The History And Evolution Of E-Commerce

* Introduction *

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) can be defined as the buying or selling of goods and services over the Internet. This basically is the use of digital transactions between and among businesses and individuals. However, more commonly e-commerce nowadays is the use of the Internet to operate business.


* The History Of E-Commerce *

History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet. At the beginning, the term of e-commerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

However, in 2000, since there are a great number of business companies in the United States and Western Europe represented their services in the World Wide Web, the meaning of the word e-commerce was changed. People began to define the term of e-commerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.

By the way, the history of e-commerce is unthinkable without Amazon which was among the first Internet companies to allow electronic transactions. Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the most famous e-commerce companies and it is located in Seattle, Washington (USA). It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and it was one of the first American e-commerce companies to sell products over the Internet.

* The Evolution Of E-Commerce *


The evolution of the e-commerce is summarized as follows:

1984
EDI, or electronic data interchange, was standardized through ASC X12. This guaranteed that companies would be able to accomplish transactions with each other reliably.

1990
A researcher named Tim Berners-Lee at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, from its French name) proposed a hypertext-based web of information that a user could navigate using a simple interface called a browser. He called it the "WorldWideWeb".

1991
The National Science Foundation lifted a ban on commercial businesses operating over the Internet, paving the way for Web-based e-commerce.

1992
Compuserve offers online retail products to its customers. This gives people the first chance to buy things by using their computer.


1993
Marc Andreesen at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) introduced the first widely distributed Web browser called Mosaic.


1994
Netscape arrived. Providing users a simple browser to surf the Internet and a safe online transaction technology called Secure Sockets Layer.


1995
Two of the biggest names in e-commerce are launched: Amazon.com and eBay.com.

1998
DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, provides fast, always-on Internet service to subscribers across California. This prompts people to spend more time, and money, online.


1999
Retail spending over the Internet reaches $20 billion, according to Business.com.

2000
The U.S government extended the moratorium on Internet taxes until at least 2005.

Today
The largest electronic commerce is Business-to-Business (B2B). Businesses involved in B2B sell their goods to other businesses. Other varieties growing today include Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) where consumers sell to each other, for example through auction sites. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is another form of e-commerce that allows users to share resources and files directly.


As a conclusion, the history and evolution of e-commerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customer advantage. It is a world which we are all building together brick by brick, laying a secure foundation for the future generations.



All information are gained from
(i) www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.htm
(ii) www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm
(iii) www.mapsofworld.com/referrals/internet/internet-history/history-of-e-commerce.html
(iv) www.ecommercetimes.com/story/40249.html
(v) www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/trends/article.php/1016231