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E-commerce web hosting is a form of web hosting specially configured for e-commerce sites. Web hosting companies deploy certain features and applications on their servers, which enable them to create such hosting packages aimed at securing seamless transactions on online shops.
Webhosting (Plans) for eCommerce Features
WooCommerce
Payment Gateway
PCI Compliant
Free Shopping Cart
Zen Cart
Magento
PrestaShop
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Open Source Ecommerce Content Management System (CMS)
Drupal Commerce
Drupal add-on to the Drupal content management system (CMS), which is itself open source and free to use.
Drupal Commerce does everything you expect an e-commerce platform add-on to do:
Displays Products
Manages Inventory On The Back-End
Funnels Customers Through The Checkout Process
Facilitates The Payment And Shipping Processes
Offers Helpful Management Tools For Things Like Orders, Receipts, And Invoices.
Like the main Drupal product, Drupal commerce is extensible. This means that you can add to the default functionality by using modules. Currently, there are over 300 modules (for things like shopping carts and payment and shipping integrations) for Drupal Commerce that are available for free.
Magento Open-Source
Here is the Magento Demo for some perspective of visuals and functionality.
Magento (formerly known as Magento Community Edition) is similar to Drupal in that both are open-source content management systems.
However, Magento differs in that the product as a whole is geared toward e-commerce — you do not need add-ons to get the necessary functionality working. It was originally supposed to be a fork of osCommerce (which we will discuss next on this list), but the original developers decided to rewrite the entire product.
Magento’s strength is its flexibility — because the product is open source, you have full control over how things work. You can respond as necessary to changing trends very quickly.
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osCommerce
osCommerce, which is short for “open source commerce,” is another open-source e-commerce management product. Development of osCommerce began in March 2000; it’s a well-established software platform.
osCommerce is a complete e-commerce platform/solution, but there are just under 9000 add-ons available to you free of charge if there are features you would like but do not come with the standard installation (or if, such as with shopping carts, you would prefer a different option).
Furthermore, osCommerce is commonly offered with one-click installation programs that come with many shared-hosting packages, so getting set up with osCommerce can be fairly simple.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is designed to turn WordPress sites into full online stores.
Woocommerce itself runs on the WordPress platform, so you can expect nearly seamless integration if you choose to use this product. WooCommerce is modular, so the product is as lean as possible since you add only the features you need and want (if you want just one display page for your products, a shopping cart, and a checkout process, you’ve got it).
You’ll have access to numerous extensions, themes, and other items to help you create the site you want.
Though Woocommerce is open source, it is one of the larger open source projects with many developers actively improving it (it helps to be a part of the WordPress ecosystem). Basically, you can’t go wrong with WooCommerce if you are on the WordPress platform.
Webhosting (Plans) for eCommerce Benefits
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) E-commerce Solutions
At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who seek to build their stores from scratch. They select and put all the individual components together, including setting up and configuring their own web hosting servers and coding their shopping sites.
Doing all of the integrations required for things like social media, shopping carts, payment gateways, and shipping providers is also part of the game.
For example, someone might use WordPress as their content management system, A2 Hosting for their web hosting services, and create their own checkout solution with PayPal powering the monetary transactions that occur.
While this option is a lot of work, there is no one e-commerce platform that offers you a “perfect” feature set — doing this yourself is one of ensuring that you do.
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Webhosting (Plans) for eCommerce Softwares & Applications
As we mentioned, e-commerce platforms that are not all-in-one solutions tend to not include web hosting. So you will need to find the best web hosting solution for your needs.
When looking for web hosting for an online store, you will want to prioritize the following 3 factors:
Security
Performance
Uptime
Security Factors for E-Commerce
Security is of utmost importance, especially since you will face strict regulations when it comes to how you handle your customers’ information.
In addition to sensitive, identifying information such as people’s names, addresses, and phone numbers, you will be handling (possibly) things like credit card information in the shopping cart/checkout process. (If you are not familiar with laws and regulations regarding e-commerce security, we have a quick overview to help you get started.)
Certain vendors are more amenable to the customization you need to make to secure everything, while others (or other types of hosting, such as shared hosting) can be no-goes in certain cases.
Performance and Speed for E-commerce Sites
Performance is king, and your users do not want to wait while your page loads. If your page is too slow, your users will bounce — or leave your site — and take their business elsewhere.
The digital marketplace is somewhat cutthroat, and your website’s performance is one of the things that you can control and actively influence your bottom line.
Uptime and E-Commerce
Uptime is kind of an extension of performance, but we want to single this metric out.
Typically, when web hosting providers offer you some type of uptime guarantee, it is in the form of a service-level agreement that promises a minimum amount of uptime.
Moreover, uptime is essential, especially during peak shopping seasons where you can expect a lot of traffic — there is no worse time for your website to go down than during Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
best e-commerce web hosts
What Are Some Good Web Hosts for E-Commerce?
There are a dizzying number of web hosting providers out there, so where do you start when looking for the e-commerce hosting plan that works for you?
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How To Get & Implement Web Hosting Plan For Your Own eCommerce Business
Do you have a great idea, service, or product? Building a quality web store could help you sell it to the masses, and it’s easier than you think.
Even basic webhosting plans will often include core e-commerce functionality: templates for web stores, PayPal integration, easy installs for popular shopping carts.
In A Nutshell, This Is How You Can Get Your Own E-commerce Business Hosted On The Web Quickly:
- You just subscribe for the opportunity to host your e-shop on a web hosting service provider’s platform for a free trial of, say, 30 days.
- Register for a custom domain to give your business a brand name you have chosen.
- Set up and point the domain name servers to the eCommerce web hosting provider. That is if your domain registrar is different from the eCommerce webhosting company.
- Login to the web hosting platform to set up your online shop using ready-made templates and plugins – many of which are provided free, and some are premium.
2. Search and load the web pages with details and descriptions of the products you want to be retailing.
3. When you are satisfied with your online shop setup, customization and and stated prices, you’re set to drive traffic with the methods conversant and convenient to you – free or paid methods.
4. Relax and wait for your sales to begin to roll in. I have just summarized the process above. When you’re ready to get started, there’s a bit of learning needed to enable you dot all the necessary I’s and cross all the T’s required to make things work.
DIY eCommerce ApplicationsUnderstanding DIY E-commerce Solutions
When you opt for a DIY e-commerce solution, you will need to piece together the various components yourself.
What Do I Need to Build My Own E-Commerce Solution?
Here’s an overview of what you’ll need to account for:
Web hosting and a server on which you store all your site’s files.
A site builder (though you can always create your own HTML, CSS, and JavaScript).
Some type of shopping cart software, check-out, and payment processing solution — you can easily get something for each step, or you can use an integrated tool.
Security features, such as SSL certificates and dedicated IP addresses. Your payment gateway will likely take care of encryption-related needs for your payments. Remember, your customers’ addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses are all information you should be striving to protect as well.
Throughout this article, we have talked about extras, such as blogs (WordPress or no), forums, integrations with tools like inventory management products and the like. If you want these things, you will have to source these out yourself.
Furthermore, social media and digital shopping go hand in hand, so you will likely have to set those up yourself.
DIY E-Commerce Platforms: Plenty of Variety
There are many DIY e-commerce platforms available for use, but not all include everything you need to simply get up and running (typically, it is the server/web hosting bit that is not included, though this obviously varies).
Some are free-standing, such as Magento, and others are add-ons (such as WooCommerce, which is a WordPress plugin).
What are Some Features of DIY E-Commerce Solutions?
The feature sets of these items vary more than with an all-in-one package. Nevertheless, you can expect to get features and functionality including:
Display pages for your products
Inventory management
Product variant listings
Shopping carts and payment processing/gateways
Shipping and order management
Pros and Cons of DIY E-Commerce Solutions
As with everything, there are pros and cons with DIY options, too, so here they are.
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Pros
The biggest boon might be the low cost.
Many of these options are open-source software and, therefore, free to use.
In addition to saving on monthly fees, you will not have to pay per-transaction fees either.
Many of these solutions are highly customizable as well. You can get granular control over options.
Cons
A downside is that setup and configuration are your responsibilities.
If you haven’t used this type of platform before, you risk getting bogged down, perhaps experiencing frustration and delaying the launch of your store.
If you need assistance, your best bet will be to reach out to the appropriate community on an internet forum.
Since these are open-source software platforms, there often is no vendor, so calling customer service with your questions is not an option.
What Are Some of the Best Open-Source E-Commerce Platforms?
Here’s a list of some of the most powerful and effective open-source e-commerce solutions available.
The Best Ecommerce Webhosting Plan
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Web Hosting Plans for eCommerce Comparison
It’s Not Always Easy to Successfully Launch. However, we understand that launching your online business can be difficult. There are decisions to make on things that you might not be familiar with, such as:
Products to market
eCommerce Website Hosting Platforms
Digital marketing and sales tools are needed.
Promotion & marketing strategies – Free or Paid Ads
Searching online is a great way to start, but how do you wade through all of the information that pops up?
Well, the following is a list of products and options that we think are good places to start looking.
GreenGeeks
Want eco-friendly e-commerce hosting? GreenGeeks has you covered. GreenGeeks is a carbon-neutral business that offers web hosting options more suitable for those just getting started or with smaller online businesses.
InMotion Hosting
InMotion is a leader in the web hosting world when it comes to hosting plans for business customers. The company offers a wide variety of hosting options, and many come with extras you will find helpful, such as solid-state drives (remember, performance is king) and free domain names.
Liquid Web
Liquid Web offers managed cloud-based, VPS, and dedicated hosting solutions. If you need premium-level hosting but do not want to be 100% responsible for its maintenance, Liquid Web might be the perfect fit for you.
SiteGround
SiteGround is an all-around great web hosting provider, so you are likely to be satisfied with whatever plan you choose. If you are just starting out with e-commerce hosting and you want a quality package (and want the ability to scale up to a more advanced package later on), SiteGround might be great for this.
Please note, however, that to get the full features you need to create a secure hosting environment, you will likely need to opt for the VPS hosting plan or a dedicated server.
eCommerce Web Hosting Services
What are All-in-One E-Commerce Platforms?
All-in-one e-commerce platforms are user-friendly software applications that bundle most or all of the digital tools you need to launch an online store, including, typically:
When you begin the process of setting up your online store, you will need to think about how much work you would like to do on your own and what tasks you want to offload onto somebody else.
Pre-built, Customizable Website
Shopping cart
Easy-to-implement integrations for payment processors like Stripe and Paypal
Product display options (e.g. multiple images for one product, image zoom)
Product variant options (sizes, colors, etc.)
Shipping options
Third-party integrations for things like email marketing and invoicing
A variety of sales and marketing tools (including the ability to apply discounts, create coupon codes, run sales, flag new products, capture email newsletter signups, and more.)
These platforms tend to be the easiest e-commerce applications to use and to get started with. Embark on your e-commerce voyage with our guide to seamless digital entrepreneurship.
What Is My Best Bet?
The specifics vary from vendor to vendor. For example, some companies only offer a free subdomain, while others may offer a free custom domain.
Some will only include a shared hosting plan with their platforms, while others offer scalable, high-performance, cloud-based web hosting. Many will come with social media integration.
Some all-in-one solutions, such as Shopify and Big Cartel, take care of pretty much everything for you and make sure that all aspects of your store function seamlessly together.
Features
Features, Tools, and Options
Furthermore, we are here to discuss e-commerce web hosting products, platforms, tools, and solutions available, from individual options that can be pieced together (such as web hosts, site builders, inventory managers, and shopping cart software) to all-in-one packages where you get all the features and tools you need.
We’ll also cover features that you will find useful (or even necessary) when it comes to setting up and configuring your store. These features include PCI compliance, SSL certificates, and dedicated IP addresses.
Here are some things you might consider when looking through the options that are available to you.
Features
Platform Cost
Customer Support
How-tos and Tutorials
Service Level Agreements
Features
Above all, you will want to make sure that the product meets your needs. Overcome common e-commerce hurdles with Wix e-commerce solutions.
For example, an all-in-one product should include shipping integration, but that does not mean that it will integrate with the shipping product of your choice. You can choose your store’s layout, but are the templates for doing so ones that you find appealing?
There might be a shopping cart, but are there alternative shopping carts in case you do not like the one that is set as the default? Furthermore, though all-in-one products typically come with everything you need, many will include things that you would want — bonus points if there are not any add-on fees for this.
Platform Cost
What does it cost to use the products? Typically, vendors are pretty upfront about the monthly fees, but check to see if there are any transaction fees involved.
For example, some platforms will charge you 3% of whatever you earn per transaction — if you are a high-volume seller, this adds up! Additionally, be sure that the features you are expecting with a given package come standard and are not add-ons that cost extra.
Customer Support
How good are the technicians at the other end of the phone, Live Chat window, or email chain? Can you get in touch with someone when your store goes down at 3:00 am on the day important products launch, and people are lining up (digitally) to get that item?
The thing with all-in-one apps is that you give up some control over the innards of your software. If things go terribly wrong, you will want to talk to your vendor as soon as possible.
How-Tos and Tutorials
Good all-in-one platforms will offer a variety of how-tos to get you up and running quickly and inspire your creativity. These may include online videos, a knowledge base, FAQs, and more.
Service Level Agreements
If your package comes with hosting, you will want to see if the company offers any type of service level agreement (SLA). Basically, these are promises from the vendor that your site is online for a minimum amount of time over the course of a month (excluding times of scheduled maintenance).
Typical values include 99%, 99.9%, and 99.99% — obviously, the higher the level of uptime, the more you will pay. As an e-commerce site, this is not an area where you want to skimp and save money — downtime is the time that your customers cannot get to your site to make purchases.
Furthermore, customers tend to frown on vendors who cannot keep their sites running and will not return at a later date.