e-Commerce

DEFINITION

Electronic commerce, in short e-commerce consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks (Source: Wikipedia). In a broader sense, the definition comes close to that of [[e-business]] and includes electronic transactions such as electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Sometimes e-commerce is used as synonym to [[e-business]].

IMPACT ON E-BUSINESS

e-commerce is a big part of e-business. Since the success of the Internet, more businesses buy and sell over the Internet or other electronic networks. Main opportunities are: not limited to geographical boundaries; not limited to one (or several) physical shops; not limited to specific opening hours; thus: more flexibility, less costs (in particular of goods and services are also delivered electronically as no storage space is needed); broader reach. Main barriers are: lack of [[trust]] (in the e-commerce operator as s/he is not physically "reachable"; in [[e-Payment]] methods if applied); mailing and money transfer costs if delivered and paid in a traditional way; dispute settlement and enforcability of decisions; potential infringement of rights e.g. counterfeit, copyright due to digital techniques (see [[IPR]] and [[Copyright]]).