Current Status of E-Commerce Adoption by SMEs in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This empirical study aims to understand the current status of e-commerce adoption by SMEs in Bangladesh. The survey method is used to collect the data. The sample size for this study is 326 SMEs. The descriptive statistics and crosstabs are used in this study for data analysis. The statistical software Minitab 16 is used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics indicates that the ICT adoption by SMEs in Bangladesh in general is progressing. In terms of overall ICT adoption, more than two third of SMEs in the country have adopted PC or laptop and internet. The e-commerce adoption (measured by website adoption) by SMEs in the country is in a moderate state. More than half of sampled SMEs have adopted e-commerce (web sites ownership). However, further data analysis indicates like other developing countries, among the adopters group majority of them use their web sites only for promotion and marketing purposes and in some extents provide the customer support & services and options for online order processing. Usage of advanced e-commerce applications are almost absent. We suggest, with relevant support, SMEs with low capital, can capitalize the “new normal” business environment during Covid-19 pandemic and likely to adopt more e-commerce. Without any doubt we believe the sharp rise in growth of SMEs if they can integrate adopt advanced e-commerce tools with their business activities during this unpredictable future of Covid-19 pandemic. The empirical findings of this study will fill up the existing gap in the theoretical knowledge and will help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to better understand the current trend of e-commerce usage among the SMEs in the country and act accordingly. Policy implications of this research and direction for the future research are also discussed.