E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the name associated with the buying and selling of products and services over an electronic network, such as the internet. An E-commerce site usually consists of a virtual store front which lists products or services sold by a business or individual.

E-commerce systems allows for details of buyers to be captured and used by the seller for delivery, payment and admin purposes. Most E-commerce systems integrate with one or more payment gateways; some of these include Paypal, World Pay, NOCHEX, Protx, 2Checkout and Google Checkout.

There are a number of ready-made E-commerce solutions available such as osCommerce and LiteCommerce, but these can be limited depending on the features that a business needs. Companies that want specific features not available in ready made solutions usually acquire the services of a web developer to create a bespoke system.

E-commerce has come along way since the start of the internet, almost every retail business now offers the ability to purchase there products and services online using an E-commerce solution. One of the largest E-commerce solutions that can be seen in use today is eBay.

Small E-commerce systems can be easy and simple to setup. Apart from adding the products/services to be sold, the system takes care of everything else for you. Bring your business online can not only increase revenue, but also take the stress and strain away from you and allow your business to run like a breeze.