2. What is the UNCTAD Electronic Commerce Branch (ECB)?

The Electronic Commerce Branch (ECB) is one of 3 Branches in the Division for Services Infrastructure for Development and Trade Efficiency (SITE) of UNCTAD.  The ECB is an UNCTAD and UN focal point for electronic commerce, Internet and ICT issues. Read more about us here.
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4. What is the Internet?

The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. The Internet is decentralized and no one entity really manages it. The decentralized nature of the Internet was designed on purpose. Developed during the cold war, the original objective was to set up a network which would be immune to attack: if part of it where destroyed, the rest would continue functioning by re-routing communication through connections and computers that have survived.
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5. What is the World Wide Web, www, or "the Web", then?

6. What is electronic commerce?

There are two definitions of electronic commerce: a narrow and a broad definition.

The narrow definition is that electronic commerce is a commercial transaction whereby the order for a good or service is made using some form of Internet based communication.  The delivery and payment may be performed off-line in the physical world.

The broad definition includes the use of Internet and non-Internet communications systems, such as telephone ordering, interactive television and electronic messaging.  The broad definition would also include privately owned electronic networks usually run by businesses and their partners for their own account. It is important that the buyer and seller do not meet physically during the order placement.  Instead they use some kind of electronic communication device to close the deal.

In practice, many, if not most, people tend to use the narrow definition.
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7. What is B2B and B2C?

B2B is short for business-to-business. B2B is used to describe electronic commerce that goes on between two business entities.

B2C is short for business-to-consumer.  B2C is used to described electronic commerce that goes on between companies and consumers, such as on-line shopping.
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8. Does electronic commerce make doing business more or less expensive?

While this is one of the objectives of conducting business online, there are few definitive analyses.  The UNCTAD Electronic Commerce and Development Report 2001 discusses this issue in chapter 4: B2B Electronic Marketplaces, section E: Functionality and Impact.
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9. Do you need credit cards to do electronic commerce?

The greatest part of B2C e-commerce uses credit cards as a means of payment. If you are a retailer that sells directly to consumers you need to have an Internet credit card merchant account with your bank, as well. If you are a consumer buying on the Internet, you will almost always be asked to pay with a credit card.

In B2B e-commerce, credit cards are generally not used.
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10. Do you need telephones and PCs to have electronic commerce?

Yes, but how many and where depends on your business.  You need to consider who your clients are and what is your product.  If you retail a wide range of consumer goods or services, you probably need a lot of PCs and telephones to do e-commerce.  If you produce capital goods, such as ships or machine tools, your success in using e-commerce will not necessarily depend on the number of on-line PCs and telephones operating in your city or region.
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11. Do people in developing countries want or need the Internet?

Improved communications is often among the most frequently voiced needs of many people in developing countries.  Improved communication has broad effects on family health, education and commercial viability of places.
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12. Is there any electronic commerce in developing countries?

Yes, however it is still on a scale that is not comparable to e-commerce in the United States, for example.  The take-up of electronic commerce depends on several factors, among which are ICT infrastructure, PC penetration, credit card penetration and the legal environment. It also depends on the general and broad awareness of the possible benefits of e-commerce, and the opportunities lost by not adopting ICT and e-commerce practice. A discussion of these issues can be found in one of our reports here.
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13. Can electronic commerce speed up economic development?

Adopting and improving electronic commerce practice, broadly defined, is becoming a fundamental necessity for many firms.  Business must embrace ICT in order to improve productivity and remain competitive. While nobody can say for sure how much e-commerce can speed up economic development, not embracing it would almost certainly slow it down.
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14. Can electronic commerce rid the world of poverty?

There are a number of activities that target poverty alleviation which may greatly profit from improving ICT infrastructure and Internet access. Health and medical services are the best example. Online availability of education and training are another promising area. Extension services and meteorological information for farmers can also profit from ICT.  Finally, many surveys show that, even among the poorest rural populations, improved communication, often expressed as the need to stay in touch with family members working in cities, often ranks second place after improving clean water supplies.
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15. What is the "Digital Divide"?

Again, we have a broad and narrow definition, just like when we try to define e-commerce.

Broadly speaking, the digital divide is the difference in the opportunity that the households, government and businesses of a country, a region or a town have in accessing ICT technologies when compared to households, governments and businesses in the most developed countries of the world.

The narrow definition is the difference between Internet penetration in a developing country or region and Internet penetration in the most developed countries and regions of the world.
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