We are a society of the information age; the days of heavy industry dominance are over. In the post-industrial era, which began in the middle of the last century, the possession and skillful use of information play a strategic role. Without it, it is difficult to imagine effective stock market investing, a visit to a good dentist, or a successful vacation. Perhaps one of the most significant facts influencing the functioning of companies in the era of the “global village” is the evolution of customer awareness, for whom it is not enough to just offer the right product, but also in the most convenient form, i.e., at the right time, place, quantity, and at optimal costs. This naturally leads to an increase in the importance of information and the methods of its effective exchange. From there, it is only a step to its entrepreneurial use, most often taking the form of e-business.
The e-commerce market, as part of e-business, is based on transactions of buying and selling material and intangible products via websites, and activities in this area may include the following aspects:
• sell-side, i.e., an enterprise selling its products online
• buy-side, i.e., an enterprise acquiring products to support its market activity
• marketplace, i.e., participation in a global e-market of buyers and sellers, where the spectrum focusing all these entities is the Internet.
The sell-side offer, key to our article, usually covers two areas:
• B2B (business to business), i.e., a relationship where both parties to the purchase-sale transaction are business entities
• B2C (business to customer), where the seller is a company and the buyer is an individual consumer.
The mentioned aspects of e-commerce market development mean that the logistics industry recognizes the benefits of operating in this area. Proof of this are the emerging (e.g., in Venlo, Germany) special logistics centers designed specifically to serve the e-customer, as well as the increased activity of entities inextricably linked to the flow of information and goods, which are postal organizations.