Online shopping (sometimes known as e-tail from "electronic retail" or e-shopping) is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. Alternative names are: e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, online storefront and virtual store. Mobile commerce (or m-commerce) describes purchasing from an online retailer's mobile optimized online site or app.
An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.
English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich invented online shopping in 1979. His system connected a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line. He believed that videotex, the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven human–computer interface, was a 'new, universally applicable, participative communication medium — the first since the invention of the telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to be opened to 'outside' correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for e-messaging and information retrieval and dissemination, later known as e-business. His definition of the new mass communications medium as 'participative' [interactive, many-to-many] was fundamentally different from the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later.
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. An insurer, or insurance carrier (often called an "insurance company), is sells the insurance policy to customers. The customers, who are called the insured or policyholder, are the person or entity (which may be a private company or other organization) buying the insurance policy. The amount of money to the customer pays for a certain amount of insurance coverage is called the "premium". Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
The transaction involves the insured making a payment to the insurer in exchange for the insurer's promise to compensate (indemnity) the insured in the case of a financial (personal) loss. The insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated. In the event that the insured experiences a financial or personal loss which is covered by the insurance policy, the insured makes an insurance claim to the insurer. Insurance company claims adjusters and other insurance company employees assess the claim. Insurance policies typically set out certain circumstances or actions which will void the insurance policy; if the insurance policy is voided, then the insurer may not have to pay out the claim.
Insurance (aka Medhin) is an Ethiopian football club, in the city of Addis Abeba. They play in the Ethiopian Premier League, the top level of professional football in Ethiopia.
The Insurance functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created in 1998. The constituency is restricted to only 144 insurers.
A similar Financing, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services functional constituency was created for the 1995 election by Governor Chris Patten with a much larger electorate base of total 171,534 eligible voters.
Instant-runoff voting system is used.