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Meaning and definition of e-commerce






The term 'electronic commerce' is popularly known as e-commerce, used to mean all business operations and transactions that are performed through the internet and other electronic technologies.

"Electronic Commerce is the business environment in which information for the buying, selling and transportation of goods and services moves electronically ( via internet )".

According to Kalakota and Whinston, "Electronic Commerce can be defined from following four perspectives:
  1. Communications perspective : Electronic commerce is the delivery of information, products/services, or payments via telephone lines, computer networks, aur any other means.
  2. Business process perspective: electronic commerce is the application of technology towards the automation of business transactions and workflows.
  3. Service perspective: Electronic commerce is a tool that addresses the desire of firms, consumers and management to cut service costs while improving the quality of goods and increasing the speed of service delivery.
  4. Online perspective: Electronic commerce provides the capability of buying and selling products and information on the internet and other online services."



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