The seeds of e-commerce were sown way back in 1971 when the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network ( ARPANET ) was used to arrange a sale of an undetermined quantity of cannabis between students at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence  Laboratory and MIT. It could be called ‘a seminal occasion in the history of e-commerce.’  However, it was eight years later, in 1979, that the first online shopping system was displayed. UK-based Michael Aldrich’s invention started as a cross between a modern-day B2B and B2C model. Two years later, ( 1981 ), Thomson Holidays became the first B2B platform for online shopping. Amazon, eBay and Alibaba emerged much later.

In India, there were several start ups — JustDial, MakeMyTrip, InMobi, RedBus, FlipKart, Snapdeal, Paytm and Pepperfry. To begin with there was Rediff  era of the late 1990s and the government’s IRCTC portal. Since then e-commerce has carved out a path for itself in India.

FlipKart’s first customer was V V K Chandra. It was 21 October, 2007. There was a little beep on the computer screen informing the Bansals that they had their first hit. It was a young man from a small town called Mahbubnagar in AP, now Telangana. Chandra ran a small company for web consulting. He was fond of books, and was scouting for John Wood’s book — Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, but was not getting it anywhere.

Chandra did not know that his request for the book has created a stir of excitement in an apartment in faraway Bengaluru. Two anxious pair of eyes gazed at the order from their very first customer. Binny Bansal located a copy at a store in Indiranagar ( Bengaluru ) borrowed money from a friend as he had forgotten his wallet and Flipkart’s first product was packed and delivered.

In June 2011, a village in North India decided to change its name from Shivanagar to Snapdeal.com Nagar. That was in return for the Snapdeal founders donating. 15 hand pumps to the village. The villages got what they most wanted — water.