An apt definition to describe E-Commerce has so far been elusive. However we can term as 'E-Commerce, the whole gamut of commercial activities taking place in the 'cyber medium'.

Internet has emerged as the 'default' medium of E-Commerce. The exponential growth of Internet has thrown open new vistas of trade and commerce. The existence of this medium has compelled every business house to vie with each other for a noticeable presence in the Net.In other words, the rapid technological advances in the field of software and hardware have converted the Net into an inevitable conduit of business. Nowadays, almost every web page has a commercial advertising aspect behind it. Cyber Stores offer a whole range of goods and services. Thus it is rightly said that, Internet today has a potential of making every computer an individual printing press, library, museum, tour guide, shopping mall and bank.

Broadly speaking, E-Commerce can be bifurcated into two categories namely,

1. Business to Business (B2B) (Wholesale) and
2. Business to Customer (B2C) (Retail)

As the name indicates, the business to business (B2B) type of E-Commerce concerns with inter-corporate transactions. The activities under this category include purchase orders, invitation and acceptance of commercial tenders etc. between corporate bodies. Here transactions are usually of high value, often amounting to millions of dollars. A typical example could be, say, the global aircraft manufacturer - Boeing - inviting tenders from the suppliers of components for the aircraft.

An Internet based retail (B2C) business is somewhat like a mail order transaction. In a mail order business, the buyer places an order for an article by post or by what is more popularly known as the 'snail mail'. The difference here is that, instead of sending a cheque or DD, an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) debit mandate or credit card number is furnished through Internet along with the order for a particular commodity. However the EFT debit mandating system has not yet developed in India. In the US and other western countries, EFT has become a very popular payment mechanism in electronic transactions. When one visits the web site of a bookstall, the various titles available for sale are displayed on the screen and the required books can be chosen by clicking on them. To purchase the books, the credit card number and communication address are to be furnished in the online format. Once the details are given, the web site verifies the card number by forwarding the same to the 'credit card issuer' or the 'credit card verification service' and upon receipt of conformation from the order is processed. The transfer of data/information between the buyer and the website takes place through the web server. These data are encrypted before exchanged. The exchange of information between the credit card provider/credit card verification service and the web server is also encrypted, to protect the parties against frauds and misuse of the system. On acceptance of the order the vendor packs and dispatches the ordered books to the buyer.