An ecommerce hosting provider will offer solutions to merchants allowing them to sell their services and products online. The merchant will need to buy ecommerce hosting plans and pay fees on a monthly basis to the host for using space on its servers. The merchant will also lease the software to carry out online order processing. Therefore, an ecommerce hosting provider will typically enable businesses to manage all aspects of the websites’ developments and their maintenance.
How is ecommerce hosting different from regular web hosting?
Ecommerce hosting is distinct from standard hosting because it demands certain specific functions and features which are necessary for running any commercial website. Some of these specific features include database support, SSL certificates, payment processing services, inventory management tools, customer order processing facilities, shopping cart software and additional security provisions. An ecommerce hosting provider will cater to businesses by supplying them with all services and tools needed to install and manage an ecommerce business. Besides the functions, the provider will also offer space for hosting your commercial website; it will offer technical supports and other regular web hosting functions. Ecommerce hosting will also cover EDI that comprises of faxes and emails; the EDI documents consist of data element strings representing a certain product’s model number, price and other relevant information.
How can you choose a quality ecommerce hosting provider?
• When choosing an ecommerce host it is important to check for their speed or loading time. Studies suggest that nearly 47% buyers will expect a web page to load within seconds and almost 40% will leave a website when the time taken for it to load is very long. This explains why it is necessary to choose a provider that can guarantee fast loading times regardless of where you may be located.
• Customer service is another vital consideration when it comes to choosing a good ecommerce hosting provider. It is imperative that your host can offer round-the-clock technical supports. To be sure about this, it may be a good idea to test their customer care representatives first hand.
• The videos and pictures that you use will take up substantial space in your website. There are some providers which impose restrictions on the data storage for their clients. It is therefore important to check for the data storage you will be offered beforehand. You need a hosting provider that will guarantee unlimited data storage and unlimited data transfers for your online business to flourish.
• While having one free domain name may suffice, you should ideally search for a hosting provider that is willing to offer you multiple domains.
• Finally, when you are launching an ecommerce website, you will need to get payments from buyers online for your products. This is why a private SSL is going to be necessary to attract buyers to your site. This will protect credit card transactions and ensure that your financial information stays completely secure. While payment problems are not likely to surface with the buyers, at the same time, these help to discourage hackers from trying to steal confidential data.