Influence of E-Commerce on Enterprises’ Brand in Developing Countries. A Case Study of Small to Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Currently, most small businesses use e-commerce as a marketing tool and attach great importance to exchanging information and information about products and services. This study shows that improving internal efficiency and increasing communication are the main benefits of e-commerce for small businesses. By increasing the exchange of information, companies can cover a much larger customer area and attract new customers. Because they are aware of product characteristics, customers are happier and ready to give orders. This study shows that companies are changing a new way of finding customers that will allow them to reduce their advertising costs. At the same time, businesses are experiencing cost savings through better stagnated business. The main obstacles for small businesses are the lack of innovative culture and knowledge. Although some companies still consider the most important cost factor, this is due to the lack of understanding of e-commerce and positive effects. This in turn will lead to an end to the lack of conformity or innovation process. Another major obstacle is the lack of customer demand. In addition, the study shows that many small businesses do not benefit from these improvements, given the nature of the companies or markets that do not promote the innovation process. The results of the study showed that although access to finance could have a positive impact on SME performance, it was not fully exploited for Zimbabwe SMEs. Banks should therefore improve their lending conditions, collateral requirements and the number of years in order to improve performance. The survey results showed that management skills can have a positive and significant impact on the performance of SMEs, but only a small proportion of companies have embraced them.

DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-20-10

Publication date:October 31^st 2020