What is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce,

refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet,

and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.

Ecommerce refer to the sale of physical products online.

Any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

Whereas e-business refers

To all aspects of operating an online business, ecommerce refers specifically to the transaction of goods and services.

The history of ecommerce begins with the first ever online sale: on the August 11, 1994 a man sold a CD by the band Sting to his friend through his website NetMarket, an American retail platform.

This is the first example of a consumer purchasing a product from a business through the World Wide Web—or “ecommerce”.

Ecommerce has evolved to make products easier to discover and purchase through online retailers and marketplaces.

Independent freelancers, small businesses, and large corporations have all benefited from ecommerce.

Which enables them to sell their goods and services at a scale that was not possible with traditional offline retail.

Today it’s almost inconceivable that a company wouldn’t be using a digital space to drive sales and bottom lines.

Here are some of the top e-commerce companies:

Alibaba: Launching in 1999, The Chinese company Alibaba is by far the world’s most successful e-commerce company and retailer, hosting the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C (Taobao.com), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces across the globe. Their online profits have surpassed all US retailers – including Walmart and Amazon – combined since 2015.

Amazon: Amazon is the largest e-commerce retailer in the United States, and has changed the face of retail so much that a burning question for most retailers is how to beat Amazon.

Walmart: Once the top retailer in the US, Walmart has focused mightily upon their online business, with great results, offering traditional retail sales, as well as grocery delivery and subscription services.

eBay: One of the first e-commerce sites, eBay still dominates the digital market space, allowing for businesses and individuals to sell their products online.