Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods and services using the internet. And it isn’t just important - it is one of the fundamental technology disruptions of our time. According to Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform, the first ever online sale was a Sting CD purchased through NetMarket on August 11, 1994. In the decades since, e-commerce has gone on to transform the retail landscape for physical goods while also enabling a market for digital goods, as well as the digital advertising that fuels Google and Facebook.

For physical products, e-commerce has changed business models and product strategies for everything from toothpaste to luxury goods. The power of the internet allowed Amazon to grow from being a bookseller to a platform that sells literally everything, by combining online marketing to build a platform that can sell anything along with old-fashioned logistics expertise to deliver it at scale. For companies that were already selling products in the pre-internet era, e-commerce has allowed them to sell direct to customers, as well as providing new digital marketing analytics on buyer preferences to inform product/market fit and brand management strategies.

E-commerce has also created a universe of purely digital products, including those that replace physical goods such as Spotify as well as those that offer new ways of delivering traditional services such as Uber. The ability to sell software ranging from image editing tools to meditation apps across multiple platforms over the internet has also led to an explosion of innovation in products that could never have existed prior to the e-commerce era.

Since any company selling goods or services today needs an e-commerce marketing strategy, expertise in this area is an asset in a wide range of industries and jobs. Product management roles can particularly benefit from this background, since this position requires a big-picture perspective on the entire product lifecycle from development to sales - and e-commerce is fundamental to selling today, especially for software products. Similarly, regardless of the product being sold, digital marketers need to understand e-commerce as part of the final “conversion” stage of the marketing funnel.

E-commerce is also unlocking career opportunities for artists and artisans of all types. Whether you’re a musician, a photographer, a vintage clothing seller, or anyone else selling hand-made or one-of-a-kind products, e-commerce has enabled countless individuals to turn their “side hustle” into a full-time job. While platforms like Etsy, Bandcamp, and even Instagram have all made it easy to sell to your customers, an education in e-commerce can help you separate yourself from the competition and reach the larger audience you need to make your business viable.

Yes, Coursera can help you learn everything you need to understand the possibilities of e-commerce today, as well as fundamentals in business and digital marketing that can help you fully leverage these capabilities. Much like e-commerce has made selling dramatically easier for businesses of all kinds, online learning is making education vastly more accessible by allowing you to learn remotely on your own schedule from anywhere in the world.

And because Coursera lets you learn about e-commerce from established, top-ranked schools like the University of Virginia and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, you’ll get the same high-quality education as on-campus students at a fraction of the cost.