e-Commerce was coined to describe the active process of selling products over the Internet. It is common to see the term used interchangeably with e-Business and incorrectly so. e-Commerce may be an entirely separate function from the back-end business system. The difference is that e-Business connects the business system to the web.

An e-commerce site that's going to make money must be inviting, organized, secure, actionable, and intuitive. This is relationship marketing at its core. Any business model must be built to adapt and evolve. Making e-commerce run smoothly means always reviewing and renewing the model, while pushing for more security, speed, and interactivity. Accordingly, almost a third of all existing e-commerce sites are upgrading their setups this year to keep pace with technology and competition. Site design and development must be streamlined efficiently and built on robust, scalable, and leading technology from the outset.