A Guide to E-commerce

Updated 9/30/20

E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of products, services, and information over a variety of electronic systems. E-commerce marketers have become renowned for using the Internet as its primary platform; however, it may extend to other technologies, such as e-mail, mobile devices, and telephones. The e-commerce business model utilizes a variety of technologies, such as electronic funds transfer, Internet marketing, supply chain management, electronic data interchange, inventory management, automated collection, and online transaction processing systems. E-commerce offers efficient financing and payment aspects of all electronic business transactions. E-commerce can take on various forms, including e-tailing via online catalogs or “virtual malls,” gathering and utilizing demographic data via Web contacts, Internet security applications, B2B buying and selling incentives, e-mail and faxing media as an advertisement option via newsletters or mailing lists, and electronic data interchange (EDI) with other B2B models. E-commerce encompasses various business applications, including document automation in logistics and supply chain management, all payment systems, commercial content management, group buying, online shopping, online banking, teleconferencing, electronic tickets, newsgroups, Instant Messaging, Internet security, online office suites, and online administrative assistants just to name a few. E-Commerce Definition

• What is E-commerce? (PDF): An extensive document outlining pertinent questions related to e-commerce. It defines e-commerce, information asymmetry, a marketspace, the three benefits of universal standards, Web 2.0, and more.
• E-Commerce Security: An authoritative guide about e-commerce security, including its definitions and overview, ethics, methods, issues, and methods of providing secure business transactions for e-commerce security.
• An Introduction to E-Commerce: Transactions: An extensive learning guide that teaches students about all about e-commerce business transactions, including a brief introduction, a further explanation about digital signatures, clickwraps, terms of service (TOS), payment technology, taxation, and other references.
• What Is E-Commerce?: A government resource that strictly defines electronic commerce, and what it means for present and future developments in the business world.
• E-Commerce Checklist (PDF): A seven-stop processing to developing an e-commerce business model from the ground up, starting with defining its specific functions.
• E-Commerce: Concepts & Technologies (PDF): A lecture series that describes the fundamental principles of e-commerce, including key concepts and its technologies.

• The History of E-Commerce: A brief history of e-commerce starting from 1984 to 2000. E-commerce emerged far before the advent of the personal computer.
• The Making of E-Commerce: 10 Key Moments: A brief history of e-commerce dating back to 1968 when the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allowed various companies to perform electronic transactions.
• The Evolution of E-Commerce (PDF): A power-point presentation by Daniel V. Klein demonstrates the evolution of e-commerce, beginning with the telegraph and ending with modern business transactions.

• E-Commerce Security (PDF): An abstract paper that examines the developments of robust security in e-commerce security applications.
• E-Commerce Security (PDF): An authoritative document that outlines various e-commerce security objectives, including online security issues, security for client computers, security for communication lines between computers, security for server computers, and security for organizations that promote computer, network, and Internet security.
• E-Commerce Security: Raising Awareness (PDF): An abstract paper that explains how e-commerce security strategies can better improve NIST IT security services.
• Trends in e-Commerce Security Practices (PDF): An authoritative document that outlines previous, present, and future trends in E-commerce security practices.
• Security Issues in E-Commerce (PDF): A basic introduction to e-commerce security that answers basic questions that defines e-commerce, what tools are necessary to secure the network, and stating exactly when and where it becomes necessary to secure these platforms.
• Secure E-Commerce Protocol (PDF): An abstract document that explains all of the necessary information to setting up and executing sound e-commerce protocol.

• E-Commerce: The Future of Banking and Financial Services: The Federal Trade Commission addresses what the future holds for banking and other financial services that have incorporated an e-commerce business model to extend and promote their traditional practices.
• E-Business & E-Commerce Tax Center: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) addresses pertinent tax issues for all e-commerce and e-business operators.
• What is econsumer.gov?: E-consumer offers U.S. citizens the opportunity to report claims for all online fraudulent orders with international origins.
• Home-Based Business and Government Regulation (PDF): The Small Business Administration (SBA) addresses government regulation of all home-based businesses, including e-commerce models.
• E-Government: An Engine to Power E-Commerce Development (PDF): An abstract paper that covers the initiatives by governments to participate in e-commerce activities, including the regulation of all online business transactions.
• A Third Way Framework for Global E-Commerce (PDF): An authoritative document that explains the way to pave the road towards more successful global e-commerce ventures.

• The Benefits of E-Commerce (PDF): An extensive document that explains the benefits of e-commerce, including its cost effectiveness of labor, materials, and overhead. In addition, it improves better cash flow and marketing by reaching a broader audience.
• The Benefits and Limitations of E-Commerce: A lesson plan that addresses the benefits and limitations of e-commerce. It includes video and audio clips, text guides, and outside references to fully understand the advantages of electronic business transactions.
• Promoting E-Commerce in Developing Countries (PDF): An authoritative document that explains the advantages and disadvantages to expanding e-commerce strategies in developing countries, including effective strategies for various business models.
• Let's Talk Business: E-Commerce: Opportunities for Small Business Owners (PDF): An article that addresses how e-commerce benefits small business owners over the traditional brick and mortar business model.

• On the Negative Effects of E-Commerce: A web-based tutorial that describes how unregulated online buying can lead to disastrous results when it comes to e-commerce business transactions.
• Privacy and Security Issues in E-Commerce (PDF): The ability to secure and preserve customer privacy has been a cause for concern in the global e-commerce marketplace, especially with a growing black hat hacker population that has compromised many business establishments and the personal data of millions of customers.
• Issues in Mobile Commerce (PDF): An abstract paper that examines the common issues in the convergence of e-commerce onto mobile devices.
• Common E-Commerce Pitfalls (PDF): An extensive document that explains the common pitfalls in e-commerce, and why a substantial portion of e-commerce business operators tend to not be successful in their endeavors.

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