eCommerce now and then

Just about everything one can think of is for sale over the Internet, with the possible exception of hair cuts, even most services can be contracted via the net.
It is without much doubt that ecommerce is a new and accepted media to facilitate the sales of products and services.
In order to get a perspective of ecommerce a bit of its history should be discussed. The shopping cart systems began in the early 1980’s with server side engines, that used a database to inventory and present images with descriptions and price. These early carts were riddled with problems of how to handle abandoned carts, how to keep multiple shoppers separate, and shipping pricing was a pain to configure, to name just a few of the problems.
Bandwidth was very limited and the general public was very skeptical of buying over the Internet. Time and a lot of programming improvements have solved most of the problems. Customer confidence has increased and is increasing at an unprecedented level since broadband service has become the standard.

The debate is over as to whether a business should have an Internet ecommerce presence. Merchants have discovered it is a tremendous advertising tool and the only advertising tool that can consummate an order for goods and services, with payment received at the speed of light.
No other media can do this. TV, is the greatest sales media ever, it can make a sales presentation in the living room when customers are viewing the screen.
The Internet does the same and it can with the click of a mouse button actually complete the sale. If you would have told a business owner in the early 70’s that you could put their products on a video screen and present them world wide, to customers who have sought them out using a search system, then the customer could read all about them, see a demo, and then close the deal with instant payment, at a cost to the business of less than one 2 x 4 b/w text ad on the classified page of one local newspaper per month, you would have been laughed out of the place and branded as a future freak dreamer.

This year online holiday sales (excluding travel) will total $32.1 billion, up 10.1% over 2007. The growth of Internet sales will continue to grow and become the best way for a merchant to increase their sales area, ability to compete with large and small competitors, open 24/7 for customer convenience.

The proof is there and the cost of an Internet store is so low that any business that doesn’t take advantage of the net will just be giving sales away to those that do. The ease of setting up and maintaining a site is no longer complicated and can be integrated into almost all backend office accounting systems. The negative that people would not use the net to purchase is no longer true. Cost of shopping, gas, time, parking, has made online shopping a standard tool for millions of families.