what is Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce)

Definition - What does Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) mean?

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the marketing, buying and selling of merchandise or services over the Internet. It encompasses the entire scope of online product and service sales from start to finish. E-commerce tools include computer platforms, applications, solutions, servers and various software formats manufactured by e-commerce service providers and purchased by merchants to increase online sales.
E-commerce facilitates the growth of online business. It is categorized as follows:

• Online marketing
• Online advertising
• Online sales
• Product delivery
• Product service
• Online billing
• Online payments

Techopedia explains Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce)

The e-commerce concept relates to business or financial transactions that facilitate electronic payments of items purchased from online stores and service vendors. E-commerce covers a broad range of business activities, from digital content used for online consumption to conventional orders of online merchandise. Online banking is another form of e-commerce. E-commerce transactions are conducted between businesses, businesses and consumers, businesses and government, businesses and employees and consumers and businesses.
Online shopping is an e-commerce format, in which real-time sales transactions occur as a consumer purchases an item or service from an online store. This may be explained as an interactive collaboration between a consumer and merchant. In online shopping, there is no intermediary - just the interaction between the online buyer and store/service provider. Here, electronic financial transactions are conducted securely. E-commerce also describes the exchange of data between the financing, billing and payment aspects of electronic business transactions.