"E-Commerce" is the promising buzzword for the new millennium. If you aren't doing anything "e" related, you're simply not doing anything. The hype about this has sky-rocketed everywhere on the face of this planet and Pakistan is not excluded. Having said that, e-com (short for e-commerce) probably has to fight for recognition of services more so in Pakistan than anywhere else.
With the explosive mushrooming of many new web-related companies / businesses in Pakistan, it seems everyone here have been shouldered with an added burden of being an authority (read: guru) on the subject. Ask a bunch of people to give an example of "e-commerce" and sure enough the odds are you'll be referred to some "online" etailer's website (like Amazon.com) or perhaps the referral to auctioning (like ebay.com). Ask them where EDI comes into play and they are perplexed. Yet again ask a simple question like how back-end financial transactions are physically routed and handled and sure enough if the respondent cannot impress you with their genius - its usually substituted by their baffling comments on how clueless they indeed are. There is much more to e-com that just the setting up of an online version of a shop or handling an auction. Much more!

The very premise of e-com rides on EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), the ability to transact information electronically. Add the component transacting the data between the financial institution and a customer (either directly and/or indirectly) and Voila! You have the recipe for e-com.
Though the very domain of e-commerce is expanding continuously, some of the following models can best describe their vast expanse. The first being the Consumer-to-Consumer market. Should you want to let consumers bid for tangibles and/or intangibles - it's then called the 'ebay.com auction model', Reverse the trend and its called the 'Reverse Auctions Model'. Auctioning itself has many flavors than one might imagine (and can keep track of): the "High-Bid" model is where the seller has a single item for auctioning and the seller does not set a minimum price, all bids have to be above the subsequent bid, and at closing the seller must sell to the highest bidder.
The "Dutch Modern" auction model is where the seller has multiple identical items available for auctioning, seller has the option to select a minimum bid. At the end of the auction, highest bidders will win the available items at the price determined by the lowest successful bid.
In the "Yankee" model which is the same as the Dutch Modern, except that the highest bidders pay exactly what they bid as opposed to paying the price determined by the lowest successful bidder.
The "Sealed Bid" model, has a single item available for auctioning, where all the bids received are sealed. At the end of the auctioning period, the highest bidder wins by paying the amount that he/she bid.
The "Vickery" model is analogous to the Sealed Bid model, except that at the close of the auction, the highest bidder wins the item at the price determined by the second highest successful bid - this is done to discourage outrageous pricing and to reduce high bids that are unrealistic and/or have the likelihood of not being honored.
It would be worthwhile to mention that Auctioning itself has two distinct styles: In the "Reserve" style, the price set by the seller is not disclosed to the parties bidding. If the reserve price is not met at the close of the auction, that the seller is not obligated to sell the item(s). If at any point of the auction, the reserve price is met, the sell will inform the bidders that the reserve price has been met. Alternatively, there is a "Private" style, in which, the bidder's identity and bid amount are not disclosed at any point during the auction and/or after the close of the auction. Only the successful bidder and the seller are contacted (via email) and notified of the results. (Source: Auctioning models and styles from www.ablecommerce.com)
Under no statutory obligation are auctioning models limited for C2C only, though they were originally modeled for the abovementioned market. With the advent of the "New Economy" (i.e. the Internet propelled economic revolution) auctioning models are fast finding growing popularity in the B2B and B2C markets.
One rung higher on the e-com ladder, and you come across the Business-to-Consumer market. B2C transactions can best be described as transactions between "a" (singular) business (your Seller usually and in rare cases your buyer) and your "multiple" Buyers (or Seller in your rare case) respectively. It is essentially a single-parent organization chart with many children. The single-parent being the primary "Business" and the many children denote the very many "Consumers", thus the Business-to-Consumer reference. Your basic B2C model being your ' etailer' model (i.e. being able to setup a shop online like Yahoo! Store, Amazon.com, etc.). Have an approach where you (the consumer) names the price for what you want to buy, its called the ' priceline.com model'. If its services you seek the nomenclature changes to the 'elance.com model'. The number of models that are being introduced in the B2C arena is growing rapidly everyday. A model is essentially the 'characteristics' of the business-idea of the financial idea. Its (model's) success is directly related to the success of the business / financial idea on which the website was being incorporated. It is not necessary that all "web" transactions are termed B2C. Credit Card transactions (traditional swipe and sign) are also B2C as the transaction is electronic. Your ATM cash withdrawal is B2C, just because the latter two examples do not use the browser as the front-end, doesn't justify disqualification from this unique group.
One-step higher and you're introduced to the Business-to-Business market. Noteworthy of mentioning that it is also the most rapidly changing market model due to the sheer financial worth and market size associated with this. By various predictions the B2B market is ten times the B2C market size. Although this reference may seem inconsequential, the numbers make it stand out - according to Forrester Research forecasts the B2B trade is expected to topple a whopping US$ 2.8 Trillion (US$ 2,800 Billion) within the next 24 months - by the Year 2002 (Source: www.openmarket.com "Business-to-Business"). As one can imply from the name, in B2B, the principal users are businesses themselves. A straightforward example would be when say PIA buys engines from Pratt & Whitney this will be a business-to-business transaction. Both the governing agencies themselves have a B2C arena as well, but the transaction of buying engines for an aircraft is termed B2B. The key differentiator of B2B (as discussed in last months' article is the Dollar value associated with the transaction, which is very large as compared to B2C).
The arena for E-Commerce still doesn't end here, new technological advancements in application building are fast making their way into mainstream e-commerce arena. Noteworthy of mentioning is XML (eXtensible Markup Language). In year 2000 - expect this field to be hot! If your e-application is not XML based, chances are - you're losing out to sales (a good source to start with is http://www.xml.com and http://www.xml.org). The second e-application that is radically changing the way e-commerce transactions are being carried out is WAP (Wireless Access Protocol). WAP is used on mobile phones set (that have to be WAP enabled). With a WAP-phone, one can access the web, using their handheld phone. In Sweden and Finland WAP enabled websites are plenty - offering services from stock quotes, airline reservation and flight information and even amazing applications where one can walk up to a Coke machine - dial the number on the machine and a Coke-can pops out, and it is charged to your phone bill. More information on WAP can be found at http://www.wapnet.com , http://www.wap.net and http://www.phone.com. Still however, one e-commerce branch is having a hard time gaining ground and that is e-payments. E-payments essentially translates to "digital" money, a substitute to hard currency (cash). A cohesive and homogenous understanding in the industry is still not widely available. With the advent of a digital economy, it is only natural that the bearer financial instrument also becomes digital. It is partially digital (with your credit cards, direct-bank debit, debit cards, and some proprietory e-pay solutions - like VISA E-pay, etc.) but a unified standard and/or industry acceptance is still lacking. This (non-conformity) has little to do with technology but more to do with cross-border issues, fraudulent control, multiple currencies, and restrictions on money transfers etc. Governments and private corporations are making their cases elsewhere and trying to overcome the chicken-and-the-egg situation here: where the industry is not willing to invest massively unless a market exists and the Government (and individuals) not willing to shift due to pilot scale deployments. It will be interesting to see how this area is finally sculptured.
In closing, e-commerce should not be limited to "web stores" only. ATM, Credit Cards, WAP, Auctions, B2B, B2C, C2C, XML and many more branches exist. This article merely scratches the surface and has not even touched upon the e-governments and ACH (Automated Clearing Houses) nor the rudimentary EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) applications which perhaps are the defining core of all e-commerce applications.
There is no real application that can alone be segregated on a pedestal to be honored as "the" e-commerce application. All variants (and forms) of e-commerce are very intricately interlinked with each other and non e-com applications / infrastructures. Just like there is no "one-machine" that can be labeled as the Internet, the same holds true for e-commerce. It is an ever evolving and self-improving species (if you will) that is constantly being put to the test and strain of the physical world and continually making transactions more speedier and comfortable for us.