A study on e-commerce in Sri Lanka by Commonwealth and Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) (2020) found that e-commerce has grown rapidly, spurred by increased access to the internet and the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Digital has become a more pressing issue especially within the trading community in Sri Lanka, given the recent movement toward e-commerce.
Since 2018, the number of internet users in the country has increased from 30% to 51 %, with 37 % of internet users active on one or more social media platforms (Kemp, 2021).
In addition, 80 % of all Sri Lankans have a broadband connection, and the number of mobile connections was equivalent to 142 % of the total population.
Despite this growth, the study found that the country is still relatively immature in its use of e-commerce, ranking low on a scale of maturity (The Commonwealth & Sri Lanka Export Development Board, 2020).
This low ranking indicates there is great potential for e-commerce growth in Sri Lanka. To activate its potential, SMEs and the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) need to improve the fragmented nature of digital interventions, enhance SME digital maturity, and catalyze SME participation in the global market.