Introduction to 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 business￾to-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 pre￾launching 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.”