What do we mean by e-business?   Why is the Internet different from other computer and network technologies?    Why should one care about electronic business?    What is the electronic marketplace?    How much will it cost my company to set up an e-business web site?   How does e-Business over the Internet differ from traditional Business?   What are the e-business options for business?   How important is my own domain name   electronic payment systems

What do we mean by e-business?

The term "electronic business" has evolved from its meager notion of electronic shopping to mean all aspects of business and market processes enabled by the Internet and the World Wide Web technologies.

Electronic Business as Online Selling. Narrowly defined, electronic business means doing business online, or selling and buying products and services through Web storefronts. Products being traded may be physical products, such as used cars or services (e.g. arranging trips, online medical consultation, and remote education). Increasingly, they include digital products, such as news, audio and video, database, software and all types of knowledge-based products. It appears then electronic business is similar to catalog shopping or home shopping on cable TV.

Electronic Business as a Market. Electronic business is not limited to buying and selling products online. For example, a neighborhood store can open a Web store and find the world at its door step. But, along with customers, it will also find its suppliers, accountants, payment services, government agencies and competitors online. These online partners' demands change the way we do business from production to consumption, and they will affect companies who might think they are not part of electronic business. Electronic business will lead to significant changes in the way products are customized, distributed and exchanged, and in the way consumers search, bargain and consume products and services. 

In short, in the electronic business revolution, the greatest effects are on processes. Process-oriented definition of electronic business offers a broader view of what electronic business is. Within-business processes (e.g. manufacturing, inventorying, corporate financial management, operation), and business-to-business processes (e.g. supply-chain management, bidding) are affected by the same technology and network as are business-to-consumer processes. Even government functions, education and social and political processes undergo changes