Volume 2, Issue 2, Page Number 101-106, 2017.
Abstract:
Online shopping - an wonderful invention, in which the consumers can directly buy goods or services
from a seller in real time with the help of online shopping mechanism, with no intermediary service, over the
Internet . It is also known as online shop, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or
virtual store. It is a form of electronic commerce where in the sale or purchase transaction is completed
electronically and interactively in real -time. Recently, a large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted
entirely in electronic form. This process is called Business – to – Consumers (B2C). Online retailers are also
known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e- tail. Almost all big retailers are now electronically
present on the World Wide Web. Online shopping, such an easy way of doing shopping mechanism provides
the changed face of retailing to the shoppers. Initially, the consumers very well go through the websites of the
stores before travelling to the stores to purchase. Later, now, many shoppers are just bypassing the direct visit
store and order for the required products or services through online directly from the websites. Even with all the
great efforts of online stores to improve their system or mechanism, there are few problems that the consumers
still have to face while their online shopping. This paper aims to analyze the issues in online shopping system.
Key Words: Online Shopping, E-Commerce, Business –To- Consumers (B2C), Webshops, E-Tailers & E-Tail
Introduction:
Any individual who purchases goods and services from the market for his/her end-use is called a
consumer. It can be also meant that consumer is one who consumes goods and services available in the market.
Recent marketers carefully prepared demographical profiles about different consumers based on various factors
to engage with personalized marketing or customized services strategies. Each and every consumer has their
own preferences towards particular products and services. Consumer interest is the willingness of consumers to
purchase products and services as per their need, want, taste etc, A study on such piece is called Consumer
behaviour. Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use
to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy their needs and wants.
The following explain the various stages of consumer buying process:
NEED
↓
INFORMATION GATHERING/SEARCH
↓
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
↓
PURCHASE OF PRODUCT/SERVICE
↓
POST PURCHASE EVALUATION
Need, the most important factor which actually initiates the purchasing of products and services, in turn
it triggers the individual to take purchasing decision. After the decision taken to buy some products or services
the individuals search for and collect as much as possible information about them with the help of various
sources such as personal sources (friends, family members, colleagues, etc,.), commercial sources (media
advertisements, sales people, in-store displays, etc), public sources (newspapers, radio, magazines, etc) and
experiential sources (own experience). After gathering relevant information, the individuals try to choose the
best option available as per his need, want, taste, etc, and then purchase the required products or services. Then,
the post purchase evaluation, which refers to a customer‟s analysis whether the product was useful or not,
whether the product fulfilled his need or not, etc.
Internet - has been changed the face of retail selling. Customers are very well able to search for
information and evaluate alternatives through online. In store retail sales processes have, in many organisations,
a challenged one to adapt to the increased power consumers. Now-a -days customers are shifting more and more
to the production process or user interactive products with their strong process and product knowledge through
their participation. So, internet has become a valuable research tool for online shoppers, which provides
enormous information that is much more important in purchasing decisions.
101
International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
Review of Literature:
S.No Name Source Outcome
The issues have been identified were : The
The factors that affect marketing effort, socio -cultural influence,
Smith and Rupp
1 buying behaviour of emotional factor, the psychological factors and
(2003)
customers privacy factors, to the experience, the purchase
and post –purchase decisions
This study provides empirical evidence in the
Consumer Perceived
Mohd Shoki Md Arif, study of consumer online behaviour. Four
Risk, Attitude and
Michele Sylvester, types of risks - product risk, financial,
2 Online Shopping
Norhayati Zakuan, convenience and non-delivery risks - were
Behaviour; Empirical
Khalid Ismail (2014) examined in term of their effect on consumers‟
Evidence from Malaysia
online attitude
This research explicitly indicates that online
marketer should give more importance on
Customer Satisfaction
price factor and after sale factor. In this
towards Online
Adrita Goswami et.al Competition era all the online marketers
3 Shopping with Special
(2013) should have to concentrate on the customer‟s
Reference to Teenage
satisfaction to retain the existing customers
Group of Jorhat Town
and have to offer new scheme day by day to
attract the new customers
The current study investigates possible factors
that influence consumer Internet intention
Intention to Shop Online towards students‟ online shopping behavior
Abbas Nathier Al barq Among University and also deals with several factors such as
4
(2006) Students in Jordan usefulness and ease of use are become
important predictors toward attitude toward
on-line shopping that influence students
buying intention were analyzed.
A study on common The main intention of the project is identify
K.Vanitha and problems face by the various problems faced by the customers
5
Dr.M.Prakash (2016) customers in online and to know the reasons for the problems
shopping while conducting online shopping.
Success of Business to Studied the existing security measures which
6 Burke, RR (2002 Consumer (B2C) e- assure and motivate the online shoppers to do
Commerce Transactions their online shopping
Statement of the Problem:
Though purchasing goods and services through online to own living room is certainly a more
convenient than actually driving to a physical store, people still may experience problems with online shopping
from time to time. This study attempts to study some of the more common issues, such as getting the wrong
item, problems related to payment process, replacement of the product, poor customer support etc, from the
young people who prefer to go for online shopping according to many studies.
Objectives of the Study:
To study the problems faced by the college students in their online shopping
To identify the factors which contributes the problems to the online shoppers which in turn make them
dissatisfied
To analyse the online shoppers‟ opinion towards the grievance procedures undertaken by the online
stores
Methodology:
The descriptive study aimed to analyze the problems faced by the customers in their online shopping.
Data was collected through structured questionnaire. About 300 questionnaires were circulated, were taken back
and considered as sample size. So, 300 students of various colleges (includes selected Engineering and Arts &
Science Colleges) in Coimbatore have become the sample units for this study. Quota sampling technique were
adopted to obtain the responses from 300 college students (Arts & Science: 150, Engineering: 150). The study
was conducted in Coimbatore city, Tamil Nadu state, India, during September, 2017. To study the experience
with the problems faced in online shopping , the respondents were asked to represent their opinion using five
point scale with 1 – Strongly Agree, 2 – Agree, 3 – Neither Agree and Disagree, 5 – Disagree 5 – Strongly
Disagree.
102
International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
Results and Discussion:
Graph 1: Demographic Profile of the Respondents
Gender Age
160 Above…
140 36 - 40
120
31 - 35
100
80 27 - 30
60 23 - 26
40
18 - 22
20
0
0 100 200
male female transgender
Education Occupation of Father
140 120
120 100
100 80
80 60
60 40
40 20
20 0
0
Monthly Income of Family Residence
10,000 & Below
10,000 - 25,000 Rural
30%
25,000 - 50,000
50,000 - 75,000
75,000 - 1,00,000 Urban
Above 1,00,000 70%
Most of the respondents fall between the age group of 18 to 26 years. Most of the respondents were
undergoing their UG courses in both Engineering and Arts & Science discipline. Many (93%) respondents were
Full Time students. Most (34%) of the respondents‟ fathers were Private employees. Majority (32%) of the
respondents have 3 to 4 persons in their family. Most (70%) of the respondents were residing in urban area. The
monthly family income of many (31%) respondents falls between 25,000 to 50,000 rupees.
103
International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
Graph 2: Online Shopping Profile of the Respondents
Online Shopping Experience Problems Experienced in
>7 Yrs Online shopping
5 - 7 Yrs 4% 300
19% <3 Yrs
36% 200
100
0
3 - 5 Yrs
Yes No
41%
Satisfaction withe the Time Taken to Solve Problems
Customer Care Suppot
Highly Dissatisfied More than 2 weeks
Dissatisfied 1 week
Neither Satisfied… 5 days
Satisfied 48-72 hrs / 3 days
Highly Satisfied >24 Hrs
0 50 100 150 0 20 40 60
All the respondents have experienced with online shopping. Majority (41%) of the respondents were
having 3 to 5 years of online shopping experience and most (72%) of the respondents experienced problems in
their online shopping. 52% of the respondents used their phone to contact customer care department follwed by
e-mail . Majority (22%) of the respondents pointed out that 2 weeks and more than 2 weeks time taken to
resolve their problems arised in online shopping. Around 80% of the respondents did not like to submit more of
their personal data. Most (57%) of the respondents agreed that some stores deal with inferior goods. Around
68% of the respondents agreed that they fear to make credit card payment for their online shopping. Around
60% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed against the time taken to refund money were long. Only
45% , 48% and 54% of the respondents disagreed that they received defective items, they received the products
which they have not ordered and they received the products which they ordered with other specification
respectively. Around 60% of the respondents agreed with the received poor customer service. Around 46% of
the respondents disagreed against its difficult to reach customer care by phone. Only 40% of the respondents
disagreed with they took more effort to replace the defective products they received. More than 80% of the
respondents agreed with there is no security in online mechanism. Around 70% of the respondents agreed that
they were not aware to complaint online frauds. Around 60% of the respondents said that they would
recommend online shopping to others and at the same time around 30% of them would not recommend.
Chi-Square Test:
Ho: There is no significant association between the modes used to contact customer care department and the
respondent‟s satisfaction towards customer care service
H1: There is significant association between the modes used to contact customer care department and the
respondent‟s satisfaction towards customer care service
Modes / Level of Satisfaction HS S NSND D HD Row. Total
e-mail 14 25 4 14 8 65
Phone 11 63 0 28 11 113
Live chat 0 3 3 0 0 6
Social Media 6 13 2 2 1 24
Help Desk / FAQ 0 2 3 2 1 8
Col. Total 31 106 12 46 21 216
Since, it has been observed from the above table, that the calculated value obtained is 59.919 and the
tabulated value found is 26.296 (at 5% significance and with the Degree of Freedom 16), Ho is rejected.
So, there is significant association between the modes used to contact customer care department and
the respondent‟s satisfaction towards customer care service
104
International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
Ho: There is no significant association between the courses studied by the respondents and the respondent‟s
opinion on the user-friendliness of websites of online shops
H1: There is significant association between the courses studied by the respondents and the respondent‟s opinion
on the user-friendliness of websites of online shops
Courses / Level of
HS S NSND D HD Row. Total
Satisfaction
A.UG 4 8 18 84 2 116
A.PG 5 9 1 6 9 30
E.UG 1 3 20 43 47 114
E.PG 4 9 8 4 11 36
Others 2 2 0 0 0 4
Col. Tot 16 31 47 137 69 300
Since, it has been observed from the above table, that the calculated value obtained is 143.996 and the
tabulated value found is 26.296 (at 5% significance and with the Degree of Freedom 16), Ho is rejected.
So, there is significant association between the courses studied by the respondents and the respondent‟s
opinion on the user-friendliness of websites of online shops
Weighted Average Method:
S.No Statement S.Ag(5) Ag(4) NN(3) D.Ag(2) S.Dis(1)
1 Websites are not user friendly 80 124 141 274 69
2 More options to place order 80 92 171 252 78
3 Don‟t like to submit personal data 620* 548 57 22 9
4 Some stores deal with inferior goods 855* 432 30 22 0
5 Fear to make Credit Card Payment 480 440 69 118 12
6 Failures in Digital Payment 130 276 99 290 27
7 Long time to refund money 330 108 537* 42 7
8 No timely delivery 60 132 36 330 78
9 Received defective items 210 132 36 270 78
10 Received product not ordered 170 84 48 290 84
11 Received products with other specifications 195 100 60 328 52
12 Poor customer service 465* 356 216 68 12
13 Difficult to reach customer care people by phone 190 200 222 192 42
14 Item damaged due to poor handling 110 96 198 176 100
15 More efforts to replace 210 80 276 242 25
16 No security in online mechanism 560 588* 36 38 10
17 Not aware to complaint online frauds 610* 396 24 94 24
S.Ag – Strongly Agree, Ag – Agree, NN – Neither Agree Nor Disagree, D.Ag- Disagree, S.Dis – Strongly
Disagree
The above table shows that majority of the respondents stated that some online stores deal with inferior
goods (the mean score of 855), Most of the online shoppers said that they do not like to submit too much of
personal data (620), Many respondents accepted that they are not aware to complaint online frauds (610), many
pointed that no security in online mechanism (588) and many highlighted that poor customer service (465).
Suggestions:
Since most of the online buyers felt that the return policy and replacement of goods as a toughest task,
the online shoppers may make return policies as simple as possible to keep their buyers comfortable for long
run. Still majority of the online buyers felt that they do not like to submit their personal details; the online shops
may accept the fact and no need to compel every time of purchase. The customer service must be improved as
most of the online buyers are dissatisfied with it. The overall security aspects of online shopping must be also
strengthened. The online shoppers may create awareness among the online buyers about the online frauds and
handling them suitably when it requires.
Conclusion:
Many researches exhibit that online shopping has very bright future. Identifying the actual needs and
wants of the customers and responding towards them without any hurdles or problems is a greatest challenge for
the online marketers. This study mainly focuses on the problems faced by the students in online shopping and it
reveals that most of the respondents still experiencing poor security mechanism in online shopping, some of the
stores which sell poor quality inferior goods, receiving of defective items, poor customer service etc,. The
online retailers have to take suitable measures to overcome those problems to retain the customers and to sustain
and develop their business globally.
105
International Journal of Computational Research and Development (IJCRD)
Impact Factor: 4.775, ISSN (Online): 2456 - 3137
(www.dvpublication.com) Volume 2, Issue 2, 2017
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