This research proposal aims to study the potential for Croma, an Indian retail chain for electronics and durables, to expand into online retail. The proposal involves secondary research on existing online shopping trends in India and the profile of Croma customers. The primary research phase will determine if existing Croma customers are willing to shop online and if online buyers are willing to purchase from Croma. The research design includes qualitative depth interviews and a quantitative questionnaire survey of 150 Croma customers and online buyers using convenience sampling. The objectives are to evaluate the prospects and effectiveness of an online Croma store.

1. Research Proposal
Online Croma
By: Amit Kanabar
Anil Kamani
M.A.K. Pathan
N.S. Siva S. Priya

2. Croma
• Retail chain for consumer electronics and durables
• Operational 65+ stores spread all over India
• Owned by Infiniti retail Ltd. (100% Subsidiary of TATA
sons)
• Sells 180 brands and 6000 products

3. Internet in India: Highlights
• Internet users mark has reached to 100 mn
• Urban users: 82 mn and Rural users: 18 mn
(Claimed Users)
• 34% of total resides in top 8 metros
• Usage at home is 37% that was 23% in 2009 of all modes

4. Category wise online shopping
45
45 42
40 37
35
35
30
25
25
20
15
10
5
0
Books Electronics Railway Apparel and Music
booking Gift Purchase

5. Online buyers for electronics
Majority buyers: Youth 19-35 yrs.
(78%)
Others Mobile
28% 32%
• Motivating drivers for online
shopping: Digi.
Cameras
- Price, Discounts, Hot deals 19% Ipod/MP4
21%
• Preferred modes of payment - Electronic Gadgets
Credit cards and Cash on
delivery

6. Potential Competitors
• Flipkart.com • The electronic store
• Snapdeal.com • TheITdepot
• eBay.com • Futurebazaar.com
• Bagittoday.com

7. Research Objectives
• Initial phase: To study the existing online shopping
prevalent in India and study about the profile
of Croma customers.
> Secondary research:
- Using available online reports
- Exploratory research

8. Research Objectives
• Final phase: To determine the future prospects and
effectiveness of Online Croma
> Primary Research: To determine
- Existing croma customers willing to buy online.
- Online buyers willing to buy from Croma.

9. Research Design
• Qualitative
- Depth Interviews (Face to face & Email)
• Quantitative
- Questionnaire survey (Online & Offline)
> Would you prefer to shop online?
> How often do you buy online?
> For how long have you been a Croma customer ?

10. Target users
• Croma customers
• Online buyers
Sampling
• Sampling Size: 150
• Questionnaire Survey: 125 (80+45)
• In-depth interviews: 25 (15+10)
• Sampling method: Convenience Sampling Technique

11. References
• IAMAI 2011 report
• Google report on Online consumer buying behaviour
• E-shopping trends in India (Article)-Business review

12. Thank You