Online Readymade Garment Purchase: A Study in Madurai City

Abstract

Electronic commerce is rapidly changing the way people do business all over the world. In the business-to-consumer segment, sale of readymade garment through the web have been increasing dramatically over the last few years. Several academics and practitioners have identified the “online shopping experience” or “virtual experience” as a crucial e-commerce marketing issue. Understanding the mechanisms of virtual shopping and the behaviour of the online consumer is a priority issue in the fast expanding virtual market place. Given the continuous expansion of the Internet in terms of user numbers, transaction volumes and business penetration, customers not only those from well-developed countries but also those from developing countries are getting used to the new shopping channel. More than 20 per cent of Internet users in several countries are online buyers of products and services while more than 50 per cent of US net users are regularly buying online. These developments are gradually transforming e-commerce into a mainstream business activity while at the same time online consumers are maturing and virtual vendors realize the importance and urgency for a professional and customer-oriented approach as online customer is not simply a shopper but also an information technology user. This study is aimed at outlining the most relevant behavioural characteristics of online readymade garment consumers and examines the ways in which they find, compare and evaluate product information.