Electronic commerce, commonly known as ecommerce, or e-business 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 extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use 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), 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 as well. 1

A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web. 2

Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to- consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly online to the seller's computer usually via the internet. There is no intermediary service. The sale and purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time such as Amazon.com for new books. If an intermediary is present, then the sale and purchase transaction is called electronic commerce such as eBay.com. Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e- business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions 3

History & Early development The meaning of 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 growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e- commerce was the airline reservation system typified by Sabre in the USA and Travi.com in the UK. 4

From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing. An early example of many-to-many electronic commerce in physical goods was the Boston Computer Exchange, a marketplace for used computers launched in An early online information marketplace, including online consulting, was the American Information Exchange, another pre Internet[clarification needed] online system introduced in

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee invented the Worldwide Web web browser and transformed an academic telecommunication network into a worldwide everyman everyday communication system called internet/www. Commercial enterprise on the Internet was strictly prohibited until 1991.[1] Although the Internet became popular worldwide around 1994 when the first internet online shopping started, it took about five years to introduce security protocols and DSL allowing continual connection to the Internet. By the end of 2000, many European and American business companies offered their services through the World Wide Web. Since then people began to associate a word "e commerce" with the ability of purchasing various goods through the Internet using secure protocols and electronic payment services 6

Timeline * 1979: Michael Aldrich invented online shopping * 1981: Thomson Holidays, UK is first B2B online shopping * 1982: Minitel was introduced nationwide in France by France Telecom and used for online ordering. * 1984: Gates head SIS/Tesco is first B2C online shopping and Mrs Snowball, 72, is the first online home shopper * 1985: Nissan UK sells cars and finance with credit checking to customers online from dealers' lots. * 1987: Swreg begins to provide software and shareware authors means to sell their products online through an electronic Merchant account. * 1990: Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, Worldwide Web, using a NeXT computer. 7

* 1992: J.H. Snider and Terra Ziporyn publish Future Shop: How New Technologies Will Change the Way We Shop and What We Buy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN * 1994: Netscape releases the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offers online ordering on its Web page. The first online bank opens. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions online. Adult materials also become commercially available, as do cars and bikes. Netscape 1.0 is introduced in late 1994 SSL encryption that made transactions secure. * 1995: Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com and the first commercial-free 24 hour, internet-only radio stations, Radio HK and Net Radio start broadcasting. Dell and Cisco begin to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions. eBay is founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as Auction Web. * 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web. 8

* 1999: Business.com sold for US $7.5 million to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US $149,000. The peer-to-peer files haring software Napster launches. ATG Stores launches to sell decorative items for the home online. * 2000: The dot-com bust. * 2002: eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion.[2] Niche retail companies CSN Stores and Net Shops are founded with the concept of selling products through several targeted domains, rather than a central portal. * 2003: Amazon.com posts first yearly profit. * 2007: Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million.[3] * 2009: Zappos.com acquired by Amazon.com for $928 million.[4] Retail Convergence, operator of private sale website RueLaLa.com, acquired by GSI Commerce for $180 million, plus up to $170 million in earn-out payments based on performance through 2012.[5] * 2010: US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $173 billion, an increase of 7 percent over 2009.[6 9

Business applications Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following: * * Enterprise content management * Instant messaging * Newsgroups * Online shopping and order tracking * Online banking * Online office suites * Domestic and international payment systems * Shopping cart software * Teleconferencing *Government regulations 10

Forms Electronic Commerce Contemporary electronic commerce involves everything from ordering "digital" content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to "meta" services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce.  On the consumer level, electronic commerce is mostly conducted on the World Wide Web. An individual can go online to purchase anything from books or groceries, to expensive items like real estate. Another example would be online banking, i.e. online bill payments, buying stocks, transferring funds from one account to another, and initiating wire payment to another country. All of these activities can be done with a few strokes of the keyboard.  On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. Data integrity and security are very hot and pressing issues for electronic commerce today. 11

impact on markets and retailers Economists have theorized that e-commerce ought to lead to intensified price competition, as it increases consumers' ability to gather information about products and prices. Research by four economists at the University of Chicago has found that the growth of online shopping has also affected industry structure in two areas that have seen significant growth in e-commerce, bookshops and travel agencies. Generally, larger firms have grown at the expense of smaller ones, as they are able to use economies of scale and offer lower prices. The lone exception to this pattern has been the very smallest category of bookseller, shops with between one and four employees, which appear to have withstood the trend.[10] [edit] See also 12

* Dot-com company * E-government * E-business * Electronic money * Internet business * Mobile commerce * Paid content * Social commerce * Online shopping * B2B e-Marketplace * Comparison of shopping cart software * Non-Store Retailing * Internet Economy * Digital economy * Virtual economy * Multichannel ecommerce 13

Ecommerce Solutions Within a span of a little over a decade, the Internet has transformed the way business is conducted. Web-based platforms have streamlined processes and operations ranging from payment processing to warehouse management. Webservio’s ecommerce solutions are developed to fit your business requirements and challenges. Our ecommerce solutions focus on improving your online sales, customer satisfaction, and return of investment on marketing initiatives undertaken by your company. Our solutions can help streamline your operations, thereby attaining costs- savings that increase the bottom line. 14

Webservio's offers high-performance ecommerce solutions--which help you maintain a competitive edge-- containing multiple features that help engage a customer to complete transactions. Your customers will have the ability to place real-time credit card transactions in a secure manner, and the entire order process from a client perspective can be completed in a matter of minutes. Our ecommerce solutions also seamlessly integrate the web store into the current store operations using such tools as order fulfillment and management system, integration with UPS and other carriers, and integration with POS/Accounting and other legacy systems. Our expertise in platforms such as Microsoft.NET and LAMP allow us to tailor the ecommerce solutions to suit your requirements. 15

The Webservio's vision for ecommerce is to enable every business to use the Internet to build rich customer experiences. Webservio's sees Internet commerce as more than just transactions over the Web. It is a means of establishing a closer relationship with customers and direct process links with trading partners. In particular, ecommerce lets a company understand, tailor, and deliver the services and information each customer and partner wants--anytime, anywhere, and on any device. With Webservio's ecommerce solution, your business does not just have the ability to sell your products online, you will also have the ability to advance it to integrate with other third-party applications to automate your processes for a better organization and quicker fulfillment. A primary example would be integrating your store with shipping carriers 16

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