eCommerce

What is eCommerce?

Electronic commerce, is more commonly known as eCommerce, e-commerce, or just e-comm. The simple explanation of the term means the buying and selling of products or services via electronic means. Since the mid 1990's and the introduction of a the first web browsers, most ecommerce transactions are now carried out over the Internet.

There are many aspects to eCommerce and many related businesses are involved in the selling of products online. Several of these realate to the building and hosting of the website (including the registration of a domain name) for an online retailer (also known as an e-tailer). However, internet marketing, selling, delivery and the payment processing for products or services are all aspects of eCommerce.

The use of the internet has grown phenomenally since Amazon.com launched as an online bookstore (other products were added later) in 1995 to become the largest online retailer in the United States. Today almost every big retailer has an electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web and these online retailers are also known as e-tailers

eCommerce is not just about buying physical products though; a significant percentage of electronic commerce relates to virtual items such as paying for premium content on a website, however largest area of electronic commerce does involves the physical items in some way.