Editing E-commerce (section)

==Timeline==
A timeline for the development of e-commerce:
* 1971 or 1972: The [[ARPANET]] is used to arrange a [[cannabis]] sale between students at the [[Stanford University centers and institutes|Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] and the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], later described as "the seminal act of e-commerce" in [[John Markoff]]'s book ''[[What the Dormouse Said]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Power |first=Michael 'Mike' |date=19 April 2013 |title=Online highs are old as the net: the first e-commerce was a drugs deal |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/19/online-high-net-drugs-deal |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130044158/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/19/online-high-net-drugs-deal |archive-date=30 November 2016}}</ref>
* 1979: [[Michael Aldrich]] demonstrates the first [[online shopping]] system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tkacz |first1=Ewaryst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9_NJIBC87gC |title=Internet – Technical Development and Applications |last2=Kapczynski |first2=Adrian |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |year=2009 |isbn=9783642050190 |page=255 |quote=The first pilot system was installing in Tesco in the UK (first demonstrated in 1979 by Michael Aldrich). |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223615/https://books.google.com/books?id=a9_NJIBC87gC |archive-date=4 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1981: Thomson Holidays UK is the first [[B2B e-commerce|business-to-business (B2B)]] online shopping system to be installed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Palmer |first=Colin |date=December 1988 |title=Using IT for competitive advantage at Thomson holidays |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0024630188901550 |url-status=live |journal=[[Long Range Planning]] |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=26–29 |doi=10.1016/0024-6301(88)90155-0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223609/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0024630188901550 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref>
* 1982: [[Minitel]] was introduced nationwide in France by [[Orange S.A.|France Télécom]] and used for online ordering.
* 1983: [[California State Assembly]] holds first hearing on "electronic commerce" in Volcano, California.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 March 2013 |title=E Commerce |url=https://www.studymode.com/essays/e-Commerce-1554293.html |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805215334/https://www.studymode.com/essays/e-Commerce-1554293.html |archive-date=5 August 2020 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[StudyMode]]}}</ref> Testifying are CPUC, MCI Mail, Prodigy, CompuServe, Volcano Telephone, and Pacific Telesis. (Not permitted to testify is Quantum Technology, later to become AOL.) California's Electronic Commerce Act was passed in 1984.
* 1983: Karen Earle Lile (AKA Karen Bean) and [[Kendall Ross Bean]] create e-commerce service in [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. Buyers and sellers of pianos connect through a database created by Piano Finders on a [[Kaypro]] personal computer using [[DOS]] interface. Pianos for sale are listed on a [[Bulletin board system]]. Buyers print list of pianos for sale by a [[dot matrix printer]]. Customer service happened through a Piano Advice Hotline listed in the [[San Francisco Chronicle]] classified ads and money transferred by a bank [[wire transfer]] when a sale was completed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Piano Entrepreneurs |work=Newspaper |agency=Contra Costa Times |publisher=Contra Costa Newspapers |date=February 11, 1985}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=In Tune With The Times - Piano Business Thrives in Slump |work=Newspaper |agency=The Daily Review |publisher=Contra Costa Newspapers |date=June 26, 1986}}</ref>
* 1984: [[Gateshead]] SIS/[[Tesco]] is first B2C online shopping system<ref>{{cite news |date=16 September 2013 |title=Online shopping: The pensioner who pioneered a home shopping revolution |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24091393 |url-status=live |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717063557/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24091393 |archive-date=17 July 2018}}</ref> and Mrs Snowball, 72, is the first online home shopper<ref>{{cite web |last=Aldrich |first=Michael |date=March 2009 |title=Finding Mrs Snowball |url=http://www.aldricharchive.com/snowball.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207045137/http://www.aldricharchive.com/snowball.html |archive-date=7 December 2020 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[Michael Aldrich Archive]]}}</ref>
* 1984: In April 1984, [[CompuServe]] launches the Electronic Mall in the US and Canada. It is the first comprehensive electronic commerce service.<ref>{{cite web |date=30 April 2010 |title=The Electronic Mall |url=http://www.gsbrown.org/compuserve/electronic-mall-1984-04/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326123900/http://gsbrown.org/compuserve/electronic-mall-1984-04/ |archive-date=26 March 2016 |access-date=4 May 2021 |publisher=GS Brown}}</ref>
* 1989: In May 1989, Sequoia Data Corp. introduced Compumarket, the first internet based system for e-commerce. Sellers and buyers could post items for sale and buyers could search the database and make purchases with a credit card.
* 1990: [[Tim Berners-Lee]] writes the first web browser, [[WorldWideWeb]], using a [[NeXTSTEP|NeXT]] computer.<ref>{{cite web |last=Berners-Lee |first=Tim |title=The WorldWideWeb browser |url=https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501222006/https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html |archive-date=1 May 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[World Wide Web Consortium]]}}</ref>
* 1992: [[Book Stacks Unlimited]] in Cleveland opens a commercial sales website (www.books.com) selling books online with credit card processing.
* 1993: Paget Press releases edition No. 3<ref>{{cite web |last1=Geiger |first1=Conrad |date=15 September 1992 |title=NeXT Nugget News Digest |url=http://next.68k.org/ftp.peak.org/next/documents/newsletters/NuggetNewsText/vol.04.11.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310211403/http://next.68k.org/ftp.peak.org/next/documents/newsletters/NuggetNewsText/vol.04.11.txt |archive-date=10 March 2016 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[NeXT]]}}</ref> of the first<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tayler |first=Jesse |date=11 April 2016 |title=Jesse Tayler talks App Store and NeXTSTEP with AppStorey |url=https://appstorey.com/2016/04/11/jesse-tayler-talks-appstore-and-nextstep-with-appstorey/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321063209/https://appstorey.com/2016/04/11/jesse-tayler-talks-appstore-and-nextstep-with-appstorey/ |archive-date=21 March 2018 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[AppStorey]]}}</ref> [[app store]], The Electronic AppWrapper<ref>{{cite web |date=28 September 1993 |title=PRESS RELEASE: AppWrapper Volume1 Issue 3 Ships |url=https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next.announce/c/0mE2n2zaeVE/m/znflGBPPqlYJ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223607/https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next.announce/c/0mE2n2zaeVE/m/znflGBPPqlYJ |archive-date=4 May 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[Google Groups]] |type=Press Release}}</ref>
* 1994: [[Netscape]] releases the Navigator browser in October under the code name [[Mozilla]]. [[Netscape Navigator|Netscape]] 1.0 is introduced in late 1994 with [[Transport Layer Security|SSL]] encryption that made transactions secure.
* 1994: [[Ipswitch IMail Server]] becomes the first software available online for sale and immediate download via a partnership between [[Ipswitch, Inc.]] and [[OpenMarket]].
* 1994: "Ten Summoner's Tales" by Sting becomes the first secure online purchase through [[NetMarket]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Peter H. |date=12 August 1994 |title=Attention Shoppers: Internet Is Open |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/12/business/attention-shoppers-internet-is-open.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903095512/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/12/business/attention-shoppers-internet-is-open.html |archive-date=3 September 2017 |access-date=4 May 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
* 1995: The US [[National Science Foundation]] lifts its former strict prohibition of commercial enterprise on the Internet.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kelly |first=Kevin |date=August 2005 |title=We Are the Web |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html?pg=2 |url-status=dead |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824064357/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html?pg=2 |archive-date=24 August 2013}}</ref>
* 1995: Thursday 27 April 1995, the purchase of a book by Paul Stanfield, product manager for [[CompuServe]] UK, from [[W H Smith]]'s shop within CompuServe's UK Shopping Centre is the UK's first national online shopping service secure transaction. The shopping service at launch featured [[W H Smith]], [[Tesco]], [[Virgin Megastores]]/[[Our Price]], Great Universal Stores ([[GUS (retailer)|GUS]]), [[Interflora]], [[Dixons Retail]], Past Times, [[PC World (retailer)]] and Innovations.
* 1995: [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] is launched by [[Jeff Bezos]].
* 1995: [[eBay]] is founded by computer programmer [[Pierre Omidyar]] as AuctionWeb. It is the first [[online auction]] site supporting person-to-person transactions.<ref name="Bunnell">{{cite book |last1=Bunnell |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnict8L-_iYC |title=The ebay Phenomenon: Business Secrets Behind the World's Hottest Internet Company |date=16 May 2001 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=9780471436799 |pages=71–81 |chapter=The eBay Business Model |access-date=5 September 2019 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnict8L-_iYC&pg=PA71 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223601/https://books.google.com/books?id=pnict8L-_iYC |archive-date=4 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1995: The first commercial-free 24-hour, internet-only radio stations, Radio HK and [[NetRadio]] start broadcasting.
* 1996: The use of [[Excalibur BBS]] with replicated "storefronts" was an early implementation of electronic commerce started by a group of [[Sysop|SysOps]] in [[Australia]] and replicated to global partner sites.
* 1998: [[Electronic stamp|Electronic postal stamps]] can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 April 1998 |title=First Electronic Stamps Being Put to Test |page=16 |newspaper=[[Sunday Business]] |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6EVWAAAAIBAJ&pg=5537%2C1474649 |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504223612/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6EVWAAAAIBAJ&pg=5537%2C1474649 |archive-date=4 May 2021}}</ref>
* 1999: [[Alibaba Group]] is established in China. [[Business.com]] sold for US$7.5 million to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US$149,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing software [[Napster]] launches. [[ATG Stores]] launches to sell decorative items for the home online.
* 1999:  Global e-commerce reaches $150 billion<ref name="Terzi-2011" />
* 2000: The [[dot-com bust]].
* 2001: [[eBay]] has the largest userbase of any e-commerce site.<ref name="Bunnell" />
* 2001: [[Alibaba Group|Alibaba.com]] achieved profitability in December 2001.
* 2002: [[eBay]] acquires [[PayPal]] for $1.5 billion.<ref>{{cite web |date=8 July 2002 |title=eBay acquires PayPal |url=http://investor.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=84142 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006214543/http://investor.ebay.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=84142 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=4 May 2021 |work=[[eBay]]}}</ref> Niche retail companies [[Wayfair]] and [[NetShops]] are founded with the concept of selling products through several targeted domains, rather than a central portal.
* 2003: [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] posts first yearly profit.
* 2004: [[DHgate.com]], China's first online B2B transaction platform, is established, forcing other B2B sites to move away from the "[[yellow pages]]" model.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diane Wang: Rounding up the "Ant" Heroes |url=http://www.zwgl.com.cn/article_info.asp?nid=4243 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223015245/http://www.zwgl.com.cn/article_info.asp?nid=4243 |archive-date=23 February 2012 |access-date=3 September 2011 |publisher=Sino Foreign Management}}</ref>
* 2007: [[Business.com]] acquired by [[R.H. Donnelley]] for $345 million.<ref>{{cite web |last=Allemann |first=Andrew |date=26 July 2007 |title=R.H. Donnelley Acquires Business.com for $345M |url=https://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/26/rh-donnelley-acquires-businesscom-for-345m/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210408054344/https://domainnamewire.com/2007/07/26/rh-donnelley-acquires-businesscom-for-345m/ |archive-date=8 April 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[Domain Name Wire]] |publisher=[[Brainstorm Labs, LLC]]}}</ref>
* 2014: US e-commerce and online retail sales projected to reach $294 billion, an increase of 12 percent over 2013 and 9% of all retail sales.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kodali |first=Sucharita |date=12 May 2014 |title=US eCommerce Forecast: 2013 to 2018 |url=https://www.forrester.com/report/US+eCommerce+Forecast+2013+To+2018/-/E-RES115513 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123105902/https://www.forrester.com/report/US+eCommerce+Forecast+2013+To+2018/-/E-RES115513 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[Forrester Research]]}}</ref> [[Alibaba Group]] has the largest [[Initial public offering]] ever, worth $25 billion.
* 2015: [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] accounts for more than half of all e-commerce growth,<ref>{{cite web |last=Garcia |first=Tonya |date=22 December 2015 |title=Amazon will account for more than half of 2015 e-commerce growth, says Macquarie |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-will-account-for-more-than-half-of-2015-e-commerce-growth-says-macquarie-2015-12-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128162404/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-will-account-for-more-than-half-of-2015-e-commerce-growth-says-macquarie-2015-12-22 |archive-date=28 January 2021 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[MarketWatch]]}}</ref> selling almost 500 Million SKU's in the US.
* 2016: The [[Government of India]] launches the [[BHIM|BHIM UPI]] digital payment interface. In the year 2020 it has 2 billion digital payment transactions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UPI crosses 2 billion transactions milestone in October, up 80% from year-ago; value nears Rs 4 lakh cr |url=https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/upi-crosses-2-billion-transactions-milestone-in-october-up-80-from-year-ago-value-nears-rs-4-lakh-cr/2118690/ |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=Financialexpress |date=November 2020 |language=en |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926011703/https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/upi-crosses-2-billion-transactions-milestone-in-october-up-80-from-year-ago-value-nears-rs-4-lakh-cr/2118690/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=India: number of BHIM transactions 2022 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1055414/india-number-of-transactions-through-bhim/ |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=Statista |language=en |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324044607/https://www.statista.com/statistics/1055414/india-number-of-transactions-through-bhim/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 2017: Retail e-commerce sales across the world reaches $2.304 trillion, which was a 24.8 percent increase than previous year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mcnair |first=Corey |date=29 January 2018 |title=Worldwide Retail and Ecommerce Sales: eMarketer's Updated Forecast and New Mcommerce Estimates for 2016—2021 |url=https://www.emarketer.com/Report/Worldwide-Retail-Ecommerce-Sales-eMarketers-Updated-Forecast-New-Mcommerce-Estimates-20162021/2002182 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127152046/https://www.emarketer.com/Report/Worldwide-Retail-Ecommerce-Sales-eMarketers-Updated-Forecast-New-Mcommerce-Estimates-20162021/2002182 |archive-date=27 November 2018 |access-date=4 May 2021 |website=[[eMarketer]] |publisher=[[Insider Intelligence Inc.]]}}</ref>
* 2017: Global e-commerce transactions generate {{US$|29.267 trillion|long=no}}, including {{US$|25.516 trillion|long=no}} for business-to-business (B2B) transactions and {{US$|3.851 trillion|long=no}} for [[business-to-consumer]] (B2C) sales.<ref>{{cite news |date=29 March 2019 |title=Global e-Commerce sales surged to $29 trillion |publisher=[[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] |type=Press Release |url=https://unctad.org/press-material/global-e-commerce-sales-surged-29-trillion |url-status=live |access-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502055911/https://unctad.org/press-material/global-e-commerce-sales-surged-29-trillion |archive-date=2 May 2021}}</ref>