Back to IntroductionE-Commerce is becoming the preferred way of doing business with government as well.[1]. Over the next several years, Federal agencies will buy and pay for most products and services electronically, and citizens are already using smart cards to receive a range of benefits.
Most of the companies are working hard to further expand their electronic commerce businesses, and
to enter the realm of the Internet in the near future.
On line shoping was booming during the 1997 holiday season. [2]. More than half of all national companies
now have sites that either describe their products or themselves, or have purchase functionality.
Sales in nearly every segment have drastically increased each year.
According to Forrest Research: 1996's revenues from $600 million [Arensman,1998] jumped to $2.4 billion last year, and the number
of households that are on line consumers has reached 7 million, a figure that is nearly double last
year's number.
So why isn't commerce fully electronic yet? First, consumers still don't trust the Intenet. Indeed, there are still technological hurldes. While security issues have been mostly resolved through encryption, authentication and authorization technologies, there is still no technology available that proves that customers have the ability to pay prices charged or provides a mutually acceptable way to transfer funds.
Sooner or later there will be electronic commerce and no other kind because of the high efficiency that e-commerce offers.
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[2] IT Braces for holiday online buying surge.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,373118,00.html
PC Week, article dated 11/3/98. [back to text]
[Arensman, Russ] "The Internet as cash register", Electronic Business, Jan 1998,v24, p.68. [back to text]