The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce adoption for both consumers and sellers. This study aims to identify factors critical to the adoption of electronic markets (EM) during the pandemic, from the perspective of small sellers in non-metro cities. The research design utilizes core dimensions of the UTAUT model and selected constructs from protection motivation theory; since business closure vulnerability also triggers electronic market adoption. A questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from 150 sellers from tier-II/III cities of India. Study results identified performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and perceived vulnerability as significant determinants of behavioural intention towards adoption of EM. The findings also explain the moderating impact of sellers' awareness of information technology and merchants’ age on behavioural outcomes. Given the growing demands from such cities, the research offers insights for marketers to understand the bottlenecks and ways to motivate small sellers to get associated with EMs.

大流行加速了消费者和卖家对电子商务的采用。本研究旨在从非大都市小卖家的角度确定大流行期间对采用电子市场 (EM) 至关重要的因素。研究设计利用了 UTAUT 模型的核心维度和保护动机理论中的精选结构；因为企业倒闭的脆弱性也会触发电子市场的采用。采用问卷调查的方法，从印度二三线城市的 150 名卖家中收集数据。研究结果将绩效预期、努力预期、社会影响和感知脆弱性确定为采用 EM 的行为意向的重要决定因素。调查结果还解释了卖家的缓和影响 信息技术意识和商家年龄对行为结果的影响。鉴于这些城市不断增长的需求，该研究为营销人员提供了洞察力，以了解瓶颈和激励小卖家与新兴市场建立联系的方法。