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Use Cases
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Resources
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Pricing
1972
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The ARPANET is used to arrange a cannabis sale between students at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, later described as "the seminal act of e-commerce" in John Markoff's book What the Dormouse Said
1979
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Michael Aldrich demonstrates the first online shopping system
1981
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Thomson Holidays UK is first business-to-business online shopping system to be installed
1984
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Gateshead SIS/Tesco is first B2C online shopping system and Mrs Snowball, 72, is the first online home shopper
In April 1984, CompuServe launches the Electronic Mall in the USA and Canada. It is the first comprehensive electronic commerce service
California becomes first US state to enact an Electronic Commerce Act defining basic consumer rights online
1990
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Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, using a NeXT computer
1992
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Book Stacks Unlimited in Cleveland opens a commercial sales website (www.books.com) selling books online with credit card processing
1995
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The US National Science Foundation lifts its former strict prohibition of commercial enterprise on the Internet
Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com
1998
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Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web
1999
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Alibaba Group is established in China. Business.com sold for US $7.5 million to eCompanies, which was purchased in 1997 for US $149,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing software Napster launches. ATG Stores launches to sell decorative items for the home online
2007
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Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million
2012
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US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $226 billion, an increase of 12 percent over 2011