Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1 Introduction

This chapter focuses on the methodological choices made while approaching towards

this research, to accomplish it as per the carved down objectives. Methodology is the spine of

any research and hence using the appropriate methods make it necessary to pursue the

research systematically. Data of any sort of form just doesn’t appear randomly, which just

needs to be picked up to qualify as data, rather it requires to be given relevant form and shape

using the systematic approach and methods (Ackroyd and Huges, 1992). Any sort of research

starts from its roots i.e. ideas about the research. In this case, the idea of this particular

research was conceived through a senior faculty of the School. According to Berg, 2004 ideas

always promote potential research ventures, as per the author, generation and discussion of

ideas is a starting point of any research initiative. After the ideas get developed it becomes

important to link it with the theory at some appropriate time as per the research design. The

theory with the ideas gives birth to the research problem, questions and framework.

The online grocery selling with respect to India is an upcoming business sector which has

not been much researched within the domain of social sciences (Bozkurt, & Grugulis, 2011). The

present study is taken up further by conducting the primary survey as there is hardly any data

available through the secondary sources. As far as the approach towards the thesis is

concerned, two chapters of the present thesis aims at understanding consumer trust and inter-

14
firm networks respectively are based on the primary data collected while one chapter is based

totally on the review of the literature which aims at understanding the historical trajectory of

online retail in India. Another important section (added in the appendix 1) discusses the

financial trajectory of the organisation (Bigbasket) dealing in grocery online retailing,

undertaken as a case study for this research.

Bigbasket has been one of the online grocery sellers which has been able to sustain its

business over the period of time. Since 2012, as many as fifty online sellers have tried their luck

in grocery online retailing but couldn’t succeed due to distinct features of the products which

required unique logistics and management. Till December 2015 very few online grocery sellers

could sustain in the market and Bigbasket is one of them (Sen, 2016). Huge successful ventures

in the field of online business like peppertap, flipkart, ola cabs, local banya etc. have given a try

in the grocery business but soon came out and closed their new initiatives in the field of grocery

e-retailing (Sen, 2016 and Govind & Chakraborty, 2016). This discussion suggests that Bigbasket

has developed something unique as compared to other sellers due to which it has been able to

sustain and grow in the online grocery retail market in India. These unique characteristics of

Bigbasket have proved to be a motivation to undertake Bigbasket as a case study for this

particular research.

The two main chapters of the thesis focus respectively on the demand and supply side of

the grocery online retailing. The chapter focusing on the consumer trust and motivations

towards grocery online retailing is carved out of the demand side of the grocery online retailing

while the other chapter focusing on studying the inter-firm networks and value chains is

15
connected towards the supply side. The following section of the study discusses the research

problem followed by the carved out research questions.

2.2 Research Problem and motivation

Distinct features of grocery online retailing: Why grocery online retailing?

Grocery buying is embedded within the social systems of the individuals and gets

reflected in their buying behaviour. There is a huge difference in the structural operational

mechanism required for dealing with grocery retailing as compared to other goods and services

which becomes the prime motivation to pursue this research with a case study of Bigbasket,

India’s one of the largest online grocery store, considered as one of the successful initiative

which could sustain its operations and business unlike several other organisation in the same

business (Sen, 2016). The online grocery retail market with respect to India has a very small

share in the overall online retail market. It is currently 0.2% of the overall market and is

expected to grow to 1.2% by the year 2023, which accounts to $ 10.5 billion of business (SH,

2019). Similarly, the share of online retail trade of the goods including food and grocery, fashion

and consumer electronics in the overall retail market is expected to increase from current 4% to

8% by the year 2025 (Tandon, 2020). The rapid increase in the share of online grocery retailing

and the growth of overall online retail sector with respect to India proves to be a motivation to

take up research in this particular emerging area of study.

16
2.2.1 Demand side of online grocery retailing

Perishable nature of the goods

Buyers are very particular about the goods they consume (eat and apply on their body)

and it is vested in their nature to touch, feel, smell, physically check and then buy a product

coming under the category of perishable items. For example, while buying apples from a

hawker who is visiting a customer’s neighbourhood and locality regularly, the customer might

feel certain affinity towards the seller but however, while buying the apples from that vendor

also there is a high possibility that customers would choose, pick and then prepare his/her cart

accordingly. Here comes the question of trust, which gets embedded within the consumer’s

buying behavior and actions. The concern here is that if a customer who is buying regularly

from a possibly known hawker or a vendor but still opting to pick, shortlist, check and buy, does

it reflects that there is a lack of trust among the customer specifically about the quality of the

product to be sold? This happens so when there is a physical interface between the consumer

and the buyer, however what happens in the online sector when there is only virtual interface

between the consumer and the seller is still not known. In that scenario online grocery retail

firms face a tough challenge to develop trust among their potential buyers certifying the quality

and freshness of the goods they are selling. A lot of resources including financial investment,

manpower, technological, strategical etc. need to be put in to build and keep it maintained

further among the buyers. This discussion raises the question that despite the consumers

existing buying behaviour and pattern, what has been the reasons that they are shifting

towards online grocery retail. This concern has been taken up in the chapter which deals with

studying the process of development of consumer trust towards grocery online retailing.

17
Price perception

There is a general perception that price of the goods being sold online is

comparatively cheaper compared to same set of goods being sold through the conventional

channel. This is also one of the motivations for the customers to go for online shopping.

However, Berkhout, 2016 states that this argument cannot always be the case specifically

with respect to groceries because of delivery charges. For example, if a customer wanted to

buy 250 gms. of tomatoes which are available @Rs. 15/- kg. in local neighbourhood

vegetable store but are available @Rs. 12/- from bigbasket, it would still be cheaper to buy it

locally as the customer would need to pay Rs. 40/- as delivery charges (as applicable for an

order of less than Rs. 1000/-). Hence, the total amount spent by the customer for 250 gms of

tomatoes would be Rs. 43/- which is much higher as compared to prices in the conventional

market. However, does this price perception actually creates a new entry barrier for

customers is still needs to be explored due to the fact that Bigbasket works on the basic

principle (as advertised by them) which guarantees lowest price offered with a * mark

certifying that terms and conditions applied. Similarly, through this backdrop a query is

raised that the concept of price perception among the consumers helps in expanding the

consumer base. The present research banks upon the price perception feature to study the

consumer trust building process in the following chapters of this research.

Routine

It requires lots of inputs to go for a change in the shopping habits and to experience

shift in the consumer behavior. As stated in A.T. Kearney Global Development Retail Index

(GRDI) in IAMR, 2013 report that consumers are happy with the way things are going and

18
the channels which they use to buy grocery unless they experience a major event in their

lifecycle which affects their socio-economic status. As explained by Berkhouth, 2016 it could

be a new job, certain incline or decline in income, shifting house, change in the number of

family members etc. These kinds of circumstances affect one’s personal choice and shopping

habits towards the grocery purchase. Specifically within the Indian scenario, grocery

purchase is historically embedded within family values which get carried over to

generations. For example, in many of the families there is a particular grocery store which is

the prime source of providing grocery on monthly basis and the family members have

developed a trust on the services of that particular store and the decision makers would

need a strong reason to discontinue from this ‘old reliable’ store to some online un-verified

seller. The present discourse leads to raise the query as to how major change in the socio-

economic structure of the family leads to entry and exit of the consumers towards grocery

online retailing. This question has been taken up in the upcoming chapter where consumer

trust building process has been discussed.

2.2.2 Supply side of the online grocery online retailing

Delivery

There is a huge difference between the delivery mechanism adopted in the business

model of firm dealing in grocery and other non-perishable consumer goods like electronics

or apparels. Grocery online retailing units needs to work in such a planned way to get the

goods delivered within a specific timeframe as the shelf life of those perishable goods is

short and customers must receive these goods as good and fresh as compared to be

19
purchased from a locally located shop or a hawker. For developing and managing the robust

logistical mechanism to cater to a just in time delivery while keeping proper care of the

goods as required on the way, it requires huge amount of investment, trusted partners and

honest monitoring system. This particular requirement makes the grocery e-retailing distinct

and certainly increases the cost and expenditures of running business. This has been the

primary reason discussed by Sen, 2016, also that more than 50 e-grocers started business in

India but very few could sustain after a short period of time. Moreover, BigBasket has been

seen as one of the upcoming ventures that could sustain its business in the grocery online

industry (Sen, 2016). The present study tries to figure out as to how networks within the

firm perform at work where the delivery mechanism is distinctive in nature. This aspect has

been taken up in the upcoming chapter which tries to focus on the inter-firm networks and

its functioning within the delivery mechanism of the online grocery retailing.

2.3 Research objectives and questions

The present study gathers around the central objective to understand the consumer

trust towards grocery online retailing. Secondly, this research also looks up to as to how the

value is added in a buyer driven value chain and how the inter firm-trust and networks

works among the units supplying services to the lead firm. Thirdly, the present research also

focus upon as to how the process of online retailing in grocery is evolved and what is the

pre-history of the emerging business, retail and trade practices.

20
2.3.1 Questions related to demand side of grocery online retailing

1. What are the drivers of building consumer trust in grocery online retailing and how

do they perform?

2. What are the motivations for switching to grocery online retailing?

2.3.2 Questions related to supply side of grocery online retailing

1. How do the emerging changes affect the governance mechanisms across the value

chain and threads?

2. How does the interfirm trust affect the economic and social upgradation of the

workers down the value chain?

3. Where does the question of gender gets located through the value chain?

2.4 Methodological frameworks

Two methodological frameworks were developed for the purpose of studying two

sections of this study. One is carved out from the concept of consumer trust and other one

from the concept of value chain analysis and inter-firm networks. Both the frameworks are

discussed in the following section.

2.4.1 Consumer behavior: Exploring the trust building process of consumers towards online
grocery retailing

There is a very high probability that consumer would stick to only one supplier provided

the cost of switching over is not very high and also there are no barriers restricting the decision

making of the buyers. While in the case of grocery retailing any of the factors is not found too

21
strong at work. One doesn’t need many valuable and expensive resources to invest while

switching to grocery e-retailing options from conventional means. Moreover, the state policies

like digital India and demonetization are encouraging online transactions. Jarvenpaa et al., 2000

has used the term “trustworthiness of the store” as a synonym with “consumer turst” (p. 47)

based on the fact that due to virtual nature of the e-business sales person representing the

seller organisation is missing hence the sole responsibility comes on the seller organisation to

develop the trust among the consumer. Jarvenpaa et al., 2000 goes further and proposes a

model to study the consumer trust. The variables of the model are perceived size, perceived

reputation, risk perception and attitudes and willingness to buy or re-purchase intentions.

These antecedents of consumer trust are used by the author to collect the data to study the

consumer trust towards an online store. Similarly, Mosavi and Ghaedi (2012) used variables

such as shared value, complaint handling and customer satisfaction to collect the data for a

similar sort of this study. In a similar manner the questionnaire for this particular study was

developed to gather the data related to antecedents of consumer trust. The questionnaire with

description of different variables is presented in the following sections. The outcome of the

study is based on the perception of the respondents for which qualitative data was also

collected.

Questionnaire for consumer trust survey

The response formats were either open, in ranking scale or closed (dichotomous,

multiple choices). More than 30 questions gauged the consumer’s views on choosing the online

shopping, reasons for buying grocery from Bigbasket, products which they buy, their

22
experience of those particular products and services, change in the shopping pattern, their

association with conventional grocery vendors etc. (refer to the following Table 2.1). Moreover,

none of the questions were kept mandatory for the respondents to answer. General

information about the consumer characteristics and respondents were also collected which

includes consumer name, age, gender, educational status and means of livelihood etc.

Table 2.1: Brief description of the consumer trust questionnaire

Criterion Groups of questions on Type of Role

survey response
Consumer Education of the Respondent Multiple Choice To examine consumer’s
Characteristics Questions characteristics in the
(MCQ) accessibility of online
Age Bracket Multiple Choice shopping.
Questions
(MCQ)
Respondent religion Dichotomous
(Yes/No)
Family income of the Dichotomous
respondent (Yes/No)
Respondent professional Dichotomous
(Yes/No)
Approach Since when you started buying Multiple Choice To figure out the
towards from Bigbasket? Questions motivations of customers
grocery online (MCQ) towards buying grocery
retailing Which other channel of Multiple Choice online from Bigbasket
buying grocery you were Questions
using? (MCQ)
Do you still use any Dichotomous
conventional source(s) of (Yes/No)
buying grocery?

Please describe the products Descriptive

which you still buy from above
mentioned conventional
sources of grocery and explain
the reasons behind it.
Has there been a major Multiple Choice
change in the socio-economic Questions

23
 structure of family which (MCQ)
promoted buying grocery
online?
What has been the prime Multiple Choice
reason to shop from Questions
Bigbasket? (MCQ)
Please describe the list Dichotomous
products which you were not (Yes/No)
using before but have started
buying from Bigbasket.

Perceived size Do you consider Bigbasket as Dichotomous To study the capacity or

one of the online grocery (Yes/No) scale of store to perform as
industry’s biggest seller in an online seller
India?
Does Bigbasket provide Dichotomous
customized solutions to your (Yes/No)
specific grocery needs?
Do you think that Bigbasket Multiple Choice
tries to build value by keeping Questions
its promises and (MCQ)
commitments towards the
customer?
Does this store keep your best Multiple Choice
interests and expectations in Questions
mind? (MCQ)
Have you ever found the Dichotomous
goods and services provided (Yes/No)
by the Bigbasket not up to the
mark as per your expectation?
Have you ever filed a Dichotomous
complaint with BIgbasket (Yes/No)
about your bad experience?
If yes, were you satisfied with Multiple Choice
the complaint resolution? Questions
(MCQ)
Reputation Has Bigbasket been able to Dichotomous To understand the
establish as a well-known (Yes/No) prominence of the online
seller in the online grocery store in the eyes of the
market? customers

24
 Do you think Bigbasket has Dichotomous
sufficient resources, (Yes/No)
knowledge and expertise to
do online grocery business?
Please share any specific Descriptive
experience about Bigbasket’s
products and services used by
you.
Would you like to consider Multiple Choice
repurchasing from Bigbasket Questions
in future? (MCQ)
Risk How would you characterize Multiple Choice To analyse the risk
Perception the decision of whether to buy Questions involved while sopping
a product from Bigbasket? (MCQ) from Bigbasket
Do you think that you would Dichotomous
recommend Bigbasket to (Yes/No)
other people?

2.4.2 Inter-firm networks: Interjection of value chain analysis

The literature on governance and labour within value chain analysis asserts that any

extra cost incurred by the lead firm in order to produce the particular goods and services is

shifted to the participants at the lower level of the hierarchical chain who are at receiving end.

Barrientos, 2001, Kaplinsky, 2000 and Humphrey & Schmitz, 2001 have discussed the

governance mechanism in the value chain analysis and argued that the ‘power to govern’ gives

the ‘lead firm’ enormous opportunities to extract economic rents which could be over and

above the expected profits. Similarly, to pursue further in this direction it is important to study

the interfirm trust developed between the lead firm and the other suppliers down the value

chain. This would explore the perspectives of supplier firms. The approach here is to target and

study value chains where Bigbasket acts as a lead firm in the buyer driven value chain and not

mere as a retailer. The areas of enquiry would be the origins, process and outcomes of the

25
contracting relations, the capabilities of the lead firm to build the trust, motivations for the

subordinate firms to get associated with the lead firm, personal relationship developed with the

employees of the lead firm (Nguyen, 2005). Based on the framework so developed and

discussed in further chapter five of this thesis, questionnaire was developed to collect data for

this section of study. The contents of the questionnaire are motivated from this methodological

framework as discussed above.

Questionnaire for inter firm networks survey

The questionnaire contained around forty questions most of them were descriptive in

nature. The questionnaire was divided into five sections based on the information sought viz.

structural information, operations and activities, operational cost, modus operandi with lead

firm and breach of trust. The first section covered the structural information about the firm like

about its registration, size of the firm, source of investment and number and nature of labour

involved etc. The second section focuses on the type of activities the firm performed. In the

third sections questions were being framed to gather the various operational costs of the firms.

In the following section, question about the way of operation with the lead form were asked

like the role of the middleman, payment structure from the company, loans etc. The last part of

the questionnaire is based on the questions to find out if there has been any breach of trust of

the firm with the lead firm.

26
Table 2.2: Brief description of the inter firm trust questionnaire

Criterion Groups of questions on survey Response options Role

Structural Location of the unit (i) Own dwelling unit To gauge the basic
Information (ii) Rented structural information
(iii)Provided by about the production
Bigbasket units
Legal entity (i) License register
(ii) No legal
registration
(iii) Company register
Evolution of firm (i) 1-2 yrs
(ii) 2-4 yrs
(iii) 4-6 yrs
(iv) Above 6 yrs
Size of the firm According to labour
size
Composition of labour (i) Pure family
(ii) Pure hired
(iii) Mixed
Operations Type of activity (i) Mixed To understand the
& activities (ii) single types and nature of
Engagement in type of (i) value addition activities which the
economic activity (ii) production firms undertake

Major activity of the firm, Descriptive

specify the tasks taken

Operational Specify the equipments, tools Descriptive To undertake the

Cost and machinery etc. operational cost
incurred by the unit
Source and cost of the Descriptive
equipments
Source and cost of any raw Descriptive
material used
Commission paid to middleman Descriptive
or any bribe
Modus Introduction with Bigbasket? Is Descriptive To understand the
Operandi there any middleman involved? mode of working with
with lead Nature of contract (i) tender based the Bigbasket
firm (ii) non-tender based

27
 How do you finalise the price of Descriptive
services provided? Specify the
prices
Any training provided Descriptive

Mode of payment from the Descriptive

company. Credit period? How
does it impact your operations
If payment is delayed how you Descriptive
manage?
Source of finance (i) self-financing
(ii) loans (specify)
Role of middleman in getting Descriptive
loan
Breach of Have your final goods rejected Descriptive To gauge the degree
Trust during the past? of trust within
Have you lost your payment Descriptive different networks
during the past?
Does middleman intervene and Descriptive
helps whenever there is a
dispute?

2.5 Sources of Data and Methodology: For the consumer trust section

The prime requisite of the present research is to prepare theoretical base to understand

the several concepts related to the broad theme of the study. To perform this necessary task,

available literature from authentic sources have been collected and then reviewed. The

literature includes published articles, book chapters, journals, research reports, reports from

government as well as non-government institutions etc. This study is based majorly on the

primary sources of data.

28
Sampling technique: A ‘mixed’ approach

Choosing methods and appropriate approach towards it is the most crucial and essential

step towards pursuing any research. The trajectory of thoughts which build the research ideas

and hence shapes the research problem needs to be extended while exploring the potential

methods and techniques. The backdrop with which the methods and techniques are sought

signifies that the set of targeted population under study is un-traceable in the given

circumstances, inaccessible, unevenly distributed in terms of physical locations. Considering

this, the probability sampling techniques couldn’t be applied in the present case due to specific

characteristics of the population as discussed above. As this research has progressed two viable

options of sampling techniques were explored and shortlisted i.e. snow ball and convenience

sampling. The merits and demerits of both were taken into account and after due

brainstorming, convenience sampling was followed while using some of the characteristics of

snowball sampling i.e. ‘referral’. An unorthodox approach with a ‘mixed sampling technique’

was adopted due to the facts such as access, cost effectiveness, time advantage, targeting huge

number of audience to find potential respondents etc. (Zikmund, 1999 in Mosavi & Ghaedi,

2012). On the other hand the disadvantages related to this approach were identified as

sampling bias could be produced as it is non-random and applied to an unknown sampling size

of the population. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire containing 41

questions and posted on internet through Google Forms (online platform for conducting

surveys and recording the data). Initially questionnaire was administered among a smaller

group of respondents to perform a pilot study and after receiving about 10 responses; the

questionnaire was revisited and modified again. The questionnaire was edited to include

29
questions related to type of products that consumers buy, what were their experiences with

those products (in order of satisfaction level and also qualitative questions), is there any change

in their consumption pattern as a result of shifting to online grocery, questions related to

whether they have entirely given up on buying from small stores and local vendors. This was

done as to get both qualitative and quantitative data to support the arguments to be derived

while analysing the data. After that the questionnaire was posted on several internet based

platforms like email groups, social media engines etc. The language of the survey was English

and was conducted between December 2018 and February 2019. The questionnaire was shared

with about 1500 people and total 165 responses were recorded during the period out of which

4 were omitted as they were found invalid. The questionnaire was open and administered to

general public without any pre-condition except the respondent must have been a user or

consumer of Bigbasket goods and services at some point or the other. Moreover, while sharing

the questionnaire with the potential respondents they were also encouraged to share the

questionnaire with the other potential respondents in their social circle. The number of

respondents discovered through this ‘snowballing’ is not known, however it proved to be an

important step as it multiplied the accessibility, within the specified resources, to the targeted

group.

Data Analysis

Simple statistical tools were used through MS-Excel to analyse the data. The data was

first processed using coding technique in STATA to develop cross tables. Other figures, tables

and charts were prepared using MS-Excel. About twenty seven cross tables were carved out of

30
the data using different variables from the questionnaire. The cross tables were as follows; (i)

percentage distribution of profession of individuals purchasing groceries by family income (ii)

percentage distribution of individuals buying groceries from other sources by family income (iii)

percentage distribution of family income of individuals by other channels of buying grocery (iv)

percentage distribution of individuals buying groceries from other sources by gender (v)

percentage distribution of individual’s occupation wise buying groceries from other sources (vi)

major change in the socio-economic structure of the family by family income (vii) major change

in the socio-economic structure of the family by profession (viii) customer perception towards

Bigbasket as one of the biggest online grocery seller in India by family income (ix) customer

perception towards Bigbasket as one of the biggest online grocery seller in India by profession

(x) customer perception about Bigbasket has been able to provide solutions to customized

grocery requirements by family income (xi) customer perception about Bigbasket has been able

to provide solutions to customized grocery requirements by profession (xii) customer

perception about Bigbasket has been able to build value by keeping its promises and

commitments towards the customers by family Income (xiii) customer perception about

Bigbasket has been able to build value by keeping its promises and commitments towards the

customers by profession (xiv) customer perception about Bigbasket that it keeps best interests

and expectations of customers in mind by family income (xv) customer perception about

Bigbasket that it keeps best interests and expectations of customers in mind by profession (xvi)

percentage distribution of individuals towards the satisfaction level with the complaint

resolution mechanism by Income (xvii) percentage distribution of individuals towards the

satisfaction level with the complaint resolution mechanism by profession (xviii) customer

31
perception towards Bigbasket has been able to establish as a well-known seller in the grocery

online market by family income (xix) customer perception towards Bigbasket has been able to

establish as a well-known seller in the grocery online market by profession (xx) percentage

distribution of customers who believe that Bigbasket has developed sufficient resources,

knowledge and expertise to do online grocery business by family income (xxi) percentage

distribution of customers who believe that Bigbasket has developed sufficient resources,

knowledge and expertise to do online grocery business by profession (xxii) percentage

distribution of consumers who would consider repurchasing from Bigbasket in future by family

income (xxiii) percentage distribution of consumers who would consider repurchasing from

Bigbasket in future by profession (xxiv) percentage distribution of individuals of how they

characterize the decision to buy a product from Bigbasket by family income (xxv) percentage

distribution of individuals of how they characterize the decision to buy a product from

Bigbasket by profession (xxvi) percentage distribution of individuals who would recommend

Bigbasket to other people by family income (xxvii) percentage distribution of individuals who

would recommend Bigbasket to other people by profession. In addition to this pie charts and

other figures were also prepared for the purpose of data analysis. Pie charts and special figures

were prepared to represent the data which was recorded in combinations, as respondents were

free to choose more than one option in some questions. The figures derived are as follows; (i)

percentage distribution of individuals started to buy groceries from Bigbasket (ii) Percentage

distribution of individuals buying groceries from other sources (iii) Percentage distribution of

choices made by the individuals in combinations to buy grocery from other channels (iv)

percentage distribution of individuals opting for online grocery buying due to major change in

32
the socio-economic structure within their family (v) percentage distribution of choices made by

the individuals in combinations to depict the major socio-economic change in the family which

promoted online grocery buying (vi) percentage wise distribution of prime reason to buy from

Bigbasket based on the characteristic features of online grocery retailing (vii) percentage

distribution of customers who perceive Bigbasket as one of the biggest online grocery seller

and who perceive that Bigbasket provides customised solution to their grocery needs (viii)

percentage distribution of customers who perceive Bigbasket tries to build value by keeping its

promises and commitments towards the customer and who perceive that Bigbasket keeps their

best interests and expectations in mind (ix) percentage distribution of the individuals who have

been satisfied with the complaint resolution mechanism of Bigbasket (x) percentage

distribution of individuals who perceive Bigbasket has been able to establish as a well-known

seller in the online grocery market and who perceive that Bigbasket has developed sufficient

resources, knowledge and expertise to do online grocery business (xi) percentage distribution

of consumers who would consider repurchasing from Bigbasket in future (xii) percentage

distribution of individuals of how they characterize the decision to buy a product from

Bigbasket (xiii) percentage distribution of individuals who would recommend Bigbasket to other

people.

2.6 Sources of data and methodology: For inter firm trust and value chain analysis section

The field site is based in a peri-urban setting in Village Bamnoli, Dwarka. Over the period

of time many small units have developed in the vicinity of the main operational set up of

Bigbasket. These smaller operational units are responsible majorly for the outsourced work and

33
value addition to the raw materials so that a more finished product is derived for online sale to

the customers. The central objective of this paper lies around the purpose to understand the

process of production networks of the lead firm i.e. Bigbasket and the smaller firms down the

value chain. The fieldwork for this section was done in the month of October and November

2019.

Approach and sampling

The purposive sampling technique was followed to choose the firms depending upon

their availability, the access and any other constraint. Field setting and potential respondents

were identified in the pilot study where questionnaire was first introduced to a few production

units and after receiving their responses a few questions were added which helped to gather

the missing link in the data. Purposive sampling technique was followed as it allows collecting

specific data points from specific sources of data; however this technique follows non

randomization of sample which has a probability to produce bias. There were about 200

household units working in the field area out of which 22 informal household units which were

surveyed in this fieldwork for this section.

Interviews with respondents

Interviews of the owners of the units or the person responsible for running the units

were taken up using a structured questionnaire. In depth interviews of the respondents, which

provided vital information for the purpose of this study, were also developed. The data

collected was descriptive in nature. The similar findings from the respondents were grouped

and clubbed and presented in the descriptive form. Additionally, a few narratives aimed at

34
specific points crucial towards the objectives of this research were carved out and presented in

the form of evidence.

2.7 Sources of data for financial trajectory of Bigbasket

The section is based on the secondary data and was derived through the ‘share valuation

reports’ of the organisation. These reports were accessed online from www.zauba.com. These

reports were prepared and submitted by BM Manjunath & Associates, Chartered Accountant of

the company. The data captured and analysed is related to assets, income, expenses, profit,

loss and expense towards employee benefit incurred by the company.

2.8 Ethics

My training as a development professional and researcher at Dr. B R Ambedkar

University Delhi has given a lot of emphasis on research ethics. The purpose and objective of

the study were made petty clear to the respondents. The data has been recorded and taken up

with the prior consent of the respondents. For both the sections of data collection the

respondents were duly informed about the purpose of the research while introducing the

questionnaire to them and it was also assured that the data provided in the survey will only be

used for non-commercial purpose of study and research.

35