Determinants for Consumer Attitude towards Technology Enabled Grocery Procurement

Abstract

Online grocery shopping is trending worldwide as one of the most expedient e‑commerce practice. Many people have started purchasing their grocery online and this has given the opportunity to the researchers to identify and analyse the factors that influence the consumers for making online purchases. We have observed that until around 5 years back, the daily grocery requirements of the Indian consumers were fulfilled by the local kirana store and to some extent by the emerging hypermarkets/supermarket. But, with the popularity of internet and penetration of smartphones into the daily lives of the people, several online grocery stores have been able to penetrate the Indian markets. The busy lives of people especially the urban working population, makes the online grocery shopping a popular choice. With traditional households still being widely spread in the Indian society, the online companies need to have a resounding approach to influence the buying habits and shopping patterns of the consumers. The aim of this study is to understand the attitude of Indian consumers towards online grocery shopping and determine the factors that influence the consumer decision making to shop groceries online. The primary data is collected using a well-thought-out questionnaire in the form of an online survey. Data collected was analysed to determine the consumer attitude towards online grocery shopping. The findings of the study show that the consumers are influenced by various factors like time saving and convenience provided by the online grocery shopping platforms. They are also influenced by the quality of products and the return policy as well as the level of comfort while using the online shopping website/ app. We have also been able to understand the reasons that prevent people from online shopping. Some people find themselves lacking the technical skills to shop online, but most people who do not shop online like going to the market personally. In case of online shopping, an area of concern for most shoppers is trust on the online applications. People are concerned about the privacy of their personal information while shopping online and needs thoughtfulness of the retailers to encourage more consumers to opt for online shopping platforms. In this paper we have comprehensively explored different areas associated with online grocery shopping and this study can be advantageous for the online grocery retailers to articulate effective policies to gain customer confidence towards online grocery shopping.