A global network is any communication network that spans the entire Earth . The term, as used in this article, refers in a more restricted way to bidirectional communication networks based on technology . Early networks such as international mail and unidirectional communication networks, such as radio and television , are described elsewhere.
148-491: The Internet (or internet ) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private , public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless , and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries
296-458: A 32-bit number. IPv4 is the initial version used on the first generation of the Internet and is still in dominant use. It was designed in 1981 to address up to ≈4.3 billion (10) hosts. However, the explosive growth of the Internet has led to IPv4 address exhaustion , which entered its final stage in 2011, when the global IPv4 address allocation pool was exhausted. Because of the growth of
444-426: A shopping search engine , which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers , laptops , tablet computers and smartphones . An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a regular "brick-and-mortar" retailer or shopping center ;
592-517: A blog, or building a website involves little initial cost and many cost-free services are available. However, publishing and maintaining large, professional web sites with attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive proposition. Many individuals and some companies and groups use web logs or blogs, which are largely used as easily being able to update online diaries. Some commercial organizations encourage staff to communicate advice in their areas of specialization in
740-407: A broader process of fragmentation of the Internet . Fragmentation restricts access to media content and tends to affect the poorest users the most. Zero-rating , the practice of Internet service providers allowing users free connectivity to access specific content or applications without cost, has offered opportunities to surmount economic hurdles but has also been accused by its critics as creating
888-487: A certain extent. A number of resources offer advice on how consumers can protect themselves when using online retailer services. These include: Although the benefits of online shopping are considerable, when the process goes poorly it can create a thorny situation. A few problems that shoppers potentially face include identity theft, faulty products, and the accumulation of spyware . If users are required to put in their credit card information and billing/shipping address and
1036-623: A collection of documents (web pages) and other web resources linked by hyperlinks and URLs . In the 1960s, computer scientists began developing systems for time-sharing of computer resources. J. C. R. Licklider proposed the idea of a universal network while working at Bolt Beranek & Newman and, later, leading the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of
1184-414: A companies' products and services on tablet computers and smartphones . One of the earliest forms of trade conducted online was IBM 's online transaction processing (OLTP) developed in the 1960s, which allowed the processing of financial transactions in real-time. The computerized ticket reservation system developed for American Airlines called Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment (SABRE)
1332-468: A customer shopping online that they may receive more risk than people shopping in stores. There are three factors may influence people to do the buying decision, firstly, people cannot examine whether the product satisfy their needs and wants before they receive it. Secondly, customer may concern at after-sale services. Finally, customer may afraid that they cannot fully understand the language used in e-sales. Based on those factors customer perceive risk may as
1480-589: A designated pool of addresses set aside for each region. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration , an agency of the United States Department of Commerce , had final approval over changes to the DNS root zone until the IANA stewardship transition on 1 October 2016. The Internet Society (ISOC) was founded in 1992 with a mission to "assure the open development, evolution and use of
1628-512: A domestic telephone line. He believed that videotex , the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven human–computer interface, was a 'new, universally applicable, participative communication medium — the first since the invention of the telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to be opened to 'outside' correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for e-messaging and information retrieval and dissemination, later known as e-business . His definition of
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#17327980351091776-513: A framework known as the Internet protocol suite (also called TCP/IP , based on the first two components.) This is a suite of protocols that are ordered into a set of four conceptional layers by the scope of their operation, originally documented in RFC 1122 and RFC 1123 . At the top is the application layer , where communication is described in terms of the objects or data structures most appropriate for each application. For example,
1924-406: A key role for online shoppers when they are researching future purchases. 90% of all purchases made are influenced by social media. Online shoppers commonly use a credit card or a PayPal account in order to make payments. However, some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as: Some online shops will not accept international credit cards. Some require both
2072-418: A larger market or even sell goods and services entirely online . Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries. The Internet has no single centralized governance in either technological implementation or policies for access and usage; each constituent network sets its own policies. The overarching definitions of the two principal name spaces on
2220-421: A major concern for merchants and e-commerce service providers, who deploy countermeasures such as firewalls and anti-virus software to protect their networks. Phishing is another danger, where consumers are fooled into thinking they are dealing with a reputable retailer, when they have actually been manipulated into feeding private information to a system operated by a malicious party. Denial of service attacks are
2368-506: A merchant's web site and steal names, addresses and credit card numbers, although the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is intended to minimize the impact of such breaches. Identity theft is still a concern for consumers. A number of high-profile break-ins in the 2000s has prompted some U.S. states to require disclosure to consumers when this happens. Computer security has thus become
2516-453: A minor risk for merchants, as are server and network outages. Quality seals can be placed on the Shop web page if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of online shoppers. However, the existence of many different seals, or seals unfamiliar to consumers, may foil this effort to
2664-495: A month. The survey found shopping began at amazon.com 44% of the time, compared to a general search engine at 33%. It estimated 75 million Americans subscribe to Amazon Prime and 35 million more use someone else's account. There were 242 million people shopping online in China in 2012. For developing countries and low-income households in developed countries, adoption of e-commerce in place of or in addition to conventional methods
2812-432: A nearby convenience store, making online shopping more advantageous to customers. In the event of a problem with the item (e.g., the product was not what the consumer ordered or the product was not satisfactory), consumers are concerned with the ease of returning an item in exchange for the correct product or a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for
2960-597: A network into two or more networks is called subnetting . Computers that belong to a subnet are addressed with an identical most-significant bit -group in their IP addresses. This results in the logical division of an IP address into two fields, the network number or routing prefix and the rest field or host identifier . The rest field is an identifier for a specific host or network interface. The routing prefix may be expressed in Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation written as
3108-488: A node on a different subnetwork. Routing tables are maintained by manual configuration or automatically by routing protocols . End-nodes typically use a default route that points toward an ISP providing transit, while ISP routers use the Border Gateway Protocol to establish the most efficient routing across the complex connections of the global Internet. The default gateway is the node that serves as
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#17327980351093256-461: A particular product has been found and selected on the website of the seller, most online retailers use shopping cart software to allow the consumer to accumulate multiple items and to adjust quantities, like filling a physical shopping cart or basket in a conventional store. A "checkout" process follows (continuing the physical-store analogy) in which payment and delivery information is collected, if necessary. Some stores allow consumers to sign up for
3404-417: A payment has been accepted, the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways. For physical items: For digital items or tickets: Simple shopping cart systems allow the off-line administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. The systems do not use an online database. A high-end solution can be bought or rented as
3552-442: A permanent online account so that some or all of this information only needs to be entered once. The consumer often receives an e-mail confirmation once the transaction is complete. Less sophisticated stores may rely on consumers to phone or e-mail their orders (although full credit card numbers, expiry date, and Card Security Code , or bank account and routing number should not be accepted by e-mail, for reasons of security). One of
3700-661: A physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation). Some online stores provide or link to supplemental product information, such as instructions, safety procedures, demonstrations, or manufacturer specifications. Some provide background information, advice, or how-to guides designed to help consumers decide which product to buy. Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. Reviews and even some blogs give customers
3848-418: A pivotal moment in 1994 with the first online sales of Sting 's album, Ten Summoner's Tales . This milestone event set the stage for the diversification of online retail, with early adopters such as wine, chocolates, and flowers paving the way. These products became pioneers in the e-commerce realm, capturing the attention of a growing audience. Researchers identified a crucial factor for internet success –
3996-511: A reason to come back. However, resent research has proven that sites with higher focus on efficiency, convenience, and personalised services increased the customers motivation to make purchases. Dyn , an Internet performance management company conducted a survey on more than 1400 consumers across 11 countries in North America , Europe , Middle-East and Asia and the results of the survey are as follows: These concerns majorly affect
4144-474: A replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generous return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores. For example, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com includes labels for free return shipping, and does not charge a restocking fee, even for returns which are not the result of merchant error. (Note: In the United Kingdom, online shops are prohibited from charging
4292-541: A restocking fee if the consumer cancels their order in accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Act 2000). A 2018 survey in the United States found 26% of online shoppers said they never return items, and another 65% said they rarely do so. Merchants may benefit from online shopping due to low sales inventory pressure, low operating costs, and the scale of operation is not limited by
4440-589: A shorthand for internetwork in RFC 675 , and later RFCs repeated this use. Cerf and Kahn credit Louis Pouzin and others with important influences on the resulting TCP/IP design. National PTTs and commercial providers developed the X.25 standard and deployed it on public data networks . Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded
4588-403: A sign of future growth, 15 sites were connected to the young ARPANET by the end of 1971. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing . Thereafter, the ARPANET gradually developed into a decentralized communications network, connecting remote centers and military bases in the United States. Other user networks and research networks, such as
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4736-511: A significantly reason influence the online purchasing behaviour. Online retailers has place much emphasis on customer trust aspect, trust is another way driving customer's behaviour in digital environment, which can depend on customer's attitude and expectation. Indeed, the company's products design or ideas can not met customer's expectations. Customer's purchase intention based on rational expectations, and additionally impacts on emotional trust. Moreover, those expectations can be also establish on
4884-725: A stand-alone program or as an addition to an enterprise resource planning program. It is usually installed on the company's web server and may integrate into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent. Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops simultaneously from one back office. Examples are BigCommerce , Shopify and FlickRocket . Open source shopping cart packages include advanced platforms such as Interchange, and off-the-shelf solutions such as Magento , osCommerce , WooCommerce , PrestaShop , and Zen Cart . Commercial systems can also be tailored so
5032-424: A strong substitutability of goods, and a large elasticity of demand. According to the output of a research report by Western Michigan University published in 2005, an e-commerce website does not have to be good looking with listing on a lot of search engines. It must build relationships with customers to make money. The report also suggests that a website must leave a positive impression on the customers, giving them
5180-596: A two-tiered Internet. To address the issues with zero-rating, an alternative model has emerged in the concept of 'equal rating' and is being tested in experiments by Mozilla and Orange in Africa. Equal rating prevents prioritization of one type of content and zero-rates all content up to a specified data cap. In a study published by Chatham House , 15 out of 19 countries researched in Latin America had some kind of hybrid or zero-rated product offered. Some countries in
5328-466: A vast and diverse amount of online information. Compared to printed media, books, encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled the decentralization of information on a large scale. The Web has enabled individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to a potentially large audience online at greatly reduced expense and time delay. Publishing a web page,
5476-560: A vast range of information resources and services, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail , telephony , and file sharing . The origins of the Internet date back to research that enabled the time-sharing of computer resources, the development of packet switching in the 1960s and the design of computer networks for data communication . The set of rules ( communication protocols ) to enable internetworking on
5624-419: A warehouse instead of a retail storefront. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption has generally solved the problem of credit card numbers being intercepted in transit between the consumer and the merchant. However, one must still trust the merchant (and employees) not to use the credit card information subsequently for their own purchases, and not to pass the information to others. Also, hackers might break into
5772-696: A web browser operates in a client–server application model and exchanges information with the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and an application-germane data structure, such as the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Below this top layer, the transport layer connects applications on different hosts with a logical channel through the network. It provides this service with a variety of possible characteristics, such as ordered, reliable delivery (TCP), and an unreliable datagram service (UDP). Underlying these layers are
5920-579: A wide variety of other Internet software may be installed from app stores . Internet usage by mobile and tablet devices exceeded desktop worldwide for the first time in October 2016. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that, by the end of 2017, 48% of individual users regularly connect to the Internet, up from 34% in 2012. Mobile Internet connectivity has played an important role in expanding access in recent years, especially in Asia and
6068-547: Is a global network that comprises many voluntarily interconnected autonomous networks. It operates without a central governing body. The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols ( IPv4 and IPv6 ) is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. To maintain interoperability,
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6216-507: Is a $ 69 billion difference between the U.S. revenue of $ 364.66 billion. It is estimated that Asia-Pacific will increase by another 30% in the year 2013 putting them ahead by more than one-third of all global e-commerce sales. The largest online shopping day in the world is Singles Day , with sales just in Alibaba 's sites at US$ 9.3 billion in 2014. In 2018, 9.8% of all retail sales in the United States were made online. In 2019, that figure
6364-418: Is a large address block with 2 addresses, having a 32-bit routing prefix. For IPv4, a network may also be characterized by its subnet mask or netmask , which is the bitmask that when applied by a bitwise AND operation to any IP address in the network, yields the routing prefix. Subnet masks are also expressed in dot-decimal notation like an address. For example, 255.255.255.0 is the subnet mask for
6512-450: Is a truly global one. The telegraph and telex communication networks have been phased out, so interconnection among existing global networks arise at several points, such as between the voice telephony and digital data networks , and between these and satellite networks. Many applications run now on several networks, such as VoIP (voice over IP). Mobile communication (voice and data) networks are also intimately intertwined, because
6660-455: Is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services provided by many different vendors (though some local search engines do exist to help consumers locate products for sale in nearby stores). Search engines, online price comparison services and discovery shopping engines can be used to look up sellers of a particular product or service. Shipping costs (if applicable) reduce the price advantage of online merchandise, though depending on
6808-459: Is estimated that 80% of the global mobile market uses the GSM standard, present in more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. In order to achieve this, these networks must be interconnected by way of peering arrangements, and therefore the GSM network
6956-542: Is limited by a lack of affordable Internet access. Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day, and many consumers in Western countries have Internet access both at work and at home. Other establishments such as Internet cafes, community centers and schools provide internet access as well. In contrast, visiting a conventional retail store requires travel or commuting and costs such as gas, parking, or bus tickets, and must usually take place during business hours. Delivery
7104-494: Is necessary to allocate address space efficiently. Subnetting may also enhance routing efficiency or have advantages in network management when subnetworks are administratively controlled by different entities in a larger organization. Subnets may be arranged logically in a hierarchical architecture, partitioning an organization's network address space into a tree-like routing structure. Computers and routers use routing tables in their operating system to direct IP packets to reach
7252-532: Is not directly interoperable by design with IPv4. In essence, it establishes a parallel version of the Internet not directly accessible with IPv4 software. Thus, translation facilities must exist for internetworking or nodes must have duplicate networking software for both networks. Essentially all modern computer operating systems support both versions of the Internet Protocol. Network infrastructure, however, has been lagging in this development. Aside from
7400-406: Is of much lower cost compared to bricks and mortar stores, but also because it offers access to a worldwide market, increases customer value, and builds sustainable capabilities. Designers of online shops are concerned with the effects of information load. Information load is a product of the spatial and temporal arrangements of stimuli in the web store. Compared with conventional retail shopping,
7548-406: Is often accessed through high-performance content delivery networks . The World Wide Web is a global collection of documents , images , multimedia , applications, and other resources, logically interrelated by hyperlinks and referenced with Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), which provide a global system of named references. URIs symbolically identify services, web servers , databases, and
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#17327980351097696-445: Is often displayed alongside products being sold on websites like Amazon , Target , and most other digital storefronts. Subsequently, risk and trust would also are two important factors affecting people's' behavior in digital environments. Customers consider to switch between e-channels, because they are mainly influence by the comparison with offline shopping, involving growth of security, financial and performance-risks In other words,
7844-554: The Oxford English Dictionary found that, based on a study of around 2.5 billion printed and online sources, "Internet" was capitalized in 54% of cases. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably; it is common to speak of "going on the Internet" when using a web browser to view web pages . However, the World Wide Web , or the Web , is only one of a large number of Internet services,
7992-1050: The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for North America , the Asia–Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) for Asia and the Pacific region , the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) for Latin America and the Caribbean region, and the Réseaux IP Européens – Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) for Europe , the Middle East , and Central Asia were delegated to assign IP address blocks and other Internet parameters to local registries, such as Internet service providers , from
8140-979: The Computer Science Network (CSNET). In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized, which facilitated worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks. TCP/IP network access expanded again in 1986 when the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States for researchers, first at speeds of 56 kbit/s and later at 1.5 Mbit/s and 45 Mbit/s. The NSFNet expanded into academic and research organizations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan in 1988–89. Although other network protocols such as UUCP and PTT public data networks had global reach well before this time, this marked
8288-543: The HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first Web browser (which was also an HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later known as CERN httpd ), the first web server , and the first Web pages that described the project itself. In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded, allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet. Stanford Federal Credit Union
8436-493: The International Network Working Group and commercial initiatives led to the development of various protocols and standards by which multiple separate networks could become a single network or "a network of networks". In 1974, Vint Cerf at Stanford University and Bob Kahn at DARPA published a proposal for "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication". They used the term internet as
8584-482: The Merit Network and CYCLADES , were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Early international collaborations for the ARPANET were rare. Connections were made in 1973 to Norway ( NORSAR and NDRE ), and to Peter Kirstein's research group at University College London (UCL), which provided a gateway to British academic networks , forming the first internetwork for resource sharing . ARPA projects,
8732-709: The Canadian-based Wishabi attempts to include estimates of these additional cost, but nevertheless, the lack of general full cost disclosure remains a concern. Privacy of personal information is a significant issue for some consumers. Many consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact information to an online merchant. In response, many merchants promise to not use consumer information for these purposes, Many websites keep track of consumer shopping habits in order to suggest items and other websites to view. Brick-and-mortar stores also collect consumer information. Some ask for
8880-415: The Internet and a valid method of payment in order to complete a transaction, such as a credit card , an Interac -enabled debit card , or a service such as PayPal . For physical products (e.g., paperback books or clothes), the e-tailer ships the products to the customer; for digital products , such as digital audio files of songs or software , the e-tailer usually sends the file to the customer over
9028-575: The Internet and the depletion of available IPv4 addresses , a new version of IP IPv6 , was developed in the mid-1990s, which provides vastly larger addressing capabilities and more efficient routing of Internet traffic. IPv6 uses 128 bits for the IP address and was standardized in 1998. IPv6 deployment has been ongoing since the mid-2000s and is currently in growing deployment around the world, since Internet address registries ( RIRs ) began to urge all resource managers to plan rapid adoption and conversion. IPv6
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#17327980351099176-685: The Internet are contained in specially designated RFCs that constitute the Internet Standards . Other less rigorous documents are simply informative, experimental, or historical, or document the best current practices (BCP) when implementing Internet technologies. The Internet carries many applications and services , most prominently the World Wide Web, including social media , electronic mail , mobile applications , multiplayer online games , Internet telephony , file sharing , and streaming media services. Most servers that provide these services are today hosted in data centers , and content
9324-637: The Internet arose from research and development commissioned in the 1970s by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense in collaboration with universities and researchers across the United States and in the United Kingdom and France . The ARPANET initially served as a backbone for the interconnection of regional academic and military networks in
9472-443: The Internet can then be accessed from places such as a park bench. Experiments have also been conducted with proprietary mobile wireless networks like Ricochet , various high-speed data services over cellular networks, and fixed wireless services. Modern smartphones can also access the Internet through the cellular carrier network. For Web browsing, these devices provide applications such as Google Chrome , Safari , and Firefox and
9620-617: The Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world" . Its members include individuals (anyone may join) as well as corporations, organizations , governments, and universities. Among other activities ISOC provides an administrative home for a number of less formally organized groups that are involved in developing and managing the Internet, including: the IETF, Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), and Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). On 16 November 2005,
9768-444: The Internet model is the Internet Protocol (IP). IP enables internetworking and, in essence, establishes the Internet itself. Two versions of the Internet Protocol exist, IPv4 and IPv6 . For locating individual computers on the network, the Internet provides IP addresses . IP addresses are used by the Internet infrastructure to direct internet packets to their destinations. They consist of fixed-length numbers, which are found within
9916-514: The Internet via local computer networks. Hotspots providing such access include Wi-Fi cafés, where users need to bring their own wireless devices, such as a laptop or PDA . These services may be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based. Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community networks . Commercial Wi-Fi services that cover large areas are available in many cities, such as New York , London , Vienna , Toronto , San Francisco , Philadelphia , Chicago and Pittsburgh , where
10064-706: The Internet was included on USA Today ' s list of the New Seven Wonders . The word internetted was used as early as 1849, meaning interconnected or interwoven . The word Internet was used in 1945 by the United States War Department in a radio operator's manual, and in 1974 as the shorthand form of Internetwork. Today, the term Internet most commonly refers to the global system of interconnected computer networks , though it may also refer to any group of smaller networks. When it came into common use, most publications treated
10212-451: The Internet when needed to perform a function or obtain information, represent the bottom of the routing hierarchy. At the top of the routing hierarchy are the tier 1 networks , large telecommunication companies that exchange traffic directly with each other via very high speed fiber-optic cables and governed by peering agreements. Tier 2 and lower-level networks buy Internet transit from other providers to reach at least some parties on
10360-674: The Internet, giving birth to new services such as email , Internet telephone , Internet television , online music , digital newspapers, and video streaming websites. Newspapers, books, and other print publishing have adapted to website technology or have been reshaped into blogging , web feeds , and online news aggregators . The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of personal interaction through instant messaging , Internet forums , and social networking services . Online shopping has grown exponentially for major retailers, small businesses , and entrepreneurs , as it enables firms to extend their " brick and mortar " presence to serve
10508-710: The Internet, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) space and the Domain Name System (DNS), are directed by a maintainer organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The technical underpinning and standardization of the core protocols is an activity of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a non-profit organization of loosely affiliated international participants that anyone may associate with by contributing technical expertise. In November 2006,
10656-639: The Internet. The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba , Amazon.com , and eBay . Alternative names for the activity are "e-tailing", a shortened form of "electronic retail " or "e-shopping", a shortened form of "electronic shopping". An online store may also be called an e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, online storefront and virtual store. Mobile commerce (or m-commerce ) describes purchasing from an online retailer's mobile device-optimized website or software application ("app"). These websites or apps are designed to enable customers to browse through
10804-470: The NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN , allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites. Later in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee began writing WorldWideWeb , the first web browser , after two years of lobbying CERN management. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9,
10952-610: The Pacific and in Africa. The number of unique mobile cellular subscriptions increased from 3.9 billion in 2012 to 4.8 billion in 2016, two-thirds of the world's population, with more than half of subscriptions located in Asia and the Pacific. The number of subscriptions was predicted to rise to 5.7 billion users in 2020. As of 2018, 80% of the world's population were covered by a 4G network. The limits that users face on accessing information via mobile applications coincide with
11100-493: The UK by large corporations. The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, opened for commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994: online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut , Netscape 's SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and Intershop 's first online shopping system. The first secure retail transaction over
11248-813: The UK's national research and education network , JANET . Common methods of Internet access by users include dial-up with a computer modem via telephone circuits, broadband over coaxial cable , fiber optics or copper wires, Wi-Fi , satellite , and cellular telephone technology (e.g. 3G , 4G ). The Internet may often be accessed from computers in libraries and Internet cafés . Internet access points exist in many public places such as airport halls and coffee shops. Various terms are used, such as public Internet kiosk , public access terminal , and Web payphone . Many hotels also have public terminals that are usually fee-based. These terminals are widely accessed for various usages, such as ticket booking, bank deposit, or online payment . Wi-Fi provides wireless access to
11396-826: The United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-related issues. The communications infrastructure of the Internet consists of its hardware components and a system of software layers that control various aspects of the architecture. As with any computer network, the Internet physically consists of routers , media (such as cabling and radio links), repeaters, modems etc. However, as an example of internetworking , many of
11544-606: The United States Department of Defense (DoD). Research into packet switching , one of the fundamental Internet technologies, started in the work of Paul Baran at RAND in the early 1960s and, independently, Donald Davies at the United Kingdom's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in 1965. After the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles in 1967, packet switching from the proposed NPL network and routing concepts proposed by Baran were incorporated into
11692-459: The United States surpassed those of cable television and nearly exceeded those of broadcast television . Many common online advertising practices are controversial and increasingly subject to regulation. When the Web developed in the 1990s, a typical web page was stored in completed form on a web server, formatted in HTML , ready for transmission to a web browser in response to a request. Over time,
11840-408: The United States to enable resource sharing . The funding of the National Science Foundation Network as a new backbone in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial extensions, encouraged worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies and the merger of many networks using DARPA's Internet protocol suite . The linking of commercial networks and enterprises by
11988-548: The Web was either by NetMarket or Internet Shopping Network in 1994. Immediately after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was also introduced in 1995. Alibaba 's sites Taobao and Tmall were launched in 2003 and 2008, respectively. Retailers are increasingly selling goods and services prior to availability through " pretail " for testing, building, and managing demand. Statistics show that in 2012, Asia-Pacific increased their international sales over 30% giving them over $ 433 billion in revenue. That
12136-423: The advent of radiotelegraphy , and with text messaging using telex machines. The Internet and mobile communication networks have made possible entirely new forms of social interaction , activities and organizing, thanks to its basic features such as widespread usability and access, and instant communication from any connected point to another. Thus, its social impact has been, and still is, enormous. Finally,
12284-417: The architectural design of the Internet software systems has been assumed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF conducts standard-setting work groups, open to any individual, about the various aspects of Internet architecture. The resulting contributions and standards are published as Request for Comments (RFC) documents on the IETF web site. The principal methods of networking that enable
12432-422: The base price of an item online, it may not be easy to see the total cost up front. Additional fees such as shipping are often not visible until the final step in the checkout process. The problem is especially evident with cross-border purchases, where the cost indicated at the final checkout screen may not include additional fees that must be paid upon delivery such as duties and brokerage . Some services such as
12580-410: The beginning of the Internet as an intercontinental network. Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in 1989 in the United States and Australia. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. Steady advances in semiconductor technology and optical networking created new economic opportunities for commercial involvement in the expansion of the network in its core and for delivering services to
12728-456: The bottom of the architecture is the link layer , which connects nodes on the same physical link, and contains protocols that do not require routers for traversal to other links. The protocol suite does not explicitly specify hardware methods to transfer bits, or protocols to manage such hardware, but assumes that appropriate technology is available. Examples of that technology include Wi-Fi , Ethernet , and DSL . The most prominent component of
12876-453: The complex array of physical connections that make up its infrastructure, the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts, e.g., peering agreements , and by technical specifications or protocols that describe the exchange of data over the network. Indeed, the Internet is defined by its interconnections and routing policies. A subnetwork or subnet is a logical subdivision of an IP network . The practice of dividing
13024-485: The corporate systems and allow business transactions to be completed electronically in real-time. During the 1980s he designed, manufactured, sold, installed, maintained and supported many online shopping systems, using videotex technology. These systems which also provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World Wide Web , the IBM PC , and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in
13172-466: The decisions of almost two thirds of the consumers. The most important factors determining whether customers return to a website are ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features. Usability testing is important for finding problems and improvements in a web site. Methods for evaluating usability include heuristic evaluation , cognitive walkthrough, and user testing . Each technique has its own characteristics and emphasizes different aspects of
13320-609: The design of the ARPANET , an experimental resource sharing network proposed by ARPA. ARPANET development began with two network nodes which were interconnected between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) on 29 October 1969. The third site was at the University of California, Santa Barbara , followed by the University of Utah . In
13468-783: The digital environment, customer's buying behaviour may not be influenced and controlled by the brand and firm, when they make a buying decision that might concern the interactions with search engine, recommendations, online reviews and other information. In modern shopping environments, people are more likely to use their mobile phones, computers, tablets and other digital devices to gather information. In an online shopping environment, interactive decision may have an influence on aid customer decision making, through online product reviews and user-generated content , typically provided through software from companies like Bazaarvoice and Trustpilot , or via social media. This content, which can include text or video-based reviews, customer photos, and feedback,
13616-593: The documents and resources that they can provide. HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the main access protocol of the World Wide Web. Web services also use HTTP for communication between software systems for information transfer, sharing and exchanging business data and logistics and is one of many languages or protocols that can be used for communication on the Internet. World Wide Web browser software, such as Microsoft 's Internet Explorer / Edge , Mozilla Firefox , Opera , Apple 's Safari , and Google Chrome , enable users to navigate from one web page to another via
13764-641: The early 1990s, as well as the advent of the World Wide Web , marked the beginning of the transition to the modern Internet, and generated sustained exponential growth as generations of institutional, personal , and mobile computers were connected to the network. Although the Internet was widely used by academia in the 1980s, the subsequent commercialization in the 1990s and beyond incorporated its services and technologies into virtually every aspect of modern life. Most traditional communication media, including telephone , radio , television , paper mail, and newspapers, are reshaped, redefined, or even bypassed by
13912-483: The end, E-commerce behavior is still mostly influenced by families that are receptive to new technologies, and to a lesser extent by efficiency concerns. [1] Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine . Users can compare and evaluate products using product information on the website, as well on other websites such as websites about product tests . Once
14060-485: The first address of a network, followed by a slash character ( / ), and ending with the bit-length of the prefix. For example, 198.51.100.0 / 24 is the prefix of the Internet Protocol version 4 network starting at the given address, having 24 bits allocated for the network prefix, and the remaining 8 bits reserved for host addressing. Addresses in the range 198.51.100.0 to 198.51.100.255 belong to this network. The IPv6 address specification 2001:db8:: / 32
14208-427: The forwarding host (router) to other networks when no other route specification matches the destination IP address of a packet. While the hardware components in the Internet infrastructure can often be used to support other software systems, it is the design and the standardization process of the software that characterizes the Internet and provides the foundation for its scalability and success. The responsibility for
14356-603: The global Internet, though they may also engage in peering. An ISP may use a single upstream provider for connectivity, or implement multihoming to achieve redundancy and load balancing. Internet exchange points are major traffic exchanges with physical connections to multiple ISPs. Large organizations, such as academic institutions, large enterprises, and governments, may perform the same function as ISPs, engaging in peering and purchasing transit on behalf of their internal networks. Research networks tend to interconnect with large subnetworks such as GEANT , GLORIAD , Internet2 , and
14504-585: The great benefits of online shopping is the ability to read product reviews , written either by experts or fellow online shoppers. The Nielsen Company conducted a survey in March 2010 and polled more than 27,000 Internet users in 55 markets from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, and South America to look at questions such as "How do consumers shop online?", "What do they intend to buy?", "How do they use various online shopping web pages?", and
14652-661: The hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert knowledge and free information and be attracted to the corporation as a result. Advertising on popular web pages can be lucrative, and e-commerce , which is the sale of products and services directly via the Web, continues to grow. Online advertising is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising . In 2011, Internet advertising revenues in
14800-505: The hyperlinks embedded in the documents. These documents may also contain any combination of computer data , including graphics, sounds, text , video , multimedia and interactive content that runs while the user is interacting with the page. Client-side software can include animations, games , office applications and scientific demonstrations. Through keyword -driven Internet research using search engines like Yahoo! , Bing and Google , users worldwide have easy, instant access to
14948-647: The impact of social media and other factors that come into play when consumers are trying to decide how to spend their money on which product or service. According to the research, reviews on electronics (57%) such as DVD players, cellphones, or PlayStations, and so on, reviews on cars (45%), and reviews on software (37%) play an important role in influencing consumers who tend to make purchases online. Furthermore, 40% of online shoppers indicate that they would not even buy electronics without consulting online reviews first. In addition to online reviews, peer recommendations on online shopping pages or social media websites play
15096-462: The impact on governance have been significant facilitating the emergence of 'transnational policy networks' Online store Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app . Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using
15244-437: The information environment of virtual shopping is enhanced by providing additional product information such as comparative products and services, as well as various alternatives and attributes of each alternative, etc. Two major dimensions of information load are complexity and novelty. Complexity refers to the number of different elements or features of a site, often the result of increased information diversity. Novelty involves
15392-444: The interaction does not qualify as e-commerce because no money was transferred online. The landscape of online shopping as we know it today took shape with the rise of the Internet. Initially serving as a mere advertising platform, the Internet transitioned swiftly into a dynamic space for actual online transactions. This transformation was fueled by the development of interactive web pages and secure transmission protocols, marking
15540-505: The jurisdiction, a lack of sales tax may compensate for this. Shipping a small number of items, especially from another country, is much more expensive than making the larger shipments bricks-and-mortar retailers order. Some retailers (especially those selling small, high-value items like electronics) offer free shipping on sufficiently large orders. Another major advantage for retailers is the ability to rapidly switch suppliers and vendors without disrupting users' shopping experience. Given
15688-476: The lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchase, consumers are at higher risk of fraud than face-to-face transactions. When ordering merchandise online, the item may not work properly, it may have defects, or it might not be the same item pictured in the online photo. Merchants also risk fraudulent purchases if customers are using stolen credit cards or fraudulent repudiation of the online purchase. However, merchants face less risk from physical theft by using
15836-484: The late 1990s, it was estimated that traffic on the public Internet grew by 100 percent per year, while the mean annual growth in the number of Internet users was thought to be between 20% and 50%. This growth is often attributed to the lack of central administration, which allows organic growth of the network, as well as the non-proprietary nature of the Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from exerting too much control over
15984-537: The lead. It is advisable to be aware of the most current technology and scams to protect consumer identity and finances. Product delivery is also a main concern of online shopping. Most companies offer shipping insurance in case the product is lost or damaged. Some shipping companies will offer refunds or compensation for the damage, but this is up to their discretion. Fencing is another growing societal problem associated with online platforms. Stolen merchandise from brick and mortal retailers and cargo are easily resold to
16132-399: The majority of 21st century cell phones have both voice and data (internet navigation and emailing ) capabilities. Digital global networks require huge carrying capacity in the main backbones . This is currently achieved by fiber-optic cables . The Canadian sociologist Marshall McLuhan was the first to forecast the huge impact of the matrix of global networks upon society , coining
16280-548: The management, mitigation and resolution of global issues . Communication satellites are an important part of global networks. However, there are specific low Earth orbit (LEO) global satellite constellations , such as Iridium , Globalstar and Orbcomm , which are comprised by dozens of similar satellites which are put in orbit at regularly spaced positions and form a mesh network , sometimes sending and receiving information directly among themselves. Using VSAT technology, satellite internet access has become possible. It
16428-462: The network nodes are not necessarily Internet equipment per se. The internet packets are carried by other full-fledged networking protocols with the Internet acting as a homogeneous networking standard, running across heterogeneous hardware, with the packets guided to their destinations by IP routers. Internet service providers (ISPs) establish the worldwide connectivity between individual networks at various levels of scope. End-users who only access
16576-408: The network. As of 31 March 2011, the estimated total number of Internet users was 2.095 billion (30% of world population ). It is estimated that in 1993 the Internet carried only 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunication . By 2000 this figure had grown to 51%, and by 2007 more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the Internet. The Internet
16724-413: The networking technologies that interconnect networks at their borders and exchange traffic across them. The Internet layer implements the Internet Protocol (IP) which enables computers to identify and locate each other by IP address and route their traffic via intermediate (transit) networks. The Internet Protocol layer code is independent of the type of network that it is physically running over. At
16872-429: The new mass communications medium as 'participative' [interactive, many-to-many] was fundamentally different from the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later. In March 1980 he launched Redifon's Office Revolution, which allowed consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers and service companies to be connected online to
17020-645: The option of shopping for cheaper purchases from all over the world without having to depend on local retailers. In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mails or phone calls to handle customer questions. Even if an online store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the customer service team may only be available during regular business hours. It also implies that geographical factors, rather than socioeconomic issues, must be addressed in order to improve online shopping acceptance. [2] One advantage of shopping online
17168-494: The pace of urbanization, local delivery systems, and internet connectivity which facilitate the delivery process are the major determinants of e-commerce adoption, Online shopping is usually more informationally rich than shopping at physical stores traveled to and usually has higher comparability and customizability. Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, and sometimes have features such as question and answers or filters, whereas in
17316-481: The packet. IP addresses are generally assigned to equipment either automatically via DHCP , or are configured. However, the network also supports other addressing systems. Users generally enter domain names (e.g. "en.wikipedia.org") instead of IP addresses because they are easier to remember; they are converted by the Domain Name System (DNS) into IP addresses which are more efficient for routing purposes. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) defines an IP address as
17464-432: The prefix 198.51.100.0 / 24 . Traffic is exchanged between subnetworks through routers when the routing prefixes of the source address and the destination address differ. A router serves as a logical or physical boundary between the subnets. The benefits of subnetting an existing network vary with each deployment scenario. In the address allocation architecture of the Internet using CIDR and in large organizations, it
17612-435: The principal name spaces of the Internet are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is governed by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and other non-commercial communities. ICANN coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers for use on the Internet, including domain names , IP addresses, application port numbers in
17760-426: The probability of developing favorable attitudes towards new shopping channels. In addition, age is also a significant factor that affects online shopping. People feel that privacy and security factors have an even more significant impact on attitudes toward online shopping than product factors. Shoppers of different age groups have different perceptions of the risk factors of online shopping. The marketing around
17908-685: The process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another businesses, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to browse the firm's range of products and services, view photos or images of the products, along with information about the product specifications, features and prices. Unlike physical stores which may close at night, online shopping portals are always available to customers. Online stores usually enable shoppers to use "search" features to find specific models, brands or items. Online customers must have access to
18056-586: The process of creating and serving web pages has become dynamic, creating a flexible design, layout, and content. Websites are often created using content management software with, initially, very little content. Contributors to these systems, who may be paid staff, members of an organization or the public, fill underlying databases with content using editing pages designed for that purpose while casual visitors view and read this content in HTML form. There may or may not be editorial, approval and security systems built into
18204-494: The process of taking newly entered content and making it available to the target visitors. Email is an important communications service available via the Internet. The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties, analogous to mailing letters or memos, predates the creation of the Internet. Pictures, documents, and other files are sent as email attachments . Email messages can be cc-ed to multiple email addresses . Global network The first global network
18352-482: The product information and revision from others. In several studies, perceived value, shopping style, and brand trust are the main factors that affect online consumers' decisions. The perceived value means that people can compare the products and prices online, bringing them the perceived value of getting more benefits online than in an offline store. The comfortable environment that online shopping brings to customers can make consumers get more perceived value. In
18500-515: The public through third party marketplaces due to lack of accountability and regulation by online operators. In the United States alone, businesses are facing the brunt of organized retail crime with the value of stolen goods amounting to $ 68.8 billion in 2021 (equivalent to 1.47% of all sales or $ 214 per capita nationwide). These goods are typically passed off as legitimate, and resold online to unsuspecting buyers. The lack of full cost disclosure may also be problematic. While it may be easy to compare
18648-441: The public. In mid-1989, MCI Mail and Compuserve established connections to the Internet, delivering email and public access products to the half million users of the Internet. Just months later, on 1 January 1990, PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use; one of the networks that added to the core of the commercial Internet of later years. In March 1990, the first high-speed T1 (1.5 Mbit/s) link between
18796-401: The purchaser's billing and shipping address to be in the same country as the online shop's base of operation. Other online shops allow customers from any country to send gifts anywhere. The financial part of a transaction may be processed in real time (e.g. letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or may be done later as part of the fulfillment process. Once
18944-467: The region had a handful of plans to choose from (across all mobile network operators) while others, such as Colombia , offered as many as 30 pre-paid and 34 post-paid plans. A study of eight countries in the Global South found that zero-rated data plans exist in every country, although there is a great range in the frequency with which they are offered and actually used in each. The study looked at
19092-588: The rise of near-instant communication by email, instant messaging , telephony ( Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP), two-way interactive video calls , and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums , blogs, social networking services , and online shopping sites. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1 Gbit/s, 10 Gbit/s, or more. The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever-greater amounts of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment and social networking services. During
19240-408: The same level of demand due to the difference in income level and other factors. Compared with the centralized nature of traditional markets, online consumption is more decentralized. In the online consumer market, consumers have a short decision time, a large variability of consumer demand, a large number of purchases, but a relatively small amount of each purchase, a considerable mobility of purchases,
19388-444: The shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using an existing framework, software modules for various functionalities required by a web shop can be adapted and combined. Customers are attracted to online shopping not only because of high levels of convenience, but also because of broader selections, competitive pricing, and greater access to information. Business organizations seek to offer online shopping not only because it
19536-475: The site. Especially in cases of large or heavy products, delivery can be not only more convenient but also not require having or using a car. Not using or depending on personal vehicles, which can have substantial impact on the environment , to travel to local stores can make online shopping more sustainable than buying in local stores if such are used otherwise (especially if items are bundled and delivery vehicles are electric and use optimized routes). Moreover,
19684-452: The suitability of products for online transactions. Generic items that didn't necessitate physical interaction gained traction, propelling the online shopping trend forward. In its nascent stages, online shopping faced a limited audience. The early adopters were predominantly affluent males aged 30 and above. However, this demographic landscape underwent significant changes over time, and the online shopping sphere became more inclusive. Over
19832-504: The term global village . His work, however, related to radio and television networks, which are broadcast (unidirectional) networks, thus predating the much larger impact of the internet. Global networks have revolutionized human communication several times. The first to do so was the electrical telegraph. Its impact was so large that it has been dubbed the Victorian Internet . It was expanded many times in its coverage with
19980-461: The top three to five carriers by market share in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru and Philippines. Across the 181 plans examined, 13 percent were offering zero-rated services. Another study, covering Ghana , Kenya , Nigeria and South Africa , found Facebook 's Free Basics and Misplaced Pages Zero to be the most commonly zero-rated content. The Internet standards describe
20128-404: The transport protocols, and many other parameters. Globally unified name spaces are essential for maintaining the global reach of the Internet. This role of ICANN distinguishes it as perhaps the only central coordinating body for the global Internet. Regional Internet registries (RIRs) were established for five regions of the world. The African Network Information Center (AfriNIC) for Africa ,
20276-473: The unexpected, suppressed, new, or unfamiliar aspects of the site. The novelty dimension may keep consumers exploring a shopping site, whereas the complexity dimension may induce impulse purchases . Internet consumers are self-conscious and emphasize personalized consumption, which makes the demand for online consumption different. Online consumers have different needs depending on their time and environment. Even different online consumers have different needs at
20424-637: The user experience. The popularity of online shopping continues to erode sales of conventional retailers. For example, Best Buy , the largest retailer of electronics in the U.S. in August 2014 reported its tenth consecutive quarterly dip in sales, citing an increasing shift by consumers to online shopping. Amazon.com has the largest market share in the United States. As of May 2018, a survey found two-thirds of Americans had bought something from Amazon (92% of those who had bought anything online), with 40% of online shoppers buying something from Amazon at least once
20572-417: The variety of products available and the perceived convenience of the buying online experience were significant motivating factors. This was different for offline shoppers, who were more motivated by time saving and recreational motives. English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich was a pioneer of online shopping in 1979. His system connected a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via
20720-454: The volume of Internet traffic started experiencing similar characteristics as that of the scaling of MOS transistors , exemplified by Moore's law , doubling every 18 months. This growth, formalized as Edholm's law , was catalyzed by advances in MOS technology , laser light wave systems, and noise performance. Since 1995, the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce, including
20868-412: The website is not secure, customer information can be accessible to anyone who knows how to obtain it. Most large online corporations are inventing new ways to make fraud more difficult. However, criminals are constantly responding to these developments with new ways to manipulate the system. Even though online retailers are making efforts to protect consumer information, it is a constant fight to maintain
21016-528: The word Internet as a capitalized proper noun ; this has become less common. This reflects the tendency in English to capitalize new terms and move them to lowercase as they become familiar. The word is sometimes still capitalized to distinguish the global internet from smaller networks, though many publications, including the AP Stylebook since 2016, recommend the lowercase form in every case. In 2016,
21164-653: The years, the United Kingdom has witnessed a substantial shift in consumer behavior, with online shopping accounting for a noteworthy percentage of retail transactions. The extent of this influence varies depending on the product category, highlighting the diverse ways in which consumers engage with online platforms. As the revenues from online sales continued to grow significantly researchers identified different types of online shoppers, Rohm & Swaninathan identified four categories and named them " convenience shoppers, variety seekers, balanced buyers, and store-oriented shoppers ". They focused on shopping motivations and found that
21312-540: Was 2.8% in Canada. In the United Kingdom, online sales peaked at 37.8% of all retail sales in January 2021, and were at 26.3% in January 2024. Online customers must have access to the Internet and a valid method of payment in order to complete a transaction. Generally, higher levels of education and personal income correspond to more favorable perceptions of shopping online. Increased exposure to technology also increases
21460-483: Was always a problem which affected the convenience of online shopping. Additionally, the online shopping industry has not only involved the concept of providing convenience for customers but also improved perceptions of social inclusion. However to overcome this many retailers including online retailers in Taiwan brought in a store pick up service. This now meant that customers could purchase goods online and pick them up at
21608-1071: Was established using electrical telegraphy and global span was achieved in 1899. The telephony network was the second to achieve global status, in the 1950s. More recently, interconnected IP networks (principally the Internet , with estimated 2.5 billion users worldwide in 2014 ), and the GSM mobile communication network (with over 6 billion worldwide users in 2014) form the largest global networks of all. Setting up global networks requires immensely costly and lengthy efforts lasting for decades. Elaborate interconnections, switching and routing devices, laying out physical carriers of information, such as land and submarine cables and earth stations must be set in operation. In addition, international communication protocols , legislation and agreements are involved. Global networks might also refer to networks of individuals (such as scientists ), communities (such as cities ) and organizations (such as civil organizations ) worldwide which, for instance, might have formed for
21756-431: Was one of its applications. There, computer terminals located in different travel agencies were linked to a large IBM mainframe computer, which processed transactions simultaneously and coordinated them so that all travel agents had access to the same information at the same time. At some point between 1971 and 1972, students at Stanford and MIT used the internet precursor ARPANET to make a deal to exchange marijuana , but
21904-555: Was the first financial institution to offer online Internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994. In 1996, OP Financial Group , also a cooperative bank , became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe. By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized in the U.S. when the NSFNet was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic. As technology advanced and commercial opportunities fueled reciprocal growth,
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