The history and evolution of E-commerce

What is e-commerce?

Over the past 12 years, the Internet has changed the way we buy and sell goods and services. Do you remember buying airline tickets before the Internet? Can you imagine buying a new computer or car without doing hours of Web research? And Christmas shopping? You actually had to step foot in the mall..ugh!

The defination of E-commerce is the buying or selling of goods and services over the Internet. Applications provide business solutions that improve the quality of goods and services, increase the speed of service delivery, and reduce the cost of business operations. It’s a new methodology of doing business in three focal areas:

. Business-to-business

. Business-to-consumer

. Intra-business

E-Commerce is a new way of doing business, available to companies of all sizes, to create new relationships and extensions to existing business built on relationships, networks and webs of activities.

Evolution of E-commerce

In 1968, the introduction of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) made it possible for companies to interface and trade without any human contact. The EDI, although the first step in e-commerce, lacks much significance as a medium of commerce because it was not supported by most businesses.

The EDI remained in its initial state until 1984 when the ASC X12 standard was adopted, allowing for full communication between any EDI supported companies.The ASC X12 revolution turned e-commerce from a commercial novelty to commercial standard, but still left the scope of e-commerce unfulfilled.

It was in 1994 that Netscape was introduced to the public as an easy-to-use web browser that allowed common people to surf the net without having to use UNIX command-line language. It took four years for it to develop the security protocols and DSL which allowed rapid access and connection to the internet

During the 2000s, e-commerce changed the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

We can’t run away from sires like Amazon.com and Ebay when talking bout e-commerce. They are one of the 1^st few internet companies to allow electronic transactions and succeed. The 5 largest and most famous world wide internet retailers are Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard.

Lastly, the technology used for e-commerce is young, but it's expanding faster than any before it and will soon be the most advanced system the world has ever seen.