Maturation Stage of eCommerce in Developing Countries: A Survey of South African Companies

There is a paucity of empirical data on the level of diffusion of eCommerce technologies and business activities enabled by these technologies in businesses in developing countries. This study investigates the implementation and plans of a range of e-enabling hard and soft technologies: electronically performed business functions and the overall maturity of eCommerce usage. The authors surveyed 150 South African businesses. The findings reveal the dominance of communication aspects, but not the transaction aspects, of eCommerce. The implementation of integrated eCommerce solutions and security-enabling applications is very limited. Implementation plans of eCommerce revolve around extending communication technologies and enabling upward movement along the value chain, particularly marketing and procurement activities. By establishing benchmarks, the study contributes to our understanding of developments of eCommerce in developing countries.