PREFERENCE OF SHOPPING ON ONLINE VS OFFLINE IN BANGLADESH
INTRODUCTION:E Commerce is becoming a prominent feature of future sales channels. The characteristics of the global emarket creates unique opportunity for companies to reach more efficiently to existing and potential customers by replacing traditional retail stores with web based businesses (Limayem, Khalifa and Frini 2000).There are two patterns of E Commerce. One is Business to Business (B2B) and another is business to consumer (B2C) In this study we concentrate on Business to consumer form of E Commerce.E commerce is one of those sectors that needs more attention if we are to be a part of global village(Laisuzzaman, Imran, Nahid, Amin Alim 2010).Online transaction would increase the Gross Domestic Product growth and thus, help Bangladesh accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) The internet has gone through revolutionary changes, and in developing countries, e commerce has become a common norm of doing business (Dey, Nabi, Anwer 2009) Bangladesh cannot stay behind from this phenomena.Consumers' preference mainly goes for simple transaction process and also a convenient delivery of products. By considering this, E commerce is can be mentioned as a platform that allows buyers to buy products from a distant place without having physical presence and makes the transaction process simple and convenient (Tariq Jafar Arif, 2014) There are many retailers who are now using online retailing to attract their target customers. In this competitive context, the way consumers decide to use a particular shopping channel, particularly the internet, is important to understand from a managerial standpoint. Since consumers do not concentrate their shopping activities within one particular shopping channel, it is imperative for the marketer to find out the forces driving consumers' choice, which is essential for retailing strategies (Chiang Dholakia, 2003).Easier access to computers, the modernization of countries around the world and an increased utilization of smartphones has given people the opportunity to use the internet more frequently and with more convenience. However, internet penetration often pertains to the current state of development regarding communications networks. According to the Globaleconomy.com, there were approximately 632 million total internet users in China and 269 million total internet users in the United States (figure 02, data accessed on April 2016) However, broadband internet usage is not equally present in many developing countries and due to inadequate infrastructure; developing online markets now rely heavily on mobile connectivity.Social networking is one of the most popular online activities and Facebook is the most popular online social network based on active usage. As of the second quarter of 2015, there are a total of roughly 1.5 billion monthly active Facebook users, accounting for almost half of internet users worldwide (www.statista.com) Connecting with family and friends, expressing opinions, entertainment and online shopping are amongst the most popular reasons for internet usage. The most active online users were Millennials aged from18 to 32 years with an average of 7.43 hours online every day(source: globaleconomy.com, the World Bank).OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:This paper attempts to identify the most influential factors that create barriers for customers to migrate to online shopping rather than offline in the context of Bangladesh.LITERATURE REVIEW:The trend of the consumers regarding the Internet use and buying products online is increasing day by day. Because of the use of tablets and smartphone in Europe, online retail transactions in 2014 increased by 130.8% and 121.6% accordingly and in 2015 the growth in use is expected to be 83.6% and 92.8% respectively. In USA, online sales in 2014 were estimated to be $306.85 bn (Centre of Retail Research Limited, 2015)The competition in e commerce industry is getting very intense.