Development and Future Perspective of Electronic Commerce

Wilfred Okome Okasi

Sample paper

AcademiaResearch.com

30 September, 2013

E-commerce, commonly known as electronic trade refers to selling and buying of services or products over electronic systems like the internet as well as other computer networks. The number of business transactions done electronically has increased significantly since the invention and spread of Internet. A wide range of trade is carried out in this manner, drawing on and spurring innovations in supply chain management, Internet marketing, electronic funds transfer, electronic data interchange (EDI), online transaction processing, automated data gathering systems and automated inventory management systems. Current electronic commerce normally uses the WWW (World Wide Web) at least at a given point in the activities' lifecycle, even though it can include a wider variety of technologies like email. Therefore, this essay describes electronic commerce by pointing out its development as well as its future perspective.

The beginning of electronic commerce can be traced from periods when businesses first used telegram, telex, fax and telephone to carry out commercial activities. During early 1980's, a significant effort to normalize business information transfer digitally was attained using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). At this stage, connections between industries and businesses had to be arranged in advance, based on a VAN (Value Added Network). This improved the effectiveness of carrying out business but had partial commercial viability due to the unreasonable cost of connectivity. With the introduction of open computer technology and commercialization of Internet in the early 1990's, connectivity became inexpensive not only for individuals but also for businesses. These interconnections formed the WWW (World Wide Web). The proliferation of websites and influential search engines turned the World Wide Web into a valuable information resource, drawing browsers on a universal scale . Businesses started to reach their potential clientele via the internet by giving them product catalogue and marketing information online.

In the mid 1990's, World Wide Web evolved from a mere information resource to a virtual environment for electronic commerce transactions which needed an interactive and more secure environment. The interactive and secured features changed electronic commerce transactions from one buyer-seller connection to a several buyers-sellers trade. Furthermore, websites could be personalized as well as customized. Businesses also started implementing wireless technology to the internet. The current need of electronic commerce is to allow business to business trade that requires interoperability in the entire business and within