Online shopping practices of women in ludhiana city

The pervasion of internet technology in every nook and corner of urban as well as rural areas has lead to advent of online shopping stores. The on-line shopping is very popular these days in India because of comfort, availability of wider choice, discounted rates, easy mode of payment, easy delivery and return facilities. The present study was undertaken with the objectives to assess the online shopping practices of selected women of Ludhiana city, to gain an insight into the factors contributing to online shopping and preferred products for online purchase. The study was conducted in Ludhiana district of Punjab. Five localities viz; Punjab Agricultural University Campus, Sarabha Nagar, Kitchlu Nagar, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar and Model town were selected purposively. The findings of the study revealed that the most influencing factor for online shopping was convenience, followed by discount/offers, wider choice, easy delivery of products and easy return system. Respondents mainly purchased small items of their personal use but they were still hesitant to shop online for major household items. Thus, total 175 women constituted the sample for the study. From each of selected locality, 35 households having internet connection and experience of online shopping were selected through snow ball sampling technique.