E-Commerce Strategies and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Makurdi Benue State Nigeria

Abstract

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the effect of e-commerce strategies such as social media marketing, online advertisement and electronic payment on performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Makurdi Benue State Nigeria. The problem was to ascertain the effect of social media marketing, online advertisement and e-payment system on performance of SMEs. The study was anchored on Resource-Based View Theory by Birger Wernerfelt, (1984). This theory is appropriate for the study because it portrays the various the resources such as e-commerce strategies that SMEs can adopt so as to achieve greater and improved performance. A survey research design was adopted and primary data of well-structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from the respondents. The study population comprised of 1711 selected SMEs in which Taro Yamane formula was used to select the sample size of 324. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and percentages. The hypothesis were tested using multiple regression analysis and the results show that all the dimensions, social media-marketing (.000<0.05), online-advertisement (.002<0.05) and e-payment system (.000<0.05) has positive significant effect on performance of SMEs. The study concluded that e-commerce strategies have positive significant effect on performance of SMEs in Makurdi Benue State Nigeria.