'Electronic commerce', commonly known as 'e-commerce' , is the buying and sellin g of product or service over electronic systems such

as the Internet and other c omputer network. Electronic commerce draws on such technologies as electronic fu nds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction pr ocessing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and a utomated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although i t may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices and telephones as well. Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business . It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payme nt aspects of business transactions. E-commerce can be divided into: E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall" The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established cus tomers (for example, with newsletters) Business-to-business buying and selling The security of business transactions E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-busines s activities such as inventory transfers. A customer can order items from a vend or's Web site, paying with a credit card (the customer enters account informatio n via the computer) or with a previously established "cybercash" account. The tr ansaction information is transmitted (usually by modem) to a financial instituti on for payment clearance and to the vendor for order fulfillment. Personal and a ccount information is kept confidential through the use of "secured transactions " that use encryption technology (see data encryption).