Influences on electronic marketing (E-marketing) adoption Among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES)

The paper analyses the influences of E-marketing adoption among SMEs in a survey study. Sample for the study was selected using convenience sampling method. A sample size of 105 SMEs was used. Primary data was collected using self-designed questionnaire, administered with the help of four research assistants at the work places of the respondents. Data was analysed using percentages, frequencies and One-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results indicate that influences of E-marketing adoption are multi-dimensional in structure. The three mostimportant factors according to the survey are understandability; ease of use and flexible use of the E-marketing technology. Business should adopt E-marketing in their business activities to ensure improve business performance, improve productivity and job effectiveness. Policy makers and government should ensure that grants; subsidies and loans are made available to SMEs to be able to effectively adopt E-marketing technology. Public education programmes should be put in place to ensure that individuals and businesses are made aware of the potentials and benefits of E-marketing adoption. Since the current study is a descriptive in nature, future study should focus on causal studies with larger sample size.