e-commerce is a doubt with a bright future, for two reasons. First, the fashions that wear it in successive waves have a hard time spending a summer, winter or spring. The cycles of these modes are becoming shorter and shorter. The first fashion, B to C, was buried in the United States at the end of 1999, beginning of 2000. Only Santa Claus still seems to believe in it, as the press presents it to us every year as the possible savior of B to C and if consumers were doing their Christmas shopping this year on the Net… ”).
This was followed by that of the B to B which did not pass the summer of 2000, extended despite everything at the start of winter by a comet tail, that of the electronic marketplaces, today threatened with disappearing also in the trap to consultants. Then came the shooting star of m-business: as soon as perceived, as soon as clouded by the gloomy predictions on the future of UMTS. The observer looks with an amused eye on these fleeting fashions, even seduced by the ability of e-magicians to get as many rabbits out of their hats. The situation is less funny for investors because these beliefs - fairly close to self-poisoning - are not just speculation, they lead to investment decisions and above all to means of financing. Basically, during fashion an investor can be funded indiscriminately, after no one will want to finance it. It’s not just trade that is binarized, its financing too.
But the permanent flight which consists in burning what was praised yesterday ends up undermining the credibility of the speech. So the latest trend today is to doubt e-commerce itself. Here we come to the second doubt, a doubt of existence because nobody knows exactly what this phenomenon we are talking about is so much. It is rarely found defined, even in scholarly articles. And when we try it, it's Pandora's box: four readings and it's already an anthology of definitions. Therefore, caution requires closing the lid and acting as if everyone knew. E-commerce seems doomed to be a no-brainer.
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