Electronic commerce or e-commerce covers the range of online business activities for products and services, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer, through the Internet. This section breaks e-commerce into:

• Online shopping—the scope of information and activities that provides the customer with the information she needs to conduct business with you and make an informed buying decision.
• Online purchasing-the technology infrastructure for the exchange of data and the purchase of a product over the Internet.

It’s True: Online purchasing is a metaphor used in business- to-business e-commerce for providing customers with an online method of placing an order, submitting a purchase order, or requesting a quote.