CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION TO THE
INDUSTRY

1
COM PAN Y P ROFILE

Multiplier is a specialist for Managed Services, Technology & Data Solutions, Retail
Branding, Shopper Insights and Experiential Marketing

At Multiplier, we strictly abide by the philosophy of ‗Know Me-Love Me-Find Me‘ which
helps us in effectively communicating with our clients, and thereby from our clients to the
shoppers. The philosophy is intricately implemented to influence shoppers to buy and ensures
that we are the enablers in connecting the customers with the brands. Our reach is across
1000+ towns.

Since our inception a decade ago, Multiplier has worked with a plethora of nationally and
internationally reputed brands. These brands have since spearheaded and pioneered growth in
their respective industries.

Our service offerings span across a comprehensive list of sectors, including Telecom,
handsets, alcobev, tobacco, FMCG, Consumer durables, Consumer electronics, automobile,
lubricants, IT peripherals, BFSI, entertainment, footwear, among others.

We currently have a team of 12000+ professionals, comprising of shopper consultants,

merchandisers, auditors, trainers, FOS (Fleet on Street), and a host of associated retail experts,
across 1000 cities and towns in India. These teams are monitored and directed from our
offices situated in over 15 cities all over the country.

Our team‘s undying passion for quality and client satisfaction drives us towards the goal of
improved productivity and cost effectiveness across the trade and retail marketing spectrum.

Our Services

We have five broad areas of expertise where we extend our knowledge and guidance to our
clients - Managed Services, Technology and Data solutions, Retail Branding, Shopper
Insights, and Experiential Marketing.

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Sales Channel Management

This includes services right from the client‘s product placement to ensure they are in the
shopping bags of the shoppers. Broadly, these services can be defined as:

 Managing distribution channels

 Providing efficient sell-in/sell-out services

 Conducting visual merchandising and audits

 Creating and implementing loyalty programs

HR Services

Maintaining an energetic and motivated workforce is easily one of the essential tasks for any
business. To tackle this situation, within the spectrum of HR services, we manage the
complete employee life cycle. Our HR services include critical functions like asset
management, travel management, training, temporary staffing, and smooth transitions. To
broadly classify, the verticals in HR are:

Sales Channel Management Module

We manage your workforce with the aid of a desktop and mobile-based solution, wherein we
capture all the authentic data from the point of buying solutions. This includes location-based
attendance and tracking, PJP, visibility sales, and target achievement, among others.

Retail consultancy

 Retail format suggestion

 Setting up of a retail theme

Retail design conceptualization/Design

 Store design
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  Store guidelines

Retail element conceptualization/Design

 Creating and designing elements as per shopper journey

Production Execution/Deployment/Installation Retail audit

 Stock

 Visibility

Our Vision

To be the best shopper insight led, point-of-buying solutions specialist.

Our Mission

Connecting Shoppers to Brand

Our Value

 Entrepreneurial ownership and business acumen

 Respecting commitment

 Integrity towards process and system

 Transparency between employees and stakeholders

 Excellence that multiplies growth

 Trust amongst partners

https://multiplier.co.in

Industries
Marketing and Advertising
4
Company size

10,001+ employees

Headquarters

New Delhi, Delhi

Type

Privately Held

Specialties

Trade Marketing, Shopper Marketing, Retail Branding, Visual Merchandising,

Technology & Data Solutions, Experiential Marketing, and Managed Services

5
 CHAPTER-2

INTRODUCTION TO THE
ORGANISATION

6
AMAZON

Amazon is the largest internet based company in the united states. Amazon.com started as an
online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling dvds, vhss, cds, video and
mp3downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys,
and jewellery. The company also produces consumer electronics notably, kindle, fire tablets,
fire tv and phone and is a major provider of cloud computing services.

Amazon has separate retail websites for united states, united kingdom & ireland, france,
canada, germany, the netherlands, italy, spain, australia, brazil, japan, china, India and
mexico, with sites for sri lanka and south east asian countries coming soon. Amazon also
offers international shipping to certain other countries for some of its products. In the year
2011, it had professed an intention to launch its websites in poland, and sweden. In early june
2013, Amazon.com had launched their Amazon India marketplace without any marketing
campaigns. In july, 2013, Amazon had announced to invest $2 billion (rs 12,000 crores) in
India to expand business, after its largest Indian rival Flipkart too had announced to invest$1
billion.

EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS

The Amazon kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon.com. Amazon
kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download and read e-books, newspapers,
magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the kindle store. The hardware
platform, developed by Amazon subsidiary lab126, began as a single device and now
comprises a range of devices, including e-readers with e ink electronic paper displays, and
android-based tablets with color lcd screens. All kindle devices integrate with the kindle store
to acquire content and as of february 2016, the store has over 4.3 million e-books available in
the us. The oneplus one launched as an Amazon exclusive in India last year, but now the
device is available for purchase on rival e-commerce store Flipkart. Moto g (gen 4) and moto
g plus (gen 4) will be available exclusively on Amazon.

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 ACHIEVEMENTS IN E- COMMERCE

On the mobile app side, Amazon had the fastest growing app download rate in 2015. In
october alone, downloads increased 200 per cent. Amazon web traffic was the highest in
october as per comscore data, at 30 million visitors. Amazon active customers have gone up
230 per cent year on year. The awards were conferred at etailing India's flagship conference
and exhibition 2014, an event that brought together major stakeholders in the retail and e-
commerce business in the country. The "path-breaking debut of the year" award went to
Amazon.in.

FAILURE

Amazon starts using India post and screws up its delivery system in India. At the time when
the competition among online shopping portals in India is at its highest level possible and
each player is pooling in millions from funding‘s and trying to beat each other with never-
before discounts and amazing services, Amazon has taken the worst step ever possible.
Amazon India has chosen India post as its primary delivery partner and all ―Amazon fulfilled‖
orders are now being shipped through India post. Anyone who lives in India or has some
experience with the postal system in India needs no introduction about India post.

ACQUISITIONS

It‘s no secret that e-commerce giant Amazon has been betting on India as one of its next big
markets outside the u.s. The company is not only investing capital in the region, but also
acquiring startups to help expand its presence in the country. On tuesday, Amazon announced
it had acquired Indian payments company emvantage payments pvt. Ltd. Amazon did not
disclose the acquisition amount. Similar to stripe or paypal, advantage allows online
merchants to accept credit and debit cards. The company also allowed merchants to set up
their own branded pre-paid debit cards and mobile payments. In order to differentiate itself,
company acquired many it & e- commerce start-ups like pets.com, audible.com, junglee.com,
imbd.com, zappos.com, woot etc.

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  AMAZON

Amazon India, the company received 65 per cent orders from tier ii and iii cities in 2015. To
establish rural distribution centers in rural India, Amazon has been training teams in
packaging, checking shipments, tracking deliveries through a mobile app, route planning to
make deliveries on time etc. Many of these centers have witnessed a five-fold increase in the
number of deliveries. Amazon has a ‗service partner‘ programme too for last-mile delivery in
remote areas. ―budding entrepreneurs in these areas act as Amazon.in‘s local distribution
network providers and create the last-mile delivery footprint. This programme now covers
more than 100 satellite towns and tier ii and iii towns and villages.

LOGISTIC PARTNER

Cloudtail India pvt. Ltd, a joint venture between Amazon.com inc. And n.r. Narayana
murthy‘s catamaran ventures, has become the biggest seller or merchant on Amazon India‘s
platform, underlining how the world‘s largest online retailer has used loopholes in the law to
deploy a mix of the marketplace and the direct-selling business model in India. Cloudtail is
now the key growth driver for Amazon India, generating at least 40% of the company‘s sales
in some months, three people familiar with the matter said. Cloudtail is particularly dominant
in electronics and fashion sales, two of the three largest categories for Amazon India
(promoted by Amazon seller services pvt. Ltd). Since it launched as a seller on Amazon in
july 2014, cloudtail has expanded aggressively. Its capital was increased to rs.500 crore last
month from just rs.500, 000 last july, according to documents available with the registrar of
companies (roc). The equity capital has been pumped in jointly by Amazon asia and
catamaran through an entity called prione business services pvt. Ltd. Apart from the rs.500
crore in equity capital, cloudtail has access to secured loans totaling rs.300 crore, roc
documents show. Atsl will be one of the logistics partners for Amazon's Indian marketplace.

PROCEDURE

Amazon has set up a logistics company in India to deliver products directly to consumers,
opening a new front in the battle for top honours in the country's fast-growing online retail
9
industry. Amazon transportation services private limited, a subsidiary of us-based Amazon,
will ship goods from sellers who transact on the company's online marketplace in India. Such
a service is already on offer from Flipkart through logistics company ekart, and snapdeal,
which bought a stake in delivery firm gojavas last week. The logistics arm has been set up to
aid in last- mile delivery as products can be shipped faster. Amazon currently operates nine
fulfillment centres, ecommerce jargon for warehouses, in eight Indian states. It was the first
online marketplace to offer two-day and one-day guaranteed delivery in India, a norm in the
us market. Amazon India also recently launched easyship, an assisted shipping platform for
12,000 out of its 20,000 sellers, a platform which the company has now taken global. With
easyship, our sellers can now choose their courier partners, and ship even on the same day.
More than 60% of our customers are eligible for next-day shipping on products fulfilled by
Amazon. Amazon has struggled with deliveries in cities where snarl-ups are frequent and road
signs unreliable. In response, firms have set up logistics networks and use motorbikes instead
of trucks. Another service introduced in India in may and considered for export to other
markets, seller flex, allows sellers to have the flexibility to store goods and ship them to
customers on their own, instead of routing them through Amazon. Amazon provides
technology and training to ensure goods are packed, labelled and delivered as the company
would. While Amazon in developed markets may not want to tweak its model for best selling
goods, analysts said, it could consider the made-in- India seller solution to cut down on
warehousing and delivery costs for thousands of ―non-core‖ products which are offered, but
infrequently bought. ―Amazon is becoming a lot more flexible about how it services its
customers.

TECHNOLOGY USED

Amazon.com inc said it has acquired Indian payments processor emvantage payments pvt ltd
for an undisclosed sum. Emvantage's employees will join Amazon's India unit that will use
the company's technology on its e-commerce website, Amazon said in a statement. Online
retailer Amazon.com inc. Is localizing its technology operations in India by freeing up its
engineers to launch new features and customize its smartphone app for shoppers. These
changes have significantly improved both the company‘s user addition and retention rates.
10
More shoppers installed Amazon India‘s smartphone app than any rival‘s app in the last three
months of 2015, the online retailer said, citing data compiled by app annie, an analytics
company. Downloads of Amazon India‘s shopping app tripled in the key shopping month of
october compared with the year-ago period. These numbers are significant as a majority of
online shopping in India is expected to happen on smartphones over the next five years.
Already, Amazon and its rivals Flipkart ltd and snapdeal (jasper infotech pvt. Ltd) get more
than 70% of their traffic from smartphones. Amazon‘s tech expertise in consumer-facing
products, predictive analytics, supply chain, among other areas is one of the reasons it is
catching up fast with Flipkart and snapdeal. Another change was the sign-up process for
mobile customers. ―the sign-up process was you enter the email, then password, then you
verify it, etc—that was too much. Now, we pre-detect the mobile number and the new user
only has to enter a password. You get an otp, which is read and entered automatically. This is
another feature we have opened up in other markets. Overall, the goal is to understand where
there is friction for the customer and then eliminate that. Initially, however, Amazon adopted
most of the features of its global app in India. Those features included things such as barcode
scanning, which were of no use to Indian shoppers. Apart from irritating customers, the
features also caused the app to become very heavy in terms of taking up space on
smartphones. This was particularly problematic as a majority of Amazon‘s current and future
customers will own low-end smartphones that offer limited storage space. Clunky apps also
don‘t tend to work best on cheap smartphones.

AMAZON

SEGMENTATION

E-commerce giants like Amazon uses demographic & psychographics segmentation to

segment the markets. Amazon‘s segmentation is based on actual purchase behavior: not what
people might have expressed interest in, but what they actually did. Amazon‘s micro-level
segmentation targets each customer individually, allowing the company to convert visitors
into long-term, high-value customers. Customer segmentation often involves creating
personas who will buy in a certain way & certain products. Similarly Amazon targets the

11
middle class & upper class people who have got hands on experience in the basic technology
but don‘t have time or prefer convenience over shopping from the physical outlets. Amazon
has successfully positioned itself as a glocal (go global act local) e-commerce giant where one
can buy anything & get it delivered at any remote locations. Using the catchphrase #aurdikhao
in its most recent campaign in India, it has further helped them carve a distinct space in the
consumer‘s mind.

MARKETING STRATEGY

In order to differentiate itself, company acquired many it & e-commerce start-ups like
pets.com, audible.com, junglee.com, imbd.com, zappos.com, woot etc. Which helped them in
providing high value to their customers using existing technology of the acquired partners at
low cost? Amazon has also achieved economies of scale through extensive product offerings
which include electronics, toys and games, apparels, diy and many more. These offerings help
Amazon to keep its prices low thereon passing on the benefits to the consumers. Amazon‘s
robust customer centric approach to analyse the customer buying behavior based upon
preferences has helped them to have competitive edge over their competitors. More than 50%
of the consumers are the repeat buyers at Amazon.com. Furthermore, Amazon is one of the
longest players to be present in the online sector and has a solid hold in European countries
and us. This bottom line is helping the company to expand in new markets.

Brand equity in the marketing strategy of Amazon – from being merely an e-book
provider to emerging as the 2ndlargest e-commerce company in the world, Amazon.com has
steadily increased its spending on advertising and promotion to make its brand stronger and
have a higher brand equity. By april 2015, the brand of Amazon.com was worth us$ 176
billion. ―a brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying
to do hard things. With more than 55% repeat buyers, the numbers tells everything about the
brand. It is among 13 world‘s most valuable brand‖ (forbes list).

Competitive analysis in the marketing strategy of Amazon –short listing the competitors
of Amazon depends on what business sector of Amazon is being considered. Apple would be
the largest competitor when considering book or content related delivery such as books,
12
movies, magazines, and audiobooks. The itunes store will always be a threat to the Amazon
store because of apples devices like the ipad, iphone, and macbook. When considering web
services google would emerge as the largest competitor.

Walmart is the biggest threat to Amazon in us as reports roll in of various attempts to compete
with the large online retailer. Reports of walmart testing a locker system for consumers where
shoppers can order and pay online and pickup at their convenience are surfacing. Walmart is
also still testing same-day delivery in four cities and remains the fourth largest online
retailer. Walmart rakes in about $9 billion in internet sales, which Amazon more than doubles
in a quarter. However, Amazon does not have the physical structure base that walmart has to
start with.

In developing countries as well as in developed, there are many local portals which give tough
competition to Amazon. For example – snapdeal, Flipkart are some of the competitors of
Amazon. Similarly, groupon, first cry are specialized e-commerce portals which take away
traffic from Amazon. Thus, these local competitors of each country also react strongly to
Amazon‘s presence. Market analysis in the marketing strategy of Amazon- the global e-
commerce market is still in the evolving phase. With the adaptation of technology in the
developing economies customers are now becoming more comfortable with online shopping.
Fierce competition from biggies like alibaba, ebay, start-ups & local ecommerce players like
Flipkart, snapdeal is more of resulting into overall growth of the industry which is good for
the industry.

Customer analysis in the marketing strategy of Amazon- Amazon customers consist of

upper & middle class social groups who have inclination towards using e-commerce portals
and are comfortable with online shopping. Majority of the customers are professionalsor
businessmen who are busy with their business/job & find it convenient to purchase anything
online rather than visiting the physical outlet in order to save time & money. Furthermore, the
customers might also be the ones who are searching for deals. Due to this, the portal is known
to have specific days where they give massive discounts to their buyers.

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MARKETING MIX

Product in the marketing mix of Amazon

Amazon is an international ecommerce company, using connections to the internet from

various gadgets such as phones and tablets, to allow its customers to browse and purchase
products immediately. These products are then delivered to the customer, using delivery
service companies. Amazon has built up a huge product base, and sells almost everything,
including: kindle, books, dvds, mobile phones/tablets, gaming consoles and games, clothes for
men/women and children, jewellery, gardening equipment. Amazon initially started only with
books and it is till date known as the highest book seller in the world. This is why, Amazon
also introduced kindle. Kindly is an ebook reader from Amazon and it is the reason that the
publishing market is having such a big revolution of converting hard paper to digital ebooks
because ease of reading by kindle. Due to success of kindle, Amazon also introduced kindly
fire – its own tablet pc. Type in a search entry into a search engine for a specific product, and
the chances are that Amazon will stock what you need, and will be on the search list. As they
continue to grow, more and more products are added to their inventory. Once established into
books, Amazon quickly expanded to other products to maintain its presence in the market.
Where ebay is know for techie products, Amazon is known for knowledgeable products.
Amazon continues to expand its product base, and in july 2014 it entered the smart phone
market, releasing its very own fire phone. The phone followed the release a month earlier of
Amazon‘s very own set top box system

– Amazon fire tv- which allows streaming from various channels, as well as supporting
speech commands when searching.

Place in the marketing mix of Amazon

In the recent past, sites such as Indiaplaza and allshcoolstuff were forced to close due to the
lack of trust when buying goods online. However, the brand image of Amazon enables it to
have a far and wide presence and the bottom line of the company is enough to enable massive
r&d efforts to secure the website. Amazon has customer service bases in many of the
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countries where it has an online presence, with most bases being located in the different states
of the usa. Amazon employees are friendly and relaxed.

Promotion in the marketing mix of Amazon

While Amazon has broadcast television commercials, these are mostly in the american
market. Amazon uses mainly web based advertising, and they make some use of billboard and
smaller methods of advertising. Amazon also uses advertising networks online so that
whenever you check something on Amazon, you will see an ad for the same thing somewhere
else on some other website. Search engine marketing and getting the company‘s name high up
the search engine‘s results is also a smart promotional strategy by Amazon. The founder of
Amazon had this in mind when creating the company, deciding that it should start with an ‗a‘.

Price in the marketing mix of Amazon

Amazon is competitive with its prices, and has little ways of staying ahead of its market
contemporaries. For example, if you are looking to buy a book, Amazon offers you a new
copy, or a used copy as well, complete with pricing and condition. Another initiative is to pay
to have a premium account, ensuring faster deliveries. Amazon can also keep their prices
competitive due to their use of staff. Minimum numbers – but well trained – ensure that
consumers benefit from the lack of overheads, and the result is shown in the prices online.

As more and more people can access broadband connections in India and get online, the
competition for the likes of Amazon.com will toughen. Amazon‘s quiet entry into India has
seen some growth so far due to its brand image, and it will be looking to keep its prices as low
as possible to capture a slice of the growing market place. It faces tough competition from the
likes of ebay, Flipkart and snapdeal.

SWOT

In evaluating a company‘s overall situation, a key question is whether the company is

in a position to pursue attractive market opportunities and defend against external threats to its
future well-being. The simplest and most easily applied tool for conducting this examination
15
is known as a SWOT analysis, which zeroes in on a company‘s internal strengths and
weaknesses, market opportunities, and threats (Thompson, p 89)

Strengths

A strength is something a company is good at doing or an attribute that enhances its

competitiveness in the marketplace. A Company‘s strengths depend on the quality of its
resources and capabilities. Resource and capability analysis provides a way for managersto
assess the quality objectively. As a company such as Amazon moves into the future, it is
important for them to have a successful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy.
Amazon has a strong reputation for providing customers with everything that they need, all
conveniently in their marketplace.

The process of purchasing with Amazon is extremely easy. With one-click ordering,
stored personal and card details, it makes the purchasing process smooth and quick.
Customers can also reap the benefits from recommendations for products and services for
them based on their prior purchases. Amazon has managed to make each customer feel like
they have had a personal experience on their site without actually dealing with any of their
customers personally. Behind all of this, is their CRM strategy. A key element of their CRM
is personal data storage, or their big data strategy. Over the life of Amazon, they have evolved
from being a pure e-commerce player into an immense Internet services firm which offers a
large range of services for corporations and individuals. In the early 2000s, Amazon began
realizing they had huge data sets from their customers that they could utilize for their benefit.
Being an e-commerce giant, a lot of Amazon‘s success had always depended on making the
right products available to their customers. They must make the right products available or
they risk losing their customers.

However, Amazon has been renowned for its product recommender system which puts
product suggestions to their customers based on their past purchasing behaviors. By doing
this, it put Amazon into an industry leader with the cross-selling or up-selling method.
Clearly, Amazon is an international ecommerce company. They use their connections from
the internet from various gadgets such as phones and tablets, and allow their customers to
16
purchase products immediately. So far, a lot of their success has came from their huge product
base, which is about everything. To be more specific, they sell kindles, books, DVDs, mobile
phones, clothing, jewelry, gardening equipment, and this list could practically go on forever.
By expanding their huge product mix, they enable customers to have the purchasing power
they want, by having alternatives to the normal every-day shopping experience with in-person
stores. Amazon has a very solid presence in many emerging economies. Within the past
decade, Amazon has entered China, Brazil, India, and some other small countries. In India, it
is the leading e-commerce company with more than 21,000 sellers. The last main strength
Amazon has is their ―GLOCAL‖ strategy. GLOCAL stands for ―Go Global, Act Local.‖
Amazon has struggled within the past decade to make a significant impact in the Chinese
market with powerhouse AliBaba having main control. To combat this, Amazon is
implementing marketing efforts directly just towards the Chinese market, making those
customers feel more welcomed.

Weaknesses

A weakness, or competitive deficiency, is something a company lacks or does poorly

(in comparison to others) or a condition that puts it at a disadvantage in the marketplace. A
company‘s internal weaknesses can relate to (1) inferior or unproven skills, expertise, or
intellectual capital in competitively important areas of the business; (2) deficiencies in
competitively important physical, organizational, or intangible assets; or (3) missing or
competitively inferior capabilities in key areas. Company weaknesses are thus internal
shortcomings that constitute competitive liabilities. Whether a company‘s internal weaknesses
make it competitively vulnerable depends on how much they matter in the marketplace and
whether they are offset by the company‘s strengths (Thompson, p 91).

Amazon‘s business model is easily imitable. As an example, other companies could

easily establish an online retail website that sells just about everything. Amazon generates
most of its revenues from developed countries, such as the U.S., and when other firms become
fully established in those developed countries, it would be difficult for Amazon to penetrate
and compete. Being an e-commerce company, the company will have some limited brick-and-

17
mortar presence in that some products that are more sellable in physical stores than in online
stores. In a survey by MarketTest.co.uk, 57% of users will not buy clothes online, due to the
lack of reliability from the sellers or product material. Due to this, the level Amazon has
obtained is projected to remain constant in some areas.

Another weakness of Amazon is their shipping prices. Although many customers

would consider Amazon Prime a vital part of their business, most people will not pay the
membership fee to get free shipping. Amazon Prime is currently $99 a year and is a
subscription-based membership program with a growing number of features. Although this
part of Amazon‘s business is growing in size each year, the free shipping from it still incurs a
loss around $500 million each year, which undoubtedly erodes profits. In the 2015 year,
mobile commerce grew three times faster than e-commerce growth. In Amazon‘s case, they
really haven‘t done much to distinct its mobile and desktop experience, as they are practically
the same ported versions. Although some users prefer this, most companies have different
approaches to make the mobile e-commerce more memorable and enjoyable.

Opportunities

Market opportunity is a big factor in sharing a company‘s strategy. Indeed, managers

can‘t properly tailor strategy to the company‘s situation without first identifying its market
opportunities and appraising the growth and profit potential each one holds. Depending on the
prevailing circumstances, a company‘s opportunities can be plentiful or scarce, fleeting or
lasting, and can range from wildly attractive to marginally inter-existing to unsuitable
(Thompson, p 91).

18
As the e-commerce industry continues to rise, the more secure payment processors such as
PayPal have to be. Amazon currently has their own payment system, but could expand this
into other companies. PayPal does exactly this, and it could absolutely eliminate them, and be
a great marketing tool for Amazon. Another opportunity which Amazon could capitalize on
relates to rolling out more products under its own brand instead of being forwarded to a third-
party site. Amazon already sells their own brands of batteries, keyboards, and bedding, but
this needs to be further expanded to make a significant impact on their business. In the
grocery world, private label brands are a big money maker. The items are often produced in
the same plants as name-brand items but are labeled as a store brand, saving all the cost of
advertising and thus allowing them to be sold for less. On a study on USAToday, 88% of
customers say they buy private label, primarily because of the price difference. Amazon has
mentioned in the past they have considered offering a delivery service with groceries to their
Prime users, but have yet to implement this. Another opportunity is to expand even more in
the international market. There are many countries to be directly marketed towards and this
could increase growth and profits. Expansion over abroad brings synergies to a company due
mainly to the larger customer base. Expansion leads to more financial stability, because one
country may suffer economically.

Threats

Often, certain factors in a company‘s external environment pose threats to its

profitability and competitive well-being. Threats can stem from such factors as the emergence

19
of cheaper or better technologies, the entry of lower-cost foreign competitors into a
company‘s market stronghold, new regulations that are more burdensome to a company than
to its competitors, unfavorable demographic shifts, and politicalupheaval in a foreign country
where the company has facilities (Thompson, p 93).

Being an e-commerce company, one of the biggest threats to any online business is the
increasing concerns over online shopping because of identity theft and hacking which leaves
its customer data exposed. Amazon has to be able to move quickly and ensure the customers
that their information is private and secure. To combat this, Amazon has a page on their
website with helpful tips and tricks for privacy and security, which is located at
https://payments.amazon.com/help. From here, you can get help with e-commerce plugins,
view your orders, and other things, but it still lacks guaranteeing their customers information.
Another threat comes from Amazon pursuing a cost leadership strategy. This is very
aggressive, and Amazon has had to face lawsuits from publishers and rivals in the retailing
industry.

The focus on cost leadership that Amazon follows has become a source of trouble for
the company because of the competitors being upset with Amazon taking away the business
from them. The last threat is clear, and it is Amazon faces significant competition from local
online retailers who are more agile and nimble when compared to its behemoth type of
strategy. This means the company cannot lose sight of its local market conditions in pursuit of
its global strategy.

Driving Forces

Many developments can affect an industry powerfully enough to qualify as driving

forces. Some drivers of change are unique and specific to a particular industry situation, but
most drivers of industry and competitive change fall into the categories below (Thompson, p
65).

Shifts in industry growth up or down have the potential to affect the balance between
industry supply and buyer demand, entry and exit, and the character and strength of

20
competition. Sanderson from Marketwatch has three primary reasons why Amazon may be
unstoppable. The first is Amazon‘s current share of the total U.S. market in retail is still low,
but it is accelerating. Sanderson estimates that Amazon‘s direct sales business, which
accounted for just 3.4% of retail spending, grew by six times the market rate during the first
quarter. In addition, Amazon‘s e-commerce business soared 27% during the quarter,
compared with the 1% sales growth reported by the biggest U.S. retailers. The second reason
is the benefits of the adoption of Amazon Prime are just beginning to expand internationally.
Sanderson said he believes the big improvement in Amazon‘s international e-commerce
growth rate to 26% in the latest quarter from 12% in 2014. The third is the growth opportunity
for Amazon Web Services is ―extraordinary‖ and remains open ended, with a sustainably
high-margin profile (Kilgore, 2016).

The next driving factor is increasing globalization. From Amazon‘s most recent filing
with the SEC, they quoted this. ―Our international activities are significant to our revenues
and profits, and we plan to further expand internationally. In certain international market
segments, we have relatively little operating experience and may not benefit from any first-to-
market advantages or otherwise succeed. It is costly to establish, develop, and maintain
international operation and websites, and promote our brand internationally. Our international
operations may not be profitable on a sustained basis.‖ Based on this, international expansion
may be hard to achieve, but a company such as Amazon will be the one to succeed in this
endeavor. The next driving force is emerging new Internet capabilities and applications.
Being an e-commerce company, this hits a homerun. Amazon will have to be quick to accept
any changes in the internet and the application process.

The next driving force is technological change and manufacturing process innovation.
Advances in technology can disrupt or extremely impact a company‘s success in the future.
However, with how wide-spread Amazon is, they will be quick to adopt and it will not impact
their business significantly. The next is product innovation. With Amazon being a middle-
man in some situations, it will be easy for them to keep up with innovation. However, with
their own products such as the Kindle, they will need to follow up on trends as Apple
continues their innovation with the iPads and the Samsung devices. Another driving force is
21
entry or exit of major firms. Amazon has established such a power-house in their many
services, no major firm will be able to enter. However, there are some rivals that can compete,
especially in their international expansions, where large firms already exist, such as Alibaba.
The last driving force impacting Amazon is changing societal concerns, attitudes, and
lifestyles. Emerging social issues as well as changing attitudes and lifestyles can be powerful
instigators of industry change. Once again, this is where Amazon excels. With lifestyles
always changing, Amazon‘s wide range of products and services will help them avoid this
problem.

Key Success Factors

Key success factors are defined as ―those competitive factors that most affect industry
members‘ ability to survive and prosper in the marketplace: the particular strategy elements,
product attributes, operational approaches, resources, and competitive capabilities that spell
the difference between being a strong competitor and a weak competitor – and between a
profit and a loss.‖ (Thompson, 2016, p. 72) It is very important for all members of an industry
to pay close attention to Key Success Factors to prevent failure and loss of customer base.
Amazon has been more than successful in making sure they know what makes their company
shine, and adapting to changing buyer wants and needs, as well as advancing technological
improvements. The first question to look at when deciding what factors are most important to
competitive success is: on what basis to buyers of the industry‘s product choose between the
competing brands, and what product attributes and service characteristics are crucial. Since
Amazon is an online marketing company that sells multiple items, they are involved in e-
commerce that places a lot of emphasis on customer service. When a customer goes to
Amazon‘s website they know that with ease they can find what they are searching for as ―big
data‖ is immediately put to work. Each customer feels special because their website is
personalized to them based on past purchases as well as including ―product suggestions to
existing or new customers who might not have otherwise bought a complementary product.‖
(Thompson, 2016, p. C-407) This type of personalized marketing strategy is what makes
customers choose Amazon when online shopping. Also, once they expanded from only selling
books they changed to a broad strategy attracting almost anyone looking to make a purchase.
22
Amazon is working toward becoming limitless in the range of customers they serve, and
creating a strong brand loyalty through exceptional customer service.

Customer service is one of the main Key Success Factors for Amazon as it is part of
basis of why buyers buy. Bezos had a strong belief that the key to penetrating market and
increasing sales was customer loyalty. Per George Parker ―Amazon was a pioneer in
delivering unmatched customer service, which back in the early days of Internet commerce
was ―iffy‖ to say the least.‖ Parker gives an example of his purchase with Amazon in which
case he bought a Kindle. After a week of having it, he dropped it on the floor, and stood on it.
Parker then called Amazon and explained what had happened. They said they would ship a
new Kindle that day and to return the old one in its pre-paid package. When Parker asked how
much it would cost, nothing, they said. He instantly became a ―customer for life, not to
mention an enthusiastic promoter of all things Amazon.‖ (Parker, 2012) Instead of following
traditional standards when communicating with customers by sending formatted mass emails
they created 360-degree customer profiles which tracked and stored everything related to that
customer. ―Amazon could then create hyper-personalized marketing messages regarding the
products based on the individual customer‘s needs and interests.‖ (Thompson, 2016, p. C-
407) Bezos believes that a company shouldn‘t focus on its competitors but rather on its
customers. ―His most important lesson in service comes from the term ‗word of mouth.‘‖ A
view such as ―in the physical world an unhappy customer might tell six people, but online that
same customer could reach 6,000‖ is a strong foundation for customer importance company
wide. (Snap)

The second question to ask when looking at Key Success Factors is: what resources
and competitive capabilities must a company have to be competitively successful. With such a
broad range of product offerings, Amazon must have somewhere to safely store in excessive
quantities. Not only does Amazon have a lot of products, but they must also know how much
of each to stock as well. Excellent management is needed for most effective use of shelf space
and capacity utilization, and strong relationships with vendors, as well. ―Amazon has
distribution centers across the globe that allow them to quickly ship products, and they have
excellent vendor relationships that allow them to offer customers discounted pricing.‖ (Snap)
23
Bezos has developed a sensational business model that allows them to do all this quicker and
more efficient than any other competitor. Warehouses are ―multi-football arena sized
premises [that] take care of sourcing, organizing, packing and shipping millions of orders a
day. And surprisingly, they do it with a vast number of workers who use simple barcode
scanners to find, and expedite on its way, any item in the warehouse.‖ (Parker, 2012) Because
of the massive volume of product it sells 24/7/365, Amazon maintains 80 enormous
warehousing and fulfillment centers scattered around the known universe. ―The seemingly
counter-productive thing about Amazon‘s warehousing system is that it relies on something
described as "Chaotic Storage‖ where products are shelved at random, and because items are
stored randomly rather than categorically there‘s a more efficient use of shelf space.‖ (Parker,
2012) This is the type of competitive capability that has been key to Amazon‘s e-commerce
success. They have also found multiple ways to implement their ―big data.‖ It is also used to
check fraud in the organization and prevent warehouse theft. ―Amazon used big data and
updated its product catalog data nearly 50 million times a week.‖ (Thompson, 2016, p. C-408)
This data is collected, stored, and analyzed to identify which of the items were most likely to
be stolen and the information was then fed back to warehouses.

The final piece of Key Success Factors to analyze is: what shortcoming are almost
certain to put a company at a significant competitive disadvantage. The first major issue that
could quickly be a shortcoming for an e-commerce company like Amazon is shipping and
shipping costs. Shipping is an additional cost customers face when buying online instead of in
store, therefore it must be kept low to keep from turning customers away. If Amazon isn‘t
shipping products they then aren‘t selling any either, which means no revenue and profit. This
is a large issue that must be effectively managed for Amazon to have, and continue to have
success. Amazon has found a very happy middle ground with shipping that is cost efficient
for both them and the customer – Amazon Prime. Prime includesfree two-day Shipping for
eligible purchases, unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Video, and the
ability to borrow books from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library for $99 a year or $10.99 a
month. This gives Amazon some advance, unearned revenue, to filter in to the company,
before a single item is even ordered or shipped. They must also pay for their portion of

24
shipping just like the customer, and incur significant costs in doing so. ―Shipping costs as a
percentage of sales have risen every year since 2009. Last year, Amazon spent $11.5 billion
on shipping, or 10.8% of sales, compared with 7.5% in 2010.‖ (Bensinger, 2016) Amazon is
now considering competing directly with UPS and FedEx. The company could save $1.1
billion annually if it stopped using UPS and FedEx. Keeping packages under its own control
just over longer distances could save Amazon around $3 or more on a typical delivery.

By continuing to be innovative Amazon will build upon its well established key
success factors, as well as expand to areas, like shipping, where they can generate more
profitability.

Burning Issues

There are 5 main strategic ―how-to‖ burning issues to analyze: 1. how to meet
challenges of new foreign competitors,2. How to combat price discounting of rivals, 3. How
to reduce both high costs and prepare for price reductions, 4. How to sustain growth as buyer
demand slows, and 5. How to adapt to changing buyer demographics. Although Amazon is
not as overwhelmed with foreign competition as other industries, they do face enough to keep
them attentive. They must watch out for increase competition from Alibaba, eBay, traditional
retailers (Walmart and Target), and new entrants such as Jet.com, as these could potentially
limit market share gains for Amazon over the next five to ten years. With so many capabilities
to use for competitive advantage Amazon has continued to outperform those in the global e-
commerce market. Because of the slowing economy in China, Alibaba will most likely make
an international push for higher growth rates. eBay is also working toward gaining a larger
market share. ―Over the previous 5-10 years, Amazon has made several unsuccessful attempts
to enhance its market share in China. This could limit market share gain in the international
market.‖ (Forbes, International, 2016) With two rivals developing new strengths is a burning
issues for Amazon to maintain as well as prepare for strategic defenses at the top of the chain.

Looking at the second and third ―burning issue‖ topics relates to price discounting of
rivals, cutting high costs, and reducing selling prices. Companies such as Walmart, Best Buy,
and Toys ―R‖ Us announce polices that they will match any competitors lower price which
25
poses an issue for Amazon, as customers can buy in store for a cheaper price, cut shipping and
get instant gratification. Amazon is challenged by major retailers for every sale, but have
found a successful way to adapt and keeping ―burning‖ controlled. ―Internet Retailer
Magazine reported in mid-2013 that Amazon changed prices on about 40 million products
many times during a single day since they want to provide customers with the lowest prices
and best value across their vast selection.‖ (Forbes, Pricing, 2012) During the holiday season
Amazon last year changed prices on as many as 80 million products compared to Wal-Mart‘s
922 changes, Target‘s 354, and Best Buy‘s 336. They remain profitable by being smart about
which prices to discount and increase some prices as well. ―Not all price changes went down,
some went up, enabling retailers to recover some profit margin by raising prices while
remaining competitive.‖ (Forbes, Pricing, 2012) All this together puts great control on this
issues created by rivals. They have shown to be more than willing to adapt to the market, time
of year and/or season, and respond to competitor‘s price reductions. Price reductions is
counteracted by price increase in other products.

The fourth burning issue to consider is sustaining growth as buyer demand slows. The
strength of customer service is how Amazon tackles this issue. Buying and making purchases
happen every minute, so Amazon must make sure their brand is one that comes to mind when
consumers begin shopping. This is made easy by the effort put forth to make sure every
customer feels special, and not like a ―number.‖ The 360-profiling, customized webpages, and
individual emails makes buyers want to come back for more. During peak times of the year,
mainly Christmas, Amazon is worked beyond capacity at times. This is the chance to reach
new customers that normally do not online shop throughout the year. A good experience here
will bring them back for repeat purchases as demand slows after December 25th.

The last burning issue is adapting to changing demographics. Interests of shoppers

change over time. One year a customer may be buying baby clothing and items, but in a
couple years will have parted from the need for those purchases. It becomes annoying to
receive repetitive e-mails about items one has no interest in, or coupons that will never be
used. Amazon‘s 360-profiling keeps real-time information on each customer, storing data
with every item search and click. It tells what the customer is saying, what they are buying,
26
what they are doing, and what they are liking. Using big data to simple merge this information
makes it easy understand. As demographics for an entire population change, or for an
individual person, over time, Amazon can simply use the profiles to adapt. This makes them
very flexible to the external environment and social trends.

Strategic Suggestions

After in-depth analysis of Amazon, careful consideration of SWOT and PESTEL in

congruence with SMART objectives some strategic suggestions need to be made to help
expand and continue growth and success. The first suggestion builds upon an opportunity
previously discussed, developing more specific products under their own brand instead of
almost complete third-party reliability. The name and brand Amazon is well known for its
distribution of such a wide variety of product, but not for its specialty brand of backpacks, or
blankets, or tools, for example. Starting up an entirely new industry would not be congruent
with their current purpose, and extremely difficult and costly as well, but a realistic, cheap,
durable product line would increase brand loyalty if done correctly. A significant impact on
business can only be made when the product becomes well-known, and desirable. Amazon‘s
batteries, keyboards, and bedding is meager to what other achievable private label products
they create could be. If nothing else, they could expand on these already established products
to make them more successful and durable, and then advertise it. If done in a timely manner,
Amazon will have the opportunity to make a giant push for a greater grasp of the market
segment, along with partial control in a new segment.

A second suggestion is something that has already been put into work for Amazon, but
needs expanded on. Brick and mortar stores are in the beginning stages for the e-commerce
company, with the first being built in New York City where the store sells only books. This
specific aspect could be a great success for them if continued and more stores are built. This
type of diversification would be a type of forward vertical integration. They would be able to
increase their competitive range and advantage, as well as close the gap between the company
and buyers. They would no longer just be a threat to Wal-Mart‘s online sector, or Books-A-
Million‘s online sector, but to their face to face purchases as well. This would remove

27
shipping costs and give instant gratification to the customer, still all the while, while Amazon
offers the best pricing making this option very measurable and achievable. Carrying over the
exceptional customer service offered online, and benchmarking off companies such as Chick-
Fil-A and Southwest Airlines, they could realistically put themselves in a position for
unmatchable competitive advantage. Selling just books limits their customer base, but selling
too many items becomes unmanageable and not profitable. Finding the happy medium of
books, limited apparel, and their own branded products as discussed above would be a great
start. The timing of this suggestion would need to be very strategic, for example, opening a
store around a peak time such a Christmas.

The final strategic suggestion for Amazon would be to make a stronger push and
support for environmental purposes. As mentioned above in PESTEL analysis, ―they have
been criticized for not being environmentally conscious and not releasing information about
their operations.‖ With recent changes in what is considered socially acceptable, the world has
become very ―green.‖ The unmeasurable success of Amazon and its unicorn start-up makes it
unacceptable for them to not undertake this simple take. Social responsibility is key in how
the public eye will view Amazon‘s operations, and they have a very defensive approach right
now, that needs to minimally be increased to accommodative, if not proactive.

28
 CHAPTER-3

LITERATURE REVIEW

29
LITERATURE REVIEW

Sharma and mittal (2009) in their study “prospects of e-commerce in India”, mentions
that India is showing tremendous growth in the e-commerce. Undoubtedly, with the middle
class of 288 million people, online shopping shows unlimited potential in India. The real
estate costs are touching the sky. Today e-commerce has become an integral part of our daily
life. There are websites providing any number of goods and services. The e-commerce portals
provide goods and services in a variety of categories. To name a few: apparel and accessories
for men and women, health and beauty products, books and magazines, computers and
peripherals, vehicles, software, consumer electronics, household appliances, jewelry, audio,
video, entertainment, goods, gift articles, real estate and services. Ashish gupta, senior
managing director of helion venture partners and one of the first backers of Flipkart as an
angel investor: ―Flipkart has been absorbing companies that have some potential (letsbuy,
myntra). In that process, some of the bets will go wrong, for sure. But that is par for the
course. The company (Flipkart) is consciously taking bets that allow it to either grow or
eliminate competition that reduces marketing spend and improves economics.‖

Miyazaki and fernandez (2001) substantiated that the prior experience was found to affect
the intention and behavior significantly and in a variety of ways. The results of this study
imply that the technology acceptance model should be applied to electronic commerce
research with caution. In order to develop a successful and profitable web shop, understanding
customers' needs is essential. It has to be ensured that products are as cheap in a web shop as
purchased from traditional channels. According to sharma and mittal (2009) in their study
―prospects of e- commerce in India‖, mentions that India is showing tremendous growth in
the e-commerce.

Undoubtedly, with the middle class of 288 million people, online shopping shows unlimited
potential in India. The real estate costs are touching the sky. Today e-commerce has become
an integral part of our daily life. There are websites providing any number of goods and
services.

The e-commerce portals provide goods and services in a variety of categories. To name a few:

30
apparel and accessories for men and women, health and beauty products, books and
magazines, computers and peripherals, vehicles, software, consumer electronics, household
appliances, jewelry, audio, video, entertainment, goods, gift articles, real estate and services.
Samadi and ali (2010) compared the perceived risk level between internet and store shopping,
and revisit the relationships among past positive experience, perceived risk level, and future
purchase intention within the internet shopping environment.

Abhijit mitra. (2013), “e-commerce in India-a review”, international journal of marketing,

financial services & management research. Concluded that the e-commerce has broken the
geographical limitations and it is a revolution-commerce will improve tremendously in next
five years in India.

D.k.gangeshwar. (2013),” e-commerce or internet marketing: a business review from

Indian context‖, international journal of u- and e- service, science and technology. Concluded
that the e- commerce has a very bright future in India although security, privacy and
dependency on technology are some of the drawbacks of e-commerce but still there is a bright
future to e- commerce.

Martin dodge. (1999),”finding the source of Amazon.com: examining the hype of the earth‘s
biggest book store‖, center for advanced spatial analysis. Concluded that Amazon.com has
been one of the most promising e-commerce companies and has grown rapidly by providing
quality service.

Vijay govindarajan is one of the world‘s leading experts on strategy and innovation.
Govindarajan, coxe distinguished professor at dartmouth college‘s tuck school of business
and marvin bower fellow at harvard business school, is also a best-selling author. The biggest
opportunity in India is e-commerce. Why? Three important factors will drive this: 1) mobile
phone penetration; 2) a young demographic that is used to ordering things using the mobile
platform; 3) growth of consumerism with more Indians with higher disposable income. We
will see many new innovative business models in the e-commerce space in the next five years.
No doubt we will see new innovative high-growth companies—Indian equivalents of alibaba.

31
 CHAPTER-4

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

32
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:-

 To understand and estimate the consumer perception and factors affecting their
behavior for choosing e-commerce sites.

 To understand tactics and methods that is used by e-commerce players to grab the
customers in India.

 To know how consumers are evaluating e-commerce sites for their purchases.

 To understand the work flow of Amazon are leading in India.

 To study complexities and barriers those are there in between e-commerce sites
and customers.

 To find out new opportunities and to succeed in those procedures.

33
 CHAPTER-5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

34
  PROBLEM DEFINITION

In India e-commerce evaluated like a giant with huge opportunity and success rate. There are
so many big and small players in market. Are they really going to sustain in market for a long
time and is there success rate for them. What are customers expecting from them and are they
ready to fulfill their requirements. The study is to understand both parties‘ requirements and
procedure.

Research

Business research can be described as a systematic and Organized effort to investigate a

specific problem that needs a solution. More specifically, it is a process of planning, acquiring
and analyzing relevant data and information. We can define business research as an
Organized systematic, data-based, critical, objective, scientific problem undertaken with the
purpose of finding answers to it. In fact, research provides the needed information that guides
managers to make decisions. They can deal, successfully, with problems.

Research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested

solutions, collecting, Organising, and evaluating data, making deductions and reaching
conclusion.

Research methodology

Research is an art of scientific investigation. It refers to a search for knowledge. The advance
Learner‘s Dictionary English lays down the meaning of research as, ―A careful investigation
or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.‖

Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. The research
begins its formation when the problem or objective of the research is identified for which a
research report is conducted.

Types of research:-

35
i) Descriptive:- Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-findings enquiries of
different kind. The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of
affairs as it exists at present. The main characteristics of this method is that the
researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or
what is happening.

ii) Analytical:- In Analytical research, the researcher has to use facts or information
already available, and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of material.

iii) Applied:- It aims at findings a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or
an organization/business organization.

iv) Fundamental:- Fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalizations and

with the formulation of a theory. Research studies concerning human behaviour
carried on with a view to make generlisations about human behaviour is an example of
fundamental research.

v) Qualitative:- It is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating to

or involving quality or kind. For instance ,when we are interested in investigating the
reasons for human behaviour(i.e. why people think or do certain things), we quite
often talk of ‗Motivation Research‘, an important type of qualitative research.

vi) Conceptual:- Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory. It
is generally used by philosophers and thinkers tp develop new concepts or to
reinterpret existing ones.

vii) Empirical:- Empirical research relies on experience or observation alone, often

without due regard for system and theory. It is data-based research, coming up with
conclusions which are capable of being verified by observation or experiment.

Research Design:-

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a
manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. In

36
fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it
constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.

Different types of Research Design are as follows:-

1. Research design in case of exploratory research studies.

2. Research design in case of descriptive studies.

3. Research design in case of diagnostic research design.

4. Research design in case of hypothesis-testing research design.

In this study Descriptive research studies is used because descriptive research studies are
those studies which are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular
individual, or a group and situation etc.

The design in such studies must focus attention on the following or process in descriptive
research design is as follows:-

(a) Formulating the objective of the study.

(b) Designing the methods of data collection.

(c) Selecting the sample

(d) Collecting the data.

(e) Processing and analyzing the data.

(f) Reporting the findings.

Sources Of Data:-

The task of data collection begins after a research problem has been defined and research
design plan chalked out. Basically two types of data are available to the research namely:-

37
 Primary Data:-We collect primary data during the course of doing experiments research but
in case we do research of the descriptive type and performs surveys, whether sample survey
or census surveys, then we can obtain primary data either through observation or through
direct communication with respondents in one form or another or through personal interviews.

 Secondary Data:-Secondary data means data that are already available i.e., they refer to the
data which have already been collected and analyzed by someone else.

In the present study, primary as well as secondary data has been used.

Sample Design:-

In most of the research design it becomes almost impossible to examine the entire universe.
So the only alternative is to report to sampling. This is true for the present study as well. Basic
principles to be followed in sampling are that the sample chosen must be representative of
entire universe to be studied.

Universe and Survey Population:-Universe is the set of objective to be studied. It can be

finite and infinite. And survey population is a part of universe that represents the whole
universe.

In this present study universe is 120 and survey population is 50 peoples.

Sample Size:-

In this present study we have taken the sample size of 50 peoples to get their views regarding
online shopping.

Sampling Method:-

In the present study, convenience sampling method has been used.

Data Collection Method:-

In dealing with any real life problem it is often found that data at hand are inadequate, and
hence, it becomes necessary to collect data that are appropriate. There are several ways of
38
collecting data which differ considerably in context of a survey, data can be other resources at
the disposal of the researcher.

Primary Data can be collected through various methods like:-

 Questionnaire method

 Observation Method

 Through Schedules

 Interview method

In the present study Primary data is collected through:-

 Questionnaire.

Secondary data can be collected though various methods like:-

 Magazines

 Newspapers

 Websites

 Books

In the Present Study Secondary Data is collected through:-

 Different Websites

 Company Journals

 Books

39
 DATA PROCESSING

Editing, classification, coding and tabulation are the important stages in research. It is at this
stage the mass of data collected during the survey is processed with a view to reducing them
to manageable proportions. In other words, the data processing which encompasses, editing,
coding, classification, and tabulation, is an intermediary stage between the collection of data
and their analysis and interpretation. Thus, these are the three crucial stages in the processing
of social survey data.

40
 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGNING

. A questionnaire is a form prepared and distributed to secure responses to certain questions. It

is a device for securing answers to questions by using a form which the respondent fills by
himself. It is a systematic compilation of questions that are submitted to a sampling of
population from which information is desired.

Questionnaire design process:

 Type of information needed

 Method of interview
 Contents of individual question
 Question structure
 Question wording
 Arranging questions in order

RESEARCH DESIGN Descriptive

COLLECTION OF DATA Primary data, secondary data

SAMPLE SIZE 50 respondents

SAMPLING UNIT Individual

SAMPLING TYPE Convenient sampling

ANALYSIS PATTERN Pie charts

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION Questionnaire method

41
 CHAPTER-6

DATA ANALYSIS &

INTERPRETATION

42
Q1:- Have you ever done online shopping?

Table No. 6.1

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Yes 41 82%

No 9 18%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.1

Yes No

18%

82%

INTERPRETATION:-

82% of peoples show interest in online shopping, on the other hand, 18% of peoples does not
want to shop online.

43
Q2:- How often do you shop online?

Table 6.2

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Once in month 32 64%

Once In two month 5 10%

More frequently 3 6%

More often 10 20%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.2

Once in month Once In two month More frequently More often

20%

6%

10%
64%

INTERPRETATION:-

64% of peoples shop online once In month, 10% of peoples once in two months, 6% of
peoples more frequently, and 20% of peoples shop online more often.

44
Q3:- Which online site do you prefer most?

Table 6.3

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 29 58%

Amazon 6 12%

snapdeal 5 10%

Paytm mall 7 14%

Others 3 6%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.3

Flipkart Amazon snapdeal Paytm mall Others

6%
14%

10%
58%
12%

INTERPRETATION:-

58% of peoples prefer flipkart online site while making shopping online, 12% people uses
amazon , 10% of snapdeal, 14% of peoples uses paytm mall, and 6% of peoples using others
websites.

45
Q4:- How do you make payments when shopping online?

Table 6.4

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Debit card 29 58%

Cash on delivery 10 20%

Credit card 5 10%

Third party(paytm 6 12%

wallet,paypal etc.)

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.4

Debit card Cash on delivery Credit card Third party(paytm wallet,paypal etc.)

12%

10%

20% 58%

INTERPRETATION:-

58% of peoples make payment through debit card, 20% of peoples choose the cash on
delivery, 10% of peoples using credit card services, 12% of peoples uses other payment
methods
46
Q5:- which online service is more satisfied in terms of products, customer care and
delivery?

Table 6.5

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 20 40%

Amazon 25 50%

Snapdeal 3 6%

Others 2 4%

Total 50 100%

Figure No. 6.5

flipkart amazon snapdeal others

4%
6%

40%

50%

INTERPRETATION:-

40% of peoples is more satisfied in terms of products, customer care & delivery services from
flipkart, 50% of peoples with amazon, 6% of peoples with snapdeal, and 4% of peoples with
others.

47
Q6:- How do you choose online shopping site?

Table 6.6

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Referred by friends 24 48%

Advertisements 15 30%

Online interviews 11 22%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.6

Referred by friends Advertisements Online interviews

22%

48%

30%

INTERPRETATION:-

48% of peoples choose online shopping site from referred by friends, 30% of peoples from
advertisements, 22% of peoples from online interviews.

48
Q7:- Have your encountered any problems with online shopping site? if yes, by which
one

Table 6.7

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 23 46%

Amazon 20 40%

snapdeal 5 10%

Others 2 4%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.7

Flipkart Amazon snapdeal Others

4%
10%

46%

40%

INTERPRETATION:-

46% of peoples have problems with flipkart, and 40% of peoples with Amazon , 10% of
peoples with snapdeal, and 4% with online shopping sites.

49
Q8:- In terms of pricing, with which online shopping site you are satisfied?

Table 6.8

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 16 32%

Amazon 19 38%

Snapdeal 7 14%

Paytm 5 10%

Others 3 6%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.8

flipkart amazon snapdeal paytm others

6%
10%
32%

14%

38%

INTERPRETATION:-

32% of peoples are satisfied with the pricing strategies of flipkart, 38% of peoples with
amazon, 14% with snapdeal, 10% with paytm, 6% of peoples are satisfied with pricing of
others.

50
Q9:- Which online shopping site will you suggest to your family and friends?

Table 6.9

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 20 40%

Amazon 16 32%

Snapdeal 9 18%

Paytm 2 4%

Others 3 6%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.9

flipkart amazon snapdeal others

6%
4%

18% 40%

32%

INTERPRETATION:-

40% of peoples suggests flipkart to their family and friends, 32% of peoples suggest amazon,
18% of peoples snapdeal, 4% of peoples paytm, and 6% of peoples suggest others.
51
Q10:- On which occasions do you want to make purchase?

Table 6.10

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Festivals 21 42%

Gifts 12 24%

Offers 8 16%

Weddings 5 10%

Others 4 8%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.10

Festivals Gifts Offers Weddings Others

8%
10%

42%

16%

24%

INTERPRETATION:-

42% of peoples wants to make purchase on festivals, 24% of peoples purchase for receiving
gifts, 16% of peoples for offers, 10% on weddings, 8% of peoples on others.

52
Q11:- Does promotional activities impact your purchasing decision?

Table 6.11

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Strongly agree 19 38%

Agree 14 28%

Neither agree nor disagree 11 22%

Disagree 4 8%

Strongly disagree 2 4%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.11

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree

4%
8%

38%
22%

28%

INTERPRETATION:-

38% of peoples are strongly agree with they make purchasing decisions due to promotional
activities, 28% of peoples are agree, 22% of peoples are neither agree nor disagree, 8% of
peoples are disagree, and 4% of peoples are strongly disagree.
53
Q12:-How confident are you that your personal information is kept confidential when
buying products online?

Table 6.12

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Extremely confident 17 34%

Quite confident 13 26%

Moderately confident 8 16%

Slightly confident 2 4%

Not at all confident 10 20%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.12

Extremely confident Quite confident Moderately confident

Slioghtly confident Not at all confident

20%
34%
4%

16%

26%

INTERPRETATION:-

34% of peoples are extremely confident with their personal information is kept confidential
when purchasing online, 26% of peoples quite confident , 16% of peoples are moderately
confident , 4% of peoples are slightly confident, 20% of peoples not at all confident.
54
Q13:-What kind of problem did you faced most while doing online shopping?

Table 6.13

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Delay in delivery 21 42%

Product range 9 18%

Cheap quality of a product 17 34%

Non delivery 3 6%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.13

Delay in delivery Product range Cheap quality of a product Non delivery

6%

42%
34%

18%

INTERPRETATION:-

42% of peoples faced problem with delay in delivery, 18% of peoples faced problem of
product range, 34% of peoples cheap quality of a product , and 6% of peoples faced non
delivery of products.

55
Q14:-Of which company are you satisfied most for receiving after sales assistance? if
any

Table 6.14

OPTIONS RESPONDENTS %AGE

Flipkart 12 24%

Amazon 18 36%

Snapdeal 10 20%

Others 10 20%

Total 50 100%

Figure 6.14

flipkart amazon snapdeal others

20%
24%

20%

36%

INTERPRETATION:-

24% of peoples are satisfied with flipkart, 36% of peoples with amazon , 20% with snapdeal,
and 20% of peoples with others are satisfied most for receiving after sales assistance.
56
 CHAPTER-7

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS &

CONCLUSION

57
FINDINGS

 82% of peoples shows interest in online shopping, on the other hand, 18% of peoples
does not want to shop online.
 64% of peoples shop online once In month, 10% of peoples once in two months, 6%
of peoples more frequently, and 20% of peoples shop online more often.
 58% of peoples prefer flipkart online site while making shopping online, 12% people
uses amazon , 10% of snapdeal, 14% of peoples uses paytm mall, and 6% of peoples
using others websites.
 58% of peoples make payment through debit card, 20% of peoples choose the cash on
delivery, 10% of peoples using credit card services, 12% of peoples uses other
payment methods
 40% of peoples is more satisfied in terms of products, customer care & delivery
services from flipkart, 50% of peoples with amazon, 6% of peoples with snapdeal, and
4% of peoples with others.
 48% of peoples choose online shopping site from referred by friends, 30% of peoples
from advertisements, 22% of peoples from online interviews.
 46% of peoples have problems with flipkart, and 40% of peoples with amazon , 10%
of peoples with snapdeal, and 4% with online shopping sites.
 32% of peoples are satisfied with the pricing strategies of flipkart, 38% of peoples
with amazon, 14% with snapdeal, 10% with paytm, 6% of peoples are satisfied with
pricing of others.
 40% of peoples suggests flipkart to their family and friends, 32% of peoples suggest
amazon, 18% of peoples snapdeal, 4% of peoples paytm, and 6% of peoples suggest
others.
 42% of peoples wants to make purchase on festivals, 24% of peoples purchase for
receiving gifts, 16% of peoples for offers, 10% on weddings, 8% of peoples on others.
 38% of peoples are strongly agree with they make purchasing decisions due to
promotional activities, 28% of peoples are agree, 22% of peoples are neither agree nor
disagree, 8% of peoples are disagree, and 4% of peoples are strongly disagree.

58
 34% of peoples are extremely confident with their personal information is kept
confidential when purchasing online, 26% of peoples quite confident , 16% of peoples
are moderately confident , 4% of peoples are slightly confident, 20% of peoples not at
all confident.
 42% of peoples faced problem with delay in delivery, 18% of peoples faced problem
of product range, 34% of peoples cheap quality of a product, and 6% of peoples faced
non delivery of products.
 24% of peoples are satisfied with flipkart, 36% of peoples with Amazon , 20% with
snapdeal, and 20% of peoples with others are satisfied most for receiving after sales
assistance.

59
SUGGESTIONS

There are so many cases where people felt that packing might have been better than this.
Either it may be big or small / expensive or not product has to be treated with care. Some of
the products mostly apparel‘s are turning out with original cover of supplier, which shows
negligence of them. In this issue Amazon made a mark among us, because whatever the
product is their packing will obviously safe and secure.

60
CONCLUSION

The study consisted with all the work flows of major e-commerce players in India, Flipkart
and Amazon. How they are performing and how they are running perfectly in the competitive
world has been explained. The innovative thinking of them to reach more and more
consumers is appreciable. They increased their network as much as possible with ultimate aim
of reaching more and more customers. They made consumers work more easy and
comfortable. In this competitive market one has to be lead and rest will follow. Based upon
consumer‘s survey we got our clear winner and it is Amazon. Even though it is an
international company it understood Indians very well and made its roots stronger in India.
Flipkart is also giving very tough competition to Amazon even though it is new company
when compared to Amazon. May be it takes some time to overcome, but definitely they are
doing very well in Indian e-commerce market.

61
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES:

 www.academiaedu.com
 www.amazonindia.com

BOOKS:

 Sharma and Mittal (2009), “Prospects of e-commerce in India”, Asian Journal of

management and research, 3(2), 396-408.
 Abhijit Mitra. (2013), “E-Commerce in India-A Review”, International Journal of
Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research, 2, 4-7.
 D.k.gangeshwar. (2013),” e-commerce or internet marketing: a business review
from Indian context.
 Martin dodge. (1999),”finding the source of Amazon.com: examining the hype of the
earth‘s biggest book store

MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS:

 Newspapers and publishers

 Company info. guides
 Academic journals

62
 QUESTIONNAIRE

I am student of BBA 6TH Semester of GGDSD College. I am conducting this study as part of
my curriculum. You are requested to take out few minutes and help me getting the
survey/study done.

Thanking you

Personal Details:

Name

Mobile No

E-mail Id

Age

1) Have you ever done online shopping?

a) Yes
b) No
2) How often do you shop online?

a) Once in month

b) Once in two month

c) More frequently

d) More often

3) Which online site will you prefer most?

a) Flipkart

b )Amazon

c) Snapdeal
63
 d) Paytm mall

e) Others

4) How do you make payments when shopping online?

a) Debit card c) Cash on delivery

b) Credit card d) Third party (Paytm wallet, Paypal etc)

5) Which online service is more satisfied in terms of products, customer care and delivery?
services?

a) Flipkart
b) Amazon
C) others
6) How do you choose online shopping site?

a) Referred by friends

b) Advertisements

c) Online reviews

7) Have your encountered any problems with online shopping site? if yes, by which one

a) Flipkart
b) Amazon
c) Others
8) In terms of pricing, with which online shopping site you are satisfied?

a) Flipkart

b) Amazon
c) Snapdeal
d) Paytm

64
 e) Others

9) Which online shopping site will you suggest to your family and friends?

a) Flipkart

b) Amazon

c) Snapdeal

d) Paytm

e) Others

10) On which occasions do you make purchase?

a) festivals

b) gifts

c) offers

d) weddings

e) others

11) Does promotional activities impact your purchasing decision?

a) Strongly agree

b) Agree

c) Neither Agree nor Disagree

d) Disagree

e) Strongly Disagree

65
 12) How confident are you that your personal information is kept confidential when
buying products online?

a) Extremely confident

b) Quite confident

c) Moderately confident

d) Slightly confident

e) Not at all confident

13) What kind of problem did you faced while doing online shopping?

a) Delay in delivery c) Cheap quality of a product

b) Product damage d) Non delivery

14) of which company are satisfied most for receiving after sales assistance? if any

a) Amazon
b) Flipkart
c) others

15) Any other suggestion for improving online shopping?

66