First, there was the World Wide Web. It enabled individuals to connect with one another, regardless of their location. It truly redefined communication and bettered and facilitated the flow of information much faster. As the World Wide Web was made commercial in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited as its inventor, organizations and individuals sought to add to its utility. In 1994, a German organization called Inters hop Communications introduced the idea of e-commerce, where consumers can buy things that were listed on the website, from the comfort of their homes. This eventually led to creation of other services that made full use of the World Wide Web ecosystem to market their wares to consumers.

The Evolution of E Commerce:

Toward this endeavour, ecommerce web design is considered to be a major contributor in evolving interfaces that cater to the new age consumer. Customers were beginning to understand the value behind e-commerce and buying goods online, and this led to a veritable smorgasbord of services being offered from a wide variety of manufacturers. Advances in manufacturing technology also enabled proliferation of new devices into the market, like tablets and smart mobiles. A survey conducted in 2011 concluded that 87% of tablet users browsing had made an online transaction during the holiday season. As consumers are finding ways to go online using more devices, designing interfaces that accommodate all such devices becomes vital.

Online commerce is inherently based on inventory management. When a consumer selects and buys an item from an online retailer, that item then needs to be located from the warehouse and then delivered to the consumer. Most businesses are choosing to sell more and more of their wares online these days as it requires a lesser cost to start services, not to mention huge savings in infrastructure. Other services were also being launched, like online music services, which offered digital sales of albums instead of users having to go to record stores to buy their music albums. Such services saw a massive increase in their user-bases following the launch of smart devices.

Mobiles and E Commerce

A smart device is one that is not connected by any wires, is mobile, has networking facilities, and can handle voice and data communication. The invention of such devices began in the latter half of the last decade, and since then the market has seen a deluge of new devices and technologies being launched by manufacturers that made the earlier devices obsolete. For instance, South-Korean mobile manufacturer Samsung launched a device called the i7500, which was credited as being its first Android mobile, in 2009. Since then, it has launched close to 30 devices, each device outweighing the last in terms of features.

It is already evident that users are now connecting to the Internet mainly through their smart devices. The traffic that is being consumed by these devices is growing year by year. This is understandable, considering the affordable nature of such devices and the connectivity features they bring to the fore. The commercialization of communication technologies like 3G, and the wide availability of such services mean that consumers can now access information while on the go. As a result, getting the help of ecommerce web design for such systems becomes more vital as we head to a future where these devices are set to rule.

Harry Smith is a freelance writer, and has written many articles on Information Technology. He is also a web designer, and his articles usually feature work that is being done to enhance user interaction, like ecommerce web design.