The Rise of E-Commerce

"In just 30 years screens displaced stores as the primary retail destination. E-commerce was little more than the vague dream of a few techniphiles in 1990, yet a start-up online bookseller became the world's largest retailer, its founder the richest man on earth. By the close of 2020 most of Britain's retail trade was either on or influenced by interactive channels, online shopping's dominance hammered home by the Covid-19 pandemic. From a tangle of emerging technical capabilities in the 1980s, online shopping rose to become a trading phenomenon with unimagined significance that reshaped the distribution of consumer goods and services, and along with it our everyday way of life. This book tells the story of the e-retail revolution--its origins, evolution and astonishing consequences and prospects."--Jacket.