E-commerce

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry and is the largest sector of the electronics industry.

Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor stores inventory services.^[1] There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.

E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:

• Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants^[3]
• Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales
• Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling;
• Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
• Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange
• Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters)
• Engaging in retail for launching new products and services
• Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.

Forms

Contemporary electronic commerce can be classified into two categories. The first category is business based on types of goods sold (involves everything from ordering "digital" content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to "meta" services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce). The second category is based on the nature of the participant (B2B, B2C, C2B and C2C);

On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. Data integrity and security are pressing issues for electronic commerce.

Aside from traditional e-commerce, the terms m-Commerce (mobile commerce) as well (around 2013) t-Commerce have also been used.

Business application

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are:

• 

• B2B e-commerce (business-to-business)
• B2C e-commerce (business-to-consumer)
• Conversational commerce: e-commerce via chat
• Digital Wallet
• Document automation in supply chain and logistics
• Electronic tickets
• Enterprise content management
• Group buying
• Instant messaging
• Internet security
• Online auction
• Online banking
• Online office suites
• Online shopping and order tracking
• Online transaction processing
• Pretrial
• Print on demand
• Shopping cart software
• Social networking
• Teleconference
• Usenet newsgroup
• Virtual assistant
• Domestic and international payment systems

Logistics

Logistics in e-commerce mainly concerns fulfillment. Online markets and retailers have to find the best possible way to fill orders and deliver products. Small companies usually control their own logistic operation because they do not have the ability to hire an outside company. Most large companies hire a fulfillment service that takes care of a company's logistic needs.

Contrary to common misconception, there are significant barriers to entry in e-commerce. 

Impact on the environment

In 2018, E-commerce generated 1.3 million tons of container cardboard in North America, an increase from 1.1 million in 2017.

Only 35 percent of North American cardboard manufacturing capacity is from recycled content. The recycling rate in Europe is 80 percent and Asia is 93 percent. Amazon, the largest user of boxes, has a strategy to cut back on packing material and has reduced packaging material used by 19 percent by weight since 2016. Amazon is requiring retailers to manufacture their product packaging in a way that doesn't require additional shipping packaging. Amazon also has an 85-person team researching ways to reduce and improve their packaging and shipping materials.

E-commerce during COVID-19 

n March 2020, global retail website traffic hit 14.3 billion visits signifying an unprecedented growth of e-commerce during the lockdown of 2020.

Studies show that in the US, as many as 29% of surveyed shoppers state that they will never go back to shopping in person again; in the UK, 43% of consumers state that they expect to keep on shopping the same way even after the lockdown is over.  

Further reading

• Laudon, Kenneth C.; Guercio Traver, Carol (2014). E-commerce. business. technology. society. 10th edition. Pearson. ISBN 978-013-302444-9.
• Chaudhury, Abhijit; Kuilboer, Jean-Pierre (2002). e-Business and e-Commerce Infrastructure. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-247875-4.
• Frieden, Jonathan D.; Roche, Sean Patrick (19 December 2006). "E-Commerce: Legal Issues of the Online Retailer in Virginia" (PDF). Richmond Journal of Law and Technology. 13.
• Graham, Mark (2008). "Warped Geographies of Development: The Internet and Theories of Economic Development" (PDF). Geography Compass. 2: 771. DOI:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00093.x. Archived from the original (PDF)on 29 October 2008.
• Humeau, Philippe; Jung, Matthieu (21 June 2013). In depth benchmark of 12 ecommerce solutions (PDF).
• Kessler, M (22 December 2003), "More shoppers proceed to checkout online", USA Today, retrieved 13 January 2004.

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