E-Commerce: A Systems Overview

Categorizing the Systems
Among the many ways marketers classify e-commerce platforms, two make the most sense: by billing method and by the company they keep.

There are essentially two billing methods: licensed and pay-for-
service. Neither has to do with where the system is hosted. If you choose to run the system in-house, a daunting commitment that should only be considered by the largest enterprises, it'll be on a licensed basis. But a system hosted at the vendor site or a contracted third party still can be a licensed solution.