Strategies for Small Enterprises to Retain the Opportunities Created by COVID-19 for e-Marketing

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted commerce and industry globally. While this impact was mostly negative, some rare businesses, for example, e-marketing, benefited from it as well. This study aims to identify the strategies required to retain the opportunities presented by the pandemic by converting consumers to e-marketing. To collect data, the authors distributed an electronic questionnaire to the study sample in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the most promising markets in electronic commerce and digital transformation. The sample consisted of 69 respondents from small-scale companies who conducted marketing activities via the internet, as well as 400 online buyers. The study analysed the data using statistical methods included in the SPSS software package. The study concluded that the current situation at small businesses will not allow them to switch consumers to e-marketing; that is, they are not yet ready for it. The COVID-19 provided many opportunities to these companies, and the results suggest that they should employ strategies such as lead generation, website optimization for search engines, and creating customer-friendly content, efficient supply chains, websites that attract the target customers, online customer interaction and so on to exploit these opportunities.