It can be applied to almost any type of business relationship. What it means is that buyers and sellers from companies large and small can meet on equal terms. For example, buyers can browse multimedia catalogs, solicit bids and place orders.
Sellers can respond to bids, schedule production, and coordinate deliveries.
Intermediaries and third parties can entice the marketplace with value-added services such as specialized directories, brokering, referral and vendor certification. As imprecise as these definitions are, they do give an idea of the enormous potential and range offered by electronic commerce. Bear in mind however, that Electronic Commerce is NOT just a new way of doing business or a panacea for current business practices. Nor is it a threat. Rather, it represents a significant paradigm shift.