E-Commerce

E-Commerce

E-Commerce (pronounced /ˈiːkɒmɜːrs/), also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.

Etymology

The term "E-Commerce" is a blend of "electronic" and "commerce". The concept was first introduced in the 1960s via an electronic data interchange (EDI) on value-added networks (VANs).

Definition

E-Commerce is conducted using a variety of applications, such as email, online catalogs, shopping carts, EDI, File Transfer Protocol and web services. This includes business-to-business activities and outreach, such as using email for unsolicited ads (usually viewed as spam) to consumers and other business prospects, as well as to send out e-newsletters to subscribers.

Types of E-Commerce

There are four main types of E-Commerce models that can describe almost every transaction that takes place between consumers and businesses.

1. Business to Consumer (B2C): When a business sells a good or service to an individual consumer (e.g., You buy a pair of shoes from an online retailer).

2. Business to Business (B2B): When a business sells a good or service to another business (e.g., A business sells software-as-a-service for other businesses to use).

3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C): When a consumer sells a good or service to another consumer (e.g., You sell your old furniture on eBay to another consumer).

4. Consumer to Business (C2B): When a consumer sells their own products or services to a business or organization (e.g., An influencer offers exposure to their online audience in exchange for a fee, or a photographer licenses their photo for a business to use).

Related Terms

• Online Shopping: The act of purchasing products or services over the Internet.

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): The transfer of data from one computer system to another by standardized message formatting, without the need for human intervention.

• Mobile Commerce (m-commerce): The buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

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