It has been 24 years this year and Berners-Lee’s WWW has never stayed at the “pedestrian level” as he feared in the early days of the Web, but the one he saw as a “system able to do that would be a fantastic thing for managers, for social scientists, and, ultimately, for everyone.”
In the retail industry, the Web is widely instrumental in the transformation of commerce as we know it today - a powerful ecosystem that merges physical, online, mobile and social infrastructure for the trading of goods and services.
Nicholas Kontopoulos, Global Head of Fast Growth Markets & Marketing Innovation, SAP hybris, said that while the emergence of e-commerce first came about in the 1970s when electronic data interchange first allowed companies to exchange information, place orders and conduct electronic funds transfer, the change and viability of commerce truly began with the birth of the WWW in 1991, which reinforced the need for businesses to look into innovating and supporting omnichannel commerce and service.
“With the launch of search engines like Google, the WWW created faster and more convenient ways to shop as customers step into the ”Digi-tail” era,” he said in an email interview with Enterprise Innovation.