SMEs and E Commerce   The Asia Foundation

4.5.4.2 Purposes of the websites  

75.64% of 78 respondents ranked promoting company to potential customers as 

the first current primary purpose of the site.   

17.95% ranked selling goods over the Internet as the first current primary purpose 

of the site. 

Collecting visitor information for database was the least primary purpose among 

the three purposes (Figure 1.51). 

Figure 1.51 

Purposes of the websites 

Promoting company

Selling goods 

Collect information

Others

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Rank1

Rank2

Rank3

Rank4

4.5.4.3 Importance of website for promotion and sales  

51.3% considered that the website was very important to the promotion and the 

sale of the company. 

Respondents who favored using websites cited that their sale amount and 

customers had increased. Customers had had more information about the 

company. Company's image had been improved. Foreign markets could be easily 

reached. Market expansion could be easily conducted. Communication between 

the companies and their customers was more cost effective, time saving, and 

convenient.  

On the contrary, some respondents argued that websites had not help increasing 

either sale amount or number of customers. 

By geography, number of companies that deemed the website very important to 

the promotion of the company was greater in Chiang Mai than in other cities 

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