Marketing activities on the Internet in the era of the first wave of the pandemic COVID-19 in the SME sector in Poland

Abstract

The development of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments around the world to take measures to limit the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus, and the introduced restrictions turned out to be a big surprise for all market participants. Uncertainty of operation, spending restrictions by consumers, and even a complete ban on stationary activities - these are the challenges that enterprises had to face at the beginning of 2020. The pandemic had an even greater impact on consumer behavior - customers made purchases via the Internet more often, thus becoming e-consumers. The purpose of the article is to define the practices undertaken by small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of marketing activities on the Internet in the first months after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and to determine the effects of these activities. The presented results of the study inspire further search for the results that marketing activities on the Internet can bring to enterprises from the SME sector.