INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES / VOL 2/ ISSUE 1/ JAN/ 2023

“A Study On Consumer Buying Behaviour Towards Online Grocery

Shopping”

Prakash Jalamdas Vaishnav

Student, GNVS Institute of Management

Abstract
Consumer buying behaviour is one of the most interested study areas to the marketing
professionals and researchers. The knowledge of consumer behaviour helps the marketer to
understand how consumers think, feel and select from alternatives in terms of products, brands
and alike and how the consumers influenced by their environment, the reference groups,
family, per groups, salespersons and so on. Consumer’s buying behaviour is influenced by
cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Most of these factors are uncontrollable
and beyond the hands of marketers but they have to be analysed while trying to understand the
complex behaviour of the consumers.

The aim of the study is to consumer buying behaviour towards online grocery shopping.
Changing lifestyle of consumers has resulted in a rapid growth in the online grocery market
during recent years. Consumers have been undergoing a major transformation from passive
buyers to active enhancers or creators of new consumption experiences, proactively taking part
in the process of collaborative marketing. The research is conducted on a sample size of 100
respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires with help of google forms. This study
also tries to understand the consumer perceptions towards online buying for essential goods
and their usage of online platforms.

Keywords: E-grocery, Online Shopping, Consumer Buying Behaviour.

1.Introduction:

The E-commerce sector in India is rapidly growing at a very quick pace in the new days and
up to this present day. This relentless growth of E-commerce is changing the way people
assume, search, perform and bring up a yield. Most consumers are adopting new technologies
in shopping and with many of them being liberal thinkers, want fast and efficient shopping
while also considering other shopping attributes. Majority of companies in the small scale,
medium scale and large-scale sectors own a website in order to improve their business and they
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do so by employing online advertisements, online promotional events/activities thus taking a

“digital” leap in the business cycles. The convenience, needs, wants and comfort of the
consumers and their buying behaviour and the process of buying is the source of the relentless
growth of E-commerce. Online shopping is growing very rapidly in present days. People are
changing the way they shop for goods or services. There has been a tremendous shift from
traditional shopping to online shopping. When it comes to online grocery shopping, due to
consumers’ busy work schedule, the innovative shoppers or early adopters are finding ways for
the changing technology to help them in newer ways of shopping. The emerging online grocery
shopping is being increasingly adopted by many consumers in urban areas.

The Indian population has several options to choose from when it comes to grocery shopping.
From small Kirana shops in the streets, large shopping stores in the malls, to a great number of
online portals, the competition in the retail market is excessively high. The organised sector
typically employs informal labour, and the owners of such stores hold unlimited and personal
liability as it is either the family business, or run by a sole proprietor (Mehra 2014; 78). The
retailer shops can be classified as formal or informal, and organised or unorganised (Kohli and
Bhagwati 2011). All the small retailers like paan shops, fruits and vegetables stalls, pushover
carts, etc. form part of the unorganised sector. Shops like Kirana stores, small pharmacy shops,
small bakeries, and appliance stores, although form a part of the organised sector, however still
fall in the category of informal sector. The stores that fall under the category of both formal
and organised sectors are the big retail stores operating as limited companies, trusts or
corporations running super markets, hyper markets, etc. The unorganised sector discussed
above accounts for more than 93% of the total grocery sale in the Indian market. The reason
for a large amount of sale attributed to the unorganised sector is because of the legacy they
hold as a result of long-time span of experience and goodwill among the people of India. While
the unorganised sector still holds more than 90% of the grocery retail market, the recent trends
have shown that a substantial number of consumers have shifted to the online sale of groceries
due to the convenience and efficiency it offers. With increasing working hours, and with
women holding similar positions at the workplace as men, online shopping offers the flexibility
and comfort that the consumer requires nowadays.

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2. Review of Literature
Soum Suvra Das and Ashok Todmal, (August 2020) Change in Consumers Perception
Towards Online Grocery Shopping” E-commerce was steadily gaining momentum in India
since late 2011 and early 2012 and online grocery and staples segment had started to grow
since 2015 in India. Attitude and perception toward s shopping online groceries was to certain
segment of consumers clearly a matter of convenience and along with that few more parameters
were there that are product availability, product quality/freshness and delivery on time and on
that date as per consumer’s choice, offers and overall shopping experience. This also helps in
building the trust. If the shopping experience is good and there is convenience in shopping,
then trust factor is built among the consumers and then they shop more towards the online
shopping. Also, above parameters stated helps in moving the consumers from offline to online
for shopping groceries as due to lack of time, convenience and great deals which most of the
online grocery players give the consumers, the inclination towards shopping online is there and
consumers shopping online have increased.

Dr. Rupali Rajesh (April2019) Assessing the impact of Online Grocery Shopping, The
purpose of the study is to understand the factors influencing for online Grocery Shopping and
also understands the demographic factors which influence the consumer to buy grocery online.
The Age of customers and availability of products online has significant difference for online
grocery shopping in Mumbai area. Marketers can focus on majorly on three suggested
surrogated factors like Product Descriptions, Delivery and Replacement of grocery online
and Product choice & availability.

Harjinder Kaur and 1B.I. S Group of Institutions, (May 2017) “Consumer’s Attitude for
Acceptance of Online Grocery Shopping in India” This paper seeks to understand the
consumer’s attitude towards online grocery shopping and to identify some factors and technical
barriers that may foster or hinder the acceptance of OGS in India.

Mr. Krunal K. Punjnai1 (May 2017). “A Study on Female Consumers’ Perception Towards
Online Grocery Shopping with Special Reference to Kalyan-Dombivli City” Grocery shopping
is primarily dominated by the female consumers in the Indian market. Couple of decades ago,
Indian consumers had the only option of neighbourhood grocery and Kirana shops to purchase
the grocery from, with limited variety. However, today the scenario has changed completely.

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Now, consumers have multiple options like Supermarkets, Minimarts, Specialty stores and
even E- Grocers, which have added more comfort and convenience to their lives. Change in
lifestyles, growth of internet and rising number of smartphone owners have opened the doors
of online market for many entrepreneurs. Bigbasket.com, Grofers.com, Localbanya.com,
Zopnow.com are the few names, who have grabbed this opportunity by launching online
grocery platforms. This paper aims to analyse the perception of female consumers towards
shopping groceries through online platforms.

Blomqvist, Frida Lennartsson & Louise Nyman (May 2015) “Consumer Attitudes Towards
Online Grocery Shopping” The aim of this research is to investigate if positive attitudes
influence the intentions to purchase groceries online. In order fulfil the purpose and test the
relationship between attitudes and intentions, the Theory of Planned Behaviour is used as the
underlying theoretical model.

S. SATHIYARAJ, A. SANTHOSH KUMAR AND A.K. SUBRAMANI ZENITH (June

2015) Consumer Perception Towards Online Grocery Stores, Chennai. Consumers are playing
an important role in online shopping. The increasing use of Internet by the younger generation
in India provides an emerging prospect for online retailers. If online retailers know the factors
affecting Indian consumers’ buying behaviour, and the associations between these factors and
type of online buyers, then they can further develop their marketing strategies to convert
potential customers into active ones. The main objective of the study is to determine the
customer perception towards online grocery shopping in Chennai.

3. Objective of the Study

• To study Consumption pattern towards online Grocery shopping.

• To Study Spending pattern on online grocery platform.

• To analyse which factors, influence the user to buy online grocery.

4. Research Methodology

This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies on consumer buying behaviour towards
online grocery shopping. Here descriptive research design was used to measure the
involvement level. Convenient sampling technique was used for selecting respondents. The
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data were collected through structured questionnaire and sample size taken as 100 respondents
from Mumbai.

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The aim of the study was to understand the factors which influence customers for buying
grocery online has been studied and investigated through primary and secondary data. The
demographics of customers age, gender, monthly, frequency of shopping, amount of money
spend on grocery has researched with the help of primary data and secondary data.

5. Results & Discussion

5.1 To study Consumption pattern towards online Grocery shopping.

20
18
16
14
12
10 19 20
8 16 15
6 12
4 7 7
2 3
0

As per the respondent’s figure indicates that highest consumption items are beverages

& snacks had got 20%, food grains 19%, oil and ghee 16%, masala 15%, bakery items
12%, fruits & vegetables, dairy, and eggs meet & fish are in range of 7 to 3%.

5.2 To Study Spending pattern on online grocery platform

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES / VOL 2/ ISSUE 1/ JAN/ 2023

100 89
74 71
80
53
60
40
20
10
0
Debit / UPI Net Cash On Wallet
Credit Banking Delivery
card

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES / VOL 2/ ISSUE 1/ JAN/ 2023

From the above figure indicates that how respondent spend on online grocery platform,
out of 100 respondents, 89 % for UPI payment, 74% for Debit & Credit card, Net
banking 71%, Cash on delivery 53% and respectively 10% on wallet.

5.3 To analyse which factors, influence the user to buy online grocery.

What is the main reason Does

Sr. Most Least Not at all
you preferred for online Important not
No Important important Important
grocery shopping matter
1 Price 79 20 1
2 Offers / Discounts 62 33 4 1
3 Quality & Quantity 53 38 8 1
4 Delivery 68 18 3 11
5 Varieties of Brands 49 33 1 7 10

In the above table it indicates that which factor influences most important and which is
been least important so according to data price is been most important factor which is
79 % and while varieties of brands least responses which is 49%. While in case of
offers/ discounts, Delivery & Quality & Quantity which is 62, 68 & 53 % respectively.

6. Conclusion

From the above data analysis, this research concludes that consumer buys goods
from the online shopping website on the basis of factors like offers and discounts,
variety of product available, free home delivery, website user friendliness and cash
of delivery payment option. It can be determined that most of the respondent would
agree to buy grocery online rather than shopping of grocery with the traditional
method. Out of the agreed respondent to buy online grocery, most of the
respondent would think that it would be beneficial to shop grocery online on the
basis of factors like easy to order, variety, discounts/ offers, saves time and avoid
long queues. The consumer buying behaviour can be referred as the differences in
buying preferences of the consumers, purchasing power, varieties of products
available reflect their values and overall, the external factors like social, culture,
family and economics influence their buying behaviour with internal factors like
motives, attitudes, needs, perceptions and personality etc.
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Generally, research shows that consumers are satisfied with their online shopping
experiences and their attitudes towards it are positive. Nevertheless, there are still
many consumers who experience apprehension about electronic payments and
sharing their personal information.

7. References
• Soum Suvra Das and Ashok Todmal, Assistant Professor, Master of Business
Administration Department, MIT Art, Design and Technology University, Pune,
(August 2020) Change in Consumers Perception Towards Online Grocery
Shopping” India Volume 11, Issue 8, August 2020, pp. 1049-1059, Article
International Journal of Management (IJM) ID: IJM_11_08_095.
• Harjinder Kaur and 1B.I. S Group of Institutions, Moga, Punjab 2Shoolini
University, Solan, Himachal Pardesh, Indian (May 2017) “Consumer’s Attitude
for Acceptance of Online Grocery Shopping in India” International Journal of
Current Research Vol. 9, Issue, 05, pp.50776-50784, May, 2017.

• Mr. Krunal K. Punjnai1, Assistant Professor, Dr. V. N. Bedekar Institute of

Management Studies, Thane. (May 2017). “A Study on Female Consumers’
Perception Towards Online Grocery Shopping with Special Reference to Kalyan-
Dombivli City” International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing
(IJRFM) Vol. 7 Issue 4, April - 2017, pp. 152~158.
• S. SATHIYARAJ, A. SANTHOSH KUMAR AND A.K. SUBRAMANI ZENITH
(June 2015) International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research CONSUMER
PERCEPTION TOWARDS ONLINE GROCERY STORES, CHENNAI
(researchgate.net) ISSN 2231-5780 Vol.5 (6), JUNE (2015)

• Dr. Rupali Rajesh (April2019) Assessing the impact of Online Grocery Shopping
in Mumbai, Associate professor, Vivekanand Education Society Institute of
Management Studies & Research.

• The biggest trends in Grocery Delivery apps in 2020 - Business of Apps

• 10 reasons to try online grocery shopping, Retail News, ET Retail
(indiatimes.com)

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