E-commerce and e-business

E-commerce and e-business

Internet terminology is still in a state of flux; nowhere is this more evident than in the past use of the terms e-commerce and e-business. Both have been used to describe any business activity which uses the internet. However, some consensus is emerging in that the terms are gradually being employed in a more focused way. The term e-commerce is increasingly being used to describe online retailing, for example the use of the web to sell books. The term e-business is increasingly being used to describe all business activities using the internet, not just online retailing.

All these imperatives lead to one conclusion: the fact that each of the entities involved in the process of manufacturing the mouthwash should be connected together. Even the farmer should be able to communicate with the buyer of eucalyptus leaves by typing in crop yields using, say, wireless technology.

Example of trending e-commerce Affiliate marketing tools 

                                   

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Connecting companies together using network technology is not new: companies such as Procter & Gamble (The mouthwash example is an e-business application) have been leaders in this for years. However, the internet provides an infrastructure which enables individuals and companies to connect using a technology whose details are open to all and which can be easily implemented on virtually every computer in existence. The internet also provides a common interface to computing resources via a browser: everyone from the farmer in Australia to the manager of a retail chemist will be familiar with such technology and use it well.

A myth about e-commerce

One of the myths about e-commerce is that it is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Even in the early days of the internet when connections between individual computers were achieved by hand dialling using a telephone, there were a number of internet companies which had been set up to sell photographs and other graphic images of naked ladies and gentlemen. The earliest e-commerce applications were those associated with pornographers; indeed, a number of commentators have opined that the demands made upon the internet by pornographers have speeded the development of a number of technologies such as streaming video and the deployment of new business models.

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