Current Status of E-Commerce Adoption by SME 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 indicates that the ICT adoption by SMEs in Bangladesh in general is progressing. 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, 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. Findings of this study have a great importance for researchers and policy makers to better understand the phenomenon. Policy implications of this research and direction for the future research are also discussed.