Digital Marketing Adoption and Its Effect on Sales Performance of Small Fisheries Enterprises

Digital marketing has become an essential component of contemporary business strategy, enabling firms to promote products and services, access new markets, and expand sales. Within the fisheries sector, many small enterprises face geographical isolation, intense competition, and shifting consumer preferences that traditional marketing approaches struggle to address. Digital channels — including social media, e-commerce platforms, online advertising, and mobile applications — offer these businesses an opportunity to overcome such constraints and engage customers more effectively. 
Small fisheries enterprises are important economic actors in coastal communities, generating employment and food security, yet many continue to rely on conventional marketing methods that may be poorly suited to a rapidly digitalising economy. This creates a pressing need to examine how, and to what extent, small fisheries enterprises are adopting digital marketing, and whether such adoption translates into measurable improvements in sales performance. 
This study therefore examines the level of digital marketing adoption among small fisheries enterprises, the specific channels used, the effect of adoption on sales performance, and the challenges enterprises encounter in the process. Specifically, the objectives are to assess the extent of digital marketing use; to explore the technologies and techniques employed, including social media, websites, e-commerce, and digital advertisements; to identify the channels preferred by small-scale fisheries enterprises; to evaluate the impact of digital marketing adoption on sales performance; to identify the barriers enterprises face in adopting digital marketing; and to suggest strategies for promoting sales through digital marketing.