Electronic Commerce

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These business transactions occur either as business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.

Five Categories of E-commerce:

1. B2C - Business to Consumer

   Businesses sell products or services to individual consumers.

2. B2C - Business to Business

   Businesses sell products or services to other businesses.

3. Business Processes

   Business and other organizations maintain and use information to identify and evaluate customers, suppliers, and employees.

4. C2C - Customer to Customer

   Participants in an online marketplace can buy and sell goods to each other.

5. B2G - Business to Government

   Businesses sell goods or services to governments and government agencies.

Timeline of E-commerce

Click on the image to enlarge it.