e-commerce

E-Commerce

Commerce conducted over the Internet. For example, an online publisher may sell a book to a customer, ship it to him/her, receive payment, and conduct the entire matter without ever meeting the customer. E-commerce became common in the 1990s with the popularization of the Internet. See also: dot-com bubble.

e-commerce

The buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet.

e-commerce

a method of buying and selling goods and services over the INTERNET. E-commerce is a form of DIRECT SELLING/ MARKETING which enables a supplier to sell direct to the final customer without the need for traditional ‘middlemen’ – wholesalers and store retailers. E-commerce provides sellers with a means of tapping into a mass market; it reduces BARRIERS TO ENTRY so that even small firms can offer their products alongside big name companies; and by eliminating the ‘middleman’ selling costs and prices can be lowered conferring COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Apart from lower prices another attraction for customers is the convenience of being able to ‘shop’ from home rather than have to visit a retail outlet.

The volume and value of transactions conducted via computer and associated networks has grown rapidly from the late 1990s and it is predicted that a large proportion of economic transactions will in future be conducted through electronic commerce. See also E-BUSINESS, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.

e-commerce

a method of buying and selling goods and services over the INTERNET. E-commerce is a form of DIRECT SELLING/MARKETING that enables a supplier to sell direct to the final customer without the need for traditional ‘middlemen’ -wholesalers and store retailers. E-commerce provides sellers with a means of tapping into a mass market; it reduces BARRIERS TO ENTRY, so that even small firms can offer their products alongside big-name companies; and by eliminating the ‘middleman’, selling costs and prices can be lowered, conferring COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Apart from lower prices, another attraction for customers is the convenience of being able to ‘shop’ from home rather than having to visit a retail outlet.

The volume and value of transactions conducted via computer and associated networks has grown rapidly from the late 1990s, and it is predicted that a large proportion of economic transactions will in future be conducted through electronic commerce. See also E-BUSINESS.