Online Festivals and Behavior of the Consumers

8/18/2019 Online Festivals and Behavior of the Consumers

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ABSTRACT

There‟s been a remarkable transformation in Indian retail sector because of altering attitude of

the urban as well as rural consumers. Not only diverse products and numerous brands available

have spoilt the online shoppers but also they have different retailer‟s forms such as specialty

stores, departmental stores, and e-commerce platforms to shop from. Many factors such as

increased internet literacy, increased number of working women, better IT infrastructure,

technology penetration, young demographics, shift in consumer lifestyle , credit/debit card

usage, perceived usefulness, ease of use and the greater than before visibility of online players in

the market place has changed the panorama of online shopping in India. The procedure of selling

retail products/goods using the internet is called e-tailing. E-tailing segment in India has

developed enough to touch upon the swift transformation from the age of offline to online

platform to be utilized by the customers and addresses the issues featured during this transition.

Along with the sudden explosion of web users, for many firms it has been considered as a new

channel to implement publicity events or sales promotion activities such as online festivals.

Similar to offline festivals as in brick and mortar during festival seasons as shopping is

predominant in India during Diwali, Christmas or New Year, the e-tailors are offering the same

benefits via online festivals to increase sales and acquire substantial customer base and help them

to increase in brand awareness. The spotlight of this analysis is to know the role of online

festivals and its influence on the behavior of the consumers and sales. Online festivals are one of

the foremost aggressive events for the online retailers which present a good chance to boost up

sales and to gain new consumers. In broad-spectrum, online festivals in the country India see

crucial spike in many product classes including cars, electronics, electronics etc, Because of the

propensity to splurge extra during festivals and it is considered auspicious to buy during these

periods/festivals. The purpose of this research is to understand the factors influencing the

perception of consumers during online festival, to know the influence of online festivals on

consumers purchase decision and to find out which product category is purchased the most

during online festivals. A sample of 100 respondents was selected in Delhi-NCR and a

questionnaire survey was used to collect primary data. The data was recorded by using a number

of structures questions and SPSS have been used for analyzing and interpreting the data.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..……..6

2. Review of Literature…………………………………………………………..12

3. Research Methodology……………………………………………………......18

Sampling Design

Methodology

Data collection

Limitations of study

4. Objective…………………………………………………...…………….........20

5.

Hypothesis Formulation……………………………………………………......21

6. Data Analysis and Interpretation...…………………………………………….22

7. Findings………………………………………………….………………….....25

8. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..26

9. Recommendations & Suggestions……………………………………………..28

10. References………………………………………………………………....…...29

11. Appendix………………………………………………………………….........32

12.

Annexure……………………………………………………………………….37


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INTRODUCTION

E-commerce or electronic commerce, has experienced swift escalation in the last few decades.

The internet has dramatically changed the approach consumers buy goods and services

throughout the world. Earlier, the consumers would actually visit a traditional or conventional

retail outlet, watch for the requisite product, comparing the alternative products available in the

market, or ask the seller for his or her opinion and recommendations and then, would finally

purchase it by paying at the counter. However this scenario has changed considerably with the

emergence of „online shopping‟ throughout the world. Moreover, many companies have started

to use the internet as a platform for selling their products and services as it allows them to slash

the advertising or marketing costs and mitigate maintenance of physical store cost, thereby

reducing the price of their products and services being sold. The intensive growth of internet

usage has provided a whole new dimension for marketing and distribution of goods. Internet has

become a new and innovative medium for the consumers because just with a few clicks they can

buy the product of their choice. Customer is no longer bound to go to a specific outlet location to

buy a specific product. This has force the business to change from real time market to digital

market to sell the goods to consumers. This has become a worldwide phenomenon, and it allows

the companies/organization to stay at the forefront than others in the highly aggressive and

competitive markets. The attractiveness of online shopping throughout the world has increased

due to its usability, mobility, convenience and often due to the lower prices offered. A consumer

is saved from the problem of searching several stores for a particular product and also from

waiting in long queues to buy that product from the particular store. The expansion of online

shopping in India is exceptional. Online consumers are projected to increase to 40 million in

2016 from 20 million in 2013, and an additional to it further 200 million Indians will use the web

in the coming or next 3 years according to a recent study by ASSOCHAM and Grant Thompton,

with greater part of them coming online through smartphones.

According to a recent study the internet users in India will touch to 500 million by 2017,

therefore there is a huge potential for online shopping in the country. Because of increased

internet penetration in the country, industry has seen tremendous growth in Tier-II and Tier-III

cities and 65% of the overall traffic comes from metropolitan cities. Faster mobile internet


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availability and surge in usage of smartphones have made people to order anything & everything

online. However, online shopping has its drawbacks also. We cannot feel and touch the product

before buying it, there is lack of trust in online shopping between consumers, there may be a

possibility of losing the money because Indians usually don‟t believe in first paying the money

and then receiving the goods, delays in delivering the product may arise, shipping fees may make

the low cost product more expensive, etc.

In era of globalization the internet is not only being used in e-commerce to buy products but has

also provided the consumers to connect the global sellers with effortlessness and has also

improved communication in cost effective manner.

All transactions conducted via internet are the division of e-commerce and is called e-tailing.

Across the world the idea of e-tailing is sprouting in large numbers. Because of feasible and

unique business model where it completely creates demand, source various goods & products

from different vendors, and delivers the same efficiently to the consumers. Rather than elderly

segment, the younger segment has showed a positive embracement towards the acceptance of

technology advancements and new innovation. The sensitivity of buying varies from one

consumer to another in online context. Consumers are progressively moving towards online

shopping, organizing shipments, arrange financing and receive post-sales service. Numerous

factors like efficient e-stores services (warranty, response time to e-consumers queries, return &

replacement, delivery on real time etc), website design and on time delivery are some of the

factors on which triumph of e-tailing depends. Companies can advertize products without having

extra cost, as internet offers surplus opportunities. Other factors which positively influence

consumer‟s attitude towards online shopping are human warmth & sociability which could be

viably incorporated through web interface. Other major motivator‟s factors for consumers to

transact online are attractive deals and discounts. But various parameters such as consumer

experience, product range, services, etc. are important parameters for the consumers to be

hooked to online shopping for longer period. Inability of the companies to create is a 360°

platform where suppliers and associated partners can interact on a real time basis is a major

roadblock.

A statement by Meenu Handa of Amazon, “Convenience of shopping online anywhere and

anytime coupled with wide array of products at fairly low prices is leading to greater adoption of


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HomeShop18, Snapdeal, Infibeam , Indiatimes shopping, and Makemytrip, which participate in

the GOSF. The e-tailors created dedicated web pages for GOSF which engaged users through

offers and showing games and eventually redirected consumers to the dedicated landing pages of

ecommerce websites to do the transactions. Many consumers were left disappointed in the first

GOSF as the discounts offered were marginal and non-existent.

In 2013, the GOSF was held on 11 – 14 December which saw other numerous participating

companies such as Myntra, Jabong.com, and Indiatimes shopping. Google claimed that the

online festival was a success for the e-commerce companies, and extended the festive event by

one day. According to Google, in 2013 consumers shopped for the first time and more than 30%

of consumers shopped during GOSF. A particular section of Rs.299 was included which

provided discounted products in addition to free delivery and shipping & COD option for the

first time consumers.

In 2014, the third GOSF took place on December 10 - 12, in which 450 e-retailers participated

for the event. The event included various categories such as lifestyle, books and media, home

and kitchen, electronics, groceries, mobile apps, automobiles, and real estate. Discounts were

also given on health care and insurance policies, matrimonial plans, Travel packages. The event

also saw several brands launched their exclusive products at the GOSF. Some of the products

launched included Google Chromecast, Motorola Nexus 6. The 3-day event was a huge hit, withGoogle reporting over 1.4 crore visits to its site throughout GOSF. Average order value use to be

around Rs. 3000 in other time periods but during online festival the order value increased to Rs.

4200 as per data provided by pennyful.

In November 2015, Google announced that they are discontinuing their annual online festival

event citing that "To obtain the best deals customers don‟t have to wait for 12 months, and

medium & small businesses no longer have to wait for GOSF to find out consumers from all

across the country". Other reason for the shutdown of the online festival is that many e-tailors are

having their own online festival rather than teaming up with Google to host the online festival.

In October 2014, Flipkart hosted a huge marketing initiative and an online festival, Big Billion

Day, offering massive discounts to consumers. However, many customers were seen dissatisfied

and complained on social media websites about inflated prices and inadequate stock and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomeShop18https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdealhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infibeamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiatimes_shoppinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemytriphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myntrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabong.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromecasthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromecasthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabong.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myntrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemytriphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiatimes_shoppinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infibeamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdealhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomeShop18


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cancelled orders. While flipkart extensively spent on online and offline advertising, it ended up

driving traffic to its competitors such as Amazon and Snapdeal who offered much better deals.

According to flipkart during the online festival 2015 the company received 10 lakh orders in just

10 hours, received 20 million visits in 19 hours and their online festival was a massive hit.

Similarly Amazon also hosted their individual online festival i.e Diwali dhamaka from October

26 midnight to October 28, 2015. The online festival promises new deals every 30 minutes

across hundreds of Categories.The Company saw increased orders for sellers up to 8-10 fold

during online festival in 2015. Nearly 10 lakh orders were being processed on the final day of

online festival.

Following the footsteps of other e-tailors, Snapdeal announced its Biggest Sale this online

festival -The Ultimate Monday on 2nd Nov, 2015. The online festival was a 24-hour marathon

where new deals were unlocked every hour. Various products categories across Electronics,

Mobiles, Home products and Fashion categories were offered up to 80 % discounts. In 2015

online festival snapdeal shipped 5 million orders which was a huge success for the company.

For Paytm, the company announced Diwali dhamaal as its first online festival in 2015. Prior to

online festival the alibaba backed company Paytm had joined hands with 30 courier partners and

began talks with suppliers and logistics firms. In particular region the company introduced a

logistics cloud for local courier companies. The company had collaborated with 3rd

parties to run

its warehouse which was incorporated in their operating system, which then made accessible to

the smaller merchants selling on Paytm.

In Real estate sector

Not only online retail sector has come up with online festival, Real estate sector is also coming

up with online festivals. Real estate online portal Magicbricks and 99acres is doing the same

what e-tailors are doing during festive season. They partnered with Google and group M for a 10

day elongated GOHF “Great online Home festival”. From 18 July to 27 July, 2015 the event

showcased the best deals from home care brands, real estate and home decors. Property worth

Rs. 3000 crores was available to the customers. The event saw increased in search queries up to

3 folds in the last 3 years in the real estate history. The online festival generated real estate sales


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worth Rs. 300 crores with more than 3000 bookings. In totality the festival saw 9 million page

views with generation of 4000 coupons. Most queries and online bookings were majorly seen for

property ranging between 40-80 lakhs.

In Travel sector

The Indian travel industry coupled with Google‟s GITF “Great Indian Travel Festival” that

started from 18 April and continued till 26 April, 2015 in attempt to spike online holiday

bookings in the country. Leading companies from the travel industry such as Yatra, Goibibo,

Make my trip, Cleartrip and air carriers like Indigo, Spicejet, British airways, Jet airways and

holiday players suchas Cox & kIngs and Thomas Cook participated in the event in collaboration

with Oyo rooms and Doorstepforex which are innovative startups that joined hands together for

online travel festival. The online travel festival was powered by Google and hosted & marketed

by IPG Mediabrands, the festival offered customers holiday packages to more than 50 holiday

destination both outside and within India and also offered best discounts & deals. The online

travel festival saw great offers and promotions from bus platforms such as RedBus and luxury

hotels such as ITC hotels, The Leela Palaces and Hyatt which offered best possible deals to the

customers. Festival saw many great discounts and deals on air tickets, discounts on cruise

packages, up to 50% off on luxury hotels across India and Rs.15000 off on holiday deals within

India. The online travel is 8.2 billion dollar in the country and it is 61.4% of the total online

commerce in India according to a report by IAMAI Digital Commerce Report. There is a 20%

year on year growth in travel industry and a proposal or initiative of this kind can certainly boost

and spike the online holiday sector.

This research report aims to understand the various factors that influence the perception of

consumers during online festivals in India specific to the e-tailing sector and whether there is

increase in sales during online festivals than other time period.


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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Factors Influencing Online Shopping during Diwali Festival 2014 by (Khanna and Brinda,

2015) researched to understand the influence of online shopping in India during the online

festivals i.e. positive and negative factors. The study also aims to know from consumer‟s

perspective the role of online shopping festival in driving the sales. The study is basically to

understand how the “Diwali festive season 2014” make the most of in keeping their customer

captivated and thereby increasing their profits and what are the strategies used by Amazon and

Flipkart during online festival. Attractive deals, heavy discounts and offers, display and

navigation of the website, and multiple payment options offered easy return on delivery options,

mobile apps offers are identified as the factors which may influence consumers to buy online

during online festivals. Technical glitches (like navigation, website crash, timeout, etc.),

scenarios such as out of stock products, and also a hesitation in trusting the deals offered are

identified as the major concerns raised by the consumers during online festivals. On special

occasions like birthdays, weddings, Diwali, Christmas, New Year and Valentine‟s Day people

were found to shop online for their near and dear ones. For marketing their campaign the media

majorly used by Flipkart as well as Amazon are personalized emails, Newspaper Ads and

television Ads. The Indian consumers gave special attention during online festivals. The end of

September till Diwali in late October is the shopping season in the country and is seen as the top

sales phase in India, which accounts up to 40% of total sales for many brands.

(Malik and Sachdeva, 2015) research paper primarily focuses upon the factors influencing the

behavior of the consumers while shopping online due to different sales promotional tools used by

the online dealers. In this Paper it was found that Promotional emails, Discounts, Promotional

SMS, User friendly Interface, Promotional Pop ups, Convenience and Sales Promotion

Influences are the 7 main factors, which play very crucial role in the online consumer behavior.It was also found that the sales promotion does not only have positive impact but also negative

impact on the consumers as they experience that they have been cheated number of times due to

different promotional tools and it had worsely affected the brand loyalty among the consumers

which not only lead to sharp fall in the sales but also the lack of trust which in general hampers

the brand image.


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(Victoria and Ganesan, 2014) study focuses on Online Sales promotions, and commonly looked

at as tools essentially meant to boost up sales by lucrative offers and promos. Online sales

promotion is a vital component of the promotion mix which is intended to boost short term sales;

it takes up a large amount of the total marketing expenditure in spite of which it stills remains an

area that attracts attention. The study takes place in Chennai area therefore it is not astonishing

that most of the Chennai marketer‟s go for sales promotions to draw the consumers and gain

competitive market share. How popular Chennai online promotions (coupon, price-discount and

free shipping) influence consumer's quality perception and purchase intentions is being discussed

in this research paper. Conclusion from this paper was able to endow with constructive insights

and understanding for online sellers to pick suitable sales promotion tools to effectively persuade

consumer's buying intentions. Retailer would be a rich source of information regarding the buyer

and are certain to response to online sales promotion activities as suggested by the study.

The Research study on the Effect of Price Discounts and Store Image on Consumer‟s Purchase

Intention in Online Shopping Context Case Study by (Faryabi et al, 2012): seeks to inspect the

consumers‟ purchase intention in online shopping perspective of cell-phones with respect to

effect of price discounts on store image. During April-June 2012 Nokia and HTC the two

mobile-phone companies was selected for research study among 248 and university students,

professors and employees from University of Tabriz, Iran. Through structured questionnaire

requisite data was collected. The study proved that the price discount had an encouraging

consequence on perceived store image which in turn, positively influences consumers‟ buying

intention. Accordingly, to attract more consumers and increase online sales, the e-tailors should

develop efficient marketing plans and improve promotional activities to create and enhance

positive store image. The research concluded that rice discount i.e. external stimuli factor is aneffective factor in explaining the buyer‟s response. For designing appropriate pricing

promotional strategies and improving store image, the study has useful insights and implications.


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Research study by (Park & Lennon, 2009) present useful insights for understanding the how the

behavioral intention of the consumer in online apparel shopping perspective is affected by brand

name, perceived store image and promotion influences the perceived value. Price promotion is

an important factor of perceived in online apparel shopping contexts as suggested by the study.

For e-retailers in terms of influencing consumers‟ purchase decisions , price promotions are

considered a significant marketing tool. To grant loyal consumers with a reward for their

investment, effective sales promotion tools should be used by online retailers. Sales Promotions

are also efficient in attracting new consumers and to motivate consumers to toggle between other

brands and also to excite them to make an early initial purchase.

(Vicdan & Sun, 2008) research study acknowledges that in context to offline environment

compulsive buying has been comprehensively explored. However, they act in response to

external stimuli such as sales promotions in the online perspective and very little attention has

been given to understand compulsive buyers. Therefore, this research study is aimed to explore

how exposure to online sales promotions stimulates their online sales promotion usage and

online shopping occurrence and what is the receptiveness of compulsive buyers to sales

promotions. Conclusion derived from a projected structured model suggested that consumers‟ are

significantly proneness to sales promotion and have tendency to buy compulsively. In addition,

factors that positively affect compulsive buyers‟ online shopping incidence depends upon

frequency of exposure to online sales promotions as well as receptiveness to or usage of such

promotions.

The research paper provides useful insights using of the structural model technique which

identifies the influence of perceived value, perceived risk and perceived enjoyment on online

buying innovativeness (Suki and Suki, 2007). Using a set of well designed structured

questionnaire the information was gathered by 544 respondents and results from the modeltechnique revealed that the perceives risk was an essential indicator and should not be let

unnoticed by the e-tailors to evaluate the innovative behavior with respect to online shopping.

Consideration of e-tailors on perceived risk factor could definitely enhance the innovative

behavior and thus produce a value to the conclusion to buy through online stores than traditional

brick and mortar stores. There will be increase in the online purchase amount when the consumer


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experiences a positive effect in context to online shopping. The study truly helped online

shopping managers in developing positional strategies and successful targeting to have much

better knowledge about the innovative online shoppers purchase behavior.

Describing the characteristics of consumers who have not purchased apparel via online and those

who have purchased. Buying apparel over the internet (Goldsmith and goldsmith, 2002) is a

study in which 303 women and 263 men were surveyed that considered their offline and online

buying behavior, predispositions and attitudes. The result from the survey showed that people

who have purchased apparel online in general had greater online shopping understanding. Online

purchasers did not differ from non buyers in their belief that how cheap online purchasing is.

Age, sex and race which come under demographic variables were not related to online apparel

shopping. The study also revealed that online purchasers are more likely to buy online in future

than non buyers and used the internet more often. The research study also provides guidance for

online apparel strategies. In order to attract online buyers the website should load faster, must be

made simple and should be easy to use, and e-tailor has to change the perception of consumers

that online shopping is safe.

In the past many studies have been made by the researchers on consumer segmentation by

shopping orientation but very few have practically used it to the online shopping. It is a wide

belief that online consumers are principally motivated by convenience. The research study on

(Brown et al, 2001) showed that there is no significant impact on consumer‟s intention to

purchase online products because of shopping orientations. Product type, prior purchase and

gender are some of the variables that are more liable to persuade purchase intent.

The Paper by (Sakkthivel, 2013) aims to explore external and internal variables that impacts

online buying behavior. The primary data collected from 163 online consumers and result was

analyzed through multi linear regression model. The study revealed that external and internal

variables have impact on online buyers. The internal variables such as product, distribution,


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price, promotion, design of website, easy to buy, Buyback Assurance, secured payment gateway

and external variables such as, opinion groups, country of origin, society, brand reputation,

culture, country of origin, influence of peer groups, reliability of websites, previous experience

was tested & all the factors have an impact on consumer online behavior except the influence of

referenced groups and buyback assurance. The internal variables such as price and secured

payment gateway have soaring impact on online consumers whereas as external variables such as

peers group influence and country of origin have high elicit impact on online shoppers. All other

variables have little impact on online shopping behavior of consumers. It was found that external

variables have more impact than internal variables on online buying behavior of consumers.

In this research paper, the author examines on the variables which influence online buying

intention. The research on the Influence of Perceived Value and Trust on Online Buying

Intention (Chen, 2012) aimed to find out trust influence and perceived value on online buying

behavior intention of the consumers. The perceived product sacrifice measures the perceived

value of a product, and perceived value and trust is measured by integrity, benevolence and

ability. The researcher surveyed 238 respondents through a set of well structured questionnaire

and analyzed through SPSS and LISREL. The study revealed that perceived product sacrifice

and perceived value and have considerable effect on consumer behavior purchase intention.

Contrary to it ability, benevolence and hand also have positive influence on online consumers

buying intention. The study also showed that there is no considerable effect on online consumers

purchase intention with respect to integrity.

Promotion codes in the form of coupons are now the stronghold in the online shopping customer

experience, but redemption of these coupons differs substantially from that in physical stores or

traditional retailing. The research study by (Oliver and shor, 2003) revealed that redemption of

coupons in traditional retailing is customer driven where as redemption of coupon in online

context the internet shopper is usually asked to enter a promotion code at the end of the payment

or transaction process. This helps in persuading the shopper behavior and perception such as

shopping cart abandonment. The study also revealed the negative effects on satisfaction, price


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fairness and purchase conclusion in the core respondent group and encouraging effects on

fairness and satisfaction in the core respondents group.


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research conducted was conclusive and, as well as exploratory in nature and the data was

gathered through primary and secondary sources in order to accomplish the objectives.

Descriptive Research Design was used, which clearly indicates that the study is all about a

certain characteristic of individuals (consumers) perception towards the online festivals.

SAMPLING DESIGN

TYPE OF SAMPLING

RANDOM SAMPLING

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES:

CONVENIENCE SAMPLING

SAMPLE SIZE: 100

METHODOLOGY

Questionnaire method is adopted to collect the feedback. To collect the feedback from

consumers a set of structured questionnaire was prepared. To meet the objectives the primary

data in form of questionnaire survey was collected from respondents (consumers) and secondary

data was collected from diverse sources like websites, press releases, related papers and journals.

The focus is to know consumer buying behavior towards online shopping festivals.

DATA COLECTION

PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION:


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Set of Structured questionnaire for the customer

SECONDARY DATACOLLECTION:

Journals

Websites

Newspapers

Press releases

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Due to Time constraints sample size was restricted to 100.

2. The survey was restrained to only one city (Delhi-NCR)

3. There might be errors in the opinion of respondents due to their personal bias.


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OBJECTIVES

The objective of the study is briefly discussed below:-

To know the factors influencing the perception of consumers during online festivals.

To know the influence of online festivals on consumers purchase decision.

To find out which product category is purchased the most during online festivals.


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HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION:

This research study focuses on finding out the online festivals and relationship with sales in

Delhi -NCR.

To know the factors influencing the perception of consumers during online festivals.

H0: There are no factors which influence the consumer perception towards online festivals.

To know the influence of online festivals on consumers purchase decision.

H0: Online festivals do not influence consumer purchase decision.

To find out which product category is purchased the most during online festivals.

H0: There is no specific category of product purchased most during online festivals.


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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1: Awareness and purchase during online festivals (refer appendix A) , as shown

below highlights the number of responses generated towards awareness and purchase during

online festivals:

Interpretation: From the table it is evident those respondents are aware of the online festivals

and have purchased in the past during online festivals.

Table 2: Most preferred online festival (refer appendix A) as shown below highlights the

most preferred online festival from the perspective of respondents:

Interpretation: Following results were obtain when respondents were asked about the preferred

online festival, Flipkart‟s- Big billion day is the most preferred online festival followed by

Snapdeal‟s-the ultimate Monday, Amazon‟s-Diwali dhamaka and Paytm-Diwali dhamaal.

Table 3: Consumer perception of Organizing online festivals and their focus during online

festivals (refer appendix A) shows consumer perception as to why e-tailors organize such

online festivals and on what they should focus more during these festivals:

Interpretation: Following the results were obtained when respondents were asked about their

perception of organizing such online festivals. Half of the respondents think that e-tailors

organize such online festivals “to acquire customer base” followed by “to increase or boost

sales” and least is “to dump goods”. Subsequently when respondents was about on aspect

companies should focus more on and following results was obtained where most respondents

think that companies should focus more on technical issues such as reducing website crash


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followed by authenticity of products, delivery of products, customer service and least on

advertising and promotions.

Table 4 and Table 5: Factors influencing consumer perception towards online shopping

(refer appendix A) in order to know the factors influencing the consumer perception towards

online festivals, Chi square test was undertaken with the help of SPSS and following

interpretation were concluded:

Interpretation: On analyzing the data, following observations were recorded. The positive

factors which influence the consumer perception towards online shopping is Attractive deals and

heavy discounts which is the most favored factor followed by easy return policy ease of payment

and usability and mobility. Consequently the factors which abstain consumers to shop during

online festivals are fear of counterfeit products followed by long processing time, payment

issues, delivery option unsuitable, technical concerns such as website crash or navigation issues

and hidden cost such as delivery charges or shipping fees. Since the calculated P-value (0.025) is

less than the significance level (0.05), therefore we reject the null hypothesis. Thus, we conclude

that there are certain factors i.e. positive and negative factors which influence the consumer

perception towards online festivals.

Table 6 and Table 7: Influence of online festivals on consumer purchase decision (refer

appendix A) in order to know the influence of online festivals on consumer purchase decision

Chi square test was carried out with the help of SPSS and following interpretation were

concluded.

Interpretation: On analyzing the data, following observations were recorded. It is evident from

the data that 74% of respondents wait for online festivals to buy their particular product and 81%

of the respondents buy more during online festivals as compared to other time period. Since the

calculated P-value (0.000) is less than the significance level (0.05), therefore we reject the null

hypothesis. Therefore we can conclude that online festivals influence the consumer purchase

decision and companies may record high sales as compare to other time period. This shows there

is positive correlation between online festivals and sales.


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Table 8 and Table 9: Product category and advertisement & promotion (refer appendix A)

in order to know which product category is purchased the most during online festivals Chi -

square test was carried out with the help of SPSS and following interpretation was interpreted:

Interpretation: On surveying the respondents about which category of product they purchase

more during online festivals. The following data was obtained i.e. consumer electronics is the

most purchased product category followed by clothing, beauty and personal health care products,

footwear, home and furniture and least is the books. Additionally, on asking the respondents

about where did they get to know about online festivals offers and promotions. Following was

the results obtained. Most respondents came to know about online festivals offers and

promotions through online banners and e-mail marketing followed by newspaper advertisement,

TV advertisement, friend and the least is through banners and hoardings. Since the calculated P-

value (0.044) is less than the significance level (0.05), therefore we reject the null hypothesis.

Therefore we can conclude that there is specific product category that is purchased the most

during online festivals.


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FINDINGS

Consumers are aware of the online festivals and have purchased during online festivals.

Flipkart‟s- Big billion day is the most preferred online festival followed by Snapdeal‟s-

the ultimate Monday, Amazon‟s-Diwali dhamaka and Paytm-Diwali dhamaal.

Consumer‟s perception of e-tailors organizing such online festivals is “to acquire

customer base” followed by “to increase or boost sales” and least is “to dump goods”.

E-tailor‟s should focus more on technical issues such as reducing website crash followed

by authenticity of products, delivery of products, customer service and least on

advertising and promotions from consumers point of view.

Positive factors which influence the consumer perception towards online shopping is

Attractive deals and heavy discounts which is the most favored factor followed by easy

return policy ease of payment and usability and mobility.

Factors which abstain consumers to shop during online festivals are fear of counterfeit

products followed by long processing time, payment issues, delivery option unsuitable,

technical concerns such as website crash or navigation issues and hidden cost such as

delivery charges or shipping fees.

Consumer‟s wait for online festivals to buy their particular product and buy more during

online festivals as compared to other time period.

Consumer electronics is the most purchased product category followed by clothing,

beauty and personal health care products, footwear, home and furniture and least is the

books among the most purchased category of product during online festivals.

Consumer‟s get to know about online festivals latest promotion and offers through online

banners and e-mail marketing followed by newspaper advertisement, TV advertisement,

friend and the least is through banners and hoardings.


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CONCLUSION

The digital age has revolutionized the organizations way of working and are restructuring their

business strategies in order to grab the portion of market share and to grab the opportunities.

With context to e-retailing online festivals is a sales promotion tool. Similarly as in offline

festivals, the main purpose of these events is to increase sales and acquire customer base, same

way it is being used by e-tailors in online context. From the research it is evident that consumer

are aware about such online festivals and wait for such events to buy their particular product.

Consumers do buy more products during online festivals which increase the sales revenue, so the

companies should already anticipate the spike in sales and accordingly plan their strategies. E-

tailors should focus more on technical issues such as website crash because during online

festivals due to heavy increase in website traffic the site crashes which will leave the consumers

furious and will bring bad publicity to the companies. E-tailors should heavily advertised their

online festivals via online banners & e-mail marketing because of the nature of business and

propensity of consumers to order via Mobile App these days which will eventually bring in more

customers. It was evident from the study that fear of counterfeit products is one of the main

reason which abstain consumers to shop online therefore e-tailors should have contract with

authorized dealers only and should also have their own quality control system. Companies

should more focus on retaining the existing consumers by giving them special offers or discounts

or directly communicating to them via SMS or e-mail so that the consumers feel that they are

privileged consumers and are preferred over other consumers because past studies have showed

that retaining 25-30% of consumers bring in more business than the rest. During online festivals

electronics and clothing products are purchased the most so the companies should offer attractive

and lucrative discounts and even should offer bundling on these products to increase sales and

acquire customer base. The acquired customer base will help the companies with the analytics of

the data and could be used for internal operations for not only to improving their supply chain

but to segment the market when to target, whom and how to target, etc. Planning a competitive

and comprehensive strategy in future for such online festivals will be the key to success because

the data collected will be very valuable for developing future strategies as the concept of online


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festival is new in the country. The scope of online buying and online festivals is very bright for

India as only a small portion of it is using it and there is huge untapped market.


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RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

Below are the suggestions-

1) During online festivals e-tailors should focus more on giving service and value to the

customers, to foster healthy relationship.

2) E-tailors should give first priority to prevent website crash which happens usually during

online festival due to heavy traffic. Apart from this they should focus more on website

navigation and proper classification of products under their respective heads.

3)

During online festival season e-tailors should focus on logistics service because of

untimely delivery of products.

4) E-tailors need to make sure that original products should be delivered as previously there

are cases of counterfeit products received by them. To reduce such complains e-tailors

should setup internal committee to check the quality of the products.

5) Prior to online festival e-tailors should heavily advertise on digital media and should

deliver customize offer/ deals to the loyal customers.

6) E-tailors should make sure that customer receive better after sales service for the products

and there should be easily refundability.


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REFRENCES

Journal Articles

Khanna, P. and Brinda, S. (2015), Factors Influencing Online Shopping During Diwali Festival

2014: Case Study of Flipkart and Amazon.In, Journal of International Technology and

Information Management : Vol. 24: Iss. 2, Article 5.

Malik, G. and Sachdeva, H. (2015) : Impact of Sales Promotion Technique Used by Online

Dealers on Consumers, International Journal of Applied Sciences and Management (IJASM),

Vol. 1, no. 1, 63-78.

Victoria, A CVJ. and Ganeshan, M. (2014), International Journal of Engineering, Business and

Enterprise Applications, 8(1), March-May, pp. 29-36.

Puranik, R. and Bansal, A. (2014), A Study of Internet Users' Perception towards E-shopping,

Pacific Business Review International, Volume 6, Issue 9, March 2014, pp. 37-44.

Faryabi, M., Sadeghzadeh, K., and Saed, M. (2012): The Effect of Price Discounts and Store

Image on Consumer‟s Purchase Intention in Online Shopping Context Case Study: Nokia and

HTC , Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 197-205.

Park, M. & Lennon, S. J., (2009): Brand name and promotion in online shopping contexts ,

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management , Vol. 13 No. 2, 2009, pp. 149-160.

Vicdan, H. & Sun, J. (2008). Towards a framework for understanding compulsive buyers online:

exploringthe effects of online sales promotions. Houston, TX: Proceedings of the 2008 Southwest

Decision Science Institute (DSI) Meeting . (598-607).

Suki, M. N. & Suki, N.M., (2007), online buying innovativeness: effects of perceived value,

perceived risk and perceived enjoyment, International Journal of Business and Society; Vol 2

No. 2, pp 81-93.

Goldsmith, E. R. and Goldsmith, E. B., (2002), Buying apparel over the Internet, Journal of

Product & Brand Mnagament , Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 89-102.


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Brown, M., Pope, N. and Voges, K., (2003), Buying or browsing? An exploration of shopping

orientations and online purchase intention, European Journal of Marketing , Vol. 37 No. 11/12,

pp. 1666-1684.

Sakkthivel, M. A., (2013), Do Online Companies Control the Behavior of Online

Consumers?: Exploratory Study on the Impacting Variables from Middle East, Journal of

Internet Banking and Commerce, Vol 18, No. 3, pp 1-19.

Chen, H., (2012), The Influence of Perceived Value and Trust on Online Buying Intention,

Journal of Computers, Vol 7, No. 2, pp 1655-1662.

Oliver, R. L. and Shor , M., (2003), Digital redemption of coupons: satisfying and dissatisfying

effects of promotion codes, Journal of Product and Brand Management , Vol 12, No. 2, pp 121-

134.

Websites

Sachitanand, R. (2015). Explosion of orders for e-commerce giants in festive season can they

deliver, Economic times, Retrieved from www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small

biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-theydeliver/articleshow/49434093.cms Accessed on 2016, March 10.

Dhawan, S. (2014). How Great was Great Online Shopping Festival 2014: Stats, Graphs and

More, I am wire, Retrieved from http://www.iamwire.com/2014/12/great-great-online-shopping-

festival-2014-stats-graphs/106324 Accessed on 2016, March 10.

Festive season triggers huge rise in online shopping; Online shopping up by 350% (2014), TheAssociated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India, Retrieved from

http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=4745 Accessed on 2016, March 9.

http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.iamwire.com/2014/12/great-great-online-shopping-festival-2014-stats-graphs/106324%20Accessed%20on%202016http://www.iamwire.com/2014/12/great-great-online-shopping-festival-2014-stats-graphs/106324%20Accessed%20on%202016http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=4745http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=4745http://www.iamwire.com/2014/12/great-great-online-shopping-festival-2014-stats-graphs/106324%20Accessed%20on%202016http://www.iamwire.com/2014/12/great-great-online-shopping-festival-2014-stats-graphs/106324%20Accessed%20on%202016http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cmshttp://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/small%20biz/startups/explosion-of-orders-for-e-commerce-giants-in-festive-season-can-they%20deliver/articleshow/49434093.cms


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Sharma, P. (2015), GOHF to offer never-before deals to home buyers, Magicbricks, Retrieved

from http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/delhi-ncr-real-estate-news/gohf-to-offer

never-before-deals-to-home-buyers/82205.html Accessed on 2016, March 9.

Dasgupta, P. (2015), IPG Mediabrands to launch online travel fest in India, The Economic

Times, Retrieved from http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04

14/news/61142283_1_google-india-vikas-agnihotri-airways Accessed on 2016, March 9.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04%2014/news/61142283_1_google-india-vikas-agnihotri-airways%20Accessed%20on%202016http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04%2014/news/61142283_1_google-india-vikas-agnihotri-airways%20Accessed%20on%202016http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04%2014/news/61142283_1_google-india-vikas-agnihotri-airways%20Accessed%20on%202016http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04%2014/news/61142283_1_google-india-vikas-agnihotri-airways%20Accessed%20on%202016http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/delhi-ncr-real-estate-news/gohf-to-offer%20never-before-deals-to-home-buyers/82205.html%20%20Accessed%20on%202016http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/delhi-ncr-real-estate-news/gohf-to-offer%20never-before-deals-to-home-buyers/82205.html%20%20Accessed%20on%202016


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APPENDIX A

SPSS OUTPUT

shop_online_festi

val

Total

Yes

aware_online_festivalYes 99 99

No 1 1

Total 100 100

Table 1: Awareness and purchase during online festivals

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Valid

Fipkart- Big Billion day 44 44.0 44.0 44.0

Amazon- Diwali dhamaka 18 18.0 18.0 62.0

Snapdeal- The Ultimate

monday

26 26.0 26.0 88.0

Paytm- Diwali dhamaal 12 12.0 12.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Table 2: Most preferred online festival


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Table 5: Factors influencing consumer perception towards online shopping (2)

buy_more Total

Yes No

wait_online_festival

Yes

Count 67 7 74

% within wait_online_festival 90.5% 9.5% 100.0%

% within buy_more 82.7% 36.8% 74.0%

% of Total 67.0% 7.0% 74.0%

No

Count 14 12 26


% within buy_more 17.3% 63.2% 26.0%

% of Total 14.0% 12.0% 26.0%

Total

Count 81 19 100


% within buy_more 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

% of Total 81.0% 19.0% 100.0%

Table 6: Influence of online festivals on consumer purchase decision (1)


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Table 7: Influence of online festivals on consumer purchase decision (1)

Table 8: Product category and advertisement & promotion (1)


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Table 9: Product category and advertisement & promotion (2)


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ANNEXURE

SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE

Consumer behavior towards online festivals

1. Are you aware of online festivals?

a. Yes

b. No

2.

Have you ever shop during online festivals?

a. Yes

b. No

3. Which e-tailor‟s online festival you prefer the most?

a. Flipkart- Big Billion day

b. Amazon-diwali dhamaka

c. Snapdeal- the Ultimate Monday

d. Paytm-diwali dhamaal

e. Other- please specify

4. Do you wait for online festival season to buy your particular product?

a. Yes

b. No

5.

Do you buy more products during online festivals as compared to other time periods?

a. Yes

b. No

6. According to you why e-tailor‟s organizes such online festivals?


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a. To increase or boost sales

b. To acquire customer base

c. To dump goods

7. Which is the main factor which positively affects your buying decision during online

festive season?

a. Attractive deals and heavy discounts

b. Easy return policy

c. Ease of Payment

d. Usability and mobility

8.

Attractive deals, heavy discounts, mobility, easy return policy and ease of payment are

some of the main factors which positively influence your purchase behavior during online

festivals.

a. Yes

b. No

9. From where did you hear about online Festival's latest offers and promotions?

a. Friend

b. Newspaper Advertisements

c. TV advertisements

d. Banners and hoardings

e. Online Banners or e-mail marketing

f. Other-please specify

10. Which product category you purchased the most during online festivals?

a.

Consumer Electronics

b. Clothing

c. Footwear

d. Beauty and care products

e. Books

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=banners+and+hoardings&sa=X&biw=1600&bih=809&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwjRsb6UjrTLAhXMVo4KHZ_qA_cQsAQIGghttps://www.google.co.in/search?q=banners+and+hoardings&sa=X&biw=1600&bih=809&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwjRsb6UjrTLAhXMVo4KHZ_qA_cQsAQIGg


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f. Other-please specify

11. Which is the main factor which abstain you from buying during online festivals?

a. Payment issues

b. Fear of counterfeit products

c. Long processing time

d. Hidden cost such as delivery charges or shipping fees

e. Delivery Options Unsuitable

f. Technical concerns such as website crash

g. Other- please specify

12.

During online festival season companies should focus more on?

a. Reducing website crashing

b. Delivery of products

c. Customer service

d. Authenticity of products

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Online Festivals and Behavior of the Consumers

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