E-commerce: Give A Thought On It

Online retailing is becoming an increasingly important part of the economy. It seems that once the shopping frenzy has commenced, consumers don't want a little thing like being at work stop them. They evidently continue the madness from the confines of their workplace using their office computer and, increasingly their mobile devices.

It may be hard to believe today, especially if you under 30, but there was considerable doubt about the viability of online retailing when the web first kicked off in earnest in 1994. That was the year that the government lifted rules that barred the commercial use of the internet. It kicked off an era that is known at the dot com boom, where are remarkable amount of new business's started up to take advantage of the web as a new business platform. Suddenly, everything you could imagine was being offered online, from toys to shoes, from cars to homes.

Currently, online purchases represent about 8% of all retail sales in the United States. That doesn't sound like much, until you consider the trend and the enormity of the US market. In the first 10 years of internet commercialization online sales grew from almost nothing to $117 billion dollars. By 2011 sales had reached $253 billion, and this period includes the worst recession in a generation and weak economic recovery. That's about $840 per year for each man, woman and child in the nation!

As technology improves the online experience, the growth of e-Commerce as a portion of the economy will increase. However, criminals and fraudsters already view it as a "target rich" environment. Internet schemes and scams already abound that spread malware, steal personal information and commit fraud. The more business is done online, the more criminals will be present online.

Commercial web site operators need to be increasingly proactive to ensure their customers have a safe shopping experience, free of malware and fraud. Consumers need to be proactive themselves; examining each site they visit for indications, such as SSL and trust mark logos, that the site is what it portends to be.