O uso do e-commerce por negócios informais na pandemia : um estudo de caso sobre o comércio de roupas femininas no município de Aracaju

Abstract

The present study, with the general objective of analyzing how the use of ecommerce has been by informal women's clothing businesses in Aracaju during the pandemic period. While specific objectives are: a) Characterize the profile of informal businesses of women's clothing in Aracaju; b) Knowing the e-commerce adoption process by the businesses surveyed; c) Investigate the changes that occurred in informal businesses after the adoption of e-commerce; d) Analyze the advantages and adversities that occurred in the process of adopting e-commerce by informal businesses. Methodologically, it was based on a multiple case study, with a descriptive-exploratory approach, of a qualitative nature. To this end, a structured interview script was applied and applied to the interviewees online, via email, in the period between February 15th and 25th, 2023, the data were transcribed and presented to confirm the authenticity of the information, followed by a detailed description of the evidence collected in the interview script and the data were confronted with the relevant literature, as it becomes clearer to understand the behavior and different views on the same subject. The results revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted informal businesses in a multidimensional way: sales, customer service, daily sales, customer behavior, emotional, economic and social aspects. The informal business entrepreneurs interviewed said that, despite the difficulties imposed by the pandemic and the transition from traditional commerce to e-commerce, through the help of social networks and partnerships (platforms, websites) aimed at virtual commerce, they managed to overcome the challenges and market their products. Thus, it is concluded that informal businesses not only presented operational conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but informal business entrepreneurs have adapted to the current reality, followed the protocols established by the health authorities, sought to adopt the e-mail commerce to try to stay in the market, and thus obtained new forms of sales, delivery, payment, product availability and the flexibility of working hours with the business, thus reducing the economic and social impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 in your business.