Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown dramatically since the spread of the Internet. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well. E commerce is a new technology.
E-commerce or electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business.
History
Early development
The meaning of the term "electronic commerce" has changed over the last 30 years. Originally, "electronic commerce" meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically.
The 'electronic' or 'e' in e-commerce indicates the technology used, while 'commerce' refers to traditional business models. Accordingly, e-commerce is the complete set of processes that support commercial business activities on an electronic network. In the 1970s and 1980s, this also involved information analysis. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone ...