E-Commerce Hot and Booming With No End in Sight

Is ecommerce really as hot as people say? Why could this be profoundly important to you? Ecommerce really refers to electronic business, which itself is often simply known as e-business. As such, electronic business includes almost any transaction involving money or exchange that occurs over the internet and/or over computer networks. Many credit card transactions, for example, do not occur directly over the Internet, but they very clearly involve use of computer networks. Although ecommerce can refer to the technology of wired banking infrastructure, we are thinking more along the lines of business to business and consumer to business financial transactions and other business activity that results in financial activity.

What comes to mind for most of us when we think of ecommerce is shopping. For others, ecommerce is more closely associated with the technology involved in the marketing and selling of our own products and services; in other words, the shopping carts, the logistics of payment, and product supply, inventory, and delivery. Electronic business, of course, includes much more, such as the e-filing and payment of taxes, Internet equities purchases, foreign exchange, online lotteries and gambling, as well as business to business transactions. As an online retailer yourself, you will very likely make most of your business purchases online and much of your money movement will be also be done electronically.

E-Business itself is big business and getting bigger every day. This last point is important because it helps explain the gold rush onto the Internet. Because money is being made and becaue the start-up costs are so low–almost zero in some cases, almost anyone can begin doing business if they have an Internet connection. Online sales have been on the rise since the year 2000, and the US Department of Commerce reports that in 2003 ecommerce sales totaled $55 billion, an amount that has increased every year thereafter. In 2004 sales hit $69 billion, and ecommerce is increasing among sole-proprietors. One indication of the rapid increase in ecommerce is that the numbers of individuals–not just small businesses but individuals–going into Internet business is increasing. Some of the areas experiencing huge growth include catalog sales, electronic appliances, computers and related products, DVDs, magazines, auto parts, clothing, and specialty items.

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An innovation made possible by Internet electronic business is the incredible big business being done by individuals and micro businesses in what has become the virtual real estate market and the development of tiny niche markets. Virtual real estate simply refers to websites that you own. Successful monetization of these sites can create fortunes, but more to the point, these sites can be developed and sold as virtual real estate but without the hassle for the need of special licensing.

The Internet has become so easily available (and cheap) that almost anyone can engage in some sort of online activity either as a potential customer or as a business and more frequently as both. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce bear this out not only because of the increased revenues, but because of the actual increase in numbers of individuals as well as businesses getting involved in electronic commerce.. Traditional brick and mortar businesses are more and more likely to be conducting some, if not a significant portion, of their business online. Other business not directly selling on collecting payment online use the Internet at least as a means of advertising.

Onlline, Internet commerce is on the rise, and this trend shows no sign of slowing down, and certainly there have been no interuptions in business exansion onto the Internet. It is hard to believe that even for the future the growth of ecommerce shows no inidcation of letting up–something of profound importance for retail businesses whose storefronts may be suffering due to poor brick and mortar sales. Part of the reason for this is that even though there are many new people and small business using the Internet for business, ecommerce is catching on with conventional retailers, and so there is a kind of exodus among already established brick and mortar shops to the Internet. When we think of technological innovation, we often think of advances in computer technology or energy development–it is ironical that the current growth in online business is at this time greater than any other technological innovation.

To give you an idea of the thundering rate of growth, from the year 2000 through 2004 online retail sales increased 243%. This translates into dollars as a rise from twenty-eight billions dollars in the year 2000 to sixty-eight billion by the end of 2004. For the relatively low cost of an Internet connection, individuals as well as big and small businesses can market products and services to local, regional, national, and international customers. It doesn’t matter the size of your business, whether or not you have a huge inventory, or an inventory of one product. In fact, with the Internet, your product can be purely digital, that is, exist only as information available for automatic download or transfer upon payment. At this point in our–your–economic history it has never been less problematic to exchange money, and trade–think about it–has never been so open and unrestricted.

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