1.2 What is eCommerce?

Electronic commerce or "eCommerce" covers the range of on-line business activities for products and services, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer, through the Internet. This course breaks eCommerce into:

Online Shopping - the scope of information and activities that provides the customer with the information they need to conduct business, and make an informed buying decision. Online Purchasing - the technology infrastructure for the exchange of data and the purchase of a product over the Internet.

Online purchasing is a metaphor used in business-to-business eCommerce for providing customers with an online method of placing an order, submitting a purchase order, or requesting a quote