Editing E-commerce (section)

== Defining e-commerce ==
The term was coined and first employed by Robert Jacobson, Principal Consultant to the California State Assembly's Utilities & Commerce Committee, in the title and text of California's Electronic Commerce Act, carried by the late Committee Chairwoman Gwen Moore (D-L.A.) and enacted in 1984.

E-commerce typically uses the [[World Wide Web|web]] for at least a part of a transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as [[Email|e-mail]]. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of products (such as books from [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]]) or services (such as [[music download]]s in the form of [[digital distribution]] such as the [[iTunes Store]]).<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 2016|title=Retail e-commerce sales CAGR forecast in selected countries from 2016 to 2021|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/220177/b2c-e-commerce-sales-cagr-forecast-for-selected-countries/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126014712/https://www.statista.com/statistics/220177/b2c-e-commerce-sales-cagr-forecast-for-selected-countries/|archive-date=26 November 2017|access-date=4 May 2021|website=[[Statista]]}}</ref> There are three areas of e-commerce: [[online retailing]], [[electronic markets]], and [[online auction]]s. E-commerce is supported by [[electronic business]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wienclaw| first=Ruth A.|date=2013|title=B2B Business Models |url=https://www.ebscohost.com/uploads/imported/thisTopic-dbTopic-1074.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=4 May 2021|website=[[Research Starters: Business]]|archive-date=18 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718091809/http://www.ebscohost.com/uploads/imported/thisTopic-dbTopic-1074.pdf}}</ref> The existence value of e-commerce is to allow consumers to shop online and pay online through the Internet, saving the time and space of customers and enterprises, greatly improving transaction efficiency, especially for busy office workers, and also saving a lot of valuable time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Subramani |first1=Mani |last2=Walden |first2=Eric |date=June 2001 |title=The Impact of E-Commerce Announcements on the Market Value of Firms |url=http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre.12.2.135.9698 |journal=Information Systems Research |language=en |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=135–154 |doi=10.1287/isre.12.2.135.9698 |issn=1047-7047 |access-date=30 April 2022 |archive-date=15 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615223403/http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre.12.2.135.9698 |url-status=live }}</ref>

E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the following:
* [[Online shopping]] for [[direct selling|retail sales direct]] to consumers via [[web sites]] and [[mobile apps]], [[conversational commerce]] via [[live chat]], [[chatbot]]s, and [[voice assistants]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Bussey|first=Ed|date=6 March 2018|title=How to prepare your products and brand for conversational commerce|url=https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/06/how-to-prepare-your-products-and-brand-for-conversational-commerce/|url-status=live|access-date=4 May 2021|website=[[VentureBeat]]|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929193753/https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/06/how-to-prepare-your-products-and-brand-for-conversational-commerce/}}</ref>
* Providing or participating in [[online marketplace]]s, which process third-party [[business-to-consumer]] (B2C) or [[consumer-to-consumer]] (C2C) sales;
* [[B2B e-commerce|Business-to-business (B2B)]] buying and selling.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Ultimate Guide to eCommerce Marketing|url=https://www.mayple.com/ecommerce-marketing-strategy|url-status=live|access-date=4 May 2021|website=[[Mayple]]|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428042004/https://www.mayple.com/ecommerce-marketing-strategy}}</ref>
* Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media.
* B2B [[electronic data interchange]].
* Marketing to prospective and established [[customer]]s by [[email marketing|e-mail]] or fax (for example, with [[newsletter]]s).
* Engaging in [[pretail]] for launching new products and services.
* Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.

There are five essential categories of E-commerce:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Simjanović |first1=Dušan J. |last2=Zdravković |first2=Nemanja |last3=Vesić |first3=Nenad O. |date=March 2022 |title=On the Factors of Successful e-Commerce Platform Design during and after COVID-19 Pandemic Using Extended Fuzzy AHP Method |journal=Axioms |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=105 |doi=10.3390/axioms11030105 |issn=2075-1680|doi-access=free }}</ref>
* Business to Business
* Business to Consumer
* Business to Government
* Consumer to Business
* Consumer to Consumer