Probing Small and Medium Enterprise’ (SMEs) Uptake on Ecommerce in Camarines Sur, Philippines

A study was conducted to identify the extent of use of ecommerce in the product promotion of SMEs, determine the factors affecting the ecommerce uptake of SMEs and recommend strategies to enhance product promotion through ecommerce in Camarines Sur, Philippines. Ninety-six SMEs were respondents in this study from the 5 districts in Camarines Sur, Philippines. Survey-questionnaire was prepared, key informant surveys and focused group discussion were conducted to gather first-hand data from respondents. Frequency, percentages and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results of the study showed that all respondents have access to the internet but only 4 have websites for the promotion of their products. About half have no definite plans of establishing their websites. However, 67 of the SMEs are already doing online business through social networking sites. T-test result showed that there is no significant difference in terms of ecommerce adoption between men and women with p(.43) > .05. Barriers in the uptake of ecommerce were identified such as lack of benefits accruing from the use of ecommerce, inadequate financial resources, lack of skill and technical capabilities and fear of losing their privacy. Recommendations include provisions of training and skills development to motivate entrepreneurs, presence of enabling policies and infrastructure that will enable widespread use of internet for SMEs and proactive awareness campaign to improve the flow of information to small firms on the benefits of electronic commerce. All these are necessary to enable our SMEs to shift to the ‘new’ economic era and platform.