Meaning

E-Commerce stands for electronic commerce and caters to trading in goods and services through the electronic medium such as internet, mobile or any other computer network. It involves the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) in making commerce between consumers and organizations, organization and organization or consumer and consumer. With the growing use of internet worldwide, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has also increased in humongous amounts and so has flourished e-commerce with the prolific virtual internet bazaar inside the digital world which is rightly termed as e-malls.

We now have access to almost every knick-knack of our daily lives at competitive prices on the internet. No matter one is educated or illiterate, an urbane or a countryman, in India or in U.K; all you need is an internet connection and a green bank account. With e-commerce then, you can buy almost anything you wish for without actually touching the product physically and inquiring the salesman n number of times before placing the final order. Here is a beautiful picture depicting how has human life evolved to adapt to the digital world and hence trading over the internet. As seen, from pizza and potted plant to pair of shoes, we have everything on sale on the internet available in tempting offers..!! Snapdeal, Amazon, eBay, Naaptol, Myntra, etc are some of the most popular e-commerce websites.

E-commerce takes place between:

• Business Firms - Business to Business (B2B)
• Business Firms and Customers (B2C)
• Business Firms and Government Agencies (B2G)
• Consumer to Business (C2B)
• Customer to Customer (C2C), etc.