The Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Behavior: A Case Study Of Selected SMEs In Kampala, Uganda
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Date
2023-09-16
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Uganda Christian University
Abstract
Digital marketing has transformed how business and other organizations communicate with their audience. The 5D‟s of digital marketing includes digital devices, digital platforms, digital media, digital data and digital technology which can be used alongside traditional marketing techniques, to get closer to audiences than ever before. Consumers now have access to a much wider choice of entertainment, products, services and prices from different suppliers and a more convenient way to select and purchase items. Organizations have the opportunity to expand into new markets, of new services, interact with audiences in new ways and compete on a more equal footing with larger businesses.
Digital marketing has provided small and medium enterprises a platform to create awareness to consumers on what they offer due to their relatively low cost. Previous studies done in relation to the effect of digital marketing and social marketing either had operational or environmental differences which provided a research gap hence motivated the study objective which is to determine the impact of digital marketing on consumer behaviour around SMEs in Kampala, Uganda.
The study used a descriptive cross-sectional research design to allow analysis of SMEs in Kampala at the same time. The target population was mainly from the Top 50 SMEs for the last 5 years. From this population, a sample size of 25 SMEs was determined and randomly selected to answer the research objective.
Primary data was collected using questionnaire as the data collection instrument which was sent to either the SME owners or marketing heads. The questionnaire was structured to provide uniformity in responses. The study results indicated that email marketing and social media marketing had significant impact on SMEs sales growth and to a great extent. Mobile marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) marketing, pay-per-click (P.P.C), and online marketing all had a significant effect on SMEs’ sales growth and to a moderate extent.
The study findings indicated that lack of digital media knowledge was the greatest challenge for SMEs in the adoption of digital marketing, followed by lack of suitable digital marketing techniques and the lack of finances. The findings led to the conclusion that email marketing and social media marketing are important to improve SMEs consumer behaviour while the other techniques (mobile marketing, SEO marketing, P.P.C and online marketing) had little or moderate effect on customer buying patterns.
The study recommended that SMEs should be trained and sensitized on the available digital marketing techniques and how they are suitable for their businesses. The study also recommended that proper policies should be made by the government that assist SMEs to adopt digital marketing. Finally the study recommended that SMEs should be provided with funds in order to finance their digital marketing.
Description
This is a dissertation.