Designing and developing the storefront and backend functions for the Ecommerce business isn’t the only job that needs to be done to digitalize the business. After the software is developed and deployed into the server, it must be hosted to be live and usable for the end customers. This is where the concept of a hosting provider comes in. If the website is built using any CMS platform like WordPress or WooCommerce, the hosting provider solution comes built-in, and one won’t have to look for a third party.
But since this is a rare case scenario, keeping the list of third-party hosting providers will come in handy once the codes are deployed into the production environment. Several hosting providers now offer services to businesses hailing from different industries, including Ecommerce. But you cannot simply choose one of them randomly, especially since the hosting services will define the performance and uptime of the website. To help you in this endeavor, we have discussed the five most important factors in choosing an Ecommerce hosting provider for your storefront.
Hosting service needed for Ecommerce platform
You can have four different hosting services for your Ecommerce store. You need to select one based on the requirements, budget, and several other aspects. But before that, knowing about these four types is crucial. We have described them briefly so that you can know how these hosting plans work.
- Cloud hosting: The application or storefront will be developed using SaaS and hosted on the cloud network. Since multiple remote servers are involved on the cloud network, you won’t have to worry about taking down the storefront if one server fails. Even when the load to one server increases beyond the threshold capacity, it automatically gets redirected to another server. This is why the uptime is high for the cloud hosting channels. In addition, it is highly cost-effective and ensures streaming the traffic 24X7.
- Shared hosting: As the name suggests, the hosting channel will be shared by multiple websites. Although this is highly cost-effective and ideal for beginners who don’t have higher traffic demand, the bandwidth is significantly less. Scalability is minimal because you won’t be able to upscale the bandwidth when and as required. Also, if another hosted website suddenly witnesses a surge in traffic, your website will have slowed performance.
- Dedicated hosting: Dedicated hosting is relatively costly because the entire server will be dedicated to your Ecommerce business. You won’t be sharing the network with any other website. from customizing the server configurations to upscaling or downscaling the bandwidth, you will be free to use the hosting channel per your business requirements.
- VPS hosting: VPS or virtual private server hosting is ideal for medium-scale Ecommerce businesses. Here, a single main server is split into numerous virtual servers, and each server is then assigned to a particular website. Therefore, if another website has a traffic surge, there won’t be any impact on your website. Plus, you will have your entire bandwidth, so that scaling won’t be a problem.
Performance, reliability, uptime, and server speed
As there are different hosting providers suitable for the Ecommerce industry, making a choice based only on the types is unreliable. This is because you will find many providers for cloud hosting, VPS hosting, and so on. So, once you have decided on the hosting channel type, you need to focus on three significant sub-factors. These are:
a) Performance: You must judge if the chosen hosting provider can match the expected performance in load balancing, server distribution, and so on. If the performance of the hosting provider dwindles, the direct impact will be on your business, as users won’t be able to access the storefront.
b) Reliability: The hosting provider should be reliable regarding authenticity and genuineness. It should have a server or a network of remote servers and provide you with a unique ID based on the channels you will be using.
c) Server speed: Another essential factor to consider is server speed. If the hosting provider cannot offer a high server speed, your page’s load time will increase, impacting the bounce rate. In addition, the performance of your website will also demean.
d) Uptime: Last but not least, you need to check if the hosting provider offers higher uptime for your Ecommerce storefront.
Hosting plan prices and features available
Most hosting providers offer three to four hosting plans based on the features and accesses. For instance, the primary or standard plans generally come with access to the hosting server and basic security protocols. But if you go for the pro or advanced pricing plans, you can use several tools like the database, CMS, CRM, ERP, etc. Therefore, before you finalize the hosting provider, you must decide what features you want for your Ecommerce business and proceed further. Following are some of the perks of choosing advanced or expert hosting plans:
- Data storage facility for storing all business and user datasets
- Administrative window to manage the backend functions of the Ecommerce store, like order management and dispatch, invoice generation, stock and inventory management, and more.
- CRM integration will allow you to integrate a platform with the Ecommerce storefront to manage customer relations, retain maximum customers, and drive the required website traffic.
- CMS implementation also comes with higher hosting plans where you can access the CMS window to manage the functionalities and requests triggered from the front end.
Scalability and flexibility
Since the Ecommerce business will expand further in the future, do ensure to choose a hosting provider that can offer scalable bandwidth. This way, you will pay only for the bandwidth you will use. If your business expands further and the traffic load exceeds the threshold, you can scale the hosting platform bandwidth to distribute the load.
Security and privacy features
Last but not least, you also need to worry about the security features the hosting service provider offers. From SSL encryption to private IP addresses, there are many ways in which the top-rated web host providers manage the security of their servers and the websites being hosted on the servers.
Conclusion
In this article, we have walked you through the five most important factors to consider before you decide which web host will be suitable for your Ecommerce business. Ensure to follow the above mentioned factors and review the reviews and feedback from other operators using the same hosting provider. This way, you will gain insider insights that will be fruitful for your future business.