eCommerce History By logincorn Period: Jan 1, 1960 to Dec 31, 1970 EDI allows network transaction Aug 27, 1979 Michael Aldrich invented online shopping Jun 8, 1981 Thomson Holidays, UK is first B2B online shopping. Aug 4, 1982 Minitel was introduced and used for online ordering. Jan 10, 1984 Gateshead SIS/Tesco is first B2C online shopping. Jun 4, 1985 Nissan UK sells cars and finance with credit checking. Jan 1, 1987 Swreg begins to provide software Apr 3, 1990 Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb3 Apr 1990 Feb 3, 1994 Netscape releases the Navigator browser in October Jul 5, 1995 Jeff Bezos launches Amazon.com Jan 1, 1998 Electronic postal stamps can be purchased Mar 3, 1999 Business.com sold for US $7.5 million to eCompanies Mar 10, 2000 The dot-com bust. Apr 2, 2002 eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion. May 13, 2003 Amazon.com posts first yearly profit. Nov 28, 2007 Business.com acquired by R.H. Donnelley for $345 million Jan 1, 2009 Zappos.com acquired by Amazon.com for $928 million. Sep 30, 2010 Groupon reportedly rejects a $6 billion offer from Google. Jan 31, 2011 US eCommerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $197 billion.