History and Evolution of E-Commerce

History of E-Commerce
The history of E-Commerce is a history of how Information Technology has transformed business processes. It provides with a detailed explanation of the different important phases and stages through which Electronic Commerce has actually evolved. History of E-Commerce also provides with important details about how Electronic Commerce began to be used as a popular online mean of economic exchange. Electronic Commerce refers to the online transaction of goods.

Evolution of E-Commerce
The development of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) provided with a set of standards that enabled the big business firms to indulge in a sort of beneficial electronic transaction. It also facilitated the interchange of vital business oriented information.

In the 1960’s, businesses realized that many of the documents they exchange related to the shipping of goods - such as invoices, purchase orders, and bills of lading - and included the same set of information for almost every transaction.

For decades, banks have been using Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT), which are electronic transmissions of account exchange information over private communication networks.

In 1980’s, the introduction of ATM card was the latest improvement to electronic commerce. Beside that, the growth and acceptance of credit card, Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and telephone banking also is a form of electronic commerce.

In 1994’s, the Internet begin to advance in popularity among the general public. The security protocols for example HTTP to become sufficiently developed and widely developed.

E-Commerce was birth out of the World-Wide-Web (WWW). The aspect of the WWW actually is a relatively new aspect of the Internet. While the Internet was developed in the late 1960’s, the WWW came into existence more than a decade ago - in the early 1990’s. Since then, however, it has grown phenomenally to become the most widely used service on the Internet.