[01] Samuel Sunday Eleboda, Department of Administration and Management, College of Business and Social Sciences, Crawford University, Faith City, Nigeria. [02] Yinka Solomon Aransiola, Department of Accounting and Finance, College of Business and Social Sciences, Crawford University, Faith City, Nigeria.

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the factors which influence the adoption and usage of ICT by retail SMEs in Nigeria. It therefore examined the effect of ICT deployment on three main performance indicators which are sales, productivity, and inventory management. The study population consisted of employees and customers of retail stores in the study area whose actual number cannot be ascertained. A sample size of 160 (one hundred and sixty) respondents was selected. The research instrument was the questionnaire and the analytical techniques included both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of this study show that the factors examined are significantly important to the deployment of ICT. The individual contributions of the ICT factors to changes in the performance indicators studied are: β = 0.002, t=0.016, P<0.05; β = -0.199, t= 1.379, P<0.05; β = 0.081, t=0.562, P<0.05; β = 0.155, t=1.117, P<0.05; and β = 0.173, t=1.135, P<0.05 respectively. This implies that all the five independent variables have significant impact on inventory management performance. However, some of the components of ICT deployment were found to be insignificant in determining their adoption. The study concluded that majority of retail stores have limited usage of ICT in business activities. This may be caused by internal and external factors. Those SMEs who are interested in promoting their businesses based on ICT may find these results helpful in guiding their efforts. The study recommends that the information communication technology trends should be complemented by delivering on what customers truly want and value by not only listening to what customers say, but also by analyzing their purchase behavior.

Information Communication Technologies, Small and Medium Retail Stores, Sales Performance, Customer Patronage, Organizational Performance, ICT Deployment

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