Electronic commerce, commonly known as (e-shopping) e-commerce or eCommerce,
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 e-mail as well.
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.
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