'The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms' Socrates

When I began delivering talks, seminars and training on anything related to e-commerce I maintained a list of the key terms that I used in the sessions - handing out thousands of this expanding glossary to attendees and participants over the years. Even when the web developed and all relevant terms became easily searchable online, folk still seemed to like a hard copy to refer to - this was the foundation of what was to become Key Concepts in e-Commerce. As time went on, I found one of Palgrave's Key Concepts books - on marketing - to be a valuable guide for my students in the subject. As there was no such title covering e-commerce that I could point my students at, I decided that it wouldn't take too much to extend my personal list into a book.

So it was that I cleaned up the glossary [from my 'informal' language to something more akin to academic-speak] and submitted it to Palgrave. At that time I predicted the book would contain around 600 terms. Well that was a mistake - the final version is around double that size.

The contents are an eclectic mixture. Many originate from my connections with e-commerce going back to 1996. Others come from the many newsletters, articles, books and websites that I read everyday. But no matter where they originate from they all have one thing in common - they are written from a BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE and NOT computing or IT [reading other pages of this site will let you know where I am coming from]. Sure, there are a few 'techie' terms [including the term techie itself] - but they are included only to make e-commerce easier to understand for the non-techies amongst us, and they are described in non-techie speak. There are also a number of terms that are neither business or IT, but are included to give readers an insight into the environment in which e-commerce exists.

This book serves as more than a glossary of terms, however. Certainly it can be used to 'dip-in' and find the meaning of a term you may have come across in the course of your work or study - but it can also be used as 'guide to e-commerce'. Reading the book from cover to cover will not only enlighten you with regard to the terms and phrases used in this fast-developing discipline, but you will get a 'feel' of what the subject is about - how it is practiced, and the environment in which it is practiced. For example, there are nearly 40 entries under 'email' [from accreditation to white list] that give the reader an insight to what email marketing is, how it works, what are best practices - and where it can go wrong.

The book has around 1200 entries [sorry, I did count them but I can't remember the exact number] ranging from the 'standard' terms that you would expect to be there, through the unusual to the out-right bizarre that might be rare - but still useful if you working in, or studying about, e-commerce.

An updated version of the book is now available online see DIGITAL MARKETING DEFINITIONS.