The history and evolution of E-Commerce

The History and Evolution of E-Commerce

E-Commerce applications were first developed in the early 1970s with innovations such as electronic funds transfer (EFT), whereby funds could be routed electronically from one organization to another. However, the use of these applications was limited to large corporations, financial institutions, and a few other daring businesses. Then came electronic data interchange (EDI), a technology used to electronically transfer routine documents, which expanded electronic transfers from financial transactions to other types of transaction processing. EDI enlarged the pool of participating companies from financial institutions to manufacturers, retailers, services, and many other types of businesses. More new E-Commerce applications followed, ranging from travel reservation systems to stock trading. Such systems were called interorganizational system (IOS) applications, and their strategic value to businesses has been widely recognized.

The next evolution occurred in 1992 when the Mosaic web-browser was made available. It was the first ‘point and click’ browser. The Mosaic browser was quickly adapted into a downloadable browser -Netscape, which allowed easier access to electronic commerce. The development of DSL was another key moment in the development of e-commerce. DSL allows quicker access and a persistent connection to the Internet. In December of 1998, there was another major event in the development of e-commerce when AOL - a virtual EC company achieve sales of 1.2 billion over the 10-week holiday season from online sales. The development of Red Hat Linux was also another step in electronic commerce growth. Linux gave users another choice in a platform other than Windows that was reliable and open-source. Microsoft faced with this competition needed to invest more in many things including electronic commerce.

In 1999, the emphasis of EC shifted from B2C to B2B, and in 2oo1, from B2B B2E, c-commerce, e-government, e-learning, and m-commerce. The first, and most common, is business to consumer (B2C), which involves e-businesses that providing goods and/or services to end consumers. Common examples of popular B2C e-commerce include Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, and NewEgg.com. On the other side of the e-commerce spectrum, we have business to business (B2B) e-commerce, which is the electronic transactions between multiple businesses, and does not involve common products or consumers. B2C e-commerce has been changing the way people shop and conducted business through online for well over ten years, and has become a significant staple in the way modern retail giants attract and maintain loyal consumers from all over the globe. The number of online e-tailers (electronic retailers) continues to grow each and every year, and new marketing strategies are constantly being developed by businesses to ensure that their products are ultimately being found online and purchased by the end-user. In order to effectively sell through online, e-tailers need to be able to look at what their site offers through the eyes of the average consumer and come to grips with the fact that running a store online is essentially no different than a physical brick and mortar shop.

Given the nature of tachnology and the Internet, EC will undoutedly continue to shift and change. More and more EC sucesses are emerging.