E-Commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly written as E-Commerce, is the trading in products or services using computer networks, such as 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.
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.
E-Commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following :
• Online shopping websites for retail sales direct to consumers.
• Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party businessto- consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales.
• Business-to-business buying and selling.
• Gathering and using demographic data through Web contacts and social media.
• Business-to-business electronic data interchange.
• Marketing to prospective and established customers by E-Mail or fax (for example, with newsletters).
• Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services.
Pretail (also referred to as pre-retail, or pre-commerce) is a sub-category of E-Commerce and online retail for introducing new products, services, and brands to market by prelaunching online, sometimes as reservations in limited quantity before release, realization, or commercial availability. Pretail includes pre-sale commerce, pre-order retailers, incubation marketplaces, and crowdfunding communities.
E-Business
Electronic business, or E-Business, is the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business. Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any business. Electronic commerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses or E-Business refers to business with help of Internet i.e. doing business with the help of Internet network. The term <E-Business> was coined by IBM’s marketing and Internet team in 1996.
Comparing E-Commerce and E-Business we come to the subsequent conclusion:
E-Business is a more general term than E-Commerce. However, in this course we will only use the term “E-Commerce“, because every business transaction finally is involved in selling or buying of products or services. And the term “E-Commerce” obviously is more widespread than the term “E-Business”.
