Introduction
When it comes to digitalisation, having social media platforms is not enough when running an online shop. You will have to invest in an e-commerce website to establish your online presence and widen your customer base.
An e-commerce website requires one thing to go live: a website host. Website hosting provides a server for your website, allowing it to connect to the internet and become accessible to others.
You are buying the right to operate an unused server space of someone else for any agenda you have (e.g. video sharing platform, search engine, online shop). At the same time, you are also receiving support from a website hosting provider that knows how to keep servers safe and optimised.
If online shops use a normal hosting provider, chances are they will face challenges with their e-commerce website due to a lack of e-commerce-related features. What is an e-commerce website hosting provider? It is like a normal hosting provider, but it offers plugins, apps, and tools for e-commerce websites to make the e-commerce operation process easier.
Before you can choose an e-commerce website hosting provider, there are two options you have to consider: unmanaged website hosting versus managed website hosting. The following will explain the difference between a normal hosting provider and an e-commerce website hosting builder.
Unmanaged Website Hosting Versus Managed Website Hosting
| UNMANAGED WEBSITE HOSTING | UNMANAGED WEBSITE HOSTING VS MANAGED WEBSITE HOSTING | MANAGED WEBSITE HOSTING |
|---|---|---|
| Not required, can be added | cPanel/WHM Licence | Required |
| Not Included | cPanel/WHM Installation | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Server Security Hardening | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Server Performance Optimization | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Website Migrations | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Software & Kernel Upgrades | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Common Issues Support | Included & Supported |
| Not Included | Software Configuration | Included & Supported |
In short, for hassle-free management of your online shop, choose managed website hosting. Since they include and support almost everything you need, you can rest assured that your e-commerce website will be up and running.
The only difference between standard website hosting and e-commerce website hosting is that the latter is more catered for the online store features since it has all the e-commerce website themes, apps, and plugins. All of these are part of the e-commerce website plans they offer.
Shown below is the difference between e-commerce website hosting and normal website hosting with the features and plugins used in both e-commerce websites are different.
E-commerce website hosting can showcase more of what it can offer overtime. Online shop owners can add more product categories that they plan to sell on their e-commerce websites. On the other hand, normal website hosting is only suitable for businesses with standard and consistent products and services.
The GIF is an example of an e-commerce business using WooCommerce, an e-commerce website hosting builder.
The GIF is an example of an e-commerce business using a normal hosting platform.
An e-commerce website is the most complex type of website to develop and manage, so it is important to host an online shop with proper e-commerce website hosting to strategically revamp your website and nudge the customers to make a purchase.
Read through this article to further understand the benefits of website hosting for an e-commerce website.
9 Benefits Of Website Hosting For An E-Commerce Website
| 9 Benefits Of Website Hosting For An E-Commerce Website |
|---|
| Support High Performance |
| Large Bandwidth And File Storage |
| Strong Database Performance Potential |
| Dedicated Technical Support Team |
| Strong Security Capabilities |
| Branded Email Address |
| Offers Data Recovery |
| Allow Remote And Easy Data Access |
| Develop SEO Capabilities |
1. Support High Performance
Your first concern for your online shop will be finding a e-commerce website hosting platform that offers fast loading speed and performance. If your e-commerce website takes longer than 3 seconds, 53% of visitors will abandon it, which means a loss of potential conversions.
An online shop that uses standard website hosting will frequently experience loading time slowdowns and, in extreme cases, crashes because it lacks sufficient support for the e-commerce infrastructure data that an e-commerce business requires.
The good news is that there is an e-commerce website hosting builder like WooCommerce that can handle the needs of online shops. They offer a scalable and customisable platform, so owners of online shops can use it with ease.
2. Large Bandwidth and File Storage
E-commerce websites consume a lot of file space and are also the type of website that receives the most traffic. You will need an e-commerce website hosting provider with enough resources for you to avoid paying for extra storage.
Images and videos are a vital part of any website’s design, and you will need a lot of them to showcase your products and services more effectively. E-commerce websites, in particular, consume a lot of storage space. Every product uploaded will require multiple high-resolution images or short videos, and once your store grows large enough, chances are you will most likely track where all your file space has gone.
An e-commerce website hosting builder can resolve that since they often offer large bandwidth and file storage options.
3. Strong Database Performance Potential
The traffic coming to an e-commerce website can be unpredictable since many factors come into play. Apart from holidays, new trends can also be a factor. For example, online sales of grocery purchases increased by up to 25% within two weeks since the news of COVID-19 spreading across the world broke out last March 2020.
With this sudden surge in traffic, online shop owners should choose a hosting platform with scalable data performance. There will be little to no downtime when consumers start to go to your e-commerce website and make an online purchase.
WooCommerce offers various scalable hosting plans to support the possible growing demands of an online shop.
4. Dedicated Technical Support Team
Even though e-commerce website hosting builders offer a high-performance platform, the chance of experiencing technical issues is still possible, which is why you need to choose the ones providing proactive support.
Working with a reliable website hosting platform with a support team means there will be a group of e-commerce website development experts that will be helping you when technical issues arise on your e-commerce website hosting platform.
Let’s say there is an issue regarding bandwidth for your e-commerce website, your hired website development company would need to reach out to the hosting platform company so they can resolve the issue together.
5. Strong Security Capabilities
Apart from technical issues, hackers often target e-commerce websites to steal sensitive data. If an e-commerce website has poor security measures, it increases the chances of a cyberattack on your website.
That is where regular website maintenance and website security checks will come in. An e-commerce website hosting builder should have constant security updates and bug fixes on their website server. A lack of security on the part of your website hosting provider can also put your e-commerce website at risk, including your customers.
Choose an e-commerce website hosting builder that offers full security checks. To guarantee this, make sure the website host has a hacker-free policy and offers routine website maintenance for security updates and bug fixes. If they have this document, consider reading through the entire file to know what areas the e-commerce website hosting builder will cover.
6. Offers Data Recovery
Information is power, especially in the e-commerce industry. Online shop owners can use the information to create more engaging digital marketing campaigns to attract and encourage customers to purchase. The problem, however, is that data loss is common, and it can happen due to various reasons, such as hardware malfunction, human error or even natural disasters.
E-commerce website hosting platforms are prepared for these unfortunate data loss situations, so they offer data recovery. Online shop owners can recover data saved on their system, so they would no longer start from scratch in collecting customers’ data, let alone gaining their customers’ trust again.
7. Branded Website Address
All well-known brands with e-commerce websites have dedicated website address, which help increase the credibility of their businesses. Try to place yourself in a customer’s shoes. Would you consider reaching out to an online shop if they have a website url address that is different from their brand name? Many potential customers would think twice before browsing through the website pages, let alone purchasing from the website.
The good news is that many e-commerce website hosting platforms provide dedicated website address, allowing the online shop owner to set up an email address with their online shop’s domain name. Here is an example of a branded website address from SHEIN, a Chinese fast fashion online retailer.
Most customers expect a legitimate online shop to have a branded website address, like SHEIN. It can also boost brand awareness across all of your communications.
8. Allow Remote And Easy Data Access
Another benefit of e-commerce website hosting is that it allows remote and easy data access. No matter where you and your employees are, you can manage your online shop and update its content as long as they are supported by an e-commerce website hosting builder.
For instance, if your e-commerce website is properly hosted and has dedicated features for e-commerce business owners, they can depend on its system to assist them in stock checking without manually updating the stocks.
Furthermore, it updates the sales figures. If the e-commerce website hosting platform is designed for e-commerce, businesses can work with their website developers to install plugins to ease their operations. Together, they can add more website features that aid in delivery automation. Collect consumer information and send it to the preferred delivery service to make delivery arrangements.
9. Develop SEO Capabilities
Unlike regular website hosting platforms, e-commerce website hosting comes with many SEO capabilities. Online shop owners can develop and improve their SEO strategies so their e-commerce website will rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and more potential customers will come across their products online.
- Page Speed
It’s more difficult for search engine crawlers to navigate a badly hosted e-commerce website with extraneous scripts and bloated code. As mentioned above, website visitors will most likely leave and look for another online shop that offers the same thing. In that case, engage with a website development agency so they can work together with your chosen e-commerce website hosting provider to improve the page speed of your e-commerce website.
- Server Downtime
It can happen because of unexpected hardware failure or routine website maintenance. Whatever the reason is, server downtime can negatively affect your SEO, especially when search engine bots try to crawl through your website pages when the server is down.
Search engine bots might de-index your e-commerce website temporarily, which can impact your ranking on SERPs. The only way to prevent this is to rely on an e-commerce website hosting with an uptime guarantee and work with a website development company that specialises in SEO.
- Location
It would be best if your e-commerce website hosting provider is in the same location as you since they can provide better page speed. They can also provide you with a dedicated website address that indicates your country’s extension (e.g., SG). Search engines will help geotarget your e-commerce website countries, which indirectly improves your local SEO.
Summing Up
Too many new e-commerce websites suffer from the same issue: a lousy website host causes slow loading times, poor security, and a lack of support. Starting with a low-cost shared e-commerce website host in Singapore may appear to be a good deal, but the negative impact on your bottom line is not worth it.
When choosing an e-commerce website hosting company, seek one that can scale to meet your business’s needs and offers both high-quality and economical options. Alternatively, if you’re just starting your e-commerce business, you may also consider taking up an Ecommerce Course to better understand the processes and the best go-to-market strategies for your business.
For more information about e-commerce website design and hosting, reach out to OOm at 6391-0930 or leave a message on our website. Our e-commerce website development team will be more than glad to help you understand what you need to know.
