ONLINE SHOPPING

Why people use online shopping rather than traditional?

Abstract

Primark is one of the famous clothing retailers in Europe. The Irish based company has its headquarters in Dublin and is operational in United Kingdom, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. The first transactional website for Primark was started in the year 2011. This was a response to the growth in sales of apparel online. In order to understand the long term plan for the online wing of the market, it is essential to understand the underlying reasons behind the shift in customer preferences from shopping traditionally to shopping over the web in the apparel industry. Hence, the question that has been selected merits research. It is essential to settle the disagreement in the views held by competitors of Primark and the company itself on the need for an online presence keeping in view the evident rise in online sales.

Introduction1

Internet presence for Primark1

Research Question2

Hypothesis2

Literature Review3

Convenience3

Perceived usefulness4

Experience and shopping innovation5

Tactile importance6

Attitude6

Dotcom bubble7

Criteria for selection of literature8

Research Methodology9

Research Approach9

Data Collection10

Data Analysis10

Conclusion13

References15

Why people use online shopping rather than traditional?

Introduction

Primark is one of the famous clothing retailers in Europe. The Irish based company has its headquarters in Dublin and is operational in United Kingdom, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. The company has created a market positioning for itself whereby it caters to the price sensitive or the budget end of the market for its clothing line. The company buys its stock in bulk to gain economies of scale and uses its sources cheap. In addition, the designs of the company are simple yet trendy that truly give value for money (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975, p. 25).

The first transactional website for Primark was started in the year 2011. This was a response to the growth in sales of apparel online. Most of the competitors of the company ensured an online presence much before Primark. However, Primark should not be considered complacent in that the focus of the company till the launch of the transactional website has mainly remained high-street sales (Rucai, 2009, p. 34). The company realized that it was high time that it went online to retain and sustain its share of the market. The director of retail research at Mintel suggested the move is more defensive and is not aimed at growing revenue for the company, at least not in the short run.

Internet presence for Primark

The company started the transactional website with no long term plans for an internet presence. This was decided considering the purchases of the company. It should be noted that the company is all about disposable fashion. However, only recently the company reported a growth in revenues by up to 25 percent during the Christmas. This can be attributed to up-to-the-minute fashion, affordable to low prices and flamboyant stores. Seeing this the finance director of the company, John Bason, remarked the kind of experience Primark offers its customers through its on street floors, it does not feel the need to maintain an online presence in the long run (Rudolph, ...