Digital Marketing for Ecuadorian Commercial Microenterprises a Systematized Review

Abstract

This review examines digital marketing tools used as commercialization strategies by microenterprises in Ecuador’s commercial sector. The problem emerges in a context of expanding connectivity and e-commerce, alongside persistent gaps in skills, planning, investment, and performance measurement. The objective was to interpret the available evidence in order to identify the tools with the greatest commercial usefulness, the conditions that support their implementation, and the limitations that constrain their outcomes. A systematized documentary review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidance and drawing on academic and institutional sources published mainly between 2018 and 2025. Information was organized through a bibliographic matrix and thematic categories concerning digitalization, competitiveness, business adaptation, e-commerce, and the performance of small economic units. Results indicate that social media, WhatsApp Business, websites, marketplaces, content marketing, search engine optimization, targeted advertising, email, analytics, and mobile marketing work more effectively as an integrated system than as isolated actions. Ecuadorian evidence associates digitalization with greater visibility, business continuity, and sales opportunities; nevertheless, it also reveals uneven adoption, insufficient training, and decisions weakly supported by indicators. The review concludes that effectiveness does not depend on accumulating platforms, but on connecting attraction, conversation, payment, delivery, after-sales service, and organizational learning according to each microenterprise’s operational capacity. A gradual strategy grounded in customer needs and measurable commercial results is therefore more sustainable than dispersed digital presence.