Simply defined,“commerce” is the act of buying, trading, and selling goods and/ or services. Add the “e” for “electronic,” and that buying, trading, and selling is moved online. Banking via the internet, ordering food from a restaurant’s website, and paying for a cool new game to play on your mobile phone are all examples of ecommerce.

The first instances of ecommerce occurred in the 1970s. They were small transactions, and not always legal! In 1981 the very first online shopping system was installed for a United Kingdom business called Thomson Holidays. It was a business to business structure that began 3 years before business to customer systems. The original online home shopper was a 72-year-old woman who purchased an unknown product from the company Gateshead SIS / Tesco.

Since 1984, online companies have slowly been taking over traditional brick and mortar businesses. Originally online shoppers used the internet to find and purchase unique or high-end products that they could not locate in their areas, but now it is used for everyday needs such as food (as of January 2016, 49% of shoppers get the majority of their groceries online).

Online Christmas shopping has increased remarkably in the past few years, going from being used by 34% of shoppers in 2013 to almost double that, 67% in 2015. Economists project that by 2019, ecommerce will make up 12% of all global retail sales! Customers are using their personal computers and laptops, and their smartphones to get whatever they need.Thanks to ecommerce, sellers can connect with customers not only in their home towns but all across the world. To be on the proverbial “map” of the business world, a company has to have strong and secure ecommerce systems.

CodigoDelSur provides a variety of ecommerce development services for companies like Fodessa and Logo Works.