Determinants of Shopper Behaviour in E-tailing: An Empirical Analysis

Consumers’ decision-making process has been changed with the introduction of the Internet as on alternative channel for shopping. E-tailing is an emergent area of nascent organized retailing in India. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of shopper behaviour such as convenience, customer service, trust, web store environment, and web shopping enjoyment and to examine the influence of these factors towards willingness to buy and patronage of online retail stores. The study is purely based on primary data collected from a sample of 135 respondents by using simple random sampling technique from five leading software companies in Hyderabad. Necessary secondary data were used to reinforce the model. A structured non-disguised questionnaire was administered and responses were measured on the seven-point Likert scale. Statistical tools like mean, standard deviation, multiple correlations, multiple regressions, student t-test, and ANOVA were used to find out the strength of relationship and degree of association among the variables entered into the model. The results reveal that convenience, web store environment, online shopping enjoyment, and customer service have significant impact on the willingness to buy from online retail stores rather than perceived trust. Except trust and customer service, all other variables are significant with patronage of online retail stores. As not much work in India has been done in this context, the paper seeks to provide fruitful insights into the factors determining the prospects of e-tailing that can benefit academicians as well as marketers.