E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or

the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the internet. These
business transactions occur either as business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-
to-consumer or consumer-to-business. The terms e-commerce and e-business are often used
interchangeably. The term e-tail is also sometimes used in reference to transactional
processes for online shopping.
E-business (electronic business) is the conduct of business processes on the Internet. These
electronic business processes include buying and selling products, supplies and services;
servicing customers; processing payments; managing production control; collaborating
with business partners; sharing information; running automated employee services; recruiting;
and more.
While many people use e-commerce and e-business interchangeably, they aren't the same, and
the differences matter to businesses in today's economy. The "e" is short for "electronic" or
"electronic network," and both words apply to business that utilizes electronic networks to
conduct their commerce and other business activities. In the same way that all squares are
rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares, all e-commerce companies are e-businesses, but
not vice versa.
E-Commerce Definition

E-commerce is “any transaction completed over a computer-mediated network that involves

the transfer of ownership or rights to use goods and services,” defines the U.S. Census Bureau.
Transactions aren't required to have a price and include both sales and items like free
downloads. E-commerce includes transactions made on the internet, Intranet, Extranet, World
Wide Web, by email and even by fax.
E-Business Definition

E-business is broader than e-commerce; including the transaction based e-commerce

businesses and those who run traditionally but cater to online activities as well. An e-business
can run any portion of its internal processes online, including inventory management, risk
management, finance, human resources. For a business to be e-commerce and e-business, it
must both sell products online and handle other company activities or additional sales offline.
E-Commerce Types

E-commerce branches into two major groups: online purchasing and online shopping. Online
purchasing businesses offer customers the ability to find information, place orders, request
quotes or prices and submit purchase orders. Online shopping businesses provide information
about products so that consumers can make a decision whether or not to purchase a product.
Many e-commerce businesses practice online shopping and purchasing strategies to assemble
an online store.
E-Business Types And Strategy

According to E-business at Ohio State University, “E-business can work for any business
because it involves the whole business cycle from production, procurement, distribution, sales,
payment, fulfillment, restocking and marketing.” Business strategy is complicated, as it
involves four directions of planning: vertically, laterally, horizontally and downward. Vertical
planning coordinates website front and back-end systems and horizontal planning coordinates
e-commerce with customer relationships, supply-chain management and resource planning.
Laterally, you must manage customers, business partners and suppliers while at the same time
integrating new technologies and business processes downward through the organization.
Miscellaneous

E-commerce and e-business involves “the creation of new value chains between a company
and its customers and suppliers, as well as within the company itself,” reports Computer World.
The Internet and electronic networks are too important to ignore in today's economy, so every
business should have some form of e-commerce strategy. As your business grows, work to
implement an e-business strategy as they can be complicated to put into place. After you gain
experience and knowledge in the field of e-commerce, you have a much greater chance of
success in the e-business world.
Gone are the days, when you have to go to the market to buy a single item.
Nowadays you just have to place an order online, and that item will come to
you within few minutes. Online shopping is getting popular, just because of its
simplicity and convenience. This is possible only because of two electronic
networks, namely, as e-commerce and e-business.

e-commerce is concerned with the firm’s dealings with its customers, clients or
suppliers. Conversely, e-business refers to undertaking industry, trade, and
commerce, with the help of information technology and communication. The
article presented to you explains the difference between e-commerce and e-
business.

Content: e-commerce Vs e-business

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart
BASIS FOR
E-COMMERCE E-BUSINESS
COMPARISON

Meaning Trading of merchandise, Running business using

over the internet is known as the internet is known as
E-commerce. E-business.

What is it? Subset Superset

Is it limited to Yes No
monetary
transactions?

What they carry out? Commercial transactions Business transactions

Approach Extroverted Ambiverted

Requires Website Website, CRM, ERP, etc.

 BASIS FOR
E-COMMERCE E-BUSINESS
COMPARISON

Which network is Internet Internet, Intranet and

used? Extranet.

Definition of e-commerce

e-commerce is an abbreviation used for electronic commerce. It is the process

through which the buying, selling, dealing, ordering and paying for the goods
and services are done over the internet is known as e-commerce. In this type
of online commercial transaction, the seller can communicate with the buyer
without having a face to face interaction.

Some examples of real world application of e-commerce are online banking,

online shopping, online ticket booking, social networking, etc.

The basic requirement of e-commerce is a website. The marketing, advertising,

selling and conducting transaction are done with the help of internet. Any
monetary transaction, which is done with the help of electronic media is e-
commerce. The following are the types of e-commerce:

 B2B – The process where buying and selling of goods and services
between businesses is known as Business to Business. Example:
Oracle, Alibaba, Qualcomm, etc.
 B2C – The process whereby the goods are sold by the business to
customer. Example: Intel, Dell etc.
 C2C – The commercial transaction between customer to
customer. Example: OLX, Quickr etc.
 C2B – The commercial transaction between customer to the business.

Definition of e-business

Electronic Business, shortly known as e-business, is the online presence of

business. It can also be defined as the business which is done with the help of
internet or electronic data interchange i.e. is known as E-business. E-
commerce is one of the important components of e-business, but it is not an
essential part.

e-business is not confined to buying and selling of goods only, but it includes
other activities that also form part of business like providing services to the
customers, communicating with employees, client or business partners can
contact the company in case if they want to have a word with the company, or
they have any issue regarding the services, etc. All the basic business
operations are done using electronic media. There are two types of e-business,
which are:

 Pure-Play: The business which is having an electronic existence

only. Example: Hotels.com
 Brick and Click: The business model, in which the business exists
both in online i.e. electronic and offline i.e. physical mode.

Key Differences Between e-commerce and e-business

The points presented below are substantial so far as the difference between e-
commerce and e-business is concerned:

1. Buying and Selling of goods and services through the internet is known
as e-commerce. Unlike e-business, which is an electronic presence of
business, by which all the business activities are conducted through the
internet.
2. e-commerce is a major component of e-business.
3. e-commerce includes transactions which are related to money, but e-
business includes monetary as well as allied activities.
4. e-commerce has an extroverted approach that covers customers,
suppliers, distributors, etc. On the other hand, e-business has an
ambivert approach that covers internal as well as external processes.
5. e-commerce requires a website that can represent the business.
Conversely, e-business requires a website, Customer Relationship
Management and Enterprise Resource Planning for running the
business over the internet.
6. e-commerce uses the internet to connect with the rest of the world. In
contrast to e-business, the internet, intranet and extranet are used for
connecting with the parties.
Conclusion

e-commerce is the major part of e-business. It can also be said that e-

commerce is e-business websites, but e-business is not necessarily e-
commerce. The former is just the online presence of the conventional
commerce and the same is the case with the latter.

At present most of the companies are doing e-business just to capture the
maximum part of the market. Some e-commerce websites have emerged since
last few years who are vanishing the market traditional commercial business,
like Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, etc.