Most people who have shopped online have found it a satisfying experience, says an IOAI survey

There's no doubt that interest in online shopping is growing by the day. But are customers satisfied with what they're getting? The answer to the first question is quite clear: customers are quite satisfied with the online shopping experience.

The corollary: shopping on the Internet is here to stay.

A satisfaction index helps develop a true measure of a retailer's equity i.e. independent of sales channels and hence helps dwell further on the insights of "why behind the buy'. This helps evaluating strengths and weaknesses and takes advantage of opportunities while minimizing risks and maximizing ROI.

A survey by the Internet & Online Association of India and Cross-Tab conducted in March-April 2005 of Internet users and their shopping habits found that 80% of respondents were either very satisfied (18%) and satisfied (62%) with the online shopping experience. This indicates a growing professionalism on the part of online sellers and an increasing degree of comfort with the medium among the buyers.

Satisfaction levels among online shoppers

Base: 1493

Only a few shoppers (3%) said they were dissatisfied. Seventeen percent said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. With some persuasion and a little improvement, these buyers can easily be brought into the `satisfied' or `highly satisfied' categories.

Another way in which satisfaction can be measured is the frequency with which people purchase online. The fact that 26% of respondents have shopped online at least five times and 27% more than 10 times indicates a growing confidence in and acceptance of the Internet as a shopping medium.