Small Business Online

You might not realize it, but the history of e commerce started before the first Internet connection. Things started happening in the 1960s, over 40 years ago, that were crucial steps along the way bringing us to the level of e commerce we have today.

First, the EDI was developed in the 60s. EDI means Electronic Data Interchange. This is a set of standards for electronic transactions and the exchange of business information. Even with this development, many companies still couldn’t do business electronically with each other because there were different EDI formats. But in 1984, one EDI, the ASC X12, became the standard for transferring large amounts of transactions, and was adapted quickly by those institutions who wanted to do business electronically.

Mosaic, the first click browser, was developed in 1992. Netscape, the first downloadable browser, paved the way, for people to use the internet for electronic commerce. These were the first steps in ecommerce history that led to its widespread usage today.

DSL or high-speed Internet let more users take advantage of e commerce with more convenience, with the holiday season of 1998 setting a record of the most e commerce sales until that point. Online sales for AOL during that 10-week Christmas season topped 1 billion.

Red Hat Linux was developed, giving computer users a choice. No longer was Windows the only option, consumers could opt for reliable and open-sourced Linux, instead. Now that there was competition, Windows began expanding its ability to handle e commerce.

It was in 1999 when Napster was founded and it started out as a site were people can share music files for free and its creation was a huge impact in ecommerce history. As it grew more popular, consumers can now suggest what they wanted to see in the site and in ecommerce. When Aol and Time Warner emrged in 2000, it also merged an established traditional company with a relatively new online company. It was also in 2000 when Yahoo, Amazon.com and Ebay became popular sites. Their popularity made them vulnerable against computer hackers thus creating a need for higher Internet security. This attack made ecommerce history as the push for more secure browser and security features become remarkable.

Every major retail players like Sears, Wal-Mart and Borders bookstore have online presence that allows for convenience to transact business electronically that even traditional companies started adapting to ecommerce. In 2001, business to business transactions amounted to $700B. While more people have discovered convenience of doing ecommerce in the comforts of their home, it’s clear that ecommerce history is not yet a closed book as it is still continually changing and becoming more popular as online shopping.

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