Ecommerce is the sale or purchase of goods and services through digital channels that support discovery, ordering and transaction processing. It can serve consumers, businesses or marketplaces and may include physical goods, digital products, subscriptions and services.
Which activities form an ecommerce operation?
- Merchandising, search and product content
- Pricing, promotion and availability
- Cart, checkout and payment acceptance
- Order management and fulfillment
- Returns, refunds and customer support
- Tax, fraud, reporting and reconciliation
B2C vs. B2B ecommerce
B2C commerce generally uses consumer pricing and immediate checkout. B2B commerce may require account-specific catalogs, quotations, purchase orders, payment terms, approvals and multi-address fulfillment. Many businesses operate both models.
How is profitability evaluated?
Revenue should be assessed against product cost, fulfillment, payment fees, returns, marketing, support and platform costs. A channel with strong gross sales can still lose money if acquisition and return costs are excluded.
What connects the storefront to operations?
Reliable inventory, product, customer, order and payment data must move between the storefront and operational systems. Integration should preserve identifiers and status history so exceptions can be traced.
Which controls matter?
Validate catalog changes, prices, promotions, tax treatment, payment status, fulfillment events and refunds. Access controls and audit logs are especially important where staff can change bank, payout or refund details.
