According to a Canadian Banker's Association study, Canadians used debit cards an average of 32 times a second, every hour or every day last year. That's 300 million more than last year. This is more than five times the debit card transactions in the United States, where each resident 'swipes the stripe' 4.3 times. Debit and credit cards are one element of electronic commerce , a term which encompasses the gamut of on-line commercial activities. Industry and government are increasingly focusing on electronic commerce because it is at the cutting edge of the global, knowledge-based economy.
Electronic commerce is global, information driven, and technologically efficient.
And it is growing quickly. In 1994, only three million people were connected to the Internet, now there are more than 100 million. Traffic on the Net doubles every 100 days. It's growing faster than all previous technologies. Unlike established private networks, the Internet is open to businesses and consumers world wide.