Effects of Digital Marketing Tools on the Performance of the Fashion Industry in Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite studies suggesting that digital marketing practices have wide usage globally, there is currently no evidence in Kenya's fashion industry linking digital marketing tools to performance. This paper presented the findings on the influence of social media marketing, m-commerce, and website marketing as facets of digital marketing on the performance of Kenya's fashion industry. The study was guided by a Resource Based theory in a correlational research design. The study population constituted 560 SMEs in the fashion industry, out of which 30% (169) sample constituting proprietors of SMEs in Kisumu city in Kenya was picked using a stratified sampling technique. The findings revealed that digital marketing tools such as social media marketing, m-commerce, and Website marketing collectively accounted for 70.2% (R²=.702, p=0.000) variation in the performance of firms in the fashion industry within Kisumu City. Therefore, the study recommends that the proprietors of firms in the fashion industry should adopt and integrate digital marketing practices such as social media marketing and m-commerce into their business as they were seen to influence firm performance in the study context positively. The study findings, therefore, can be useful in informing policy-making relevant to the fashion industry.