E-Commerce

11 Pages 2684 Words

Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………2
History of E-commerce……………………………………………………..4
Economic Impact……………………………………………………………5
Advantages of E-commerce…………………………………………………5
Disadvantages of E-commerce……………………………………………...7
The Future of E-commerce………………………………………………….9
Summary…………………………………………………………………...11
References………………………………………………………………….12
Electronic Commerce
Electronic commerce, or e-commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years and has left some people wondering what it is all about. "Most people think e-commerce is just about buying and selling things over the Internet" (Wareham, 2000). E-commerce is a broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations' computers. Some examples might be the electronic filing of your income tax return, on-line services like Prodigy, on-line banking and on-line billing for services or products received. E-commerce also includes buying and selling any item over the Internet, electronic fund transfer, smart cards, and all other methods of conducting business over digital networks. “The primary technological goal of e-commerce is to integrate businesses, government agencies, and contractors into a single community with the ability to communicate with one another across any computer platform” (Edwards, 1998).
With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which also means there...