The person asking the question is right in making a distinction between the terms, e-business and e-commerce. However, I would have turned the statement around to read, 'Not every e-business venture can be considered e-commerce.'

The term e-commerce is generally applied the use of electronic tools or media for the buying and selling of goods or services. The term e-business on the other hand covers the whole range of interactions among individuals, companies, and organizations that constitute business. Pure commerce (buying and selling) is just one of those interactions.

Enterprises usually measure e-commerce in terms of sales. E-business, on the other hand, is measured in terms of process improvements. When, for example, companies gave customers the ability to look up the status of their orders over the Web, the companies provided a higher level of customer service and probably saved money on customer service staff. That ability to provide customer service over the Web is definitely electronic business, but involved no new sales (i.e., commerce), at least not right away. Customers happier with their service, of course, are your best sales prospects.