Invention of WWW and E-commerce :

                                                                      The Science Tech (2021)

Invention of WWW and E-commerce :

The history of e-commerce started over 40 years ago, when the introduction of early technology like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and teleshopping in the 1970s paved the way for the modern-day e-commerce store as we know it today. 

The history of e-commerce is closely intertwined with the history of the internet. Online shopping became possible when the internet was opened to the public in 1991. Amazon was one of the first e-commerce sites in the US to start selling products online and thousands of businesses have followed since. 

The convenience, safety, and enjoyable user experience of e-commerce have improved exponentially since the inception of online shopping. In his article, we will discuss some of the key players and milestones of e-commerce. 

When Was Online Shopping Invented? 

Online shopping was invented in pioneered in 1979 by entrepreneur Michael Aldrich in the United Kingdom. Aldrich was able to connect a modified domestic television to a real-time multi-user transaction processing computer via a telephone line. The system was marketed in 1980 and offered as business-to-business systems that were then sold in the UK, Ireland, and Spain. 

 Book Stacks Unlimited, an online bookstore created by Charles M. Stack in 1992, was one of the earliest consumer shopping experiences. Stack’s store began as a dial-up bulletin board three years before Amazon was founded. In 1994, Book Stacks Unlimited moved to the Internet as Books.com and was eventually acquired by Barnes & Noble. 

Early Ecommerce Timeline :

1960 – 1982: Invention and the Early Days 

The development of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the 1960s paved the way for electronic commerce. EDI replaced traditional mailing and faxing of documents by allowing a digital transfer of data from one computer to another. 

Trading partners could transfer orders, invoices, and other business transactions using a data format that met the ANSI ASC X12, the predominant set of standards in North America for inter-industry electronic exchange. Once an order is sent, it is then examined by a VAN (Value-Added Network) and directed to the recipient’s order processing system. EDI allowed the transfer of data seamlessly without any human intervention. 

Michael Aldrich’s invention, the idea for which was sparked by a conversation with his wife about their weekly supermarket shopping expedition, involved hooking a television to their supermarket to have them deliver the groceries. Aldrich coined his invention “teleshopping” (shopping at a distance), which can be seen as the precursor for modern online shopping. ( Miva The history of ecommerce ).( Miva )

                                 (Annasha and AnnashaAnnasha, 2019)  Michael Aldrich

Early 90’s: The World Wide Web Arrives : 

In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau published a proposal to build a “Hypertext project” called “World Wide Web.” The inspiration for this project was modeled after the Dynatex SGML reader licensed by CERN. ( Miva )

That same year, Berners-Lee created the first web server and wrote the first web browser. Shortly thereafter, he went on to debut the web on August 6, 1991 as a publicly-available service on the Internet. When Berners-Lee decided he would take on the task of marrying hypertext to the Internet, the process led him to develop URL, HTML and HTTP. ( Miva )

In 1991, the National Science Foundation lifted its restrictions on commercial use of the NET, causing online shopping to grow exponentially. In September 1995, the NSF began charging a fee for registering domain names. The number of domain names quickly grew to two million by 1993. By this time, the NSF’s role in the Internet came to an end and a lot of the oversight shifted to the commercial sector. ( Miva )

From the beginning, there were many concerns over the safety of  online shopping. However, the development of a security protocol, Secure Socket Layers (SSL)—an encryption certificate created by Netscape in 1994, provided a safe means to transmit data over the internet. Web browsers were able to identify whether a site had an authenticated SSL and, based on that, determine whether or not a site could be trusted. ( Miva )

Now, SSL encryption protocol is a vital part of web security, and version 3.0 has become the standard for most web servers today. ( Miva )

                                                      ( Holland, 2021) Tim Berners-Lee

References :

Miva (no date) The history of ecommerce: How did it all begin?, Miva Blog - Browse Miva's Blog for expert ecommerce strategy, visual content and pro tips for omnichannel enterprise sales. Resources and best practices for online business. Available at: https://blog.miva.com/the-history-of-ecommerce-how-did-it-all-begin (Accessed: February 5, 2023).

The Science Tech (2021) What is the World Wide Web (WWW)?, The Science Tech. Available at: https://thesciencetech.com/computer/what-is-the-world-wide-web/ (Accessed: February 5, 2023).

Annasha and AnnashaAnnasha Dey is an NIT student (2019) Michael Aldrich : A connoisseur in the entrepreneurial world and the founder of online shopping, Your Tech Story. Available at: https://www.yourtechstory.com/2019/08/31/michael-aldrich-connoisseur-entrepreneurial-world-founder-online-shopping/ (Accessed: February 5, 2023).

Holland, O. (2021) The World Wide Web's inventor sold its original code for $5.4 million, CNN. Cable News Network. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/tim-berners-lee-nft-auction/index.html (Accessed: February 5, 2023).