What is e-commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is e-commerce - Essay Example In the last decade, with the growing popularity of the internet and more people having their own personal computers, the market for e-commerce is outstanding. 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. Today most major retail stores have a virtual store as well, making it even easier for their customers to access their products. E-commerce was first developed in the nineteen seventies as a way for businesses to electronically send information to one another in a faster and more efficient way. With the introduction of the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) businesses were able to send documents like purchase orders and invoices electronically from one facility to the next. In nineteen seventy nine "online shopping was invented in the United Kingdom by Michael Aldrich and during the nineteen eighties it was used extensively particularly by auto manufacturers such as Ford, Peugeot-Talbot, General Motors and Nissan" (Seybold). It is believed that the reason why e-commerce has grown so quickly since its first invention in the nineteen seventies is because it is efficient and makes transactions more simple and accessible to everyone. Since it's first introduction e-commerce continued to grow. "From the nineteen nineties onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing" (Graham). The ERP software allowed businesses to store and retrieve information in real time, making online purchases more secure for both the customer and the seller. This "modular software design should mean a business can select the modules they need, mix and match modules from different vendors, and add new modules of their own to improve business performance" (Graham). Data mining is a process that transforms data into information and can be particularly helpful in detecting fraud and keeping online purchases safe while at the same time providing useful marketing information to companies about a consumer's interests. With the invention of this new process, people felt more secure purchasing items and services online because they knew that their financial infor mation would be safe. The results of data mining can help companies market their products to a specific customer group. "Based on the collections on data mining, data warehouses were intended as large-scale collection, storage, and staging areas for corporate data. Data could be retrieved from one central point or data could be distributed to 'retail stores' or 'data marts' that were tailored for ready access by users" (Frieden). Along with the invention of the EFT and EDI these three new processes are what ultimately propelled e-commerce into what it is today. The main concern for the future of e-commerce is the continued security of customers and making sure that transactions remain private. Even though online transactions are growing in number and popularity everyday, many analogists believe that e-commerce is heading for a fall. Consumers find it easier to bargain shop online, then they do shopping in physical stores. It is easier to do because all that is required is a simple click of the mouse, but a negative side affect to the opportunity for consumers to buy online is that many companies will go out of