Abstract of project
Online shopping has been a trend since it became an alternative for consumers as it provides a more comfortable shopping experience compared to the conventional way. It allows the consumer who has the access to the Internet to purchase their daily supplies and other needs with a click on the mouse. Even though online shopping seems to have a promising future, the consumers’ attitude towards online shopping is definitely the main factor affecting the potential of online shopping. This study serves the purpose to gather and analyse the data collected from students of Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik(FKE) regarding their view on online shopping. The data is collected in this study through the use of Google Form targeting about 50 FKE students. The criteria surveyed in this study includes the benefits, convenience, trust, past experience and preference of the respondents. The result of the study indicates that a majority of the respondents prefer to do their shopping in the shop instead of purchasing online. This could be due to the insufficient confidence in online shopping as suggested by the survey result.
Result of the study
Based on the Google Form survey carried out, there were 52 respondents from Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik(FKE) answering the questionnaire, with 54% of male and 46 % of female. All the respondents are in the range of 19 – 30 years old with 63 % in the range of 19- 23 years old while 31% in the range of 24-27 years old, only a mere 6% of the respondents are in 27 – 30 years old.
Given a range of 1 point to 5 points, with 5 points being the best and vice-versa, we can see that the average score given by the respondents on the major aspect lay in the middle class with an overall score of 3.7 in Effectiveness, 3.7 in Benefits/advantage and 3.5 in Trustworthiness. Fig 3.1 shows the average score given by the respondents according to respective categories.
Fig 3.1: Respondents’ rating based on category
Studying the detail of the data collected in effectiveness category, it is obvious that the convenience factor has got the highest score among the 4 factors, with an average of 4 points. This could be due to the fact that online shopping actually provides a lot more convenience to the user compared to shopping in the actual store. The other 3 factors categorized under effectiveness are time, informative and information availability which got a score of 3.9, 3.4 and 3.4 respectively. This could be influenced by the not so perfect online shopping platform in Malaysia whereby the timeframe for the item delivery could be long and the information displayed in the website/platform is sometimes insufficient for the user to make a decision whether to buy the item.
In the benefits/advantage category, the average score given to the whole category is 3.7, which shows roughly the same result as for the effectiveness. The choices available factor in the advantage category has definitely playing an important role in online shopping according to this survey, given a 4.11 average score by the respondents. The alternative products provided factor comes after it with a score of 3.96 and followed by delivery preference factor scoring 3.59. This could be affected by the situation where the online shopping platform nowadays could provide the users with a wide range of products since the platform usually comprises several distributors/ manufacturers selling their products in the website. Therefore, the choices and alternative product could be vast for the user and allowed the user to compare the price and delivery selection of the goods.
Another aspect measured in this survey is the view of students on trustworthiness of online shopping. The factors that are included in this category includes product guarantee, return policy, delivery on time and feedback service provided. The average score for the trustworthiness category is slightly lower than the 2 mentioned above with a 3.4 point. The factor with the highest score in this category goes to the feedback service scoring a 3.65 point. This shows that the respondents are quite confident on the feedback service provided on the online shopping platform. This could be the result of efficient and effective solutions that has been provided by the platform on the feedback or complaint received. Besides that, the 3.46 points on the product guarantee factor also shows that the trust in the online shopping is highly affected by the product warranty provided by the seller. The lowest score in this category belongs to the delivery service provided with a 3.4 point, which is also the lowest in all the categories. The result collected clearly shows that even though the respondents are quite positive towards the online shopping service, the on-time delivery of the parcel is not very promising at the same time.
Apart from the three categories mentioned above, the past experience of the respondent was also surveyed for this questionnaire. These included some of the bad experience faced by the respondents such as bad quality product received, late delivery of product, bad customer service and no warranty provided for the product. Based on the data collected, the proportion of respondents that experienced bad quality product in online shopping accounts to 33% of the total respondents while the number of respondents encountered late delivery of goods are 33 out of 52, or 63%. Fig 3.2 shows the pie chart of the count of bad quality product received. Fig 3.3 shows the pie chart of count of late delivery of goods. In addition, only 29% of the respondents reported that they came across bad customer service in online shopping platform. Fig 3.4 shows the pie chart of count of bad customer service. The last criteria recorded in this survey, which is no warranty provided for the product, shows that a large majority of the respondents, 60%, met the situation. Fig 3.5 shows the pie chart of count of no warranty provided for the product.
Fig 3.2: Count of bad quality product received
Fig. 3.3 Count of late delivery experienced
Fig. 3.4: Count of bad customer service
Fig. 3.5: Count of no warranty provided
The last section of the google form asks the students’ preference on online shopping over purchase at actual store. The result collected is fairly interesting as the percentage of respondents who prefer to purchase in a store is more than those who chose online purchase, at 65% as compared to online shopping’s 29%, even if the students are more exposed to the latest technology and trend. Another 6% of the respondents revealed that their preference is actually influenced by the type of items they are going to buy. This could indicate that online shopping could not really convince the consumer in terms of the factors discussed. Fig. 3.6 shows the pie chart of students’ preference.
Fig. 3.6 Students' preference on online shopping versus store purchase