See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/319852193

Consumer Attitudes Towards Online Grocery Shopping in Kathmandu Valley

Conference Paper · November 2016

CITATION READS
1 965

2 authors, including:

Saban Kumar K.C.

Kathford International College of Engineering and Management, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
7 PUBLICATIONS   2 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

CAPSEM View project

E-Commerce adaptation in agriculture View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Saban Kumar K.C. on 17 September 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Proceedings of IOE Graduate Conference, 2016
pp. 133–138

Consumer Attitudes Towards Online Grocery Shopping in

Kathmandu Valley
Saban Kumar K.C. 1 , Arun Kumar Timalsina 2
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
1 Department of Computer and Electronics & Communication Engineering, Kathford International College of Engineering and
Management, Balkumari , Lalitpur, Nepal
2 Department of Electronics & Computer Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Corresponding Email: 1 er.saban@kathford.edu.np

Abstract
This paper has assessed some current issues and attitudes of customers towards online shopping of grocery
items within Kathmandu vicinity. Through quantitative analysis of the responses of the multichoice questionnaire
from customers’ perspective it was found that majority respondents i.e. 86% were found to be aware about online
shopping. From the customers’ perspective major advantages of online shopping were easy to order, variety at
one shop and time saving. Mobile application was viewed to be better and convenient option than websites and
phone calls. Similarly, 89% of the respondents were positive about online shopping of grocery items whereas
rest were negative. Result also depicts that 52% respondents were aware about existing online portals. The
freshness and delivery timing were given more importance than payment system and pricing while shopping
groceries online.
Keywords
Attitude – online shopping – online groceries – E-Commerce

1. Introduction others. Earlier research related to internet grocery

shopping has concentrated on comparing online and
The internet has become an essential part of our daily offline purchase behavior in various ways like the
life. Online shopping for grocery and everyday importance of brand names, brand loyalty, shopping
household products is an integral part of life. Although pattern , and consumers perceptions of the advantages
online grocery shopping continues to grow, there are and disadvantages of online grocery shopping[3].
problems why consumers hesitate to shop for
them[1].In context of US, Over 70 percent reported Besides the traditional agriculture markets, there are few
convenience and saving time as their primary reasons online markets for foods and groceries in Kathmandu
for buying groceries online but 15 percent cited physical valley named as MetroTarkari, Bhatbhateni, Muncha,
or constraint issues that made it difficult for them to Meroshopping and Kaymu which might be some
shop at grocery stores[2]. In Nepalese context , buying solutions in agricultural market to deliver the fresh
from a nearby kirana store (small retail store in the products with reasonable prices to the digital consumers
neighborhood ), ordering products via phone call from but there is lacking on proper governing body to ensure
the kirana store, picking up groceries from the about their reasonable product price, product quality
supermarket are some of the methods adopted by and customer satisfaction. In these background, this
consumers. With changing time, consumers have started study is carried out to asses about the interest of online
becoming technology savvy, resulting in widespread use shopping based on grocery items, problems on this
of Internet and mobile phones. The online grocery platform, advantages of it, preferable tools or mode of it
portal provides features such as comparative pricing, and the important issues to sustain this service or
deals and coupons, home delivery options and such business in long term.
Consumer Attitudes Towards Online Grocery Shopping in Kathmandu Valley

2. Literature review order into their car. There are challenges to bringing an
entire grocery store full of products to an online market
A number of researchers have tried to study and place. The vast disconnect between supplier and retailer
investigate on the various aspects of consumer attitudes is one of the reasons why online grocery has been so
towards online grocery shopping. Some of such slow to take off[8].
researches related to this study are reviewed in this
section: As a research gap it is found that most of the studies
were concentrated at global level and very few studies
The analyzed empirical findings by Blomqvist (2015) were at Nepalese scenario which even couldn’t explore
presented overall positive attitudes, as well as a strong about online grocery shopping.
correlation between positive attitudes and intentions
within online grocery shopping[4].
3. Research Methodology
Wee(2014) indicated that intention to purchase organic
food was significantly influenced by the consumer’s The study has been conducted in Kathmandu valley.
perception of safety, health, environmental factors and The sample of the study was the agro-product
animal welfare of the products[5]. Patnaik (2015) customers, mainly from Kalimati vegetables and fruits
disclosed that consumers still preferred the experience market, Kalimati, Kathmandu (60), From local
they get from traditional stores like feeling the store’s agro-markets at Lalitpur (18) and Bhaktapur
atmosphere, interacting with a salesperson, and seeking (22)selected purposively. Among them 32%
sensory stimulation. This might hinder the use of respondents were service persons, 25% respondents
certain goods like grocery and apparel, as the touch were business persons, 28% respondents were students
factor is the main factor, which drives the shopping for and rest of 16% were housewife. This study used
these goods[6]. purposive non- random sampling procedure. The
researcher used questionnaire as data collection tool to
For marketing of farm and dairy products, Walmart at US
elicit required data.The data elicited through
has a section named as Walmart Grocery[7]. Walmart
questionnaires were analyzed utilizing SPSS software.
Pickup is the new service of Walmart Grocery. In pickup
service, customers can simply shop their grocery lists
online, choose a time to pick up their orders and then pull 4. Result and Discussion
in to a designated parking area at their local stores, where
associates will load the items into their cars. It’s all the This is the result from survey with various customers of
convenience of a specially trained personal shopper, plus especially grocery items in order to assess the interest
the things customer has expected from Walmart; the and attitude about online shopping in those items. The
same low prices every day in the local stores; no extra quires were about the interest of online shopping,
fees or charges; and the ability to place an order and pick problems on this platform, advantages of it, preferable
it up the very same day. By focusing on local pickup tools or mode of it and the important issues to sustain
over delivery, Walmart is able to save some serious cash this service or business in long term. The result is
that it can then pass down to the consumer. Unlike presented in following sections:
the delivery services from Target and Amazon, where
delivery fees and subscription fees abound, Walmart’s 4.1 Customers perspective on online
pickup option is being offered for free. And the reason shopping
it’s free is because Walmart has no need for a middle
This section of result consists of assessing the awareness
man. It can simply designate a team of employees as
about online shopping, benefits of online shopping and
“personal shoppers” to shop and load online orders as
the preferable tools for online shopping.
part of their daily assignment. For customers, they just
shop their grocery lists online, choose a time to pickup
4.1.1 Awareness on online shopping
their orders, and then pull into a designated parking area
at their local Walmart store and an associate loads the To assess awareness about online shopping the
respondents were given three choices(yes, no, not but

134
 Proceedings of IOE Graduate Conference, 2016

interested) on the question “Do you know about online Similarly, another major benefit of online shopping is
shoppin.” The pictorial representation in figure 1 shows saving the time. Online shopping seems beneficial for
that majority respondents were found to be aware about traffic jams and parking problem in town. Also the
online shopping. Very few (7%) were unknown about it product’s variety and discount /offers can facilitate and
and same number of respondents were unknown about it attracts the new consumers.
but found interested towards it.
4.2.1 Preferable tool for online shopping
Among three major online modes for online shopping,
phone call ordering is traditional way where using
websites and mobile phone application are modern way
of online shopping. Nineteen percent respondents
preferred phone calls. Eleven percent respondents
preferred websites and forty six percent respondents
preferred mobile phone application.

Figure 1: Awareness about online shopping

4.2 Benefits of online shopping

The chart in figure 2 shows that the major advantage of
online shopping are easy to order, variety at one shop
and time saving.

Figure 3: Preferable tool for online shopping

4.2.2 Attitude towards online shopping of grocery

items

Figure 2: Benefits of online shopping

Thirty four percent respondents have chosen all of them

because due to the facility of internet and smart phones, Figure 4: Attitude towards online shopping of grocery
within a single touch the desired product can be ordered. items

135
Consumer Attitudes Towards Online Grocery Shopping in Kathmandu Valley

The chart in figure 4 shows that 89% of the respondents

were positive about online shopping of grocery items
whereas rest were negative.
From the perspective of customers, these are some
major problems to operate the E-Commerce service for
vegetables and fruit items:

i. Difficulties on assuring the freshness of the items

ii. Problem in customer satisfaction, quality and
affordability of the products
iii. Problem for farmers and lots of people due to
lackness in education of computer and internet
iv. Problem in accepting new technology and activities
by public .
Figure 5: Awareness towards online portals for grocery
items
The following ways were suggested to operate the E-
Commerce service for vegetables and fruit items:
4.2.4 Important issues for online shopping of
grocery items
i. By creating database of farmer and consumers
ii. By making good distribution channel The pie chart in figure 6 illustrates that 30% people
iii. By making online portals-websites and mobile app have chosen freshness only as an important issue while
iv. By online advertisement/social media shopping vegetable items online whereas 16% focused
v. By phone order and home delivery delivery time. Online payment was prioritized by 5%
vi. By updating info of both seasonal and nonseasonal which was similar to price. 44% viewed that all of the
products four issues were equally important.
vii. By delivering the products using dry ice in delivery
box
viii. By making the public aware about it
ix. By making cheaper price than the local market
x. By categorizing the products.

4.2.3 Awareness towards online portals for grocery

items
The pie chart in figure 5 depicts that people are aware
about existing online portals, but majority respondents
(48%) didn’t know about the existing online portals of
Kathmandu valley which are marketing grocery items
from vegetables, fruits to daily consumable products. Figure 6: Important issues for online shopping of
27% respondents knew about Munchha since it is one of grocery items
the old business house who has been serving the grocery
items- food, beverages online. Few were known about
Metrotarkari that is marketing especially vegetables and Online payment system is one of the important features
fruit items online for four years to the customer around of online shopping. Payment method in which ordered
ring road of Kathmandu valley. 13% respondents were goods are carried to the buyer’s place but are handed
known about Agromart since it is marketing various agro over only upon full payment. Also called collect on
seeds. delivery. Cash on Delivery (COD) is currently one of

136
 Proceedings of IOE Graduate Conference, 2016

the most popular mode of payments among Nepalese the same context, preferred payment method of online
online stores. Result shows that almost all of the E- shoppers in India was to pay via cash on delivery. Only
Commerce sites has COD option of payment. The major 30 % of shoppers opted for digital payment systems.
reason for its popularity is that the buyers do not have The results by Hansen suggested that online grocery
to pay anything before the goods are delivered to them. shopping adopters have higher household incomes than
This helps in giving some confidence to new buyers as non-adopters[11].
ecommerce is still a growing concept in Nepal which is
fairly nascent at this stage. 62 % People have chosen for
very important option while shopping online groceries. 5. Conclusion
From customers’ perspective it was found that majority
Table 1: Importance of Cash on Delivery System respondents i.e. 86% were found to be aware about
SN Cash on Delivery(COD) Percentage(%) online shopping. Advantage of online shopping were
1 Very Important 62 easy to order, variety at one shop and time saving.
2 Somewhat Important 30 Mobile application was viewed to be better and
3 Not Important 8 convenient option than websites and phone calls.
TotalTotal 100 Similarly, 89% of the respondents were positive about
online shopping of grocery items whereas rest were
negative. Result also depicts that 52% respondents were
Based on the reviews by one hundred nineteen customers aware about existing online portals. The freshness and
of Metrotarkari.com- an online grocery at Kathmandu delivery timing were given more importance than
valley up to October 30, 2016, 65% customers were payment system and pricing while shopping vegetables
not only satisfied with the service of Metrotarkari but and fruit items online. Since the majority customers
also found it as innovative and good. The main reason were found to be aware and positive about online
behind the good impression was the reasonable price. grocery shopping, the researchers concluded that if the
Few customers found the service as prompt where few issues identified by this research are addressed there is
liked the new concept. Around 22% customers felt that potentiality for optimistic future of online grocery.
Metrotarkari needs improvement on its service. Only
few customers (13%) complaints that the service was Acknowledgments
disappointing due to the wrong product delivering and
over charging not often but sometimes. The authors are thankful to Dr. Madhu Sudan Kayastha,
The finding of present study is closer to the study by Er. Madan Neupane, Er. Bikal Adhikari and Ms. Karuna
Singh (2012). In the context of Mumbai, he revealed Nepal for their support during the research period.
that around 37% of respondents were willing to buy
grocery online. This study was conducted with two References
hundred samples and generalized to the Mumbai. In
his study, rest 63% of the respondents drawn physical [1] Henry Nii Oto Dodoo. Online Grocery Shopping. PhD
examination (freshness issue) and security issues as the thesis, 2016.
important factors while shopping groceries online. It [2] Michelle A Morganosky and Brenda J Cude. Consumer
response to online grocery shopping. International
also found that most of the respondents think that buying Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 28(1):17–
grocery is beneficial[9]. They found it is time saving 26, 2000.
and avoid long queues. The finding of the present study [3] Arindam Banerjee, Tanushri Banerjee, et al. Web
is different in the Latin American background where it content analysis of online grocery shopping web sites in
is found closer in Indian background.As per the statista india. Technical report, Indian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department,
report, in Latin America the majority (65%) of online 2016.
shoppers preferred to pay via credit card. A total of 36
[4] Anna Blomqvist, Louise Nyman, and Frida Lennartsson.
% of shoppers opted for digital payment systems where Consumer attitudes towards online grocery shopping:
35% shoppers preferred cash on delivery option[10]. On A research conducted on swedish consumers. 2015.

137
 Consumer Attitudes Towards Online Grocery Shopping in Kathmandu Valley

[5] Chiew Shi Wee, Mohd Shoki Bin Md Ariff, Norhayati http://www.zdnet.com/article/walmartonlinegrocery/,
Zakuan, Muhammad Naquib Mohd Tajudin, Khalid 2016.
Ismail, and Nawawi Ishak. Consumers perception,
[9] Rainu Tanveer Singh. Consumer perception towards
purchase intention and actual purchase behavior of
online grocery stores. Master’s thesis, University of
organic food products. Review of Integrative Business
Mumbai, 2012.
and Economics Research, 3(2):378, 2014.
[6] S. Patnaik. The study on consumer perception towards [10] Statista. Preferred payment methods of online shoppers
online shopping in india. Technical report, Gangadhar in latin america as of 4th quarter 2015. Technical report,
Meher College, 2015. https://www.statista.com/statistics/256262/preferred-
payment-methods-of-online-shoppers-in-latin-
[7] Walmart. About walmart. Technical america/, 2015.
report, http://grocery.walmart.com/usd-
estore/help/helppageslinkscontainer.jsp?divid=aboutWalmart, [11] Torben Hansen. Consumer adoption of online grocery
2015. buying: a discriminant analysis. International Journal
of Retail & Distribution Management, 33(2):101–121,
[8] ZDNET. Walmart online grocery. Technical report, 2005.

138

View publication stats