Virtual Supply Chain

This has given birth to E commerce which encompasses several pre purchase and post purchase activities leading to exchange of products or service or information over electronic systems such as the internet and the other Telecommunication networks.

Electronic commerce has been there for a long time now, and it is a practice that is practiced by peoples from Germany, France, and the US on a daily basis. Since its inception around 40 years ago, e-commerce has continued to grow as innovations, technologies and a lot of business reverting to the use of the e-commerce. The aspect of buying and selling of goods in the early 1960s was sluggish with the traditional way of mailing of documents being replaced with the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which would later pave a way to the electronic commerce. After the e-commerce, however, the practice was not more reliable as it still had many challenges (Tsolis, 2009). For instance, it was not easy for buyers to see products from the comfort of their homes and more so, the methods of accessing the information were limited.

E-commerce has become a part of human daily lives whether it is at work or in our personal lives. It is by almost everyone because of the benefits it offers

Many organizations industriously look for the opportunity to gain the competitive advantages in their industries. One of the opportunities that frequently used by the organization is the implementation of e-commerce. Thus, the e-commerce and the online sale transaction become popular in each industry. E-commerce provides many benefits, such as the saving of shopping time, the cost savings, convenience, and free from geographical constraints.

The e-commerce in many industries added more pressure to the physical distributors and dealers of goods and services since it became more user friendly and convenient to order these goods and services online from various resources while comparing the prices at the same time.

E-Commerce, otherwise known as electronic commerce, is one of the utmost vital features of the Internet to have ever been established. It is the electronic exchange of goods and service between a business to business or business to a consumer without barriers or distance. People have the freedom to go online and buy almost anything they want, at any given time of the day of night. With modern-day and continuously refining telecommunications substructures, we have been provided with the ability to trade data almost promptly. E-Commerce is all about utilizing these data flows in the most effectual way feasible. Whether you are a garment manufacturing company purchasing machinery from all over the world and manufacturing them in numerous locations or just a car rental company with stores in various city statewide, you have to ensure that your employees are receiving the most accurate information possible to share with their designated clients or partners.

Electronic Commerce is the process of exchanging products and services or information with the help of computer networks, which includes the Internet (Turban, King, McKay, Marshall, & Viehland, 2008). We can classify e-commerce by their relationship among different participants in the following types (Turban, King, McKay, Marshall, & Viehland, 2008).

Electronic Commerce has been given several definitions. In its largest sense, E-Commerce can be defined as the whole commercial transactions, whether national or transnational, carried out thanks to electronic processing and transmission of data: texts, sound, and images. This consists in applying the information and communication technology (IT) to commercial activities: conception and production; while involving a certain number of public or private agents in direct or indirect forms.

E-commerce is short for Electronic Commerce and over years there are different definitions of it. Since e-commerce is identified diversely by various scholars, many researchers normally used the term e-commerce based on their research scope. In this study, the definition of e-commerce provided by Turban, Lee, King, Mckay, and Marshall is adopted since it is simple yet comprehensive. According to Turban et al. , e-commerce is " to the process of buying, selling, or exchanging products, services and information via computer networks, including the Internet” (Turban et al. ,2008; p. 4). When e-commerce is implementation successfully, it can provide companies with a wide range of chances for improving some important business activities, for example, trading relationship, exchanging information, co-ordinating logistics and communication through regional or global supply chains (Humphrey, Mansell, Pare, &Schmitz, 2003).

E-commerce has origins that trace back to the mid 1900s. In these times very few organizations had access to the very expensive electronic data interchange (History of E-Commerce, n.d.). E-commerce is now being used in all types of business, including manufacturing companies, retail stores, and service firms. E-commerce has made business processes more reliable and efficient. Consequently, e-commerce is now essential for businesses to be able to compete in the global marketplace. “E-commerce is now being used in all types of business, including manufacturing companies, retail stores, and service firms. E-commerce has made business processes more reliable and efficient” (Smith, K.T., 2011, p.3). Consequently, e-commerce is now critical in order for businesses to compete in the global marketplace. Knowledge that was distributed over this network paved the

Commonly referred to as e-commerce, internet based marketing uses technology in enhancing the use of electronic money transfer, internet marketing, management of inventory and mobile commerce among others. With the growth of technology, e-commerce has expanded to applications in online shopping as well as tracking orders, social networking, shopping cart software, online banking, document automation in logistics and supply chain and mobile business among others (D 'Anna, 2016: 1).

E-business is led utilizing a mixed bag of utilizations, for example, email, fax, online lists and shopping baskets, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), File Transfer Protocol, and Web administrations. The greater part of this is business-to-business, with a few organizations endeavoring to utilize email and fax for spontaneous promotions (normally saw as spam) to buyers and different business prospects, and additionally to convey e-pamphlets to supporters.

Electronic commerce, commonly known as eCommerce, is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. Most people believe it is only the buying and selling of product or service over the Internet and other computer networks, but eCommerce is so much more. It covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer-based retail, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations (networksolutions.com). It is currently one of the most significant aspects of the Internet to emerge. Ecommerce allows consumers to exchange goods and services without the barriers of time and distance. Electronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past two decades and, will likely, continue at this rate, or even accelerate. In the near future, the limits between "conventional" and "electronic" commerce will become more distorted as more and more businesses move segments of their operations onto the Internet.

After a successful IPO, the electronic commercial (E-Commerce) colossus Alibaba boasts a world-class market capital of $231.4 billion according to the FORTUNE magazine [1]. With the huge success of Alibaba’s IPO, E-Commerce is considered as one of the most important and promising business in world. Then what is e-commerce? It is commonly exchanging goods or services via Internet. Today you can get all retail brands via their online presence and even private goods. Moreover, e-Commerce also includes business-to-business (B2B) transactions between manufacturers and suppliers or distributors or other business parties.

In this case analysis, we use the term e-Business as a broader definition of e-Commerce (EC), not just solely describing the buying and selling of goods and services, but conducting all kinds of business online such as servicing customer, collaborating with business partners, delivering e-learning, and conducting electronic transactions within an organisation. This has to be stated since in some sources, the terms EC and e-Business are considered equivalent.