Electronic Commerce

the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.In practice, this term and a new term, "e-business," are often used interchangeably. For on-line retail selling, the term e-tailingis sometimes used. It is also called e-commerce for short, on-line commerce, Internet commerce, e-business, or cyberspacecommerce. E-commerce can be divided into: (1) e-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with on-line catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall." The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts; (2) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data; (3) e-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters); (4) business-to-business buyingand selling; and (5) the security of business transactions.