What is Electronic Commerce? Ecommerce Defined

The simplest ecommerce definition is “commercial transactions conducted over the internet” or internet commerce. Basically, it’s nothing more than buying something online, or online shopping. If you’re one of the millions of people who shop on Amazon, you’re already familiar with ecommerce from the consumer’s point of view.

It’s a two-party transaction – usually either business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C). The seller lists products or services for sale online through an online B2B platform of their choice. The customer (either another business or a direct consumer) finds the product and buys it online. Digital products are delivered to the buyer right away. Physical products are shipped to the buyer’s chosen address.

Though not as common as B2B and B2C, there are a couple of other ecommerce business models:

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C): With this approach, consumers sell directly to one another. This is made possible with ecommerce platforms like eBay, LetGo, Poshmark, and Mercari. Some platforms let customers create online stores they can use to sell items they already own, or to sell items they find elsewhere.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B): With this method, a consumer is selling something to a business. For instance, some artists sell their work for display in other businesses. It’s also C2B when photographers sell photos to stock photo companies for use online.