Abstract
Purpose - In this study, we discuss the current status and barriers of digital transformation focused on small businesses. More specifically, this study consists of two studies. The purpose of study 1 is to investigate the effect of digitization of small businesses on the sales of stores and the number of visiting customers. The purpose of Study 2 is to examine the status and obstacles of online channels use by small businesses. Research design, data, and methodology - In Study 1, we will examine the changes in sales and visitor numbers of stores that are rapidly adapting to digital transformation among small business. For this, we utilize the actual situation of store management survey conducted by the Small Enterprise and Market Service. Specifically, multiple regression equations were used to determine whether blogs and online shopping malls were operating, and the proportion of credit cards to sales as independent variables and sales and number of visiting customers as dependent variables. Next, in Study 2, we surveyed the 15 small business owners in the latest survey on the actual situation of store management survey conducted in 2015, and conducted an in-depth interview to examine the barriers to the use of online channels by small business. Results - As a result of study 1, it is found that the small business who run the blogs have higher sales and visits than the small business who do not. However, there is no difference in the sales and the number of visiting customers between the stores that operate the online shopping malls and those that do not. Second, the higher the proportion of credit cards, the higher the sales and the number of visiting customers. In study 2, we analyzed the barriers to the expansion of online channels by in-depth interviews. Interviews show that barriers to access to online channels are limited by search neutrality, high commission burden, and low bargaining power. These problems are caused by the insufficiency of small business compared to online and mobile portal and O2O platform vendors. Conclusions - This study suggests that small business who have difficulty in establishing direct online channels need digital transformation of small business. In addition, when using such an external platform, we have identified the problems that small business face.