What does ecommerce mean?
Ecommerce, short for electronic commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods and services conducted over the internet. It encompasses everything from large online marketplaces to small independent webshops, and covers transactions between businesses, between businesses and consumers, and between individual consumers. The term emerged in the 1990s as the World Wide Web made online retail viable, and it has since become one of the defining features of the modern economy, reshaping how people shop, pay, and deliver products worldwide. Ecommerce is generally treated as an uncountable noun and carries a neutral to positive connotation, often associated with convenience, scale, and technological innovation. It is frequently written with a hyphen as 'e-commerce' in formal writing, though the closed form is now widespread. Closely related terms include m-commerce (mobile commerce) and e-tail (electronic retail).
nounCommercial transactions conducted electronically on the internet, especially the buying and selling of goods and services through websites or online platforms. Also written as 'e-commerce' or 'electronic commerce'.
- The activity of buying and selling goods and services over the internet.
- The industry or business sector concerned with online commercial transactions.
"The company shifted most of its retail operations to ecommerce during the pandemic."
"Global ecommerce sales are expected to keep growing steadily over the next decade."
"She built a small ecommerce store selling handmade jewellery."
The word didn't exist before the 1990s — today, ecommerce accounts for trillions of dollars in annual sales worldwide.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of ecommerce
Ecommerce is a late 20th-century coinage, formed by shortening 'electronic commerce' — a compound ultimately rooted in the Latin 'commercium', meaning trade or merchandise, from 'com-' (together) and 'merx' (goods). The abbreviated form became common during the 1990s internet boom, when prefixing words with a lowercase 'e-' to denote anything electronic was a productive pattern (as in email and ebook). Its cognates share that Latin root: 'commerce', 'commercial', and 'mercantile' all descend from the same source.
How ecommerce is actually used
Commonly written with a hyphen ('e-commerce') in more formal or traditional publications, though the unhyphenated form is increasingly standard in business and tech contexts. The word is a mass noun and has no plural.
Easily confused with ecommerce
'Email' refers to electronic mail, whereas 'ecommerce' specifically concerns buying and selling over the internet.