Title: Segmenting the urban Indian online buyer: an exploratory study

Authors: Neena Sondhi

Addresses: International Management Institute, B-10 Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi, India

Abstract: The Indian marketplace is vibrant and evolving as the Indian consumer is amongst the youngest in the world and willing to experiment with new retail formats and transaction modes. Added to this is an exodus of movement towards urban living and hectic work schedule steer the consumer for e-channels where the transaction is faster, convenient and from the comfort of his individual space. The study was conducted on a sample of 236 online buyers residing in the National Capital Region. Analysis revealed the existence of three distinctly different segments - online innovators, socially compliant buyers and the online laggard buyers. Each segment had its own particular motivations and usage patterns, thus there is a clear indication to understand and target them differently. However, trust, offers and discounts and attractive website design emerged as features important for all the three segments.

Keywords: online buying behaviour; consumer segmentation; India; cluster analysis; urban markets; online shopping; motivation; usage patterns; trust; offers; discounts; website design; online innovators; socially compliant buyers; online laggard buyers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLEG.2014.068273

International Journal of Logistics Economics and Globalisation, 2014 Vol.6 No.2, pp.145 - 160

Received: 25 Mar 2014
Accepted: 20 Nov 2014
Published online: 08 Apr 2015 *

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