Electronic Commerce Adoption in West Virginia’s Primary and Secondary Hardwood Industries: Preliminary Results

It has become widely accepted that businesses need to embrace e-commerce to compete in the global economy. Since primary and secondary hardwood industries of West Virginia are important components of the State’s economic base, these hardwood industries must follow the lead of corporate America in adopting e-commerce to remain competitive in the national and global markets. A mail survey was conducted in the fall of 2007 to investigate e-commerce adoption and trends in West Virginia’s primary and secondary hardwood industries. Preliminary results of the survey indicate that 47% of the respondents have adopted e-commerce in their business. The majority of those who adopted e-commerce have done so prior to 2000 and have spent less than $10,000 on e-commerce-related activities. All of the companies who adopted ecommerce use email for communications. In addition, a majority of these companies have websites, take customer orders over the internet, use online banking, and make online purchases for supplies. Less than 50% advertise or sell products on other company’s websites. The top three reasons for adopting e-commerce include greater exposure to potential customers, improvement of service to customers, and improvement of company’s competitiveness. On the other hand, the three major concerns for not adopting e-commerce include profitability, information security, and cost. The majority (70%) of those who have not adopted e-commerce indicate that they do not plan to do so in the future.