Topic 1 Introduction
Ecommerce (or electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods or services on the Internet. It encompasses a wide variety of data, systems and tools for online buyers and sellers, including mobile shopping and online payment encryption.
The first e-commerce transaction was in 1994 with the advent of the Internet as we more or less know it today. The credit goes to Dan Kohn, a 21-year-old entrepreneur who ran a website based in New Hampshire called NetMarket.
On August 11, 1994, Kohn sold a CD of Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales album to a friend in Philadelphia, who used his credit card to spend $12.48, plus shipping costs, in a transaction that, for the first time ever, was protected by encryption technology.
It was documented in the August 12, 1994 issue of New York Times, titled “Internet is Open” where a “team of young cyberspace entrepreneurs celebrated what was apparently the first retail transaction on the Internet using a readily available version of powerful data encryption software designed to guarantee privacy.”