History And Evolution of Ecommerce - How It Began?
05 Aug 2019

“The ecommerce industry is a force that no investor can afford to ignore.” – Cushala Sherlock

The e-Commerce industry has come a considerable long way from simple buy-sell to augmented shopping experience. Starting from B2B document sharing in the 1960s to the present date, the industry is worth 2.3 trillion US dollars today.

Nevertheless, it is the reason that business organizations are striving hard to maintain their presence over the internet. The online shopping adds more value to generate sales which is not possible by having only a brick and mortar store.

The trends of online shopping are soaring in highly progressive marketplaces including the UAE. There is no second thought; you must pay due attention to grasp a stable position in physical as well as in the virtual market for business sustainability.

If you already have your business established in this region or looking for a lucrative business opportunity, you must acquire eCommerce solutions providers to ensure success.

how ecommerce began history and evolution

What is ecommerce?

Ecommerce stands for electronic commerce. It is the process of shopping products and services over the internet.

History of ecommerce and considerations for you

Online shopping is considered an integral part of the modern lifestyle. It was not the same a few decades back until ecommerce emerged. Lets’ peek into the historical evolution of e-commerce!

The invention of online shopping and first transaction

1979 - Michael Aldrich in the United Kingdom pioneered online shopping.

1980 - The beginning of business-to-business selling started in UK, Spain, and Ireland.

1992 - Charles M. Stack established the first telephonic-order store in history to sell books.

1994 - Two individuals of a Sting CD made the first online transaction.

History of ecommerce timeline

1960 – 1990

  • The invention of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) helped to share invoices and receipts.

  • Trading data format (ANSI ASC X12) set as the standard for document sharing in North America.

  • The VAN (Value-Added Network) was defined as the shopping order examination standard.

  • Michael Aldrich, an English entrepreneur, is considered the pioneer for inventing teleshopping.

  • France launched Minitel, an online free service for telephone subscribers.

1990 – 1994

  • Tim Berners Lee and Robert Cailliau proposed the idea of “Hypertext project.”

  • The inspiration was designed and modeled by CERN as “WorldWideWeb."

  • The NeXTcomputer created the first web server and a web browser.

  • The National Science Foundation (NSF) winched up its restrictions to used NET and domain names were registered for commercial purpose.

  • The NSF started charging a registration fee for domain names.

  • The Secure Socket Layers (SSL) – encryption certificate was developed by Netscape.

1995 – 2000

  • Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as the first online bookstore.

  • Another success of ecommerce story is an online auction site, eBay.

  • Miva launched the first catalog-based store for e-commerce market.

  • Worldwide products distribution started over the Internet.

  • Dell ranked as the mega online distributer by achieving one-day online sales of $1 million.

  • PayPal started its services as the first global ecommerce company.

2001 – 2010

  • Amazon launched e-commerce site with mobile compatibility.

  • Amazon announced a membership offering the Amazon Prime.

  • The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI) was formed to ensure security compliance requirements.

  • The innovation and improved user experience led many investors as well as buyers to enter into the game.

Stepping into eCommerce Innovations

  • Stamps.com moved to ShippingEasy after acquiring the ShipWorks and ShipStation previously.

  • Square the payment platform permit business organizations to accept payments through credit and debit cards on smart devices.

  • From the ’60s to the present day, the industry has gone through a roller coaster of progress which stayed high in the air through the journey.

  • Online shopping has turned to be the most popular way of business owing to augmented benefits for both consumers and vendors.

  • It is projected that ecommerce growth will reach 4.88 trillion US dollars during the year 2021.

How to thrive in a competitive ecommerce market?

  • Consider the preference of the buyer in order to drive augmented sales.

  • Keep the key business indicators in view to monitor shopping intent.

  • Make the process of buying your products easy for the customers.

  • Integrate modern technologies to offer customers without near to reality shopping experience.

  • Don’t forget to focus on the latest trends in ecommerce to stay ahead in the game.

Takes Away

What’s next? It is not possible to speak absolutely what the future will bring, but the connecting dots reveals a lot about the ecommerce industry. Hurry up! It’s the right time to invest in ecommerce website/store because it resonates with your target audience.

Don’t miss out your chance to score more profitability in your business by setting up ecommerce portal today. Contact us now for ecommerce websites design and development, maintenance support and SEO solutions.