Determinants of Attitude Formation in the Context of Online Retail Shopping in India

Palpable advantages for marketers to sell online include the ability to reach a large number of consumers worldwide; to reach out to the younger lot of population; and to fight the constraints of sale through traditional means of physical presence in stores. These unhindered reach ultimately increases productivity and efficiency of the marketers.


Advantages for customers to buy online include easy and wide access of products, services, information; overall convenience; and direct effects of functional and utilitarian benefits. However, some customers prefer to shop and browse on the internet due to the fun, enjoyment and excitement involved, that is satisfying their emotional and hedonic pleasures, either as individuals or as social groups. So, a consumer’s motivation to shop online may be either due to an utilitarian motive as a ‘problem solver’ or a hedonic motive in terms of ‘fun, fantasy and enjoyment'.

The modern Indian consumer is technologically aware, often educated and comfortable. His attempts to shop online are due to an advancing technology as well as consumer characteristics in terms of demographic, psychograhic, as well as situational influences. The attitudes toward online shopping is thus affected by the web experience of usefulness and enjoyment; consumer demographic and personality traits; situational factors and previous online shopping experiences.

eTailing market in India

The total market size of B2C and C2C E-Commerce industry in India was around Rs. 7080 crores at the end of 2006-07. It rose to Rs. 9210 crores by the end of 2007-08. Within E-Commerce industry, the size of eTailing Market for the year 2006-07 was computed to be Rs. 850 crores. eTailing contributed around 12% to the total E-Commerce Market size in the year 2006-07 and in the year 2007-2008.

The electronic retail growth of Indian market as estimated by Euro-monitor report stands close to 48% CAGR and in value term it is going to touch INR 27 billion(Rs 2700 crores) by 2010 from INR 4 billion in 2005. The report also predicts that the contribution of internet retailing to non-store retailing is likely to be 46% by 2010. (Value of 2008-2009 not available)

Consumers’ decision-making process has considerably changed with the introduction of the Internet as an alternative channel for shopping. The new wave of consumerism coupled with increasing urbanization and burgeoning middle class with paradigm shifts in their demographic and psychographic dynamics have driven consumers frequently to use retail websites to search for product information and/or make a purchase of products. Since electronic retailing is becoming an ever increasing channel for shoppers, in my next article I would examine the factors which encourage or hinder etailing adoption among the Indian consumers.