Customer satisfaction in automobile industry – An Indian online buyers’ perspective of car manufacturers’ websites

Online bookings and online purchase are the current wave in Indian car industry. Internet is gradually hitting the core of every industry including the car industry. It creates a greater awareness of the vehicle and influences the buyer to purchase. Internet is believed to have a greater impact on the sales process and will definitely give higher level of sales satisfaction. This paper analyses consumer attitudes towards Internet-based car manufacturers’ websites. Our aim was to obtain a theoretically and empirically grounded initial reference position, against which later research can examine and interpret the role played by changes in the variables representing consumer preferences and shifts in these preferences, and thus helps the car manufacturers learn in depth the ways to enhance customer satisfaction. Regression analysis shows that the two independent variables significantly affect the satisfaction of Indian car buyers on the Internet. Moreover, through appropriate interpretation of parametric change in the regression analysis, we can explore the consequences of possible (future) changes in Manufacturer’s website over Internet, especially with respect to maximising the quality and easy navigation of website in order to retain a loyal customer. Generalising, we suggest that Internet based car manufacturers can effectively maximise level of satisfaction of the existing and prospective customers by adopting the suggested model.