Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) constitute the backbone of Uganda’s private sector, yet many continue to struggle with limited market information, narrow customer reach, and weak capacity to understand shifting consumer demand and competitive dynamics, constraints that e-commerce platforms are increasingly seen as capable of easing by providing SMEs with wider market access and rich, real-time data on customer behavior. This study examined the role of e-commerce in expanding market research for Uganda SMEs, using Jumia Uganda as a case study, guided by objectives that sought to establish the extent to which SMEs use the Jumia platform, assess the market research benefits (customer insight, demand and competitor information, market reach) derived from this use, determine the relationship between e-commerce platform usage and SME market research capability, and identify challenges limiting SMEs’ ability to fully exploit e-commerce platforms for market research purposes. A descriptive correlational research design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted, with data collected from a sample of 132 SME vendors operating on the Jumia Uganda platform across Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono, using questionnaires, interviews with Jumia Uganda seller-support staff, and review of platform seller-analytics reports. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and path analysis (AMOS). Results showed high usage of Jumia’s seller dashboard and analytics tools (mean = 3.93) and a significant positive correlation between ecommerce platform usage and SME market research capability (r = 0.647, p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that platform usage, access to analytics tools, and digital literacy jointly explained 51.4 percent of the variance in SME market research capability (R² = 0.514). Path analysis revealed that digital literacy significantly mediates the relationship between platform usage and market research capability, with a significant indirect effect (β = 0.251, p < 0.01) alongside a significant direct effect (β = 0.372, p < 0.01), yielding a total effect of 0.623. The study concludes that Jumia Uganda has made a substantial, though unevenly distributed, contribution to expanding market research capability among Ugandan SMEs, constrained mainly by digital literacy gaps, connectivity costs, and limited analytical skill among smaller vendors, and recommends targeted digital literacy training, simplified analytics dashboards, and stronger platform-vendor support partnerships.