IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025i3sp3358-3367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Digital Marketing on Sales Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • *Nasuha Bishrul

    (PGIHS, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka)

Abstract

In the fast-moving environment of contemporary business, the incorporation of digital marketing has evolved to become an imperative for several enterprises, especially small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which rely heavily on its potential power to drive their sales upward. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional research design to allow analysis of SMEs in Sri Lanka at the same time. The target population was mainly from the 20 SMEs for the last 5 years and it had a population of 400 SMEs. A sample size of 20 SMEs was determined and randomly selected to answer the research objective from this population. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire as the data collection instrument which was sent to either the SME owners or marketing heads. The questionnaire was structured in a way that would create uniformity in the responses. Responses were analyzed by the use of mean score, Pearson’s correlation test, and Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS v.21 software. The outcome of the study revealed that email marketing and social media marketing have an influence on SMEs sales growth and to a large extent. Mobile marketing, SEO marketing, P.P.C, and online marketing all had a significant effect on SMEs’ sales growth and to a moderate extent. The study findings indicated that a lack of digital media knowledge was the greatest challenge for SMEs in the adoption of digital marketing, followed by a lack of suitable digital marketing techniques and the lack of finances. The findings led to the conclusion that email marketing and social media marketing are important to improve SMEs sales, while the other techniques, such as mobile marketing, SEO marketing, P.P.C, and online marketing, had little or moderate effect on sales. The study recommended that SMEs should be trained and sensitized on the available digital marketing techniques and how they are suitable for their businesses. This study also recommended that proper policies be put in place by the government to assist SMEs in adopting digital marketing. Lastly, the study recommended that funds should be provided to the SMEs to finance their digital marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • *Nasuha Bishrul, 2025. "Impact of Digital Marketing on Sales Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(3s), pages 3358-3367, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:3s:p:3358-3367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-3s/3358-3367.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/impact-of-digital-marketing-on-sales-growth-of-small-and-medium-enterprises-in-sri-lanka/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Coad, Alex & Frankish, Julian & Roberts, Richard G. & Storey, David J., 2013. "Growth paths and survival chances: An application of Gambler's Ruin theory," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 615-632.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    2. Derbyshire, James & Garnsey, Elizabeth, 2015. "Are firm growth paths random? A further response regarding Gambler's Ruin Theory," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 9-11.
    3. Alex Coad, 2018. "Firm age: a survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 13-43, January.
    4. Pelin Demirel & Gamze Ozturk Danisman, 2019. "Eco‐innovation and firm growth in the circular economy: Evidence from European small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 1608-1618, December.
    5. Michael Fritsch & Florian Noseleit & Yvonne Schindele, 2014. "Surviving Against the Tide: Are New Businesses in Innovative Industries Less Affected by General Economic Trends?," Jena Economics Research Papers 2014-017, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    6. Bianchini, Stefano & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2019. "Innovation persistence and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1171-1186.
    7. Weihua Su & Zhen Wang & Chonghui Zhang & Tomas Balezentis, 2023. "Determinants of the innovation efficiency of strategic emerging enterprises: evidence from the robust frontiers," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1433-1465, June.
    8. Alex Coad & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Daniel Halvarsson, 2022. "Amundsen versus Scott: are growth paths related to firm performance?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 593-610, August.
    9. Alex Coad & Masatoshi Kato, 2021. "Growth paths and routes to exit: 'shadow of death' effects for new firms in Japan," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1145-1173, October.
    10. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    11. Mario BENASSI & Matteo LANDONI & Francesco RENTOCCHINI, 2017. "University Management Practices and Academic Spin-offs," Departmental Working Papers 2017-11, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    12. Douglas, Evan J. & Shepherd, Dean A. & Prentice, Catherine, 2020. "Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for a finer-grained understanding of entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    13. Åstebro, Thomas & Tåg, Joacim, 2015. "Jobs Incorporated: Incorporation Status and Job Creation," Working Paper Series 1059, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    14. Van Heghe, Yasmine & Knockaert, Mirjam & Patzelt, Holger & Wiklund, Johan, 2024. "The significance of entrepreneurs’ physical health for venture distress and exit," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    15. Derbyshire, James & Garnsey, Elizabeth, 2014. "Firm growth and the illusion of randomness," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 1, pages 8-11.
    16. Chuyen Thi NGUYEN, 2025. "Factors Influencing the Success of Technology Startups in Vietnam: A research model development," GATR Journals gjbssr664, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    17. Coad, Alex & Frankish, Julian S. & Roberts, Richard G. & Storey, David J, 2015. "Are firm growth paths random? A reply to “Firm growth and the illusion of randomness”," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 5-8.
    18. Laurence Cohen & Peter Wirtz, 2022. "Decision-making style in entrepreneurial finance and growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 183-210, June.
    19. Elena Cefis & Orietta Marsili, 2019. "Good times, bad times: innovation and survival over the business cycle," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(3), pages 565-587.
    20. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Mark Hart, 2018. "All grown up? The fate after 15 years of a quarter of a million UK firms born in 1998," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 45-76, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:3s:p:3358-3367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.