Commerce

What is Commerce?

                  Commerce is defined by the Business Dictionary as being the exchange of money for goods or services. While it's true that "commerce" can be applied to any transaction, most of the time when people think of commerce, they think of large-scale buying or selling. These transactions often require products to be transported from place to place or even from country to country. Commerce involves politics, economics, technology, culture, society, and the legal system. Another way of defining commerce is that it is the part of business that includes all institutions, functions, and activities that involve moving goods to consumers from producers.

                 Commerce is a part of all countries and communities. Any time one person trades something they've found or made for something else, commerce is occurring on a very small level. When done properly, commerce can help improve the standards of living for a country's citizens and improve its relations with other countries. When it's not regulated, big businesses can gain control of the market, manipulating it for their own benefit and driving smaller businesses into bankruptcy.

Modern commerce - eCommerce

               ECommerce has even evolved in the last 10 years to become much more mainstream. People were once very wary of giving out their private financial information online, but today, thanks to improvements in cyber security, it's possible to shop or make large financial transactions online without worry. Many types of stock trading are done online now, including foreign currency exchanges.

               But eCommerce itself is being left behind. A new type of commerce is Mobile commerce or M-commerce. It encompasses any commerce that is done through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. M-commerce is sometimes called the next form of eCommerce. M-Commerce is driven by the Wireless Application Protocol technology that helps users access the internet securely. This technology is more prevalent in Europe, although it's becoming more available around the world.

                Then there's P-Commerce, which can either stand for Pinterest Commerce (buying/selling using the Pinterest website) or Participatory Commerce. The second type is the more noteworthy. It's a new concept where consumers can participate in the funding, design, and selection of products. Crowdsourcing is a type of P-Commerce that is becoming more and more popular.