From communication to art, from social life to science, the internet has transformed many fields. In fact, there seems to be no area of human life that the internet has not affected.
Of course, commerce is one of the areas most affected by the internet. Today, millions of people all over the world shop online. Even the simplest daily needs are bought online. E-commerce is a growing industry, with billions of dollars being spent every year. However, not many decades ago, it was not at all easy to buy any product online! Because shopping sites were not widespread, and unlike today, it was not possible to find almost everything you were looking for online!
Today, however, there are products that have reached unbelievable sizes and are the pioneers of the online shopping craze. Considering the current state of online shopping, the first product sold online could be considered a historical work of art. However, the answer to the question of what was the first product sold online is a bit complicated! Because there are some features that an online shopping must have! Let’s look at the details together…
First online commerce dates back to internet pioneer Arpanet
The Arpanet was, roughly speaking, a data transmission network developed within the United States Department of Defense and considered the forerunner of the Internet as we know it. In 1972, a group of college students with access to the Arpanet network used it to trade drugs!
This trade was very reminiscent of today’s internet shopping. However, this illegal trade is not considered to be the first example of online shopping. Because it does not follow the general rules of internet shopping. First of all, it is illegal! Also, in this case in 1972, the payment was not made online. Therefore, drugs were not the first product to be sold online. Nevertheless, it can be argued that drugs were the subject of the first online trade deal.
In 1974, pizza was ordered online for the first time
A man named Donald Sherman ordered a pizza over the internet, thanks to a talking computer! However, this product was also paid for in cash. So pizza, which millions of people order online every day, missed out on being the first product sold online.
In 1984, 72-year-old Jane Snowball shopped for groceries online
Snowball’s product list included margarine, eggs and cereal. Moreover, this grocery order was placed through an interesting device called Videotex! Videotex was a device developed for the elderly. It was mainly used to connect in-home televisions to telephones and thus to the internet.
So Jane Snowball was able to do her grocery shopping with the remote control of her TV, without even needing a computer. However, as you can imagine, this shopping was not paid for online! Snowball paid for his purchases in cash to the grocery store employee who came to the door! Therefore, he missed the opportunity to become the first person to actually shop online.
The first real online shopping was in 1994
Dan Kohn, a 21-year-old living in the United States, founded an online shopping site called “NetMarket”! Dan Kohn made his first sale on August 11, 1994. The product he sold was the album “Ten Summoner’s Tales” by British singer Sting. A friend of Kohn’s who lived in Philadelphia bought the album for $12.48 plus shipping. Moreover, thanks to a system developed by Kohn, this purchase was made using a credit card payment method! Thus, the music album Ten Summoner’s Tales made history as the first product to be sold online.
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