The perception of supermarkets in Nairobi on the use of e-marketing

This study was conducted with the objective of determining the awareness of e-marketing \nby the supermarkets in Nairobi. The study also set to determine the \nperception of supermarkets in Nairobi on the use of e-marketing as a marketing tool \nTo achieve the above objectives, primary data was collected from fifty supermarkets \nin the city. The supermarkets were selected from among the small, medium, and \nlarge size supermarkets. The researcher adopted the list of supermarkets and the \ncategories (i.e small, medium and large) from an earlier study that was conducted in \nthe year 2000. \nAnalysis of the data indicated that most supermarkets irrespective of their sizes were \naware of e-marketing. Though most of them have heard of e-marketing and they \nunderstand that it involves the use of the Internet, they are yet to fully understand the \nconcept of e-marketing, The results also showed that most supermarkets in Nairobi \nperceive e-marketing positively. \nThe findings from the analysis led to following conclusions: \n• Most supermarkets view or understand e-marketing in a very narrow sense, that is, it \ninvolves selling and advertising on the Internet. \n• Supermarkets perceive e-marketing as being insecure, complex and costly. This \nperception needs to be corrected. \n• Most supermarkets have not formed a strong and concrete perception about e-marketing. \nThe possible conclusion is that the technology is still new in Kenya and \nsupermarkets need to be educated further about this new marketing tool.