Turban et al.: E-commerce is an emerging concept that describes the process of buying, selling, or exchanging products, services, and information via computer networks, including the Internet.
Zwass: E-commerce involves sharing business information, maintaining business relationships, and conducting business transactions through telecommunications networks. This includes not only the buying and selling of goods but also the various processes within individual organizations that support that goal.
Applegate et al.: E-commerce is more than simply buying and selling goods electronically; it involves using network communications technology to engage in a wide range of activities up and down the value-added chain, both within and outside the organization.
Kalakota and Whinston: E-commerce is a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. It also involves the use of computer networks to search and retrieve information in support of human and corporate decision-making.
Huffman and Novak: E-commerce guides us toward considering the strategic importance of electronic commerce technologies to the business; it's a strategy to support the total delivery of products and services to the customer, rather than just another set of tools and technologies. It involves the strategic deployment of computer-mediated business tools and information technologies to satisfy business objectives, offering fundamentally new ways of doing business rather than mere extensions of existing business practices.
Four Perspectives of E-commerce (Kalakota and Whinston)
Communication Perspective: E-commerce is the delivery of information, products/services, or payments over telephone lines, computer networks, or any other electronic means.
Business Process Perspective: E-commerce is the application of technology toward the automation of business transactions and workflow.
Service Perspective: E-commerce is a tool that addresses the desire of firms, consumers, and management to cut service costs while improving the quality of goods and increasing the speed of service delivery.
Online Perspective: E-commerce provides the capability of buying and selling products and information on the Internet and other online services.
Pure vs. Partial Electronic Commerce (Choi, Stahl, and Whinston)
Three Dimensions:
The product/service sold [physical/digital]
The process [physical/digital]
The delivery agent (or intermediary) [physical/digital]
Traditional Commerce: All dimensions are physical.
Pure EC: All dimensions are digital.
Partial EC: All other possibilities, including a mix of physical and digital dimensions.