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On the Internet，you can buy a hot stock，order the latest paperback novel，sell your Beatles bubblegum cards，buy a set of antique Georgian silver，print postage stamps，book a flight，or find and pay for that perfect romantic hideaway in the Tuscan hills．In fact，just about any activity that involves buying and selling has moved from the corner store，the shopping mall，and the office tower to your desktop by way of e-Business and the Internet．Figure 1 shows a typical e-Business transaction from a consumer's point of view．As a learner of e-Business，you would like to review its definition，learn about some of its associated activities，and evaluate its benefits．

The term business refers to all the activities in which a company or individual engages to complete a transaction．When you use the Internet to engage in some or all of these activities，business becomes e-Business．Therefore，you can define e-Business as using the Internet to assist in the trading of goods and services．Other terms that refer to doing business over the Internet include e-commerce，e-tailing，and e-trading．

E-Business activities can form some part of just about every stage in the life cycle of a product．Figure 2 shows the e-Business activities conducted by a company that sells winter sports equipment．Notice that these activities do not differ significantly from the business activities that companies have always conducted．The difference is that now companies can conduct business by using computers and telecommunications technologies instead of，or in addition to，operating a retail store．

In theory，the Internet knows no geographical boundaries，political boundaries，or time boundaries．You can order a toaster at three o'clock in the morning，or sell lavender-scented beauty soap to a consumer who lives 10，000 miles away．The universality of the Internet has resulted in the world's largest level playing field．As a one-person company operating from a log cabin in the mountains，you can complete with the world's multinational corporations—so long as you have a reliable Internet connection，products or services to sell，and the means of delivering them to customers．In fact，if you sell a product such as software or learning materials that consumers can download directly from a Website，you don't even need to worry about delivery systems．

Some of the benefits of doing business over the Internet include the ability to engage in the following activities．

●　Conduct business 24 hours a day，7 days a week．

●　Sell products to anyone in the world．

●　Respond quickly to customers．

●　Build a one-on-one relationship with customers．

●　Provide customers with up-to-the-minute information．

●　Reduce the overhead costs associated with maintaining a brick and mortar retail outlet．The term brick and mortar refers to retail locations in the real world，as opposed to the electronic world of cyberspace．Companies that sell products or services both in the real world and online are referred to as click and mortar companies．

●　Automate business operations to save time and money．

In addition，you can use the Internet to explore new business opportunities，and perhaps build an e-Commerce site that meets customer demand for a product or service that no one else has even identified yet!

2．click and mortar:A phrase used to refer to an integrated offline and online approach．

U.S.Secretary of Commerce William M．Daley once wrote the following words in White Paper on E-Commerce in 2000，“We are witness myriad new forms of business activity，such as electronic market-places linking buyers and sellers in seamless global bazaars，and changes in business processes from customers service to product design that harness the new technologies to make business more efficient and responsive．”