The Online Market - Report Example

Research Findings and Analysis A gradual shift s from the usual brick-and-mortar shopping to online shopping has been observed in the UK since 2005. The online market is growing at the rate of 25% growth since six years ago and in 2009, sales of online retail shops reached a staggering 17.8 billion pounds in the UK alone, accounting for 6.6% of the country’s total retail sales (Bluschke 6). It is imperative for online retailers to understand the features of online shopping that attract, or repulse, patrons not only to hold on to its present market share, but also widen that share. The following are reviews of customers of various online retail shops such as M&S, Chums, MarshallWard, Tescos, Generation Online, AA, ASOS, Dressespro, Woolovers, Gothic Shop, Pink Girl Dresses, Jacamo, Discount Urban Wear, M and M Direct, Dorothy Perkins, Home, Universal Textiles, EnVie Lingerie and Swimwear, My Tights, Laskys, Figleaves, Dress4Less, Evans, DressRail, FF Chloe replica Bags, Fancy Dress Outfitters, and Fallen Hero UK, on various issues related to online shopping. I. CODING THEMES A) PCHSNGPRO = Purchasing Procedure R: 1 “The website of Chums.co.uk provides complete information about the procedure of online shopping to the naive shoppers.” R 2: “M&M is an ideal website.” R 3: “All the customers also find this procedure simple and understandable.” R 4: “Most customers know about the procedure of online shopping however, if not, they can find it on the respective website.” R 5: “The woolovers site is easy to navigate.” R 6: “Almost every customer opined that clothing online shopping websites provide simple and easy procedure of purchasing.” B) PRODQLTY = Product Quality R: 1”M&S is one of the best shops to visit, lots to choose from and the best quality goods you can get at a good price.” R 2: “Of high quality product, well on time and same as it was seen on internet.” R 3: “Fantastic quality is the main factor that is influencing the decision of the people to purchase clothes online.” R: 1 “The quality of the gown I bought from an online retailer best exemplifies the reason why I like purchasing online.” R 2: “Good advice from front line staff. First rate delivery service. Quality products at a reasonable price.” C) DELSPEED = Speed of Delivery R 2: “The AA is brilliant. Its service is fast and the AA man was very nice.” R: 1 “Although there are some problems while placing order from Canada but later on, all the issues were addressed properly therefore, it was a mixed experience.” R 3: “Fast delivery of the items and even the issues of quality and fitting also not making problem for online shoppers.” R 5: “Very fast delivery. Good quality item and excellent value for money. Very pleased.” R 6: “It is an excellent website, cheap products and great delivery.” R 7: “Fast delivery and excellent service provided by online retailers, huge range and variety of clothes.” D) CTMRSVCS = Quality of customer services R 1: “The AA is brilliant. Its service is fast and the AA man was very nice.” R 2: “Staff is very helpful and understanding.” R 3: “Good customer service is one of the reasons of clothing online shopping.” R 4: “Good advice from front line staff. First rate delivery service. Quality products at a reasonable price.” E) BUSREP = Business Reputation R 3: “I have always found and will continue to say M&S are of the highest standard.” F) PRS = Prices of products R 4: “Laskys is great, after much research, I found Laskys.com to be the cheapest internet shop I could find, so I went ahead and bought from them.” R 2: “Good advice from front line staff. First rate delivery service. Quality products at a reasonable price.” R 6: “It is an excellent website, cheap products and great delivery.” G) PO = General Positive Comments R: 1 “Placing order online saves telephone bill.” R 2: “…the availability of perfect and easy navigating sites and delivery of the items at the doorstep.” R 3: “Ease of placing order, time saving, money saving, availability of wide range of products and strong logistics.” R: 4 “It is a great deal to shop online at the TESCO site.” R 5: “I am really satisfied with the on-line shopping and would definitely recommend this retailer to others.” R 6: “”Would like to use this site again and recommend it to others.” R 7: “Recommended Woolovers online shopping website to family.” R 8: “Would recommend the Dress4Less to anyone who is sceptical of buying dresses online.” R 9: “Thumbs up for the discount urban wear whereas, but not for the services of ASOS.” H) PRODSIM = Product Similarity R 4: “There is great difference between services which are advertised in attractive videos and the actual services delivered.” R 5: “Very dissatisfied with the service as the product ordered on the website was and the one delivered was different and it took a long time to get it replaced.” I) PREFSHPNGTYPE = Preferred Shopping Type R 1: “In shopping for cloths, shopping through local stores is preferable because they can be personally touched and felt, which is not possible in online shopping.” R 2: “Local stores are still first preference for most of the shoppers.” II. INTEGRATED FINDINGS 1) The Appealing Attributes of Online Shopping Most respondents feel that online shopping is great because they can easily navigate from one online shop to the next and look for the exact item they want at the price they want it to be. It can be inferred from their statements that the primary advantage of shopping online is the convenience and ease of armchair shopping in one’s home as well as the ease of hopping from one site to the other and make choices therefrom from a variety of items without having to venture outside of one’s home. The speed of service and delivery of items are associated to online shopping convenience. R 1 states that “…the availability of perfect and easy navigating sites and delivery of the items at the doorstep,” at Reviewcentre website. R 2 states that “Ease of placing order, time saving, money saving, availability of wide range of products and strong logistics” at Reviewcentre website. R 3, states: “Fast delivery and excellent service provided by online retailers, huge range and variety of clothes” at Reviewcentre website. Moreover, respondents were also impressed with the ease with which purchasing can be made online largely because of the simple instructions at particular websites. R: 4 states “The website of Chums.co.uk provides complete information about the procedure of online shopping to the naive shoppers” at Reviewcentre website R 5 states “Most customers know about the procedure of online shopping however, if not, they can find it on the respective website” at maxxsave website. There is also an impression that online goods are of fantastic quality as claimed by R6 and R7. R 6 states “Fantastic quality is the main factor that is influencing the decision of the people to purchase clothes online” at Reviewcentre website. R: 7 states “The quality of the gown I bought from an online retailer best exemplifies the reason why I like purchasing online” at maxxsave website. Fast and helpful customer services were also indicated by R8 and R9 as their primary reasons for engaging in online purchases. R 8: “Good customer service is one of the reasons of clothing online shopping” at Reviewcentre. R 9 states that “Good advice from front line staff; first rate delivery service; quality products at a reasonable price,” at Reviewcentre website. Some respondents were also of the impression that online purchases offer comparatively low prices and a wide range of choices as attested to by R10 and R11. R 10 states “Laskys is great, after much research, I found Laskys.com to be the cheapest internet shop I could find, so I went ahead and bought from them” at maxxsave website. R 11: “Good advice from front line staff. First rate delivery service. Quality products at a reasonable price” at Reviewcentre website R12 states that “Better comparison of price and quality of products, time saving and money saving” at maxxsave website. 2) Unpleasant Features of Online Shopping There were respondents who have indicated that the undesirable features of online shopping. R1 and R2 claimed that the goods that were delivered to them did not match what the goods that were displayed online and as a result of which they were dissatisfied. R 1 states “There is great difference between services which are advertised in attractive videos and the actual services delivered” at maxxsave website. R 2 states “Very dissatisfied with the service as the product ordered on the website was and the one delivered was different and it took a long time to get it replaced” at Reviewcentre website. Moreover, there are goods that cannot be purchased online simply because they needed to be seen personally according to R3, which therefore, make some people like R4 preferring the brick-and-mortar store to online shops. R 1 states “In shopping for cloths, shopping through local stores is preferable because they can be personally touched and felt, which is not possible in online shopping” at maxxsave website. R 2 states “Local stores are still first preference for most of the shoppers” at Reviewcentre website. 3) Online Shoppers Profile Reviews at various websites point to the females as the majority shoppers of online shops as compared to men. Jacamo reviews indicate “There are more positive reviews of females about the online retailers offering the female clothing and accessories, while, there are comparatively less number of reviews of the men about the websites offering mens wear.” (Reviews at jacamo.com) MyTights reviews indicate “Females are much more ahead than of the males and teenage females are more inclined towards shop the clothes online.” Dorothy Perkins site survey indicates “The females outnumber the men in the reviews in the Dorothy Perkins online shopping website.” Moreover, the Generation Online website cites the statistics showing the age group between 18-32 years old as constituting the number of most internet users leading to the conclusion that this age group must also constitute the biggest online shoppers. Nonetheless, R1 and R2 indicated otherwise. R 1 states “Not well versed with computerised sales but the use of online retailers is exhilarating because of their convenient features and benefits” at Reviewcentre website. R 2 states: “Do not belong to the computer crowd and internet age yet experience of online shopping delightful” at Reviewcentre website. Aside from gender, the answers of R3 and R4 indicate that there are online shopping patrons who visited sites by accident and made purchases even without previous plans to do so. R 3 states “Visited the site by accident and made buying decision there and then” at Reviewcentre website. R 4 states “Not aware about the existence of this website some time before” at Reviewcentre website. References: Bluschke, N. (2011). Factors Influencing Consumers Intention to Purchase Clothing Online. GRIN Verlag. Read More