FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT OF ECOMMERCE PLATFORM OPERATORS

In Ethiopia, there are no any well-organized and updated information about the existing status and challenges of ecommerce. This study aims to examine the existing status and factors affecting development of e-commerce platform operators in Addis Ababa city. Questionnaire and interview methods were employed to collect primary data. Data collected from actively operating 40 B2C kind of ecommerce operators and 218 technical employees working in those organizations. Published and unpublished secondary data also used as supplementary sources of information. Both descriptive and explanatory types of research designs applied to explain, describe and analyze each specific objectives. The findings of the study shown that the area coverage of the existing ecommerce businesses in terms of number of active users is found concentrating in Addis Ababa city. The majorities of ecommerce platforms are not in house developed, lack locality, lack well developed business model and promotional techniques. The payment and delivery modality are not well digitalized with the expected level .