Initially, E-Commerce was primarily the domain of large firms, due to its initial format of customized, complex, and expensive transactions – essential barriers to entry by smaller competitors.
Today, for a nominal fee, anyone may become an online merchant, with the potential to reach millions of consumers world-wide. This democratization of the Internet has changed the previous focus of E-Commerce from primarily Business-to-Business transactions between known parties, to a complex web of commercial activities involving huge numbers of consumers who never meet. In essence, the development of the Internet has had the same effect on E-Commerce as Henry Ford’s assembly line on the automotive industry. It has converted a luxury for the few into a relatively simple and inexpensive device for the masses.
In this book, we will explore these impacts and innovations. The purpose of this book is to provide a preliminary analytical foundation (knowledge base), which then may be used for further, more advanced study. It is not intended to be an exhaustive analysis – yet at the same time provides as much information as possible to provide an accurate depiction of the current state and likely future direction of E-Commerce.