PASSAGE 20 (Questions 1-5)

Despite the global slowdown, the online shopping in India has increased. The growing pace of online buying is because of the attractive discounted prices offered and the ability of the customers to research and compare the prices across several outlets. The average frequency of online purchases in India grew up to 2.9 in the fourth quarter of 2008 from 2.6 during the same quarter in 2007, as reported by the survey of Master Card Worldwide. "The economic meltdown has not affected our business," said the CEO of an e-commerce portal which specialises in personalised gifting and merchandise space in India. He said: "Our business has increased up to five times this year despite the economic recession. Currently, we possess a database of 25000 designs posted by a thousand designers so that the users can create their own merchandise by selecting the designs sitting at home." The CEO also said that with the rise in bandwidth penetration in India and the increasing awareness of internet among people, the online shoppers sense the convenience to click on the products they want to purchase. Holding onto a similar conviction, the CEO of another Company said, "With the convenience of online buying, customers can save their time and money to move across multiple outlets for a product."

The online shoppers also plan their shopping in advance and conduct research on their planned purchases. It becomes easier for the customers to decide the price at which they want the products. Sharing views On this point, the Manager of the e-commerce portal says, "Through the online shopping, customers can attain the objective of value for money during these tough times." Today, India is the only country where the 18 to 29 years age group has the highest average spend on online shopping. In India, the popular online purchases include the home appliances and the electronic gadgets like cell phones, camera, laptops and so on. According to the survey, the e-purchasing of electronic products has gone up by 51%. So to drive these online shoppers,e-commerce portals are adopting a networking culture by incorporating social networking feature in their websites. So, that people can discuss with their friends and relatives before buying the particular product. There are more start ups, who are innovating their products to combat slowdown.

[PNB(PO), 2009]

What does the phrase 'value for money' as used in the passage mean?