eCommerce Web Hosting
Businesses looking to establish an online presence need a dependable, secure web hosting solution with excellent customer support; eCommerce Hosting plans have this in abundance. Choose the best eCommerce Web Hosting plan for your online business from our handpicked list based on reviews, functionality and value for money.
Our list of hosting providers is based on:
- Usability
- Value
- User reviews
Buy eCommerce Web Hosting
eCommerce Hosting is a specialized service provided by web hosting companies, catered specifically to businesses which sell products or services via their website. Using an eCommerce Web Hosting plan helps you to welcome customers to your online store with a smooth browsing experience and reliable shopping cart system, underpinned by top-level security for both parties.
The cost of running an in-house server is high. That is why many small to mid-size online businesses look to web hosting companies offering specialized eCommerce Hosting plans to fulfill this need. These companies are able to offer relatively inexpensive web hosting solutions to online businesses by maintaining very large data centers hosting thousands of websites. Costs are therefore saved on hardware, software licenses, bandwidth, and environmental control systems.
The eCommerce Hosting companies listed above offer customized, quality services, enabling businesses to gain a strong online web presence quickly and inexpensively.
Pros and Cons of eCommerce Web Hosting
Benefits of eCommerce Hosting
Quick and cheap startup vs designing a custom solution
Payments made to you are processed with minimal hassle
Technical knowledge not usually required
Uptime guarantees and reliable software
Drawbacks of eCommerce Hosting
Some providers ask for a percentage of your earnings in addition to the monthly fee
Site can be tricky to customize due to template-driven design process
Often offers little to improve competitiveness without paying extra fees
Why get an eCommerce Hosting solution?
The online retail market is growing at a consistently high rate. The importance to your business of having a strong, robust online presence which is able to promote and sell your company’s products or services cannot be understated.
The US in particular has a huge eCommerce sector, and it is growing all the time. There are over 190 million online buyers in the US alone, and approximately 100 million use their mobile devices to buy online, meaning your target market is always active.
And best of all, less than 30% of small businesses currently sell online, so the market is wide open.
What makes an eCommerce Hosting plan?
These three features are critical to the success of your eCommerce website - it is highly important that the level of flexibility and options offered by the web hosting provider match the requirements of your site.
Site Builders
These popular tools comprise software which enables you to design, populate and manage a website yourself - usually with no manual coding required whatsoever. They make creation of professional, well-built websites extremely simple and act as a back end for the retailer all while adhering to web standards.
Site Builders are often used in eCommerce Web Hosting plans as they are often very useful to small businesses, or those who are just starting up their online store.
Shopping Carts
This software allows the buyer to 'collect' products from around your site before paying for everything. Linked to an online product database which you maintain, it gives the buyer options such as product size and color, learns what they like and helps them find related items.
Shopping Cart software often features inbuilt payment information capture, those that don't are used as a secure gateway leading to other payment solutions. Both of these methods are highly reliable and secure - the option you choose should depend on the preference of your customers.
Payment Gateways
The primary function of Payment Gateways is securely processing and authorizing payment made online, such as by credit card. There is a wide range of payment gateways available; PayPal and Verified by Visa are two you may have heard of.
eCommerce Hosting plans and Shopping Carts usually come with robust Payment Gateways built in, but should also be flexible enough to allow you to add your own preferred payment gateway if you so choose.
eCommerce Hosting features to look for
As well as the features mentioned above, these are some important factors to consider when deciding which eCommerce Web Hosting plan is best for your business:
Reliability - look for 99.9% uptime
Security - SSL certification
High bandwidth
Strong technical support / customer service
Mobile-friendly designs
PPC advertising credit
Search Engine Optimisation tools
User-friendly control panel
eCommerce Hosting Review
John C, uses Inmotion (see InMotion reviews):
I have small online business and can easily say that never been happier with a host. Really great support, and a huge array of functions and add-ons that help me a lot. Downtime almost non-existent and although I understand that nothing is really “unlimited” it very much feels like it is when it comes to bandwidth and disk space with them. Really good eCommerce solution.
Do I need eCommerce Hosting?
If you want any of the following, then your answer should be yes:
- A web hosting solution specifically designed to help you improve your website's appearance, performance and usability
- Site builders, shopping carts and payment gateways relied upon by other professionals
- A robust, reliable and high quality online presence for your enterprise.
Get your eCommerce Web Hosting plan today!
If you are still unsure, Compare Web Hosting plans or use our Hosting Wizard and Knowledge Base for more ideas - whatever you decide, Web Hosting Search is here to help you find the best deal!