The Adoption of E-Commerce by Businesses in Bahrain During Covid-19

E-commerce plays an important and prominent role in the modern era, especially with the continued emergence of new technologies, which opened new horizons for entrepreneurs and business owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to pursue business growth. Currently, SMEs are no longer limited to practicing their business activities locally but internationally. Digitalization has a vital role in elevating the state of competitiveness between firms, which prompts many SMEs to acquire technologies that facilitate the business transition to e-commerce considering gaining a competitive advantage over their rivals and maintaining relevance in their field. This research will further explore the different challenges SMEs faced in Bahrain during the Covid-19 period and analyze the various obstacles faced during e-commerce adaptation. The analysis considers three main categories: organizational Readiness, environmental Readiness, and technological Readiness. This study aims to demonstrate SMEs' willingness to transition their business activities to e-commerce after the devastating repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was designed and shared with 110 employees working at SMEs, and 100 responses were received and selected to be the research sample size. The research revealed that SMEs in Bahrain faced many obstacles to transform into e-commerce businesses during the pandemic and among the challenges were the financial cost of such transformation. The study provided further recommendations for future studies.