EVOLUTION OF E-COMMERCE

In the days of interweb infancy, the action of purchasing products online was often accompanied with visions of shady characters, sitting far away in an obscure country recently freed from the clutches of communism, ready to steal your credit card information. This image, however, has changed in recent years to become a fully accepted part of the buying process for a large majority of consumers. How did this come to be? Surely entering your credit card information online will still trigger an irrational fear in the back of your mind involving our shady character sitting in a dank lair amongst fading propaganda posters buying up copies of Tolstoy's War and Peace using your credit card (who would have known he's a Russian literature buff?). But in spite of all this, you still proceed, trusting the advanced state of online security to ward off identity thieves.

At what point did we transition into complete acceptance, paving the way for online shopping frenzies like Cyber Monday? To answer this question, it may be pertinent to take a brief look at how Ecommerce has evolved over the years and examine the obstacles it had to overcome. Also, we will look at which websites and which programs really solidified Ecommerce’s place as a mainstream way to shop.

A brief history:

• 1979- Michael Aldridge is credited with inventing online shopping by connecting a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line.
• 1982- Minitel was introduced in France and was used for online ordering.
• 1994- Netscape releases the Navigator browser. Pizza Hut offers online ordering on its Web page and the first online bank opens.
• 1998- PayPal comes into existence.
• 2002- Ebay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion and changes the scope of online shopping forever.
• 2003- After eight years, Amazon posts its first yearly profit.
• 2012- US Ecommerce and online retail sales are projected to reach $226 billion (an increase of 12% over 2011).

So what are some of the main obstacles and deterrents that are blocking the path to a complete acceptance of Ecommerce over all demographics? To name a few:

1. Anxiety over online identity theft and credit card fraud.
2. Not being able to see the product before purchase.
3. The hassle of returning unwanted goods.
4. High costs of shipping associated with online purchases.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a good way to clear the second hurdle of seeing and feeling a product before purchasing it (this is where a great return policy comes into play), but these websites and services have addressed the concerns of the remaining obstacles.

• Pay Pal- Securing information since 1998, Pay Pal has taken the worry out of entering credit card information online. Similar to Ebay, it protects consumers by offering refunds and über-secure servers to keep information safe.
• Ebay- Do you like the idea of purchasing something at auction from a complete stranger? Neither does anyone else. Ebay became successful due to the backing and protection of its consumers. If your item doesn’t arrive as promised, Ebay has your back!
• Amazon- Like Ebay, Amazon offers free shipping depending on the product and if you exceed a certain purchase limit. This has helped lead the industry in making free shipping a mainstay of online shopping.
• Endless.com- This online-only shoe merchant gives shoppers a 365 day window to return unwanted or flawed footwear with guaranteed free shipping both ways on domestic orders.

These aforementioned iconoclasts have changed the modus operandi for Ecommerce and have allowed us to avoid the craziness of Black Friday shopping by picking up that cheap blender online in the comfort of our homes. Although having inherent limitations, online shopping is becoming a more and more accepted means of making purchases and will continue to make advances in the consumer landscape in the coming years.