- The Internet first started getting widespread exposure to consumers in the mid-1990s. Over the course of the late 1990s two major events occurred which have enabled the eCommerce environment that exists on the Internet today. The first is the development and deployment of advanced security connections and protocols to prevent theft of privacy data when conducting business transactions. Second, is the deployment and growth of the use of cable broadband and DSL high speed Internet. Since the beginning of the 2000s, eCommerce has come to stand for online business transactions. After the dot com bust in 2000, it took approximately three to four years for major retailers, such as Amazon and Ebay, to start making significant profits with smaller companies following suit.
- There are a number of applications that the consumer is used to seeing or using for eCommerce. These include email, instant messaging (IM), online shopping, online order tracking, online bill payment, online shopping carts, purchasing etickets for air flights or concert, and teleconferencing. Today many of these tasks are consider agnostic to the web experience, but in the early 2000s only a small niche of the consumer base was exposed to all current eCommerce applications.
- A point of discussion that arises almost annually with regards to eCommerce is to what extent that government regulation of Internet business is considered appropriate? To date, some business activities are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) such as the use of commercial email (or spam mail), advertising online and the use and misuse of consumer privacy data. The FTC has had to bring a number of cases in the United States in order to ensure that fair business practices are adhered to for making the Internet a continued, viable place for conducting business.
- Being considered a fairly mature model after less than a decade of business practice, eCommerce business classifications are divided similarly to that of legacy retail relationships where the environment is divided into producers and consumers. As a result, the following eCommerce categories have been developed and used in the current market: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), business to government (B2G), government to government (G2G), consumer to consumer (C2C), and consumer to business (C2B). Entire niche markets have originated in the current eCommerce environment which specialize in servicing just one of the eBusiness categories.
- For businesses just starting out with web solutions, one of the most daunting tasks can be how to set up web-based eCommerce. To hire a developer for a unique solution can be a costly up-front endeavor for the small business new to the Web. As a result, there have been a number of third party solutions on the Internet today. Three good examples are Google Checkout, Diva Commerce and CafeExpress. Google Checkout and Diva Commerce are similar in that they provide services for the business owner to sell unique products on the web. CafeExpress is unique in that the company provides company emblematics for sale on the web with no risk to the business owner.
