What Was The First Product Sold On An Ecommerce Platform?
A particularly fascinating aspect of ecommerce fulfilment is that, whilst it is a nigh-ubiquitous part of not only major chains of retail stores but a wide range of independent retailers who get the chance to distribute worldwide, it had astonishingly humble and piecemeal beginnings.
Whilst the right third-party logistics partner is essential for success in ecommerce today, as it provides a complete and comprehensive service that fills the gaps throughout your supply chain, historically, there were far more limited capabilities and even less understanding of what the fulfilment and delivery network could achieve.
This led to considerable concerns about trust when providing sensitive information necessary to complete purchases, such as names, addresses, contact details and especially credit/debit card numbers.
However, this changed on 11th August 1994, when the sale of a soft rock album was the start of an ecommerce revolution.
What Was The First Product Sold Securely Online?
In March 1993, former frontman for The Police Sting released Ten Summoner’s Tales, but remained very popular even a year later.
With seven of its ten tracks released as singles, including the international hit Fields of Gold, the album had somewhat remarkable staying power and was close to the end of its album cycle when it became the first modern online sale.
On the now-defunct ecommerce site Netmarket, a copy of the album was sold for $12.48 plus shipping and handling (roughly £10 at the time, now £21.30 adjusted for inflation). This purchase caused The New York Times to declare that the Internet was open for business.
Why Was Ten Summoner’s Tales The First Product Sold Online?
Whilst partly an accidental contributor to the history of online shopping, the fact that it was an album and specifically an album that was over a year old reveals a lot about the early buying habits of online users at the time.
Ten Summoner’s Tales was a wide crossover album success, but it had also ended its album cycle. That meant it was not as easy to find a new copy of it in a physical music store as it would have been a year previously.
As well as this, CDs were particularly popular in early online stores, as CDs could be shipped in padded envelopes rather than requiring boxes, significantly lowering costs.
How Did Ten Summoner’s Tales Change Ecommerce?
The album’s sale proved the concept, and within a year, both Amazon and eBay had launched, establishing two of the biggest ecommerce platforms of all time using a similar long-tail model that online music stores took advantage of.
It also showed customers that online shopping was not only effective and fast but as safe as any other credit card transaction, which increased trust and catalysed the first wave of online retail known as the dotcom boom.
What Was The First Product Sold Via Ecommerce?
Ten Summoner’s Tales by Sting was the first product sold via a secure online transaction on 11th August 1994.
CDs were particularly popular to sell online because they were easy to store and relatively inexpensive to ship.
Whilst other online shopping systems existed, payment was typically taken via invoice or telephone.
This, alongside other particularly ill-suited sales and distribution methods, led to a trust issue and assumption that online shopping would lead to delays.
By providing an online secure transmission system that is still used to this day, the foundation for ecommerce as we know it was established that day.