E-Marketing Barriers from Agricultural Experts' Perception

Abstract

E-marketing has been predicted to be a new driver of economic growth for developing countries. Electronic marketing is a process of buying and selling products, services and information using computer networks and the internet. Accessible and transparent markets are necessary to raise income and improve livelihood of farmers. In developing countries, agricultural markets rarely meet these needs. In today’s business marketplace, effective use and flow of information is the key to success. Electronic marketing promises vast opportunities. In implementation of e-marketing, farmers encountered several barriers. Therefore it is necessary to identify such barriers. This study investigates agricultural experts’ perception about the barriers of e-marketing implementation. The factor analysis showed that the barriers can be classified into 3 latent factors namely: social and cultural barriers, technical barriers and legal and organizational barriers. 53.57% of total common variances are explained by these 3 factors. Key words: Barriers; electronic marketing; agricultural markets.