The Blog>The History of the Ecommerce Business and Its Future: Shopping Online Before and After

The History of the Ecommerce Business and Its Future: Shopping Online Before and After

Posted by Max Komonov

Ecommerce was introduced totheworld 40years ago (can you believe it?) andhas been rapidly developing into what weunderstand tobeecommerce asitistoday. Online shopping has become thenorm formany people andsome even prefer ittotraditional brick andmortar. Modern-day ecommerce has opened many doors forentrepreneurs because now itiseasier than ever toopen anonline store andhave anecommerce business. Ecommerce has continued tohit arecord high inrevenue totals year after year, thefuture ofecommerce isbright andever-changing. Here isalook atwhere ecommerce has been andwhere itmay go.

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History ofEcommerce

Online Shopping’s Earliest High Notes:

1969— isfounded asanimmediate front runner increating online services such aselectronic mail andonline live chat services. CompuServe was later acquired byAOL in1998.

1979— Michael Aldrich invents online shopping. This isecommerce inits earliest form. He between consumers andbusinesses orfrom business tobusiness. Hemodifies atelevision andconnects ittoatransaction processing computer using atelephone line. This process, however, was not fully realized until theintroduction oftheinternet inthe90s when people could take advantage ofonline sales.

1982— launches thefirst ecommerce business andsells used computers online.

1989— Tim Berners-Lee invents the andbytheend of1990. The web server was upandrunning atCERN, Berners-Lee employer atthetime. Hestarted working with other computer scientists atthetime tohelp develop theserver that would become the.

The early 90s andintroduction oftheInternet

1993— The source code forthefirst web browser, invented byBerners-Lee, isreleased tothepublic. This grants totheworld wide web forthefirst time.

1995— The National Science Foundation oftheNET. This gives users therights needed tostart anonline business andallow online shopping totake shape, leading tothelaunch ofmany well-known ecommerce platforms that are still thriving today.

1995— eBay, one ofthefirst andpopular ecommerce sites forpeople tosell products isintroduced. Also, Jeff Bezos launches alittle online bookstore now known asAmazon. Bytheend of1996, hesees $15.7million inrevenue.

1998— creates apayment processing system forecommerce andisnow one ofthelargest most trusted online payment platforms intheecommerce industry.

The early 2000s andthedawn ofecommerce

2000— Google introduces giving aDzԱ-ٴDZ-DZ toboth online andbrick-and-mortar businesses looking foreasy online advertising solutions.

2005— Etsy launches andisnow one ofthemost popular third-party online marketplace platforms foranyone toeasily start selling online.

2006— Shopify launches its storefront software that was created out offrustration with past storefront systems that were too complicated andexpensive. Shopify helped bring simple software forsmall business owners tostart anecommerce business.

2009— introduces arevolutionary way tostart anecommerce business. started out asafew lines ofcode that you could include inyour website tocreate anonline store. Itwas anew hands-off approach that allowed online businesses tocreate astorefront without constant monitoring bytheecommerce platform.

The modern-day online store

2011— Facebook launches sponsored stories asaform ofearly advertising.

2014— Apple brings totheir iPhone. Apple Pay isbyfar one ofthemost popular mobile payment systems inuse today. The introduction ofthewallet andApple Pay has made iteven easier forconsumers topurchase items byusing their iPhones.

2016— Instagram starts intheapp. Instagram’s parent company Facebook also introduced Facebook Marketplace andadded apayment function into theMessenger app.

2017— The Ecommerce market rises tonew heights. Cyber Monday sales hit a byexceeding $6.5billion inrevenue from online sales, 17% increase from 2016.

2020— Ecommerce grows exponentially due totheCovid-19pandemic. Lockdowns force brick andmortar stores toadapt tothedigital world andprovide more goods andservices online.

Future ofEcommerce

Ecommerce has come along way since Aldrich’s processing machine, but this islikely just thebeginning ofabrave new world ofglobal commerce andconnection. Almost all brick-and-mortar stores need some existing online store orthey may struggle tostay open. This reality was exacerbated during thepandemic.

Today ecommerce isbeing adopted around theworld atarapid pace, many ecommerce processes are becoming automatic, andartificial intelligence isstarting tohave animpact onecommerce stores. Setting upanonline storefront isalready pretty intuitive with thetechnology andplatforms wehave right now, but thefuture ofecommerce will bring new technology that will make having anonline business even easier.

Growth ofonline sales

Ecommerce has continued tobreak records every year inrevenue. Online retail sales continue torise, anditdoesn’t seem that they are going toslow down anytime soon. Itisestimated that in that ecommerce will see $1.7trillion inrevenue just intheUnited States.

Inaddition totheU.S. market, global ecommerce isaccelerating aswell. Many other countries are starting toadopt online shopping.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Online retailers implementing will benefit from having personalized targeted marketing, increased customer retention, automated processes, andmuch more. AIisrapidly advancing andthose implementing itinto their ecommerce platforms are reaping thebenefits.

AIallows companies tomake their customers’ online shopping experience more personalized. AIcreates adigital footprint foreach customer andwith this footprint ecommerce platforms can run retargeted marketing campaigns. With AIonline stores can recommend products ascustomers shop, itwill notice ifacustomer looks atacertain item foralong time andcan send them anotification later onifthat particular item goes onsale. This allows ecommerce stores toachieve ahigher conversion rate.

AI-driven chatbots are advancing rapidly. Ecommerce businesses can place AIchatbots intheir online stores. These are completely automated, saving thebusiness thousands ofdollars andcreating amore personal experience fortheir customer. AsAIadvances these chatbots have become more andmore conversational, almost tothepoint that anonline shopper may not even know they are not talking toanactual person.

Mobile shopping

The younger generations rely heavily ontheir mobile devices foreverything sonaturally mobile sales are steadily increasing. Tosell products online inthefuture focusing onmobile sales isamust. Online shoppers are using mobile devices todoproduct research, this isincreasing through theuse ofsocial media. In-app purchases onInstagram andFacebook have taken off andare changing theway people shop online. Asaresult, every ecommerce platform intheonline market isbecoming more mobile-friendly tohelp increase online purchases.

Voice commerce

With theadoption ofmany smart devices such asGoogle Home orAmazon’s Alexa comes an forecommerce businesses. There have been advancements made insmart home technology where people can make online transactions through theuse oftheir voice. Inthefuture, someone could make apurchase bysimply saying “Hey Google, put cat litter inmyshopping cart.”

Voice SEO will bethenew way togrow your ecommerce business. With more people utilizing voice commerce, those selling online will need topredict thenatural language people will use with their smart home devices.

Conclusion

When analyzing thehistory ofecommerce you can see that commerce trends have changed considerably. After theintroduction oftheworld wide web physical stores have had toadapt tothemany evolving ecommerce marketplaces over thehistory ofecommerce. The ever-evolving trends create opportunities fornew ecommerce jobs andtheability totake advantage ofnew technology. Knowing thehistory ofecommerce can help you predict future trends andunderstand all thevarious ecommerce marketplaces.

Ifyou have anecommerce business orare considering opening anecommerce store, understanding where ecommerce islikely going will increase your chances ofsuccess. While itisimportant tostay ahead ofthetrends totake full advantage, make sure you have thebasics down before you integrate new technologies. Make sure you have anecommerce platform that can create anecommerce store that will work foryou today andiscontinually future-proofing itself soitwill work foryou tomorrow.

About The Author
Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.

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