E-Commerce: Business Around the World Wide Web
E-commerce or electronic commerce is an Internet marketing term for using the Internet to make transactions or do business. The first use of this innovation as a business tool was way back in 1979, when Mr. Michael Aldrich introduced the first online shopping system. It was then followed by Thomson Holidays UK in 1981 when it became the first company to install a business-to-business online shopping system.
The e-commerce activity didn’t fully take off until the beginning of the 1990’s, when Tim Berners-Lee created the very revolutionary World Wide Web. The introduction of the World Wide Web paved the way for electronic business and resulted in an influx of electronic activities throughout the Web. In spite of the controversial dot-com bubble at the end of the 1990’s, e-commerce brings in trillions of US$ in revenues every year.
In the world of business, there are at least five categories of e-commerce activity. The first category is the famous online shopping system. In online shopping, retailing companies and manufacturing businesses set up company websites as store fronts specifically for selling their products or services. With these online stores, the customer can access a retailer’s online shop, add items from the store’s catalogue into a shopping cart and buy them — all done in a few clicks.
The second category is the online payment system. With many businesses that now accept credit or debit cards, a customer can enrol his or her card as a mode of payment. Instead of paying the items in cash or in mailed checks, the customer can use his or her card to pay for all the shopped items from online stores. The main advantage of the online payment system is that it reduces the processing time of transactions. It also solves the problem of purchasing items in foreign currency, as online payment accepts all major currencies.
The third category is Internet banking or online banking. Banks and financial institutions can now address your banking needs more conveniently by offering services such as fund transfers, loan applications, investment purchases, real-time online customer service, and so on. This activity gives banking clients peace of mind as they don’t have to line up and wait in an actual bank for their transactions.
The fourth category is online auctions, or the ability to place second hand and/or brand-new items for online bidding. With bidding sites such as eBay, online auction sites allow potential sellers to use the Internet to sell their items, and potential buyers can purchase them without going to different second hand or thrift shops.
Online ticketing is the fifth and last category of e-commerce. Under this activity, special events or convention organizers can create webpages for ticket registrations. Online ticketing sites such as Eventbrite allow event organizers to set up online forms for attendees to purchase tickets from the Web. The advantage of online ticketing is that the organizers have the option to accept electronic copies of the tickets in addition to printed tickets.
Overall, e-commerce is a technological asset no one can do without, especially in today’s era. With this innovation, people around the world can have access to all businesses any time, anywhere.