Introduction
IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction
Electronic commerce.i.Electronic commerce;
can be defined loosely as “doing
business electronically” (European Commission
1997). Electronic commerce includes
electronic trading of physical goods
and of intangibles such as information.
This encompasses all the trading steps such
as online marketing, ordering, payment,
and support for delivery. Electronic commerce
includes the electronic provision of
services, such as after-sales support or
online legal advice. Finally it also includes
electronic support for collaboration between
companies, such as collaborative
design.
Some forms of electronic commerce exists
already for over 20 years, e.g. electronic
data interchange (EDI), in sectors such as
retail and automotive, and CALS (Computer
Assisted Lifecycle Support) in sectors
such as defence and heavy manufacturing.
These forms of electronic commerce have
been limited in their diffusion and take-
up. Recently, however, we see an explo
sive development in electronic commerce.
The reasons for that are, of course, the
Internet and the World Wide Web, which
are making electronic commerce much
more accessible. They offer easily usable
and low cost forms of electronic commerce.
Electronic commerce on the basis
of the Internet is set to become a very
important way of doing business.