Estimated read time: 2 minutes, 34 seconds

Anyone who sat through a typical high school Literature class knows the old saying from Shakespeare:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

While Juliet seemed pretty certain that the family name of her beloved Romeo didn’t matter, the ending of the tragic play proves that specific names—and words in general—do in fact hold a lot of importance.

I know, ill-fated teen love is a bit of a stretch for the world of global software sales. However, all this comes down to the fact that we have to talk about a very important word in this industry; ecommerce. More specifically, we need to focus on the way ecommerce is spelled.

How to spell ecommerce…let me count the ways…

Language is constantly evolving. Which is exciting while also excruciatingly frustrating. A quick Google search will send you down a rabbit hole of infinite ecommerce spelling variations including:

  • eCommerce
  • E-commerce
  • E-Commerce
  • e-Commerce
  • E commerce
  • ECommerce

This is due to the fact that there is no real consensus about the spelling. Sure, the official Associated Press style guide dictates that it is spelled with a hyphen as e-commerce. However, the AP also ruled that the hyphen should be removed from email, and the proper spelling of the emerging competitive video game sports industry is esports.

Make up your minds, AP! This lack of consistency has led to brands deciding their own preferred spelling. Ecommerce players like Shopify, BigCommerce, Chargebee, and Digital River have opted for the no-frills, simple ecommerce spelling. This follows the emerging search trends on Google with Ecommerce and ecommerce sharing the majority of the interest volume.

Google trend data on proper ecommerce spelling

Source: Google Trends

As you can probably already guess, FastSpring’s official messaging style guide follows the same ecommerce spelling. It’s simple, concise, and easy to type out—especially on mobile! All you have to remember is to use an uppercase “e” when ecommerce is at the beginning of a sentence. No hyphens, unexpected capital “c” or spaces.

Ecommerce, ecommerce. It’s that easy.

Glad we could get that out of the way. Having a unified way of spelling an important term like ecommerce allows us to focus on the bigger picture—helping software companies around the world sell more, stay lean, and compete big.

FastSpring isn’t just ecommerce, we’re full-service ecommerce.

At FastSpring, we believe excellence in global ecommerce is an absolute necessity for software companies to compete and win in the competitive marketplace. However, many companies struggle to piece together a world-class ecommerce experience while keeping up with global buyer expectations and rampant competition.

This is why FastSpring is a full-service ecommerce solution. When software companies partner with FastSpring, they have access to a comprehensive suite of ecommerce tools and solutions in our easy-to-use platform. FastSpring customers out-innovate competition, expand their global footprint, deliver a world-class shopping experience, grow revenues faster and eliminate cost and risk.

Are you ready to see why FastSpring is the better way to grow? Schedule a demo with an ecommerce specialist today.