The History and Evolution of E-Commerce

E-commerce is the process of buying, selling or exchanging products, services and information via computer network. As a result, the trading activities are available at anytime and anywhere provided you have the computer and the internet connection.

In the late 1970s, the process of commercial transaction was being executed electronically with the help of the technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).From the 1990s onwards, enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing were included in E-commerce.

In 1991 Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web browser, WorldWideWeb.In 1994 Netscape was arrived, which allowed easier access to electronic commerce.The year of 1995 could not be forgotten as it marked the beginning of two giants in the E-commerce business - Amazon and eBay. Often, many sellers use eBay and Amazon to take advantage of the exposure and setup convenience of such sites.

Indeed, E-commerce has evolved from online billboards to a fully functional, personalized shopping experience over the past decade. While there were admittedly a few bumps along the road, the holiday shopping season from 1994 through 2004 is full of crucial milestones of Internet pioneers and technology innovators.

The web is changing from a document delivery system to an application platform. Thus, Web 2.0 was introduced in 1999 and it refers to a supposed second generation of internet based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among internet users.

Today, as we are the online users, the E-commerce has allowed us to carry out the exchange activities without the barriers of time or distance.From E-commerce's history and evolution, we know that as technologies change, E-commerce has attracted a lot of people make use of the internet and the web to transact business conveniently.

Additional source:

Source from: http://newmedia.medill.northwestern.edu/courses/nmpspring01/brown/Revstream/history.htm

Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_commerce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2
http://www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm
http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html
http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/articles/electronic_commerce_aka_e_commerce_history
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Evolution-of-E-Commerce&id=1517989