According to an India online landscape study (Juxt, 2010), the number of active Internet users in India stands at 65 million, of which 17 million are online shoppers, indicating a growth of 70% from the previous year. The statistics alone are enough to denote the potential of e-commerce in India. However, as the online market becomes crowded with players, businesses need to have an edge in terms of customer satisfaction to gain a larger market share. With the above-mentioned objective in mind, a primary survey of online shoppers was conducted in Ahmedabad and consumer perceptions were analyzed using factor analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test. The paper has found that ease/attractiveness of website, service quality of website and website security are the three dominant factors which influence consumer perceptions regarding their online purchasing experiences. Hence, businesses which focus on these three factors can attract more clicks. Also, the paper has proved that these factors are related to the various types of consumers classified as trial, occasional, frequent and regular (based on their frequency of purchase). The authors have found that regular buyers are most influenced by ease/attractiveness of website and service quality of website, while occasional buyers value website security more than other categories of consumers.

Internet is rapidly becoming the main tool for communication and business convenience. With a growing number of households turning towards the Internet and the world of e-commerce to shop, invest, make payments, and do online banking, new technological advancements will have to come about to make these transactions secure. In India, Internet has primarily been used for enabling communications between individuals through various modes such as e-mailing, messaging or even social networking. However, a digital interactive media is only successful if it fails to pervade every single activity an individual indulges in, his/her daily life.

According to India online landscape study (Juxt, 2010), the number of active Internet users in India stands at 65 million, recording a 28% rise from 51 million last year. The study also revealed that India has 61 million ‘regular’ users with 46 million urban and 16 million rural users. “Four out of five Internet users ‘shop’ online, translating into a 50 million strong online consumer base. About 17 million of these ‘online shoppers’ (or 29% of all Internet users) also ‘buy’ online, recording a growth of 70% from 10 million last year. Online buyers of ‘non-travel’ products stand at 13.5 million, outnumbering 8.6 million travel buyers”, the study quoted.

Google continues to dominate the online landscape, with Google, Gmail, Gtalk and YouTube being the most used websites for 19 distinct online activities (compared to 24 activities last year). Facebook emerges as the leader in six distinct verticals, including online games and professional networking. For the rest of the verticals, it is the ‘specialized’ players who lead or dominate user preferences like Naukri, IRCTC, eBay, 99Acres, MoneyControl, ShareKhan, Bharat Matrimony, Torentz, Songs.pk and ESPNStar.

Marketing Management Journal, Factors, Influencing, Online, Shopping, Empirical, Study, Ahmedabad.