E Commerce Versus Technology Companies Is there a Difference essays

E Commerce Versus Technology Companies Is there a Difference essays Wall Street has a habit of defining e-commerce companies as technology companies and vice versa. Unfortunately, this description has more to do with convenience than accuracy. Most technology companies have a large e-commerce component. Similarly, virtually all e-commerce companies rely on sophisticated technology to operate their businesses. This large overlap in the technology and e-commerce domains has led to the two terms being used interchangeably. This, however, ignores the reality that the two sectors have quite different characteristics. Technology companies have the goal of increasing society's technological capabilities. This encompasses a variety of different companies, from software to infrastructure support to hardware components and related applications such as biotechnology. Many of these companies rely on e-commerce as a component of their business. Technology and its advancement, in these cases, is the product, not the means. E-commerce companies comprise any businesses that facilitate or take advantage of electronic commerce as the foundation of their business. For e-commerce companies, technology is the means. It enables the companies to connect with consumers, but the product itself needn't be technology or even technology-related. "E-commerce covers outward-facing processes that touch customers, suppliers and external partnersIt involves new business models and the potential to gain new revenue or lose some existing revenue to new competitors." (Bartels, 2000). One of the largest and most familiar e-commerce companies is Amazon.com. Amazon was established in 1994 as an online book retailer. Unlike its competitors, such as Barnes and Noble, and Borders, which now operate online and bricks-and-mortar sites, Amazon has always been located exclusively in cyberspace. Because it is strictly an online retailer, Amazon ha...