Abstract

Purpose: SMEs are one of the largest contributors to GDP for Indonesia. This study aims to investigate the effect of IT awareness and digital marketing on the performance of SMEs in the city of Makassar through product distribution. Research design, data, and methodology: IT Awareness and Digital Marketing are independent variables in this study, while Product Distribution is an intervening variable in viewing the performance of SMEs in Makassar City. The data is processed using Smart-PLS. The samples used were 381 business units operating in the city of Makassar. Results: From this study it was found that IT Awareness and Digital Marketing had a significant and positive effect on the distribution of products from SMEs in the city of Makassar. However, IT Awareness and Digital Marketing do not directly affect the performance of SMEs in the city of Makassar. So it can be concluded that both IT Awareness and Digital Marketing only affect the performance of SMEs in Makassar City through Product Distribution, not directly. Conclusions: From this study it can be concluded that SMEs in the city of Makassar should start increasing their IT awareness and use digital marketing to increase their product distribution to improve the performance of their SMEs.