| dc.description.abstract | This research aimed at accomplishing two important things. The first was
to determine the awareness level of e-commerce in supermarkets in Nairobi
and the second was to find out the factors that have served to influence its
adoption. The rationale of the study arose from the fact that e-commerce
has rapidly grown in other parts of the world, with the retailing industry
being one of the leading adopters. However, even with the emergence of
the Internet in Kenya and the ability to access it through the growth of
Internet Service Providers, very little has practically been done in the area of
e-commerce.
The study required collecting information from the supermarkets in Nairobi
and twenty-two of them responded positively. Data was collected using
structured questionnaires, which were normally dropped and picked up later
at an agreed date The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and
Factor Analysis, through the use of the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
Sciences) computer program.
Results following the analysis indicated that there is still a lot of ignorance
with respect to e-commerce. This affects the management attitude in
implementing and for many establishments, it is not yet integrated into their
business plan, evidenced by their low budgetary commitment. As such, the
staff are not properly trained to prepare themselves for the challenges of
emerging technology and the strong tides of globalization. Only a few
supermarkets realize its vast potential and the opportunity to reap a host of
benefits through competitive advantage.
Further, it was found out that the depressed economic climate has not
favoured new investment. The telecommunications industry also needs to
be fully liberalized for supermarkets to take advantage of lower connectivity
costs through the introduction of better technology and hopefully, more
competitors. | en |
