The Evolution of Ecommerce

Ecommerce is an incredibly important and diverse part of the online world, with online retailers offering everything from sneakers to bicycles, puddings to zombie survival kits, lordships and even acres of land on the moon!  However, where did the online shopping idea begin and how was it shaped into what it is today?

The 80s – The www is born

In 1989 an English scientist at CERN  called Tim Berners-Lee came up with a simple idea that would change the way the computer world worked. He proposed to his boss a system that could share information between computers with ease using a combination of new networking technology and existing computer technology.

His boss gave him the green light to create a system to connect and share documents in a way that they would be easy to read and search within and in 1991 the first website was built by Berners-Lee and his colleague Robert Cailiau.

Meanwhile, over on the East Coast of the USA, a forward-thinking hippie and big fan of computers, Stewart Brand founded what he dubbed ‘Whole Earth Lectronic Link’ aka WELL with Larry Brilliant (member of the Grateful Dead) – an electronic version of his counterculture product catalogue and magazine ‘Whole Earth Catalog’.

While not strictly an ecommerce site, Brand’s site showcased products and listed the vendor’s contact details with them, keeping the pricing and availability up to date, the first step to what would one day be an online store.

Over the next few years WELL grew into what was essentially the very first social network. With members being able to access and share information and interact with each other on a huge amount of subjects such as religion, art, music and politics in a forum format,  WELL connected people from all over the country to each other.

The 90s – Exponential expansion

In the early days of the internet, scientists and computer fans were the only real regular users of the system, and in fact, the NSFNET ruled that commercial transactions were prohibited on the net. Banks were already using computer networks to transfer money. However regular business transactions were not the norm.

In 1994 Netscape launched the Navigator which was the first widely used web browser — followed by Microsoft releasing its first version of Internet Explorer in 1995. Suddenly anyone who could afford a computer and a copy of Windows could access the World Wide Web, and the control was no longer in the hands of a selected few. It was available to everyone, ideas and creativity ran thick and fast.

By 1995 some talented and creative people recognised the value of the internet and online sales. Realising it was going to be a huge deal, more entrepreneurs jumped on the money-making train. The rate of growth in the number of people using the internet started to explode.

Among these individuals was Jeff Bezos, who took the plunge and moved from NYC to Seattle and created a new company called Amazon, now the largest online retailer in the world, they were the first to sell a book online. Another was Software developer Pierre Omidyar who came up with the idea of buying, selling and auctioning off unwanted stuff of all kinds, which led to the creation of eBay.

Macy’s, one of the largest department stores in the US, began to experiment with selling online in 1996 and many large and small retailers following suit. The year 1996 can be considered as a milestone for ecommerce as 40 million people got access to the internet, and online sales exceeded $1 billion that year.

The 2000s – The web is here to stay

In 2000 the ‘dot-com bubble’ burst and many companies that had popped up went under with it. Before that stocks in new Internet-based companies were being sold at rapidly increasing prices, confidence in companies’ future profits and easily available venture capital made investors gamble readily and excessively, but the high costs and competition rendered this spending unsustainable.

The companies who survived the crash proved to be the ones with the strongest ideas behind them, with eBay, Amazon and the humble beginnings of Google all persevering.

Google was already enjoying its popularity and quickly becoming most people’s search engine of choice and in 2003 it began to pay off, with Google deciding to advertise to its searchers in a different way, further monetizing the internet and pitching online shops and service provider competitors all over the world against each other.

The companies who survived the crash proved to be the ones with the most robust ideas behind them, with eBay, Amazon and the humble beginnings of Google all persevering. Amazon pretty much led the path with the successful launch of their mobile commerce site in 2001. They have continued to innovate in the ecommerce sector till today with the introduction of ideas like drone delivery system.

Google was already enjoying its popularity and quickly became most people’s search engine of choice. In 2003 it began to pay off, with Google deciding to advertise to its searchers differently, further monetising the internet and pitching online shops and service provider competitors all over the world against each other. Another major achievement in 2003 was the launching of iTunes by Apple which was the first major digital music store.

As the World Wide Web expanded, smaller retailers saw the value in ecommerce websites. Even small retailers like artists and makers were given avenues to sell unique handmade items on online marketplaces like Etsy and Zazzle. Customers were able to commission and customise products from all over the world, and smaller start-ups began to see the merit in avoiding the kind of overheads usually associated with starting a brick and mortar shop.

Recent times and beyond

Ecommerce in recent years has become the norm, and you can now buy almost anything you want from anywhere in the world, it has never been easier. Not only can we buy directly from retail sites, but we can also forge new business to business relationships, sell handmade products, reserve hotels, flights and event tickets, crowdfund out next huge idea and buy food from local restaurants and have it delivered within an hour.

With technology improving at such a fast pace, we will pretty soon see the ecommerce ecosystem changing even more. The age of augmented and virtual reality is at our doorstep.

Shoppers will pretty soon be able to choose their favourite product by watching them in 2D and 3D. For example, Australian retailer Myer has joined in a partnership with eBay and combined VR technology with their online shop through which shoppers can look through products at the departmental store. Here users were able to surf through the virtual aisles based on their area of interest. Among all the products in the departmental store, the top 100 were available in 3D, while 12,500 were offered in 2D. The selection did not require any hand controllers, instead gazing on a product for some time chooses it.

As the evolution of ecommerce continues, competition between online stores is getting fiercer. For individual online businesses, it’s very important to choose the right ecommerce web design company and take the most out of this growing industry.