1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
COMPANY PROFILE
About Sharp Sight InfoTech
Sharp Sight InfoTech, established in 2011 with an aim and commitment to become a pioneer
"Security Solutions" provider in India, driven by core values with highest integrity, transparency
and delivering the highest quality of products and services. In a span of just over two decades,
the company has established itself in a position of preeminence as one of the largest Security &
Surveillance Solution Provider, contributing significantly towards the growth of electronic
surveillance and security systems, in India. With a strong and sharp focus on customer's needs
and change in customer preferences and requirements, the company not only design and develop
safety solutions but are also creating a sense for future safety, through offering and designing
security solutions (Security 360) with latest available technology Across the World that are
intelligent and safe. Companys product portfolio offer integrated services & solutions for CCTV
System, IP Based CCTV, Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Security Management, PA
(Public Announcement System), Parking Solutions, Biometric Solutions, BMS (Building
Management System) Video Conferencing Solutions for corporate, ARM / Gun Detector
Solution, Visitor Management. The Company has an enthusiastic and well qualified team having
specialization and expertise in providing above services, to meet the desired goal of their
customers. The company has successfully executed substantial number of projects for Elite
clients, which serves as a Testimony to its excellence. They strongly intend to eradicate
loopholes and, faults in existing security systems so that their customers have Peace at Sleep.
Sharp Sight InfoTech has been successfully carrying the honor of being the most reliable
integrator of various electronic surveillance and security systems.

Mission
To be the best neighborhood security solution provider, the community can count on us and to
create a continuously expanding deeply satisfied customer base by delivering a value customer
driven quality service that people can rely upon.
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Management Team
Customer satisfaction plays a central role in the companys quality management process. It is
comprehensive process in satisfying customers from requirement till delivery, which ensures the
proper control that must be given to all features of project to ensure total customer satisfactions.

Corporate Philosophy
Companys approach with respect to customers, shareholders, the people who work with them
and society is clearly expressed in the corporate philosophy shared by the entire Sharp Sight
InfoTech Group. The most valued concept for the Group is CREATING KANDO*
TOGETHER, a slogan that embodies the corporate objective that commands the highest in the
hierarchy that frames the Groups corporate philosophy.

Quality Policy
The Company committed to provide Quality Products and Services at Optimum Cost and to
continually improve the Quality Management System through Total Quality Management
approach for ensuring customer's satisfaction on a sustained basis.

1.1 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to explore the origins of internet marketing popularity in an
Indian organizational setup. Using the data for early stage of portal market development
we develop an approach that shows how the interaction of different portal attributes
affects its market share. We find that the quality mail, search and virtual
communities were necessary for gaining share on online market. Also, we find evidence that
decisions of using different portal features may be separated from each other and
correlate with demographic characteristics of customers.

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1.2 Objectives of the Study
To study the buying behavior of the internet users on the basis of age, gender and income.
To determine the online buyers and offline buyers.
To determine the various uses of internet by the users.

1.3 Context of the Study
Inside India, things do seem to be improving. Five years ago there was limited Internet access
but only in a few major cities, all in the hands of the government. VSNL, the agency responsible
for Internet activities, and the DOT (Department of Telecommunications) provided an
agonizingly erratic connectivity, with miserly bandwidth and far too few phone lines.
Connection rates ran as low as 5% (for every 20 dialups you might get connected once) and users
were frequently cut off. And the rates for this pathetic level of service were among the highest in
the world. Domestic users paid about $2 per hour, and lease lines, for the few companies that
could afford them, ranged over $2000 per month for a 64 Kbps line. By the end of 1998, after
three years of government monopoly, there were barely 150,000 Internet connections in India.
Today the government monopoly is largely over. Dozens of small to large Internet Service
Providers have set up shop, triggering a price war and an improvement of service. Users are now
estimated at over 40 million, with a growth predicted to reach 100 million in the next five years.
Small Internet kiosks have set up even in small towns, and the governments, both State and
central are pushing for growth in the Internet sector. Internet is the new buzzword. The many
small tutorial colleges that pushed computer software courses of variable quality are now in a
hard sell scramble to push Net related content. The Internet represents the new wealth frontier
for the middle classes - a good salary and a clean job, and for a few, the chance to go abroad.
There has been a great increase in Indian content on the Internet. Many net entrepreneurs have
been quick to realize the huge potential of the global market. Initially, most sites targeted the
global Diaspora of Overseas Indians who had more access to the Internet, not to mention the
credit cards that drive Net commerce. But there is a growing realization that the Net can reach
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the large and wealthy Indian Middle class. This group is rapidly plugging into the Net (still out
of range for most people here) and there is increased use of credit cards.
Additionally, Business to Business (B2B) transactions are on the increase though there is no
accurate estimate of the current or projected volumes. For Indian businesses interested in an
overseas market the Net provides an efficient medium of communications - a factor that has
retarded a great deal of trade in the past. Email and web sites are available 24 hours a day. And
for the large and growing software industry, the Internet offers the ability to reach a client,
respond to problems on a real time basis, and transfer products instantly with the click of a
mouse. India exports billions of dollars of software annually, and the industry is growing
rapidly. The Internet represents so much potential for India, and the demand for efficient
Internet infrastructure is growing rapidly. This is where India has been failing. The demand has
not yet been met efficiently and this represents an enormous barrier to business and societal
development.
Even the government, which has monopolized infrastructure development until recently, has
recognized it must not hold back this development. They have opened the industry to private
entrants and promised support. In practice, though, the vast bureaucracies that implement
(theoretically) the government programs have moved sluggishly and ineffectively. For instance,
the private ISPs that were allowed were initially required to acquire their bandwidth from VSNL
which wanted a country wide monopoly on this lucrative sector. The result, new users signing
up competed for increasingly limited bandwidth. Now the ISPs have been allowed to establish
their own gateways but the effect has not yet been felt extensively. The DOT, responsible for
providing phone lines to ISPs lagged way behind and the new providers are often left with far
too few lines to service the increased demand. Lease lines are reduced, though still very
expensive - approximately $1000 per month for a 64 Kpbs line.
Some cities in India have developed more efficiently than others. Reports suggest that
Bangalore and Madras currently offer better bandwidth. Of course, this is all relative to the
pathetic service people were forced to put up with in the past. Hyderabad, where the INDAX
offices are located, is trying to promote a cyber-savvy image, but the reality is still very poor.
We cannot justify a lease line (though reports are that prices are due to drop significantly soon),
but rely on a dial up connection that only really works well in the early hours of the morning or
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late at night. It is not unusual to be unable to get a productive connection for hours at a time
during the day, even though we use four or more ISPs. And this poor connectivity still costs us
hundreds of dollars a month. Needless to say, the frustration is acute. Not to mention loss of
productivity. Our experience, multiplied by that of millions of other small business across the
country, amounts to billions of dollars of lost potential business each year. This is a horrific
waste.
Looking at India from a global perspective, it is difficult to see how India can actually catch up.
Advances in technology, connectivity, and usage of the net are increasing so rapidly that even in
developed countries it is hard to keep up. At present, the percentage of Indians connected to the
Net is less than a fraction of one percent. Even if it soars to 50 million over the next five years,
as predicted, that represents at most 5% of the population.
And how can this amount of growth occur over the next five years when the infrastructure of
both the Internet and the telephone network is already far behind current demand? In developed
countries, telephone networks had basically reached saturation when the Internet arrived. The
problem was primarily to provide the increased bandwidth and line usage the Net demands. In
India the telephone network is antiquated, overextended and only reaches a fraction of the
population which is interested in getting a phone. Internet demand is straining the telephone
system further.
Private ISPs have entered the arena, and though they were initially stymied by both
uncooperative government agencies and by lack of existing infrastructure, there is some promise
here. There are also experiments with wireless and cable connections, but even here an
antiquated infrastructure and government obstructionism are problems. Businesses are relying
more and more on aspects of the Internet. Email, for instance, is a huge asset to companies. And
more and more companies are entering into web related business activities, like web site
creation, software development, and various service oriented businesses that utilize the Net, like
medical transcription or data processing for overseas companies.
In any event, it seems likely that in the future those that can pay for it will have adequate access
to the great global community. As in even developed countries, those that can't pay for it, or lack
the skills to use it, will be left behind. Unfortunately in India, this disadvantaged group will still
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be the majority well into the current century. Until the country can mobilize the resources, the
education, and the infrastructure to provide a much larger section of its population both the
means and the reason to access the Internet, India will not truly join the global community.
The question of market shares has received much attention in the literature. In a market where
customers are loyal, a firms current market share is an important determinant of future
profitability. Internet users choose which website to visit as they make all other choices: given all
the information they choose the best alternative. The significance of consumer loyalty is often
repeated in the marketing research. Economic literature is concerned with the sources of such
loyalty and the mechanism of its formation as well as implications for the equilibrium.
An important factor in determining profit of any company is its ability to increase market
share. In this research we would like to investigate the determinants of portal market shares. All
the above is true for the online market, but some additional features of web portal market make it
even more interesting to investigate:
Technology that can be easily imitated
No price, competition in quality
Low costs of switching
Possibility to combine services from different providers at little additional costs
Many companies have benefited in some way by the explosive popularity of the Web, but
contemporary Internet companies makes it hard to muster the kind of trust and loyalty that
brands like Coca-Cola have. With a million channels just a mouse click away, little
keeps a person from hopping from Yahoo! to Netscape if he is not satisfied. Brynjolfsson and
Smith (2006) called Internet The Great Equalizer because the technological capabilities
of the medium reduce buyer search and switching costs and eliminate spatial competitive
advantages that retailers would enjoy in a physical marketplace. Now the ability to
accumulate a large customer base and create true loyalty among users became a vital asset for
online firms.
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There is a category of people who are more active online and better informed about
portal characteristics, have preferences for variety and are always looking for new and better
features. These people might switch portals often or use different features in different portals at
the same time, finding the best fitting combination. Other users might be reluctant to switch
because of possible costs of switching. This possible heterogeneity also has to be discussed.

1.4 Problem related to the Study
Internet is considered to be one of the important and an effective means of marketing all over but
when we look from the Indian perspective we find that people still hesitate to do any transactions
via Internet. In India Internet is still not regarded as a reliable and a safe means for undergoing
any transactions. This mode of marketing has still to gain its popularity in India.













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CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Emerging Trend of E-Commerce in India: Some Crucial Issues, Prospects and Challenges
Since 1991, after economic reforms explicitly took place in India as a result of opening-up of the
economy with a view to integrate itself with the global economy, the need to facilitate
international trade both through policy and procedure reforms has become the foundation stone
of Indias trade and fiscal policies. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) as part of the information
technology revolution became widely used in the world trade in general and Indian economy in
particular. With advancements in technology, there have been changes in the methodology for
business transactions. India, being a rapid adaptor of technology is apace with the current
scenario of electronic data exchanges and has taken to e-commerce. In view of this, this article
tries to present a snapshot of the evolution of e-commerce business indicating the chronological
order, category of e-commerce business, description of organizations involved in e-businesses in
India, key characteristics of the firms engaged in e-commerce application, to examine the growth
of e-commerce in both physical and financial terms, to evaluate the benefits obtained from e-
business, to critically analyze the barriers and constraints involved in flourishing e-commerce
businesses in India and finally to develop a framework for effective dissemination of e-
commerce in India. The role of government should be to provide a legal framework for e-
commerce so that while domestic and international trade are allowed to expand their horizons,
basic rights such as privacy, intellectual property, prevention of fraud, consumer protection etc.
are all taken care of.

Prospects of Online Advertising in India
As of today, the online advertisement segment constitutes only 6 per cent of the total $2.2 billion
Indian advertisement industry, it shows a promising future. The segment has crossed the $100
million mark after 2010.
Traditional ads are more indirect and assumption-based. In case of online communication and
marketing, its two-way communication. One has can exactly track as to how many people
clicked on a particular ad, how many people found it interesting and how many of them went a
step further. One has can also get answers to questions like what is the average age group of
Internet users who clicked on a particular online ad, what is it that appealed or did not appeal to
them (by collecting data from the feedback forms they fill in) in a particular ad etc.
Well, here one has a global audience for ads, while still spending lesser money than an
international TV ad. Internet population is expected to grow to close to 100 million in the next
1- 2 years. A large part of these citizens are within 20-40 age groups.
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Again one has plethora of options to choose from like building websites, display ads which
would further include banners, media planning and buying, designing, mobile marketing, email
marketing, search engine optimization and search marketing. One has to name it and one has it.
Online ads are more direct and crisp (content wise and concept wise). For instance, a Google ad
word count has a maximum of 25-30 characters. The design too isnt very flashy. The logic
behind the execution of an online ad is simple. What might look dull as a TV ad might just work
well in the format of an online ad. Hence, the first step towards instituting an online ad venture
is acquiring the required skills:
Thorough knowledge of the Internet is a must. Niche skills like creativity, inclination towards
search marketing, technological know-how, understanding of consumer behavior etc. are also
needed.
Planning is extremely important. Questions like what is it that I want to achieve out of a
particular campaign, how can I cater to a cross section of my target group and how can I
tactfully calculate the ROI will arise. The number of questions while conceptualizing an online
advertisement are multifold. To start the agency on a small scale, the cost would be around
Rs10lakh, which would cover the cost of computers, Internet connection, and payrolls. In terms
of scope of operations, a minimum of certain skills are required copywriting, designing,
accounting, business developing and technical administration.

Challenges of Internet Marketing
For one, the attitude and the approach one has towards the industry hasnt changed. The
unfamiliarity with the new medium, lack of understanding of its reach, fear of venturing into a
new area that hasnt been tapped before are a few reasons that sometimes make it difficult for
marketing executives to get clients. As Dr. Subho Ray, President, Internet and Mobile
Association of India (IAMAI) opines, The market at large is still not ready to see the value
proposition of online advertisements. Constantly keeping pace with the rapidly changing
landscape of online advertising is another daunting task. So, one need to be prepared. But the
above mentioned challenges can be overcome if we understand some of the basic nuances of
online advertising and explore various opportunities that this vast industry has to offer.


Online consumer behavior and market shares
There is a small but rapidly growing literature on consumer behavior on the Internet. A few
authors have looked at the questions related to loyalty, switching costs and some of the aspects
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of leadership on online markets. One of the first attempts to understand trends on online
market were made by IT professionals in the late 1990s. In 1999 International Data
Corporation and Relevant Knowledge conducted research and found out that data suggests that
users are loyal to no one web portal. Most Internet users rely on two or three different portals and
have no portal loyalty. Yahoo has the most loyal user base, according to IDC and Relevant
Knowledge. Their study found that the "loyal" 36 percent of Yahoo users hang around on
Yahoo-owned sites for 161 minutes a month, compared with the "discrete" remainder, who stick
around for 67 minutes. This suggests that not every portal realized the importance of building
closer and tighter relationships with consumers. Goldfarb finds the loyalty coefficient to be
significant and robust to different model specifications, which means that households tend to
exhibit loyalty in their choices. This result suggests important implications for web portals.
In 2000 Gallaugher and Downing published a paper where they analyzed the
determinants of leadership on the web portal market. First, they give theoretical and practical
foundation (along with classification) for factors that can be considered as important in the web
portal industry analysis. All the factors were included in the designed model. Portal combat
was modeled in the following way: market penetration (or market reach) has been chosen
as a dependent variable, function from several independent variables, such as age; make effect,
indicating the brand of a service; features that establish virtual communities; features that create
switching costs; other features that enhance utility. Analysis includes only four biggest
portals at that time: Yahoo!, Lycos, Excite and Info seek. They concluded that brand effects and
age of the portal were strong determinants of the portal market share.
By increasing the quality of search they also increase the loyalty of their customers and can
increase their market share and ability to generate revenue. All the above research focused on
certain aspects of consumer choice and specific features that may lead to change in consumer
preferences. Since competition on the online market is rather in quality than in prices,
maintaining a strong position and keeping customers gives a lot of gain. Because portals are a
complex good, offering more than one service at once and users make their decisions based on
more than one factor. At the same time, portal is an experience good, and users update their
behavior based on previous visits to portals. So, it will be beneficial to create a comprehensive
model that allows to analyze all services featured by the portals, identify the main factors that
affect consumers behavior and influence their decision to visit this portal again. Also,
this allows to analyze the interferences of different portal features.

Successful online branding
To promote their brands, advertisers can choose between a huge number of different media
channels, including newspaper and magazine advertisements, direct mail, and television and
radio advertisements. Some years ago, the introduction of the Internet promised the beginning of
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a new branding area. Suddenly many companies spent huge amounts of money on the modern
media channel, however, often failing in turning their online branding efforts into success.
Consequently, the Internet was disdained and regarded as risky choice to promote a brand.
However, with the further growing presence of the Internet, marketers show the tendency to give
the modern media channel a second chance. The question is if it still makes sense to use the
Internet as an alternative to traditional channels with all the failures already in place. Is it
possible to successfully promote a companys brand in the online space at all?

The Internet as Differentiating Factor
In advertising, differentiation became a golden rule to gain an advantage in the growing
competition for consumers attention on and preference for a companys brand. Offering a
variety of different features (e.g. online account servicing, interest based attractions designed for
children) and a huge potential of creativity, the Internet inspired marketers to use it as new
branding and advertising tool. Though some companies at first questioned the relevance of
brands in cyberspace, advertisers were soon taught that the need for brands can be even higher in
the online medium than it is in traditional channels. Being confronted by similar products from
many often unknown providers, consumers rely on the strength of brands which possess a
meaningful, clear and trusted set of values and attributes, facilitating their online purchase
choices.
Deriving from its unique characteristics, the Internet provides several key advantages. First of
all, advertisers can utilize its interactive nature to build top-of-mind awareness among customers.
Computer maker Sun, for example, utilizes the business websites to communicate with corporate
buyers.
The Internet furthermore possesses the feature of relevance in so far that it is more efficient than
other channels in reaching people that are part of a market of specific interest like computers for
business needs.
Websites are able to combine sponsorships with editorial, making use of their relationships to
users to link their needs with the branding goals of advertisers. The Internet can also be used to
increase brand awareness all over the world.
Marketers soon were convinced by the Internets huge potential for success. End of 1998,
consumers e-commerce attitudes forecasted a tripling of e-commerce activity for the up-coming
year. The online medium was thought of as a simple way to create a differentiated image with
little efforts to develop a variety of online resources. However, only several months later the
problems of many advertising companies to succeed in cyberspace proved the opposite. The
following paragraph will explore the reasons for the online failures, and thus will address the
question if the Internet should be blamed for this negative result.
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Online companies in specific, a huge number of advertisers provided marketing plans that
assumed brand loyalty could be built in a quarter. More problematic, advertising companies
merely concentrating on capturing online users and their dollars were overlooking the simplest
marketing remedies, disavowing years of consumer and advertising research. A lot of money
was spent on Internet marketing initiatives however missing any specific target.
Though there were reasons to question the old rules with the Internet offering new business
models and media options it was soon realized that only those firms which practice tried and
true marketing and branding practices will prosper.
Advertisers should not forget about the basics of marketing, since they retain much of its value,
even if how and where we apply it has radically changed. Besides considering general issues in
branding, including the competitive advantage of strong brands, and the role of the consumer.
It is recommended that advertisers to pursue the following steps to successfully promote their
products online:
1. Development of a clear vision
2. Extensive research on consumers
3. Formulation of an attractive value proposition
4. An appropriate communication campaign to retain previous customers and acquire
new one.
Beyond advertisers disregard of basic marketing principles, many companies internal
organizational structure lacks to properly address online objectives. With branding constituting a
complex process involving a number of different organizational parties from the top of the
corporate structure to the individuals that are actually interacting with customers the question
remains who actually is responsible for the online activity of a company.
The management of e-businesses is in general shared by three departments: information
technology, marketing, and communications. However, getting organized remains a major
problem, with companies struggling with the common organizational phenomenon of "everyone
being in charge and no one being in charge". Resulting from the lack of consensus are diverse
problems ranging from slowness in exploiting the online medium, due to endless debates over
the most appropriate e-branding business model, to companies confusing users with hundreds of
websites that are severely affecting the future of a companys e-business. Being confronted
with an impatient online community, firms are advised to concentrate their efforts on an
appropriate organizational structure, if they plan to survive in cyberspace.
Another problem is a severe disconnect between how customers find new web sites and where
companies are focusing their branding investments. Though consumers top choices in
discovering new websites are represented by search engines and recommendations from friends,
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marketers were observed to spend most of their budget on banner ads, newspaper, television and
radio. In addition, many firms neglect to use powerful mechanisms, like sponsorships on other
sites, in spite of their ability to reach a considerate number of users.

Impact of demographics on online buying behavior towards different products
This paper aims to identify the impact of demographics on consumer buying behavior towards
online purchase of different products based on the involvement and investment (High, Medium
and Low). It attempts to unearth the impact of the demographics on online purchase which is at
present relatively limited. It would help the marketers to identify the demographic profile of
consumers which is otherwise not known due to the intangible nature of internet. The findings
would help the marketers to design their offerings based on the demographic profile of online
consumers and would help the online marketers to identify and segment the online consumers
which will enhance their focus and eventually leads to financial growth.















14

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Internet marketing is considered to be one of the important and an effective means of marketing
all over but when we look from the Indian perspective we find that people still hesitate to do any
transactions via Internet. In India Internet Marketing is still not regarded as a reliable and a safe
means for undergoing any transactions. But slowly this mode of marketing is gaining its
popularity in India.
We all know that with the change in the technological environment the world is moving fast.
Machines have replaced men. Due to this technological advancement and the continuous up
gradation in the Technology Internet Marketing is gaining a lot of importance. Internet
Marketing not only aims at catering to the demands of millions of people within a very short
span of time but also add on to the convenience factor for the customers. Therefore, as a future
marketer it is very important to understand the relevance of Internet Marketing in India.
Research is an organized and systematic way of finding answers to questions. Systematic
because there is a definite set of procedures and steps to be followed. Organized in the sense that
there is a structure or method in going about the course of research. It is a planned procedure, not
a spontaneous one. It is focused and limited to a specific scope. Finding answers is the end of all
research. Whether it is the answer to a hypothesis or even a simple question, research is
successful when we find answers. Sometimes the answer is no, but it is still an answer.

3.1 Research Design
To conduct the study, Descriptive Research Design is used.
3.2 Scope of the Research
This report will helpful for those organizations who introduce themselves into internet
marketing, since this report is about the opportunities & challenges faced by the Indian Internet
Marketing organizations. This report will also help the organization to know how the companies
indulging in internet marketing will come into the view of general public very easily.
15

3.3 Instruments Used
To carry out the research MS Excel and MS Word are used.
3.4 Participants
50 respondents in the Delhi and NCR region across various Demographics are taken for the
research.
3.5 Methodology
For the research purpose, both primary and the secondary sources have been used.
3.5.1 Primary Research
The primary source includes the interviews of various respondents using the internet. The
Primary data have been collected by interviews. The interviews were conducted either one to one
or telephonic. Sample size has been 50 respondents across the various age, sex, income-groups.
3.5.2 Secondary Research
Secondary data have collected through reports of government departments and corporations that
commission or carry out research. Their published findings provided a useful source of
information.
These are good especially for up-to-date information. They are frequently used in literature
reviews because they offer a relatively concise, up-to-date format for research.
The fastest-growing source of information is on the Internet. But it too has its own advantages
and disadvantages since anyone can post information on the Internet so the quality may not be
reliable. Also, the information found may be intended for a general audience and so may not be
suitable for inclusion in the literature review. However, many electronic journals (e-journals) are
appearing on the Internet - if there is an editorial board that evaluates the work before publishing
it in their e-journal, the quality can be more reliable.
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By far the most widely used research method is collecting data through secondary research. This
process involves collecting data from either the originator or a distributor of primary research. In
other words, accessing information that others have already gathered.
Compared to primary research there are several advantages to the secondary approach, including
ease of access and generally lower cost for acquiring the information.
Sources for secondary research are quite extensive. However, the Internet has changed how
secondary research offering convenience, accessibility to a large array of information sources
accesses, and generally low cost.
The project will be a result from contributions from various secondary sources which includes
books, reference materials and websites.













17

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Review of Methodology
Internet Marketing in India
The landscape in India is changing, as the target audience is transforming its behavior. The
following table gives the Indian internet usage and population statistics.

Table 1: Indian Internet Usage and Population Statistics

Source: Internet World Stats



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The following graph gives the statistics of the world internet users and population.
Figure 1: Internet Users by Region

Source: Internet World Stats








19

Figure 2: Asia Internet Users


4.2 Results of Research
The data for this research was obtained by survey research from 50 respondents in the Delhi and
NCR region across various Demographics. The survey research was conducted both on the basis
of questionnaire and online survey of the internet consumers. The online data set contained the
time of arrival at and departure from the destination website (to the second), website type and
name, the number of pages viewed at the website, the number of bytes downloaded from
and uploaded to the given website; indicates whether the portal page is user's starting page.
Variables reflecting different attributes, such as particular site visits, search quality, virtual
community size and others are obtained from various search engines such as PCWorld.com and
archive.org.
The data set, however, has some limitations. The data set for the survey research is representative
but the online samples are not representative. The online samples are under-represented for the
various population strata in India due to the differentiation in the online users. This limitation
cannot be considered as major problem since web portals is a national product. Second
limitation of the data is that it does not contain information about users at work. Online
behavior at work is very likely to be different from that at home. However, Nie and Erbring
report that only 16.8% of Internet users use it primarily at work, 18.9% use it equally at home
64%
36%
Internet Users
Rest of the World
Asia
20

and at work and 64.4% use Internet mostly or only at home. This means that second limitation
cannot create problem either.

Figure 3: Survey of Internet usage

Most of the Urban Indian users are fairly experienced in using internet. In fact almost 2 out of 3
users have more than 3 years of experience in using the net. Further, almost two-third of the
respondents login to the Internet every day. 25% access Internet thrice a week and 17% login at
least once a week.








0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Rate of Usage
Rate of Usage
21

Figure 4: Online versus Offline Buyers

Our survey found that 40 percent of all urban Internet users (respondents) buy online, while 42
percent of the sales originate through just five percent of consumers.
This section of buyers spends 5,000 rupees or more per month on the net. It is interesting to note
that two out of every three heavy spenders are also 'netholics,' those who are on the net for more
than three hours per day. Of all those who buy online, only 25 percent are spending more than
1,000 rupees per month while the (remaining) 75 percent bill less than 1,000 rupees per month.

4.3 Summary results
Some basic descriptive results of the questionnaire are presented below. Amongst other details,
the interviewees were asked to
give a self-assessment of their interest in internet
Judge the feasibility of internet marketing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Online Buyes
Offline Buyers
22

state whether they could imagine themselves becoming active in regular internet marketing
behavior and what do they think of internet marketing in the Indian organizational context

Figure 5: Internet users on Income Basis

Half of the Internet users are coming from families with up to Rs. 20,000 income per month.
Another 43% have MFI in the range of Rs. 20,000 to 50,000. Interestingly Internet users with
above Rs. 50,000 MFI are only 6%, hence the bulk of Internet users are in 'middle' income group
representing the 'real' India.






0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Rs. 10,000- 20,000 Rs. 20,000-50,000 Above Rs. 50,000
Internet Users
Internet Users
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Figure 6: Male versus Female with respect to online and offline buyers


The research also found that buying and search patterns among Indians differ between genders.
While 43 percent of male users buy online, only 31 percent of urban female users are consumers
as well. Women tend to search more. Defying their more common attitude towards shopping,
women are more guarded when it comes to the online market.
Depending on the product type, nine percent to 25 percent are buying online, whereas 33 to 47
percent are searching the net for product information.
Train tickets are the single largest selling item on the net. 33% of the online buyers have bought
one in the last 3 months. 22% of online buyers have also bought an air ticket in the last 3 months.
Books, electronic items, clothes and gifts are the other more selling items on the net.

Security Fears Persist
Results show that the motivation for Indian users to make purchases online varies, but users fear
compromised personal information is still a great risk when it comes to e-commerce.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Online Buyers Offline Buyers
Male
Female
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The single biggest motivation for buying online for net users is saving time. Thirty-two percent
of them look to shop online with this purpose. Convenience of shopping '24x7' and home
delivery are other major incentives. However, the concern of possible misuse of credit card or
personal information is extremely significant among online buyers, with almost 55 percent of
them voicing their concern. Clearly, tackling and countering the issue of online safety figures as
an imminent challenge for net marketers.
The products that are purchased most online in India, according to our survey, are books and
CDs. Ironically, computer hardware and software, despite having the home advantage are among
one of the least bought products online, with only 13 percent buying them.
In sum, the online market in India is blossoming but is yet to take off in a considerable way. The
Internet is still being used more for searching than buying products and services. Though a
noticeable proportion of net users are also net consumers, essentially, at present only a small
tribe among them is driving online shopping momentum.
Our research finds that more and more Indian Internet users are opening their wallets online.
While such hurdles as limited broadband access and security concerns remain, the research finds
there are currently more than 4.2 million shoppers online in India. While current trends point to
increased e-commerce growth in India, the online marketplace in the country of more than 1
billion people is still relatively small.








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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Summary of Findings
The Internet is being used the most for communication purpose, both in professional as well as
personal use. At an overall level, it seems that the use of Internet for the urban Indian has
remained within the realm of a serious work and communication tool rather than a space to be
exploited for enhancing quality of life and experiences. Possibly the marketers are also missing
out in identifying as well as communicating the endless possibilities to the users.
Beyond the regular need for communication and keeping in touch with friends, at the personal
usage level, Internet is used the most for checking out news and events. Interestingly users are
also using Internet for product & travel information search, keeping track of interests like sports,
health & lifestyle and pursuing hobbies as well.
In recent years, many companies failed to use the Web as a new and different media channel,
often resulting in their online extinction. Should the Internet be blamed for these catastrophes?
The possible reasons for online failures are demonstrating that the negative consequences were
not caused by the Internet, but rather by some marketers inappropriate behavior. To successfully
use the Internet for their branding purposes, key principles must be followed and that should
prevent failures on the Web and ultimately lead to online marketing success. At the end of the
day, marketers also need to worry about bombarding consumers with irrelevant messages. They
have already killed the medium of pop-ups by abusing the channel. Banners and e-mails may
soon follow suit. As competition multiplies quality over quantity needs to be the guiding
principle.
Similarly, the development of relevant language and local Internet content, affordability or
access to computers at home or at community level (or cyber cafes) has still not reached a level
of significance where they can make such an impact. Only 60% of the regular online Indians
have English as the preferred language of reading (and reading is the primary way they interact
with the Internet medium). The rest 40% not only prefer local languages but also regularly visit
26

local language websites. This should be enough indication for the stark need for developing local
language content and application to capture the mass.
To sum up, the usage of Internet has shown growth in both depth and spread and Internet is
increasingly becoming the preferred medium of exchange for the Indian mass of consumers.
But the size of the market needs to get bigger to fuel, capture and accommodate the future
growth of Internet users in India. And that calls for breaking the barriers of both the software
limitations (content, especially language content) and the hardware limitations (wider and
affordable connectivity and access to the net). Though broadband is creating much faster access
to the Internet and thereby leading to increased usage of the net by the existing users, its impact
on getting news users into the market is still in its nascence. Unless it becomes even more
affordable and penetrates deeper into the cities it is unlikely to be the catalyst of any big bang
growth.

5.2 Recommendation
Challenge of Online Marketing
Though it sounds easy, marketing on Internet is not easy. The search landscape is incredibly
dynamic and marketing managers are faced with a myriad of business and technical challenges:
1. How to profit from paid and natural search traffic?
2. How to measure visitor behavior beyond the click?
3. How to plug leaks in the conversion funnel?
4. How to adjust for multisession activity, latent response, and keyword stacking?
5. How to identify possible click fraud? (In case of pay-per-click schemes)
In short, Internet marketing can be incredibly lucrative, but it is not easy. And to maximize
success, one must constantly manage Internet marketing to one bottom line.
So how does one address these challenges?
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How does one know if one SEM campaigns are working and when they are not?
How does one seamlessly connect clicks with conversions and ROI?

Identifying Online Fraud
Online or Click fraud is emerging as a key concern for many search marketers. Despite
numerous industry efforts, it is still unclear how large or extensive this issue may be.
Unfortunately, detecting click fraud isnt much easier than defining it. But with Web analytics
tools, there are some ways one can retake control of click fraud. These tools provide automated
alerts that can be configured to look for certain conditions.
Assuming one Web analytics package supports the fraud, here are some suggestions for alerts
one may want to set up:
Impressions on keywords (possible impression fraud)
Impressions per visitor (possible impression and click fraud)
Click-through rates for keywords (possible impression fraud and click fraud)
Click-through rates for ad groups (possible click fraud)
Cost-per-click on keywords and ad groups (possible click fraud)
Clicks-per-visitor (possible click fraud)
Average Position (possible click or impression fraud)
Page views-per-visitors (possible click fraud)



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Online Services marketing
Services marketing efforts have to be done online not because a few marketing consultants and
strategists say so but because the clients and prospects are online and their online experiences
are influencing all buying decisions.
This makes it necessary for services marketers to focus on web to sell everything from high tech
services to complex industrial products and for business-to-business services.

Branding on Internet
Businesses have discovered cyberspace. Technology giants Intel, Cisco, Microsoft have spent
millions on Internet - to create a strong brand name & presence. While spending big amounts to
create a strong brand name is feasible for established companies, small firms or startups have to
innovate to create their brand name and a strong brand presence.
All companies, competing now against tens of thousands of Web sites, need more than a buzz to
create a significant presence. Word-of-mouth is no longer sufficient to get the word out;
Traditional advertising plays a large role. Television, radio and print have to be used to
complement the web site.
Strong brands have to be seen everywhere, with their Web site featured on television
advertisements, radio and stationery. Integrate all modes of brand communication with a sense of
purpose to create a strong brand.

Advertising is not enough
Most users today log on for one of two reasons: To get practical information such as the product
detail or to shop. A survey conducted on the Web last year that 80 percent of the people logging
on for information to a site said they would like to buy the products in future. Thus web presence
creates a virtual sales channel.
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The need to sell in cyberspace has challenged many industries. Some manufacturers have no
experience in selling directly to customers online but see one-on-one relationships as simply
invaluable. High tech services companies can secure future sales by using online presence as
means to communicate with customers. Firms can send targeted message to their customers
online.
Just providing exhaustive information about their products can help future sales of capital goods.
Xilinx, for example provides extensive information on its programmable chips on their website.
This helps to win mindshare of potential customers and thus capture and engage a large
audience.

What the Customer Wants
To succeed, the top levels of a company must know what they have always needed to know:
what their customers want from a Web site. Successful companies know this. One common
theme among successful executives is a genuine interest in what happens in cyberspace. They go
into their own sites, and competitors' sites, on a regular basis.
Successful Internet managers are obsessed with streamlining the process. They know how many
clicks it takes to get the required information, and how long it takes them to respond to e-mail.
Companies have to optimize the number of clicks for customers to get where they want to be.

Driving Online Branding to Success
The following key branding principles show brand managers how to build a robust brand on the
Internet and thus how to be successful in the online branding business:
Defining the Brand
Selecting the Brand Strategy Framework
Developing Specific and Achievable Goals
30

Operationalizing the Brand
Leveraging the Features of the Internet
Monitoring the Brand Performance
Caring for Oner Customer

















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REFERENCES

Albert H. Huang (2003), An empirical study of corporate Web site usability, Human Systems
Management, 22, 23-36.
Asim Ansari, Carl F. Mela, E-Customization (May 2003), Journal of Marketing Research, 40,
131145
B. Clark (1997), Welcome to My Parlor, Marketing Management, pp. 10-25
Berthon, Pierre, Leyland Pitt and Richard T. Watson (1996), Marketing Communication and the
World Wide Web, Business Horizons, 39 (5), 24-32
Chi, E.H., Pirolli, P., Chen, K., and Pitkow, J. (2001), Using Information Scent to Model User
Information needs and Actions on the Web, Paper presented at the Conference of Human Factors
in Computing Systems, SIGCHI 2001, Seattle.
F. Davis (1989), Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and user acceptance of information
technology, MIS Quarterly 13(3), 319340.
Giovanni Azzone, Raffalla Bianchi and Giuliano Noci (2001), Corporate Websites: The Drivers
of their Different Configurations, Electronic Markets, 11 (2), 126-139.
Ritu Agarwal, Viswanath Venkatesh (June 2002), Assessing a Firms Web Presence: A Heuristic
Evaluation Procedure for the Measurementof Usability, Information Systems Research, 13 (2),
168186
Sally J. McMillan, Jang-Sun Hwang, Measures of Perceived Interactivity: An Exploration of the
Role of Direction of Communication (2002), User Control, and Time in Shaping Perceptions of
Interactivity, Journal of Advertising, 3, 29-42
W. Doll and J. Torkzadeh (1988), The measurement of end-user computing satisfaction, MIS
Quarterly 6, 259273,

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Web References
www.imrbint.com
www.webtrends.com
www.marketingprofs.com
www.ingentaconnect.com
www.marketingchat.com















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APPENDIX
Internet Marketing Questionnaire

1. Name of the respondent: ______________________________________________

Age: _____ Sex: _____
Occupation: ________________________
Monthly Family Income:
less than Rs. 20,000
Between Rs. 20,000 to 50,000
More than Rs. 50,000

2. How often do you surf the internet:
a) Daily b) Thrice in a week c) Once in a week d) Do not surf at all


3. What kind of products or services have you bought over the internet?


4. How often do you buy something over the internet?
a) Mostly b) Occasionally c) Once d) No
Your response: __________

5. When you bought a product over the net was it an impulse buy or a planned purchase?


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6. How important is price in the decision process?


7. Do you find the prices over the net higher or similar or lower than the regular prices in
the market?


8. What was the level of satisfaction in buying over the net.

(a) Very High
(b) High
(c) Limited
(d) Low
Your response: __________

9. What features and associated benefits does Internet Marketing provide over routine
marketing?


10. How do Indian Organizations compare Vis a Vis their Multinational counterparts in Internet
marketing.


11. Would you prefer buying on the net or in a store?


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12. What improvements can be made in Internet Marketing to better meet customer needs?


13. What new do you expect from Internet Marketing?


Thank you for your valuable contribution.