INTRODUCTION OF E-COMMERCE-:

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying

and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other
computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with
widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing
on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online
transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and
automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide
Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range
of technologies such as e-mail as well.

A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items
such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the
transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers
and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce
presence on the World Wide Web.

Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business

or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to
specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is
conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-
consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as
Amazon.com. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce where the buyer is directly
online to the seller's computer usually via the internet. There is no intermediary service. The sale
and purchase transaction is completed electronically and interactively in real-time such as
Amazon.com for new books. If an intermediary is present, then the sale and purchase transaction
is called electronic commerce such as eBay.com.

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 payment aspects of the business
transactions.

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following:

 Email
 Enterprise content management
 Instant messaging
 Newsgroups
 Online shopping and order tracking
 Online banking
 Online office suites
 Domestic and international payment systems
 Shopping cart software
 Teleconferencing
 Electronic tickets
Electronic mail, commonly called email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages
across the Internet or other computer networks. Originally, email was transmitted directly from
one user to another computer. This required both computers to be online at the same time, a la
instant messaging. Today's email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers
accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Users no longer need be online simultaneously and
need only connect briefly, typically to an email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive
messages

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a formalized means of organizing and storing an

organization's documents, and other content, that relate to the organization's processes. The term
encompasses strategies, methods, and tools used throughout the lifecycle of the content

Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time direct text-based communication between two or
more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared software clients. The
user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet. More advanced instant messaging
software clients also allow enhanced modes of communication, such as live voice or video
calling.

A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from
many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a
discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to,
discussion forums on the World Wide Web. Newsreader software is used to read newsgroups.

Online shopping is the process whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller
in real-time, without an intermediary service, over the Internet. If an intermediary service is
present the process is called electronic commerce. An online shop, eshop, e-store, internet shop,
webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products
or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. The process is called Business-
to-Consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from another business it is called
Business-to-Business (B2B) online shopping. Both B2C and B2B online shopping are forms of
e-commerce.

Online banking (or Internet banking) allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a
secure website operated by their retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.

An online office suite or online productivity suite is a type of office suite offered by websites
in the form of software as a service. They can be accessed online from any Internet-enabled
device running any operating system.[1] This allows people to work together worldwide and at
any time, thereby leading to international web-based collaboration and virtual teamwork.
Usually, the basic versions are offered for free and for more advanced versions one is required to
pay a nominal subscription fee.

Applications are often developed on the Web 2.0 paradigms with leverage on the existing
developer community. Players come from both the commercial software market and from the
open source, free software communities.