The history of online shopping is not as rich as you would expect considering that it is one of the most popular things in the world; more and more people turn to online shopping every day for various reasons but mostly because it helps them save time and money. In 1990, the first World Wide Web server was introduced and the first browser and it didn’t take long for people to see the commercial potential in this new idea. Next year, in 1991, it opened to commercial use and although many essential features were not yet available, the ideas were there. In 1994, the web was completed by internet banking and the first online pizza shop opened by the big name in the business, Pizza Hut. There was an important need for online security and safe data transfer and so Netscape created the NSL data encryption the same year and already the horizon seemed much wider.

Amazon, now the largest online retailer, launched an online shopping site in 1995 and eBay quickly followed in 1996. From this point, everything became opened to new ideas and new companies and while the two names remain the leading websites, there are countless others that followed.

Now, all you need is a computer and a method of payment and the world of internet shopping is opened with just a few clicks of a button. There are still changes to be made and improvements that would make things even easier. Online security is always an issue and that is why big companies invest big amounts of money to make sure that their customers and their information is safe. The increasing number of options is another issue that online retailers have to face; they have to make sure that they have everything in the right group so that customers can always find what they are looking for. With such a big number of items, accessibility is another problem which we are faced nowadays. Last but not least is the delivery system which can always be improved.

Online shopping has evolved very much over a short amount of time and it seems that things are just now starting to change even more.