Online shoppers vs offline shoppers: study of Indian consumer preference

While the Covid-19 pandemic did accelerate India’s transition towards online shopping, it is forecasted that majority of internet users will revert back to offline shopping post covid-19, as many consumers still prefer the traditional brick and mortar retail stores, so they can touch and feel the products before purchase. Numerous studies have been conducted by academics to compare and analyse the demographic attitudes between online shoppers and offline shoppers, in an attempt to map the differences and commonalities between each customer. But this study is considered significant because of the role of psychographics in the adaptation process of e-commerce in India, which is a largely under explored and under researched area to this day, especially post covid-19 where major transformations took place. A psychographic study can provide a deeper insight that complements what we have learned from demographics and also provide a roadmap to navigate through various divisions and sensitivities. The research instrument utilized here was a 4-page self-administered questionnaire created with the help of an online survey tool. The system of distribution is chain-referral sampling or more commonly known as snowball sampling method. A total of 471 respondents have participated in the survey and the results of this research were discovered to be different from all the previous researches conducted in the same field, both locally and internationally. One of the biggest differences include the consumers’ vigilance of financial loss, despite being aware of possible security risks of online shopping, many consumers have still chosen to shop online, while in other studies they were observed to have opted for a safer alternative, that is offline shopping. The biggest influencers of this factor are speculated to be the Covid-19 pandemic which left consumers with no other alternative and also more consumers gaining awareness of the convenience and benefits of online shopping over offline shopping