How has selling online changed since the Web first began?
Question: How has selling online changed since the Web first began?
Answer: Electronic commerce first began in the early 1990′s when the Internet first opened to commercial use. The concepts of buying and selling and business combined with computers and the Internet all contributed to the possiblility of eCommerce. Since then much has changed or evolved including the many branches or different forms of online commerce. The biggest change since merchants first began selling online is there wasn’t as much market saturation or competition and it wasn’t as difficult to obtain an easy to online brand or company identity. Now, in addition to the many small online businesses selling online we have large fortune 500 companies like eBay and Amazon to compete with.
The world of eCommerce wouldn’t have been possible without the advances in technology that are now familiar to all online merchants. The expansion of credit card companies, electronic payment gateways, online shopping carts and the places to market your items have all contributed to the growth and evolution of eCommerce. The need to have a secure place to enter payment information has led to new innovations in storefront security and privacy measures. With the development of the Web came more ways to build an online store and more options for store owners who are looking to design a custom shopping environment. Now we have online store builders and complex programs to automate many of the tasks needed during the design, security, marketing and maintenance stages.
Shopping online has also changed from the customer standpoint. Not only has the amount of people shopping online steadily increased so have the ways they shop and buy items of interest. The are more places to choose from with a greater selection of hard to find item and more ways to pay for them. The advances in security also help customers feel more secure when entering their personal information over the Web and buying items electronically. New and innovative things are happening all the time online, it’s no different in the world of eCommerce.
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4 Reader Comments & Links
Add a new comment...Comment posted by annie
July 4, 2007 @ 3:00 am
where was the internet first made
Comment posted by eCopt
July 5, 2007 @ 9:49 am
The World Wide Web (www) was originally developed in 1989 by a scientist named Tim Berners-Lee of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), based in Switzerland. He is an Oxford grad and got the idea for the Internet because he was frustrated that his telephone numbers, paper documents and addresses were not all easily accessible in one convenient database location.
On April 30, 1993, the CERN directors officially signed the document that made the Internet free for everyone.
Hope this helps!
Comment posted by heather
April 14, 2008 @ 9:13 am
no the internet was actually made my the millitary. they wanted to find a way to communicate with people in america without using letter so the enemy wouldn’t be able to take their information thus the internet was made.
Comment posted by eCopt
April 19, 2008 @ 8:39 am
@ heather – You’re right, kinda. Mr. Lee was a scientist that worked for a government (CERN), so if by military you meant that, then you’re right. Governments are always looking for ways to transmit messages without potential enemies knowing. They have used codes, code breakers and even languages like Navajo to transmit messages, Internet was later, after less of a use for such methods of transmission.
If you want, there’s more information on this subject in our Introduction Guide.
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