The History of E-Commerce
Most of us shop online, and many of us have come to rely on websites to do the majority of our shopping, to the point where the malls we all used to visit on a regular basis are now becoming obsolete. Today, at the touch of a button, we can purchase goods and services all over the globe. E-commerce grew by $43.5 billion in the last year alone, surpassing the $300 billion mark for the first time in history. Twelve percent of all shopping is taking place online, and that figure is growing steadily, but still, how many of us know or even think about how it all started?
In The Beginning
Anyone can offer their products on the internet, and increasingly many businesses are doing just that. However, back in 1979, there was one inventor who was experimenting with new ways to reach out to consumers via electronic-based media, which was still an innovative concept back then that the majority of people were not yet even aware of, let along using in their everyday lives. Michael Aldrich may not have realized he was going to become a pioneer in the fastest growing global multi-billion dollar industry, but that is exactly what he became when he used a computer that could process real-time transactions and connected to the public via their televisions.
The Heavy Hitters
In 1990 computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee wrote the program that we all know as the World Wide Web, giving the public access to the Internet, and then it was on. By 1995 the big boys that we all know today, ebay and Amazon, came into existence. After that, the postal service began offering electronically purchased stamps, and the face of the music industry would be changed forever with the advent of free online radio and peer-to-peer sharing sites like Napster. In 2002 PayPal got their start, and today they have over 188 million accounts active online. There are approximately 3.2 billion people using the internet today, so that is a very impressive figure.
E-Commerce in the Future
Today increasingly personalized shopping experiences, the rise of ultra-addictive mobile phones, and new and improved shipping methods that include drone technology are changing the way we shop every day. One particularly interesting development is big-name online retailers opening brick-and-mortar storefronts to increase interest in their digital websites. Companies like Walmart, Delta Airlines, and even ModCloth have all used pop-up shops where consumers can give their online shopping hubs a trial run, which can reach their target markets and introduce those who are not already using their websites to become familiar with how the process works. Going forward, as these businesses potentially move to online models, they will already have their consumers in place and ready to change right along with them.
The Benefits of Shopping Online
There are obvious benefits to shopping on the internet that are the reason so many consumers have already made the switch. Comparison shopping for better deals and more variety has never been easier than it is now that you can pull up dozens of sources for the same product at the touch of a button. Whereas we once would not even have heard of products that were only available overseas, today we can easily learn about them and even have them shipped to our door quickly and easily. As this industry continues to be defined and developed, we will continue to experience not only increased opportunities to do business this way, we will also find more of the population dependent on e-commerce for their employment. If you aren’t already shopping online, maybe it’s time to learn how. Someday, your job may depend on it.
