Electronic commerce or e-commerce (sometimes written as ecommerce) is a business model that lets firms and

individuals conduct business over electronic networks, most notably: the Internet.

E-commerce, which can be conducted over computers, tablets, or smart phones may be thought of as a modernized
version of mail-order catalog shopping. Nearly every imaginable product and service is available through e-commerce
transactions, including books, music, plane tickets, and financial services such as stock investing and online banking.

'Electronic Commerce - ecommerce'

Electronic commerce (ecommerce) is a type of business model, or segment of a larger business model,
that enables a firm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typically the internet.
Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major market segments: business to business, business
to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. It can be thought of as a more
advanced form of mail-order purchasing through a catalog. Almost any product or service can be offered
via ecommerce, from books and music to financial services and plane tickets.

Ecommerce has allowed firms to establish a market presence, or to enhance an existing market position,
by providing a cheaper and more efficient distribution chain for their products or services. One example
of a firm that has successfully used ecommerce is Target. This mass retailer not only has physical stores,
but also has an online store where the customer can buy everything from clothes to coffee makers to
action figures.

Advantages of e-commerce
The main advantage of e-commerce is its ability to reach a global market, without necessarily implying a
large financial investment. The limits of this type of commerce are not defined geographically, which
allows consumers to make a global choice, obtain the necessary information and compare offers from all
potential suppliers, regardless of their locations.

By allowing direct interaction with the final consumer, e-commerce shortens the product distribution
chain, sometimes even eliminating it completely. This way, a direct channel between the producer or
service provider and the final user is created, enabling them to offer products and services that suit the
individual preferences of the target market.

E-commerce allows suppliers to be closer to their customers, resulting in increased productivity and
competitiveness for companies; as a result, the consumer is benefited with an improvement in quality
service, resulting in greater proximity, as well as a more efficient pre and post-sales support. With these
new forms of electronic commerce, consumers now have virtual stores that are open 24 hours a day.

Cost reduction is another very important advantage normally associated with electronic commerce. The
more trivial a particular business process is, the greater the likelihood of its success, resulting in a
significant reduction of transaction costs and, of course, of the prices charged to customers.

Disadvantages of e-commerce
The main disadvantages associated with e-commerce are the following:

Strong dependence on information and communication technologies (ICT);

Lack of legislation that adequately regulates the new e-commerce activities, both nationally and
internationally;
 Market culture is averse to electronic commerce (customers cannot touch or try the products);
The users’ loss of privacy, the loss of regions’ and countries’ cultural and economic identity;
Insecurity in the conduct of online business transactions.

Intranet
An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many interlinked local area
networks and also use leased lines in the wide area network. Typically, an intranet includes connections through one
or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information
and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for
teleconferences.
An intranet uses TCP/IP, HTTP, and other Internet protocols and in general looks like a private version of the Internet.
With tunneling, companies can send private messages through the public network, using the public network with
special encryption/decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.
Typically, larger enterprises allow users within their intranet to access the public Internet through firewall servers that
have the ability to screen messages in both directions so that company security is maintained. When part of an
intranet is made accessible to customers, partners, suppliers, or others outside the company, that part becomes part
of an extranet.

Extranet
An extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public telecommunication system to securely
share part of a business's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses.
An extranet can be viewed as part of a company's intranet that is extended to users outside the company. It has also
been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is perceived as a way to do business with other companies as
well as to sell products to customers.
An extranet requires security and privacy. These can include firewall server management, the issuance and use of
digital certificates or similar means of user authentication, encryption of messages, and the use of virtual private
networks (VPNs) that tunnel through the public network.

Companies can use an extranet to:

 Exchange large volumes of data using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
 Share product catalogs exclusively with wholesalers or those "in the trade"
 Collaborate with other companies on joint development efforts
 Jointly develop and use training programs with other companies
 Provide or access services provided by one company to a group of other companies, such as an
 online banking application managed by one company on behalf of affiliated banks
 Share news of common interest exclusively with partner companies.
Internet
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks
in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and
sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANet. The original aim was to create a network
that would allow users of a research computer at one university to "talk to" research computers at other universities.
A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one
direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or
other disaster.
Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people
worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public
telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP
(for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the intranet and
the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.
For most Internet users, electronic mail (email) practically replaced the postal service for short written transactions.
People communicate over the Internet in a number of other ways including Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Internet
telephony, instant messaging, video chat or social media.
The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"). Its
outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing. In most Web sites, certain words or phrases
appear in text of a different color than the rest; often this text is also underlined. When you select one of these words
or phrases, you will be transferred to the site or page that is relevant to this word or phrase. Sometimes there are
buttons, images, or portions of images that are "clickable." If you move the pointer over a spot on a Web site and the
pointer changes into a hand, this indicates that you can click and be transferred to another site.
Using the Web, you have access to billions of pages of information. Web browsing is done with a Web browser, the
most popular of which are Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. The appearance of a particular Web site may vary
slightly depending on the browser you use. Also, later versions of a particular browser are able to render more "bells
and whistles" such as animation, virtual reality, sound, and music files, than earlier versions.
The Internet has continued to grow and evolve over the years of its existence. IPv6, for example, was designed to
anticipate enormous future expansion in the number of available IP addresses. In a related development, the Internet
of Things (IoT) is the burgeoning environment in which almost any entity or object can be provided with a unique
identifier and the ability to transfer data automatically over the Internet.

There are 6 basic types of e-commerce:

1. Business-to-Business (B2B)
2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
3. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
4. Consumer-to-Business (C2B).
5. Business-to-Administration (B2A)
6. Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)
7. Government to government (G2G)
8. Government -to-citizen (G2C)
9. Government-to-business (G2B)
10. Government-to-Employees (G2E)
1. Business-to-Business (B2B)
Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce encompasses all electronic transactions of goods or services
conducted between companies. Producers and traditional commerce wholesalers typically operate with
this type of electronic commerce.

2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
The Business-to-Consumer type of e-commerce is distinguished by the establishment of electronic
business relationships between businesses and final consumers. It corresponds to the retail section of e-
commerce, where traditional retail trade normally operates.

These types of relationships can be easier and more dynamic, but also more sporadic or discontinued.
This type of commerce has developed greatly, due to the advent of the web, and there are already many
virtual stores and malls on the Internet, which sell all kinds of consumer goods, such as computers,
software, books, shoes, cars, food, financial products, digital publications, etc.

When compared to buying retail in traditional commerce, the consumer usually has more information
available in terms of informative content and there is also a widespread idea that you’ll be buying
cheaper, without jeopardizing an equally personalized customer service, as well as ensuring quick
processing and delivery of your order.

3. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) type e-commerce encompasses all electronic transactions of goods or
services conducted between consumers. Generally, these transactions are conducted through a third
party, which provides the online platform where the transactions are actually carried out.

4. Consumer-to-Business (C2B)
In C2B there is a complete reversal of the traditional sense of exchanging goods. This type of e-
commerce is very common in crowdsourcing based projects. A large number of individuals make their
services or products available for purchase for companies seeking precisely these types of services or
products.

Examples of such practices are the sites where designers present several proposals for a company logo
and where only one of them is selected and effectively purchased. Another platform that is very
common in this type of commerce are the markets that sell royalty-free photographs, images, media
and design elements, such as iStockphoto.

5. Business-to-Administration (B2A)
This part of e-commerce encompasses all transactions conducted online between companies and public
administration. This is an area that involves a large amount and a variety of services, particularly in areas
such as fiscal, social security, employment, legal documents and registers, etc. These types of services
have increased considerably in recent years with investments made in e-government.

6. Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)
The Consumer-to-Administration model encompasses all electronic transactions conducted between
individuals and public administration.

Examples of applications include:

Education – disseminating information, distance learning, etc.
Social Security – through the distribution of information, making payments, etc.
Taxes – filing tax returns, payments, etc.
Health – appointments, information about illnesses, payment of health services, etc.
Both models involving Public Administration (B2A and C2A) are strongly associated to the idea of
efficiency and easy usability of the services provided to citizens by the government, with the support of
information and communication technologies.

7. Government to government (G2G)

It is the electronic sharing of data and/or information systems between government agencies,
departments or organizations. The goal of G2G is to support e-government initiatives by improving
communication, data access and data sharing.

Several factors are driving local and federal governments to institute G2G initiatives. One of theme is
federal government legislation such as the Open Government Directive. G2G initiatives are also being
driven by budgets and funding. By sharing information and systems, governments are able to reduce IT
costs government offices can be more efficient and streamline procedures, allowing citizens to access
information over the Internet. They may also qualify for grant funding, depending on the project. An
example of a successful G2G project is the Northeast Gang Information System (NEGIS). NEGIS is used by
states in the northeast to share information about street gangs, including gang-related activities and
gang intelligence. The system connects all the state police departments of the participating states, and
the police departments transmit the collected information to their states’ other law enforcement and
public service agencies.

8. Government -to-citizen (G2C): It is the online non- commercial interaction between local and central
government with private individuals. Public can get services such as license, death/birth/marriage
certificates etc. by the government.

9. Government-to-business (G2B): It includes dissemination of policies, memos, rules and regulations.

10. Government -to employee (G2E): It is the online non- commercial interaction between government
organizations and government employees. It includes provision of human resource training and
development.