Using a digital platform to support market research for SMEs

Abstract Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of a national economy. To survive and thrive, they must adopt a market orientation. This process involves collecting market information related to customers, competitors, and using it in the decision-making process. Such information can be gathered both formally through market research and informally from personal and business networks. However, few SMEs use formal market research because they do not have the necessary resources, such as money, skills, or even time. With the advent of digital technologies and to compensate for the shortcomings, new digital tools can be used. This study investigates the extent to which SMEs are interested in using a digital platform to perform market research activities. Data were collected from 403 organizations through a CAPI survey and were analysed using cluster analysis. The results indicate that only 6% of SMEs perform market research, while 18% intend to do it soon. We identified four clusters with distinct behaviours and valuable findings related to digital platform characteristics to increase the adoption rate