Abstract:
Online marketing is the fastest growing and most exciting branch of marketing today. Internet based economic structures and information groups are the new business reality, as organizations
and individuals reveal in the ease of purchasing commodities and services to customer. Most
developing countries, however, are far from experiencing this reality due to many factors which
act as obstacles for online market to flourish.
This paper aims at investigating the main challenge and opportunity of online market in
Ethiopia, specifically in Addis Ababa city. To attain the objective, data for the study were
obtained from sample of 112 respondents which are found in different company in Addis Ababa
and had collect data basically from primary sources. To do so questionnaire was designed and
distributed to nine selected companies. This study used descriptive survey research designs. The
data collected was analyzed with the help of SPSS. The result of the study indicated that, the
major challenges of online market in Ethiopia were high rates of illiteracy of customers, High
cost of Internet, security risk, lack of trust, lack of legal and regulatory frame work, Lack of
Internet infrastructure.
The government of Ethiopia should work on establishing a clear set of legal frame work on the
use of technology on online market, supporting online market industry by investing on Internet
infrastructure and needs to focus on technological innovation competition rather than traditional
bases of retail commerce competition.
