Electronic Commerce is exactly analogous to a marketplace on the Internet.
Electronic Commerce (also referred to as EC, e-commerce
eCommerce or
ecommerce) consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing and servicing of product or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The information technology industry might see it as an electronic business application aimed at commercial transactions; in this context, it can involve electronics funds transfer, supply chain management, e-marketing, online marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Electronic commerce typically uses electronic communications technology of the World Wide Web, at some point in the transaction's
life cycle, although of course electronic commerce frequently depends on computer technologies other than the World Wide Web, such as database, and e-mail, and on other non-computer technologies, such as transportation for physical goods sold
via e-commerce.
E-Commerce according to Person Halls book E-Commerce started in 1994 with the first
bannered ad being placed on a website.
According to the October 2006 Forrester Research report entitled,
"US
eCommerce: Five-Year Forecast And Data Overview,
"
Non travel online retail revenues will top the quarter-trillion-dollar mark by 2011. The driver of this growth? A segment of the most active Web shopping households that is approximately 8 million strong. This group of consumers is extremely comfortable with technology and values convenience above all else in the online retail experience. As retailers begin to wade through their copious data warehouses and understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of this segment, they will benefit from targeting these customers."