Effective e-commerce strategies for small online retailers.

Abstract

After years of strong double-digit growth, online retail sales in the U.S. are showing signs of slowing down. It is imperative that small online retailers understand the best practices of successful e-commerce ventures and get things done right fast because they have limited access to slack resources to experiment with new strategies and absorb the risk of failures. However, to my knowledge, there is little known information available to help small businesses exploit the Internet. This dissertation attempts to plug this research gap. It aims to identify the factors that are most effective in helping small online retailers attain common business objectives such as improving profit margin, increasing profitability and accelerating business growth. In addition, this research acknowledges the diversity of the small and medium-sized enterprise? and examines the influences of strategic decisions made by top management on the implementation of critical success factors and business performance. A web-based survey was set up to collate responses from suitable online retailers in the U.S.