Ecommerce History

Ecommerce History

1. 1995: Amazon, eBay, and the Online Marketplace Boom

   • 1998: PayPal Launches
     • 1999: Global eCommerce reaches $150 Billion
       • 2000: The Dotcom Bust and Online Advertising
         • 2005: eCommerce Makes a Comeback
           • 2006: Online Shopping Platforms Increase
             • 2012: Food Shopping Goes Virtual
               • 2017: Ecommerce Remains Unstoppable
                 • As brick-and-mortar sales decline, global e-commerce transactions soar, generating $29.267 trillion, including $25.516 trillion for B2B transactions and $3.851 trillion for B2C sales.
                 • 2020: The COVID-19 Boost
                   • Lockdowns keep many citizens quarantined at home. To purchase essentials and combat boredom, people embrace online shopping. According to data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years
               • the founding of Instacart. Instacart sends shoppers to local stores to pick out groceries that consumers order online. Today, with advances in cold warehousing and delivery, online food shopping is big business.
             • Shopify as we know it today is founded by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake, making it easy for merchants to create online stores. Other platforms, such as Magento and BigCommerce, quickly enter the space and make a name for themselves.
           • eCommerce bounces back from the bust big time, and Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday) is introduced to boost online holiday purchases. In addition, Amazon launches Amazon Prime
         • Google AdWords is introduced as a way for eCommerce companies to advertise through short-text ad copy and display URLs. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising efforts of online retailers takes off.
       • Startups proliferate, with entrepreneurs being seduced by the get-rich-quick promise of the internet. Of course, the good times won’t last forever.
     • Originally introduced as Confinity, PayPal debuts as a money transfer tool. By 2000, it would merge with Elon Musk’s online banking company and mark its rise in popularity.
   • Online marketplaces begin opening up. This includes Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, initially designed for selling books, and Pierre Omidyar’s AuctionWeb, the first online auction site which would soon become known as eBay.

2. 1994: The First Secure Online Transaction is Made

   • 1990: WorldWideWeb Launches
     • 1984: CompuServe Opens the Electronic Mall
       • 1983: Electronic Commerce Acknowledged
         • 1979: Electronic Shopping Invented
           • 1976: Online Transaction Processing Introduced
             • 1972: Computers Facilitate the First Online Sale
               • 1969: CompuServe Founded
                 • Amidst the landmark events of 1969, the history of eCommerce in the USA (and the world) begins in Columbus, Ohio with the launch of CompuServe, the first eCommerce company
               • While Stanford University and MIT students do use an Arpanet account to make a marijuana sale, money and product still exchanges hands in person
             • Atalla Technovation and Bunker Ramo Corporation introduce products designed for secure online transaction processing, intended for financial institutions.
           • Michael Aldrich demonstrates how electronic shopping could work by connecting a modified television to a transaction-processing computer via telephone line.
         • California's Electronic Commerce Act would pass, imposing certain requirements on systems designed "to conduct the purchase of goods and services via a telecommunications network."
       • One of the first examples of online retail, CompuServe introduces the Electronic Mall in 1984, allowing its users to purchase products from approximately 100 different merchants.
     • The first web browser launches, which will be a catalyst for online shopping as internet users can quickly find what they’re looking for and retailers can reach a broader audience.
   • The first ever secure online transaction using encryption takes place on August 11, 1994, when Phil Brandenberger purchases the Sting CD Ten Summoners’ Tales through NetMarket, as reported in the New York Times story