What made people to shift to online shopping from brick-and-mortar stores?

The Internet has become a popular channel during the last decade for shopping and is adding value to the retailing world. India’s e-commerce market is also growing in all product categories. Consumer spending at apparel websites is rising, and it is presenting a tough revenue war in this segment, which had traditionally been dominated by physical stores. The efficiency of consumers in online shopping has increased due to the accessibility of exhaustive product information, intelligent comparisons and reduction in customer search costs.

An article from the journal Vision presents a report of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on online shopping, India’s e-commerce market has reached US$ 8.5 billion in 2012, compared to US$ 2.5 billion in 2009. The market has shown a rise of 88 per cent with US$ 16 billion in 2013. 

Online apparel sales has become the second-most profitable e-commerce domain worldwide after jewellery and automobile . Consumer spending on apparel websites is growing, and it is presenting a tough revenue war in this segment, which had been traditionally dominated by dominated by physical retail stores. The article also presents analysis on the ratio of males and females opting for online shopping and also the average amount of money spend by people in doing the same.

Major driver for this growth in the apparel segment is due to aggressive online discounts, search of better deals, rising fuel price and so on. Manufacturers and brand managers are earning enormously through online sales and its various benefit across other distribution channels. Moreover, Internet users avail this medium three times more to get updated on clothing fashion than others. Majority of them buy clothing online. Shoppers who are highly brand and fashion conscious are more inclined to buy clothes online than shoppers with other consumer styles. Value-conscious shoppers spent more time in purchasing clothes online, which shows that they not only derive pleasure from shopping but also are attracted by the financial benefits associated with online shopping. 

Social influence is also a positive predictor for online shopping frequency and spending. People like to follow their friends and family to shopping destinations. These findings imply that people who enjoy shopping will encourage online apparel consumption. With all these findings we can conclude that a good number of online apparel purchases are planned, and buyers are more value conscious than impulsive. 

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