Online Shopping of Consumers: A Study

Gerrittel Anne T. Cadano

Inexis B. Sanchez

Lyndel A. Suasba

Mariel S. Urzo

Yanina Aziel E. Yu

A Research Study Presented to

Dr. Cleotilde L. Crescini

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for

Business Research

Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Sto. Tomas, Batangas

2021
 Chapter 1

Introduction

As technology, knowledge, and the ability to communicate via the Internet become

more accessible and expand, an increasing number of people are gravitating toward more

extensive use of the Internet. The internet helps in terms of gathering information,

communicating, purchasing a product, or rendering a service. This has encouraged consumers

to buy their needs and wants while staying at home, which is online shopping. Online

shopping is a process whereby consumers directly buy goods, services etc. from a seller

without an intermediary service over the Internet (Gnanadhas & Sunitha, 2014). It has

become very popular recently because of lower prices, wider variety of products, and has

made it easier to compare similar products from different stores. Now that online shopping

has taken over the internet by storm, the number of online buyers has increased along with

the demand. Hence, the reason for many people aspiring to be online sellers.

Most customers are busy with important matters such as jobs, their families, and other

personal matters, this keeps them from buying products that they want to buy. Which is why

online shopping has helped since most online shops operate 24/7 and almost everything can

be sold and bought on the internet. Nearly every kind of goods and services are sold on the

internet, such as consumer durables, books, audio and video cassettes and services like and

air tickets can also be purchased online. With so many benefits, the Internet is quickly

becoming the primary means of communication and conducting business. With the number of

households turning to the Internet and the world of e-commerce to shop, save, make
payments, and conduct online banking, new technical innovations will be needed to ensure

the security of these transactions.

However, as a result of the Internet boom, not all customers are engaging in online

purchases. While more companies develop an online presence, they are discovering that some

customers are still hesitant to make the same move. Various users are also concerned about

encryption and the transmission of personal data over the Internet. There is a disconnect

between the number of people who visit a website and the number of people who buy

something. As a result, it is critical for online businesses and offline businesses interested in

expanding into the online market to consider their customers' online and offline perceptions,

as well as the factors that affect their purchasing decisions. Retailers and companies can

better serve their customers in any of the shopping venues if they have a better understanding

of the factors that influence consumer decision-making when making purchases online or

offline.

Statement of the Problem

This study is focused on The Effects and Benefits of Online Shopping to Consumers.

It specifically aims to answer the following questions:

1. How the online shopping affects the consumers?

2. What are the benefits of online shopping?

3. Does the demographic profile of an individual affect the frequency of using online

shopping platforms?
 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

Electronic commerce refers to purchasing products or services directly from a seller

over the Internet. The conventional Brick and Mortar company model has been superseded by

the internet based or Click and Order business model. More individuals are utilizing the

internet to purchase for a variety of products, from houses to shoes to plane tickets, than ever

before. People now have a variety of options when it comes to selecting items and services

while buying on the internet.

As stated by Huseynov and Yildirim (2014), Shopping online has its own set of

characteristics. underlined that the lack of physical interaction is the most significant barrier

to online retail sales, followed by the protection of personal information and the security of

online financial operations. Demangeot and Broderick (2010) also discovered that in this

scenario, perceived ease of use has no bearing on the behavioral pattern, which is impacted

instead by security and privacy concerns. Even if a customer spends hours on the Internet, no

relationship is formed between the customer and the online shop when there is a perceived

online risk (Zuroni & Goh, 2012).

According to Koufaris (2002), both shopping pleasure and perceived usefulness

(website) greatly indicate the desire to repurchase via the internet.

On the other hand, Lee and Lin (2005) discovered that while shopping delight can

improve new customer intent, it does not influence customer return. In fact, a web store that

uses value-added search engine techniques and provides clients with a demanding experience

may boost customers' buying satisfaction. Furthermore, if clients return to the web store more

frequently, their purchasing pleasure will be decided by their interaction with the goods

(Marios Koufaris, Kambil, & LaBarbera, 2001)

had a low score, and Finland had the lowest score among the three countries. The findings

demonstrate that customers in less masculine societies (e.g., Finland) are less likely to engage

in online shopping than consumers in more masculine societies (e.g., Turkey), which is

consistent with gender patterns in online buying.

According to a Pew Research Center research from 2001, the number of women who

shopped online (58 percent) outnumbered men (42 percent) by 16 percent. Only 17 percent of

male consumers said they appreciated the experience "a lot," compared to 37 percent of

female shoppers who said they loved it "a lot."

As maintained by Akhter (2002), more educated, younger, men, and wealthier people

are more likely to utilize the Internet for purchasing than less educated, older, females, and

less wealthy persons.

The degree to which people of a culture have an interdependent versus independent

construal of the self is referred to as collectivism-individualism (Hofstede 1984).

In this dimension, western and eastern cultures differ dramatically, resulting in

disparities in online shopping behavior (Chau et al. 2002; Huang 2003; O'Keefe et al. 2000;

Park and Jun 2003; Park et al. 2004).

According to Hofstede’s Power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-

femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation are among the five aspects of

Hofstede's culture model (Hofstede 1984; Hofstede 1991). Individualism-collectivism and

masculinity-femininity are two of the five variables that have been used to predict online

customer behavior.
REFERENCES