EFFECT OF E-MARKETING PRACTICES ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN THE CASE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE(SMES) IN ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

Marketing strategies constitute one of the key functional strategies that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) adopt to enhance performance. This study is aimed to examine the effect of emarketing Practices on SMEs performance in Addis Ababa City. By taking the research objectives and questions into considerations, quantitative research approach and both descriptive and explanatory research designs were used. The study was delimited to proportionate stratified techniques. Quantitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire and distributed to a sample of 309 owners and/or managers of SMEs in the Yeka, Kirkos and Lideta sub-city. With a response rate of 94%, 290 questionnaires have been returned and were valid for data analysis. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential analysis. The findings of descriptive statistics have shown that the mean score of e-marketing strategy variables i.e., website information’s quality, social media marketing, online advertising, quality customer service and reliability inclined to higher agreement level. All independent variables have the significant positive correlation with the dependent variable business performance. In this case, relatively Quality Customer Service had a higher strong relationship with business performance. Likewise, the result of the multiple linear regression indicated that, all the five factors except online advertising have a positive and significant effect on the business Performance of SMEs. The results also revealed that these independent variables were significant joint predictors of performance. The independent variables jointly explained 61.5% of the variance in performance. Finally, based on the finding of the study SMEs in Addis Ababa need to focus on their practices of E-marketing