Electronic Commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce,
consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the
Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown
extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way,
spurring and drawing on innovations in 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 at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass
a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such
as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of
physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes
known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide
Web.
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B.
B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified
participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and
consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic
commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of
the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
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