Are you the owner of an ecommerce website? Or are you planning to launch one? Then this article is for you. Here we discuss eCommerce hosting and how important it is for your website. It is an extremely essential factor that is responsible for the overall performance of your site, its speed, working, security and many other things. So, how can you find a reliable and good hosting partner? Let’s find out.

What is ecommerce hosting?

In order to launch an online store, you need to have a platform that hosts your store. This process is called hosting and the provider is called a web host. It basically provides a server on which you can place your site. From this server, the site connects to the internet and is literally open for business.

There are many different specializations and forms where you can get hosting. While some hosting providers are popular for the hardware on which they are based, some offer unique plans with specialized features. Tailored for ecommerce businesses these hosting platforms include free SSL encryption, an extra layer of security, scalability for high traffic, payment gateways support etc.

Almost every hosting solution comes with different capabilities. You need to find a safe and robust hosting solution that works best for your business.

Types of ecommerce hosting

1.       Shared Hosting

If you are a new business wishing to go online and are looking for a budget-friendly option, then you can go for this hosting provider. It is more cost-effective than the other choices on this list. But, on the other hand, you will also get slower speed. Also, you will have to share server space with other different websites. Unless you cannot afford any other type of hosting, we will not recommend this option for your online store.

2.       Dedicated Hosting

This is one of the best solutions for ecommerce hosting. This cloud hosting option is highly scalable. This means that if you have higher traffic, you can increase the scalability of the hosting and vice versa. Also, it is quite affordable for most start-ups.

3.       VPS Hosting

It is an acronym for ‘virtual private server’. In this scenario, your server machine will be shared with other sites, but the resources will be separate. So, you will not have to face any issues with the shared hosting. But this is not more dedicated than cloud hosting providers.

 Factors to consider while choosing your eCommerce hosting

·       High Performance

One of the most important factors to look out for while choosing a hosting solution is its speed and reliability. More than half of your visitors will leave your eCommerce website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. You can lose a major chunk of your potential customers due to this.

If you choose shared hosting for its reduced cost then you also need to take into consideration its slow speed and frequent downtime. Make sure your hosting provider offers Content Delivery Network (CDN) in your hosting plan. These are a wide range of servers dispersed across a demographic. When a user from somewhere far away tries to access, then the nearby CDN takes the responsibility of serving the data. This can reduce the loading time to a great extent.

·       Bandwidth & File Storage

The data on an eCommerce website development will require a lot of file space. Also, an eCommerce site is expected to pull in large traffic. Therefore, you need an eCommerce hosting service that offers enough resources to handle this. Or else, you will end up paying a large sum of overage fees.

Product images are the driving factor for sales in an eCommerce site. And they must be of very high quality as well. This will take a lot a lot of space. Therefore, make sure that you check the limits on the file storage and bandwidths of your hosting provider.

·       Auto scaling

The nature of traffic in an ecommerce website is highly unpredictable and varied. Therefore, it is recommended for ecommerce businesses to rely on auto-scaling features. Your regular plans may be good enough for most parts of the year. However, during peak surges, auto-scaling enables the hosting provider to handle the sudden surges in load and traffic.

Look out for the load balancing feature also. It will help distribute traffic on your website evenly and prevent downtime.

·       Active support

Errors and issues in hosting are common. But it is important to have a support team with whom you can discuss these issues. If the support team is not ready to offer help, then the site can go down for hours. It should be fast, friendly, and helpful in a proactive manner to offer you support.

Also, for your ecommerce hosting, the support team should consist of experienced developers. They will be able to handle your queries regarding website host infrastructure and servers effortlessly.

·       Security

Ecommerce sites often have sensitive data details like credit or debit card numbers, bank passwords, PayPal account details, etc. Therefore, ecommerce sites are a common target of attacks by hackers. It is easier for them to hack a website that is poorly secured. And most new sites will not have a clear idea on how to protect their online store.

While ecommerce website development plays a major role in security, the hosting provider’s role is also important. If there are flaws in server code, then hackers can easily infiltrate the site and access data.

·       Integration with eCommerce platform

For the development of an ecommerce store, you need to choose an ecommerce platform as well. There are various options to choose from like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento development services etc. Your ecommerce hosting should work well with this platform as well. If you do not know about ecommerce platforms or how to choose one for your site, here’s a guide to help you make the decision easily.

·       Regular Backups

Regular automatic backups are extremely essential for an ecommerce site. Without a backup, if you make any sudden changes or if the site gets crashed, then you will lose all your data and effort. It can be a huge setback for your business. That is why you need a hosting provider that has backups built-in to let you run your business in peace.

Final Thoughts

The choice of your hosting solution will have a major effect on your ecommerce store’s performance, quality, security etc. Therefore, make an informed choice with proper research and guidance. Look out for ecommerce hosting solutions that give you prior consultation regarding hosting and other aspects of ecommerce.