Ecommerce has become as mainstream as any other form of retail, yet the adoption of how to spell the word varies widely.

Hyphen or no hyphen?

Capital "C" or lower case "c?"

This lack of consistency is frustrating for ecommerce professionals as it affects everything from day to day messaging, to job titles.  

So is there a 'correct' way to spell the word? Yes. If you go by any dictionary or the AP Stylebook, e-commerce is correct. As a result, all publications use the hyphen in any official news source article.

Ask almost any ecommerce professional, however, and they will say they do not use the hyphen in the normal course of the day or in job titles. 

For more details, Boldist has a very thorough article covering various spellings and what official sources use. https://boldist.co/culture/how-to-spell-ecommerce/

Is there a precedent for dropping the hyphen? Yes - "email!" Email was invented in 1971 by ARPANET. 41 years later, on March 18th, 2011, the AP Stylebook announced on twitter that they were officially dropping the hyphen.

Meanwhile, ecommerce was invented in 1979. Yet, 44 years later, reference sources are still spelling it with a hyphen. 

As for whether or not to capitalize the "C," we can leave that for another day as this is much more hotly contested in the industry! 

Sign this petition and if we get enough signatures, I'll take to the AP Stylebook, Merriam-Webster, Webster, Cambridge, Oxford, Collins and any other reference guide who will listen and request that they officially drop the hyphen!

And by the way, if you are prompted for a donation, please note that is for the platform and NOT necessary for this campaign!

Thank you!