MARKETING STRATEGY FOR AN E-BUSINESS FOR ENTERING THE KENYAN MARKET

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR AN E-BUSINESS FOR ENTERING THE KENYAN MARKET. A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this thesis is to find right entry points for Small and mediume–zise en-terprise (SMEs) entering an online market in Kenya. The recent information in Kenyan market shows that number of business are not meeting their objective goals if they stay in their traditional way of doing business despite of competition and as well customers or consumers are into online as a result of internet penetration in this economy. After the introduction of the internet, there is still a shortage of knowledge of e-business market strategies that could enable prospective companies to do business in Kenya. This study seeks to explain B-to-B online business in Kenya and identify access routes which SMEs can explore. Considering the weight of B-to-C as target point for many e-businesses, this study also took an elaborate view on this segment.

The qualitative method of research was used in this study; whereby, online question-naires with questions was sent to existing business in the Kenyan market. In this study, a scientific approach was also used in order to improve validity and credibility of sources of data. Results show that there is increasingly e-business activity in the Kenyan market and companies have had to blend traditional ways of doing business to the mod-ern internet supported approaches. The study aims to bridge an existing knowledge gap by offering possible recommendations for future use by SMEs targeting online business in Kenyan market. Target strategies will be discussed as in a real e-business practice, compared to theoretical part.

1 Introduction

E-business is an online retail market; the world has become like a global village, where-by businesses are done online due to an evolution of new technologies available. Com-panies are running less of their target objective goals, limited resources; introduction of surplus, opportunities available online and that’s why internationalization has been in-troduced in the market. According to different empirical studies, e-business has an in-creasing influence as a major player for a modern way of doing business.

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR AN E-BUSINESS FOR ENTERING THE KENYAN MARKET. A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT