E stands for E-commerce

E-commerce or e-commerce or electronic commerce, a division of e-business, is the purchasing, selling, and exchanging of merchandise and services over computer networks (such as the Internet). Contrary to accepted belief, e-commerce is not just on the Web.

In fact, e-commerce has been there and well in business to business dealings before the Web back in the 70s via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) through VANs (Value-Added Networks).

E-commerce can be classified into four main categories: B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C. In B2B (Business-to-Business), corporations doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Pricing is based on extent of sort and is often flexible. The third type is the C2B (Consumer-to-Business). Here a shopper posts his mission with a set budget online and within hours companies analyze the consumer’s requirements and bid on the project.

The purchaser reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the whole project. This C2B empowers consumers around the globe by providing them with one common gathering ground and platform for such transactions.

Another aspect of e-commerce is C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer). For this there are many sites offering free classifieds, auctions, and forums where individuals can acquire and sell thanks to online payment systems. For instance eBay’s sale service is a grand example of where person-to-person transactions take place everyday since 1995. Some other kinds of e-commerce include B2E (Business-to-Employee) e-commerce, G2G (Government-to-Government), G2E (Government-to-Employee), G2B (Government-to-Business), B2G (Business-to-Government), G2C (Government-to-Citizen), C2G (Citizen-to-Government) etc. One thing is for sure that e-commerce has made life easier. Now you won’t have to search ten bookstores to find that book written by your favorite author. You can just search it on net. Many online sites offer good e-commerce solutions.