OVER 50 YEARS OF GLOBAL ECOMMERCE JOURNEY (1969 – 2020)
Table of Contents
OVER 50 YEARS OF GLOBAL E-COMMERCE JOURNEY (1969 – 2020)
1969: The first online service provider – CompuServe
In 1969, Dr. John R. Goltz, Jeffrey Wilkins, and electrical engineering students founded CompuServe – a service that provided an information-sharing portal through the Internet and email network connections.
1979: Father of electronic commerce (EC) system – Michael Aldrich
Michael Aldrich pioneered the first EC system by connecting a television and a computer for transaction processing via telephone lines, enabling a secure information system to be opened and shared externally. This innovation laid the foundation for the development of modern EC systems.
1982: The first ecommerce company – Boston Computer Exchange
Initially a store supporting the resale of used computers, Boston Computer Exchange became one of the earliest models for today’s EC companies.
1992: The first online book market – Book Stacks Unlimited
Charles M. Stack established the brand Book Stacks Unlimited as the world’s first online book store. Initially using a dial-up bulletin board format, the company later transitioned to the Internet to create an online book trading market.
1995: Birth of the ecommerce giant – Amazon
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon initially as a book-selling business but later expanded its business model to include various products by incorporating new technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Amazon ushered in a new era for the EC industry by integrating Internet technology into its business strategy.
1998: Online payment gateway, a platform for ecommerce development – PayPal
Confinity (the predecessor of PayPal) was founded by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery. In 2000, eBay acquired Confinity and renamed it PayPal, the world’s largest online payment gateway. PayPal addressed many limitations of traditional payment methods, making the buying and payment process more convenient and laying the foundation for EC development.
1999: The king of the ecommerce industry in China – Alibaba
Alibaba officially entered the EC market, successfully raising $25 million in capital. By 2001, the company became profitable and led the EC platform under the B2B, C2C, and B2C business models. In 2020, Alibaba contributed $12.2 billion to global EC revenue.
2000: Online advertising tool serving ecommerce marketing – Google AdWords
Google introduced Google AdWords, the world’s first online advertising tool. This tool supported businesses in marketing their products on Google’s search network, boosting sales for EC companies at that time.
2004: The first ecommerce website development platform – Shopify
After unsuccessful attempts to build an e-commerce website selling snowboarding equipment on various platforms, Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake founded Shopify – the first platform supporting the development of EC websites worldwide. This platform enables users to easily create online stores without requiring extensive technical knowledge.
2005: Ecommerce event – Cyber Monday
The National Retail Federation (USA) coined the term “Cyber Monday” to describe the first Monday after Black Friday, initiating the online shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This event marked economists’ interest in the global retail market.
2007: Sustainable ecommerce development platform – Magento
Developed by Roy Rubin and Yoav Kutner in 2007, Magento is an open-source platform written based on the Zend Framework and PHP programming language, specifically designed to build complex EC websites. Magento, known for its multitasking capability, high performance, flexible customization, and easy scalability, has become the top choice for enterprises with 200,000 partners and 2.5 million downloads worldwide.
Multinational corporations using Magento to build sophisticated EC systems include Samsung, Nike, Coca-Cola, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Canon, Sigma, Olympus, Port, Pox, Nestle, BevMo, Burger King, and millions of small and medium-sized EC sites globally.
2016: Facebook joins the ecommerce
game – Facebook Marketplace
With the ambition to dominate the EC market, Facebook, a tech giant, continuously introduced new features on Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and collaborated with various EC platforms (Shopify, OpenCart, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento). This made giants like Amazon, Lazada, and Shopee wary, demonstrating the strong allure of the EC market.
2017: Growth of ecommerce
The global EC industry set a new revenue record of $2.352 trillion in 2017, a 25% increase from 2016 (according to eMarketer – a US market research company). Cyber Monday alone surpassed $6.5 billion in online sales. Economists predict that EC will be the world’s focal industry by 2025.
2020: COVID-19 boosts the ecommerce explosion
2020 marked a significant turning point for the global EC industry. The impact of COVID-19 accelerated the construction of EC systems to meet consumer demands promptly. Currently, EC is not only present on platforms like Amazon, Shopee, and Lazada but also brands are starting to build their own EC websites. Additionally, EC spans various sectors from fast-moving consumer goods (fashion, food, technology) to service sectors (travel, finance, education, furniture, and real estate).
According to the “Southeast Asia Internet Economy 2020” report by Google & Temasek, consumers tend to spend more time shopping online than before COVID-19 (increased from 3.7 hours/day to 4.7 hours/day). Global B2C EC revenue increased from $1.948 trillion to $4.280 trillion, doubling Statista.com’s forecast of $2.238 trillion.
COVID-19 has brought positive effects on the global rise of the EC industry and opened up new opportunities for the Vietnamese economy.
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