Nature and Dynamics of the internet

E-commerce is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet and through other electronic media. E-business is when a company e-enables its processes to do business in a more efficient way using Web technologies. This might include procuring goods and services, dealing with customers as well as selling products.

E-commerce is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, IBM is a long-established provider of communication networks. Organisations have been using these to exchange business data for many years. The exponential growth of the Internet has driven the accelerated expansion of this process. Until recently, e-commerce was concentrated on business-to-consumer activity (B2C) hence the explosion of .com companies. However, the development of the Web has made business-to-business (B2B) activity possible, leading to the development of a host of what are termed Internet exchanges.

E-commerce is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet and through other electronic media. E-business is when a company e-enables its processes to do business in a more efficient way using Web technologies. This might include procuring goods and services, dealing with customers as well as selling products.

E-commerce is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, IBM is a long-established provider of communication networks. Organisations have been using these to exchange business data for many years. The exponential growth of the Internet has driven the accelerated expansion of this process. Until recently, e-commerce was concentrated on business-to-consumer activity (B2C) hence the explosion of .com companies. However, the development of the Web has made business-to-business (B2B) activity possible, leading to the development of a host of what are termed Internet exchanges.

E-commerce is the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet and through other electronic media. E-business is when a company e-enables its processes to do business in a more efficient way using Web technologies. This might include procuring goods and services, dealing with customers as well as selling products.

E-commerce is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, IBM is a long-established provider of communication networks. Organisations have been using these to exchange business data for many years. The exponential growth of the Internet has driven the accelerated expansion of this process. Until recently, e-commerce was concentrated on business-to-consumer activity (B2C) hence the explosion of .com companies. However, the development of the Web has made business-to-business (B2B) activity possible, leading to the development of a host of what are termed Internet exchanges.

With the advent of the Internet, the term e-commerce began to include:

• Electronic trading of physical goods and of intangibles such as information.
• All the steps involved in trade, such as on-line marketing, ordering payment and support for delivery.
• The electronic provision of services such as after sales support or on-line legal advice.
• Electronic support for collaboration between companies such as collaborative on-line design and engineering or virtual business consultancy

Lower telecommunications cost. The Internet is much cheaper than value added networks (VANs) which were based on leasing telephone lines for the sole use of the organisation and its authorised partners. It is also cheaper to send a fax or e-mail via the Internet than direct dialling.

Digitisation of products and processes. Particularly in the case of software and music/video products, which can be downloaded or e-mailed directly to customers via the Internet in digital or electronic format.

No more 24-hour-time constraints. Businesses can be contacted by or contact customers or suppliers at any time.