Chapter 9

Chapter 9 in The Internet introduces us to the ever-growing industry of e-commerce. This is an industry with which I have a very close relationship, since I make most of my purchases on Amazon, which is an example of a consumer-to-business model. I also use eBay very frequently, which the book explains was one of the first online auction sites, something I did not know. As an eBay user myself, I have relied heavily on PayPal, which was briefly discussed as one of the first examples of a digital wallet, designed by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin.

Rounding out Chapter 9, the book delves into the benefits and risks of expanding e-commerce globally. Most of the examples provided by the book were unfamiliar to me, since I mainly use online retailers based in the United States. I had no idea how many obstacles global businesses must navigate before being able to operate internationally, some of which include currency exchange, tariffs, and privacy regulations.

I enjoy shopping for and selling items online, so this chapter was very informative. It helped open my eyes to how large the e-commerce industry has become and how complex it is for global businesses to operate, especially considering how many factors they must manage to sell their products worldwide. As this book ends it has really helped reinforce many of the topics, I was already somewhat familiar with, while also teaching me a lot of things I genuinely did not know before. With only one chapter remaining, I’m interested to see what the final section will cover and what else I’ll be able to take away from the book before we are finished with it.
 

<[Previous] [Appendix A] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [9] [10] [Next]