Web Site Utilization in SME Business Strategy: The Case of Canadian Wine SMEs

Abstract

This paper reports on empirical reseazch focused on how small- and medium-size Canadian enterprises operating in the wine sector utilize the Internet in their marketing and business strategies to provide information to consumers, create relationships with consumers, and utilize online e-commerce channels to sell more or all of what they produce. Based on a content analysis of the web sites of a randomly selected sample of Canadian wineries, this research found that a very high proportion of SME wineries utilize web sites in their marketing and business strategies. The highest proportion of wineries utilize their sites for providing information, followed by use for e-commerce, and by use of the site for creating and developing relationships with existing and potential consumers. Use of web sites for more sophisticated purposes (e-commerce and relationship building) is significantly related to exporting wine outside of the direct region where the SME winery is located geographically.