One of the most common transactions implemented in an e-ready environment
is e-commerce/e-business. E-commerce transactions revolve around B2B,
B2C, B2G, C2B, C2C and P2G, which form the largest proportion of the digital
economy’s business activities. The rapidly growing e-commerce industry has been
given impetus by the open nature of the Internet in terms of limited regulation and
the low costs involved, especially when compared to the more expensive form of
EDI e-commerce that characterised the 1970s and 1980s. A number of factors are
determining e-commerce adoption in the digital economy, including education and
income levels, age, size of the enterprise (with large enterprises more likely to adopt
e-commerce than small-sized enterprises), security of online business transactions,
and the level of e-readiness. Various challenges constitute barriers to e-commerce
growth and development, including issues of trust, policy and regulation, privacy,
and skills and attitudes, to name a few.