Why Women Buy Or Not Buy Grocery Online In Uk - Research Proposal Example

WHY WOMEN BUY OR NOT BUY GROCERY ONLINE IN UK? Introduction The world is becoming a global village. Internet is the source for this close, fast and direct communication between different nations. Within the last 20 odd years the web has gained extreme popularity. What ever is required is available on the web. Now people can have focus databases from the entire world within seconds and can easily manipulate their PEST analysis accordingly. How has the web helped the businesses develop? For that one needs to understand a few jargons: E-business—this involves the use of electronic platforms to conduct a company’s business E-commerce—this just involves buying and selling online. E-marketing—this constitutes of the efforts which the company makes in order to communicate with its customers. The aim of the study would be to identify what makes women go for online buying and what stops them from doing so. The Literature review Since marketing is a world wide issue and every firm wants to grab the maximum out from its customers and tries to either maintain or expand its customer base. Our concern is about those women who undertake household responsibilities to their max that is they do not depend upon other sources to look after their brats and have an appeal for raising them in a healthy and caring environment. For them buying online is a great option. Before we move on to the actual context we should know what is buying online? Buying Online One would ask ‘why people switch to buying online rather than visiting stores and feeling the actual experience. Online Shopping is shopping you do online. There are sites that let you buy directly from manufacturers, online versions of regular retail stores, auctions, specialty sites, comparison sites, group buying sites and so on. Some sell items, others give advice and still others search the Internet to find you the best deal. Looking at this one may wonder how easy it gets to buy online, you simple have to just type in a word or words that best describe what youre looking for. Use product name, manufacturer or type. After you enter your search words, youll get a list of items matching your description. Simply click on any link for get more specifics. Many women would go for this option as it feels so reliable and less risky indeed. The problem is how to identify the dos and don’ts of online buying. Women are very conscious decision makers when it comes to supporting family causes. They have a general tendency of being more careful about things after entering parenthood. Choice is something that has troubled a woman for long time. Dissonance is the factor which women try to avoid the most. For that reason this is a great case to handle. Methodology For the proposed research I would like to identify a few things that would help in identifying why there is a need for online buying. Below is the criteria and findings of what I think is suitable to demonstrate the use of online buying and its importance. The general idea is about visiting certain stores and reviewing what window shoppers or market folk say and the other approach present here is the actual citing of E-commerce sites present on the web their one can also find pretty helpful information about what is priority if considering shopping physically or digitally? Some one may have the same opinion as given below regarding features of online shopping. Features of online buying 1. You can do it 24hours/7 days. You can shop whenever you want. 2. Comfort is the priority. If it is hot outside, you dont have to go out in the heat. If you dont feel like getting dressed, if there is a foot of snow on the roads and you cant get out, you can still shop. Also, if you dont feel well, this is definitely the way to shop. 3. Discount coupons are readily available online. For example, if you are planning to buy a book at a BM bookstore, you are unlikely to find a coupon to reduce the cost of the book. However, many online bookstores offer discount coupons. However, there are many other sites that list these types of coupons. www.dealzconnection.com has over a 100 of these sites listed. There are also forums such as www.mycoupons.com where coupons are posted and discussed. 4. You dont have to drag kids all over the place. It can be a real challenge to shop with several little "pitter-pattering" feet around you who have "shopped til they have dropped" the moment they entered the store. 5. Type, price comparison is simplified. Lets say your daughter has told you that she would like a video, for her birthday. Comparing the prices of these videos is much easier online than by running to a variety of video stores. The easiest way is to use some price comparison sites such as www.mysimon.com or www.pricewatcher.com. There are several other price comparison sites listed at www.dealzconnection.com. 6. Neither lines to wait in nor cranky people to deal with. Many people find this to be great, especially during the holiday season when lines and tempers can both flare. Also, all of us have days when we are "out of sort" and no one has to deal with us when we shop online. 7. You can use anyones credit card Careful clerks will not allow you to do this in the store. However, there are times when that person is not available and they have approved of your purchase. You may let your kids use your credit card all of the time online. If they wanted to buy the same things in the store, you would have had to go shopping with them and that was not always convenient. 8. Online grocery stores are great to use when on vacation. When you take business trips, you may usually be staying in downtown hotels. However, a case is that one may not have much money to spend on expensive foods. Also, may not have time to take a cab to a grocery store. So, a few days before one may leave, he may place an order with Netgrocer.com. When he arrives, his groceries are waiting for him. All orders are accepted and well entertained from the E-business you are referring to. 9. Private shopping. There are times when privacy really matters for many people. Many people would be too embarrassed to buy items in a store where they have to face at least one other person who knows what they are buying. When you buy these items online, that embarrassment is minimized. How can buying be done online? This is what women may find much desirable as the web is only about letting your fingers do the walking. First you need to log on to any desirable site. Search for the variety and make your choice. Let’s consider that you have decided what you want? You have read through the days sales, searched for that treadmill and browsed through the clothing section for that perfect sweater. Well, as you browse through, youll find a button or link that says something along the lines of "ADD TO SHOPPING CART." Similar to the real world, you push around a virtual shopping cart during your online shopping ventures. This cart collects all the items you add to it during your visit. When youre finished shopping, work your way over to the "CHECKOUT" link. There, everything thats been collected in your cart will be listed along with the appropriate quantities. At this point you may notice you got a little carried away and dont really all of that. Not to worry, you can easily alter anything on your order. Make your changes and when youre completely satisfied with your order, just click on "FINISHED" (or something similar). Youll jump to a screen where you enter all your personal information like name, address, phone number and most importantly, your credit card info. Dont worry; using a credit card is safe, as long as youre shopping on a secure site. Once youre order goes through, youll jump to a confirmation page listing all your purchases, as well as a confirmation number. Make sure to print this out and save it as your receipt. Then sit back, relax and wait for your package to arrive. Attractiveness for women When getting all this for just nothing, why would someone bother to move out in the SUN? These advantages are more than enough to attract anyone towards the online shopping trivia. Women mostly, want to hustle around searching for perfect items (grocery, clothes etc). In doing so, they consume a lot of time and get carried away. Further the variety seeking behavior, at times, makes them forget important workflows. Some women like to shop privately i.e. don’t want to get bothered by the sales staff and this feature of the online shopping also covers up their requirement so it becomes more preferable. Online hopping also provides convenience, which is a key element for the mother of today as she has to complete a lot of chores and by logging on to a site and placing a delivery at the required time subsides their arduous task of moving into the city centre, facing the traffic problems, getting stuck in jams and getting late for dinner. Here the E-business prevails a lot and has helped the modern mom in every possible way it can. Where there are advantages, disadvantages are bound to be present as nothing is perfect except for GOD himself! After going through these ideas there is an odd world present too, this might oppose the idea of people loving comfort. Women are meticulous while deciding upon what to shoes for their families and for that case may not want to have a relaxed trip but rather go ahead and do the honors of getting self-satisfaction by actually indulging into the buying process both mentally and physically. Below is the opposed view of the scenario. Online Shopping Demerits 1. Switching pages for comparison. When you walk into a B&M store, you can see many more items at a glance. When you know exactly what you want (item name, brand, style, etc.), you will find that you can locate the item more quickly online. However, if you only have a general idea (or less) of what you want, then you find that it can take me much longer to shop online. For example, if you were looking for a gift for a friends birthday but you dont know what to get her, you will probably have to load many pages before finding the perfect gift. If you have a slow connection or if there are many shoppers at this site, shopping will take forever. Sure, I know that it does take time to get into the car, drive to the store, park, walk around the store, check out, find the car, drive home, and unpack the stuff. However, at least I am busy doing these things so I dont get as annoyed as I do when I have to sit and wait for page upon page to load. 2. Cash Buying or writing checks. If you want to pay for shampoo at any store, you can pay cash, write a check, use a debit card, use a credit card, or put the item on lay-a-way. However, on-line one is typically limited to using either a credit or debit card. 3. Billing problems are common online. When you buy an item at a B&M store, the clerk tells you how much you owe before you pay. Then when you pay, you immediately get a receipt. So, if you happened to be overcharged, you can get it taken care of immediately. This prevents the store from causing your bank account to overdraw or your line of credit to be reduced unnecessarily. However, on-line errors in billing are much more common and many times one is not aware of them until they get their bank or charge card statements. 4. Can not get the real feel of the purchase. The same difficulties one encounters while shopping from a catalog plagues online shopping also. That wonderful claret dress that you see on the screen may actually turn out to be more of a purple shade. Or, the material may be flimsier than what you had expected. And, it will probably look much better on the model than it does on you. In a B&M store, you see the real color, can feel the material, and can try on the item. 5. Lack of personal touch. For people who do not have an idea of what they want or who are confused in what to buy and what not there is no clerk to smile at you and say, "How are you today?" You dont meet friends you have not seen in 10 years at the Barnes & Noble site online. However, you may run into them at a B&M Barnes & Noble. Also, shopping online tends to be a solitary activity. 6. Coupon dealings differ along stores online. I know of several stores that charge ones card the total amount then a few days later give a credit for coupon used. If one is using a debit card with a low balance, this can cause checks to bounce even though there is enough money for the purchase price that was agreed upon. 7. Returns are more difficult online. If you have purchased a item online, and the thing turns out faulty then you would have had to take the package to the post office or UPS office, have had to pay the postage and insurance. When online stores credit your card, the entire process commonly takes 10 - 14 days. And, most do NOT refund the fees you paid to ship the item back to them. And, if for some reason they do not approve of your refund, you will have to either call or e-mail them to deal with the issue. 8. Insecurity is a dilemma. I dont care how secure a sight claims to be, the reality is that it is relatively easy for credit card numbers to be stolen online. Critical reflection So one can assume when there are so many demerits why should one go after the process. Buying online saves a lot of time and is convenient for people who do not wish to lag around the market. Security is being offered a lot as one is away from the main streets where street-crimes are at hype. Further by using such technique one is becoming more economical as no reliance on fuel consumption is required and for those who may not have private conveyance are not dependant upon the public busses at all. Conclusion Now after getting on with the pros and cons of online buying, can we infer what a typical housewife wants? Sure she should be interested in all the attraction that is provided by online shopping and the case is that we are only concerned about groceries which have a low probability of turning undesirable or faulty. Another example is that the ability to buy steaks online means that you are no longer limited to what your local grocery store is offering. You can experience new tastes and textures you didnt know existed and enjoy exotic gourmet food. 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