The history of electronic commerce

The history of electronic commerce

The business phenomenon that we now call electronic commerce has had an interesting history. Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm., refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. Originally, electronic commerce was identified as the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). 

The group of logical, related, and sequential activities and transactions in which businesses engage are often collectively referred to as business processes. These were both introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of electronic commerce. Another form of e-commerce was the airline reservation system typified by Sabre in the USA and Travicom in the UK.