Ecommerce is booming! And don’t just take our word for it – revenue from sales are expected to reach close to 3.5 trillion dollars in 2019. With 1.9 billion people anticipated to complete an online purchase during the year, you simply can’t go wrong by starting to sell your products or services online. If you possess the entrepreneurial spirit than starting your own ecommerce website is a popular choice.
Do you need specialized ecommerce hosting?
The two main things that hosting providers can do for your online shop is speed and reliability. And these are not to be underestimated. If it directly affects your site’s load speed and overall availability than it is an important choice you have to make. In times where even just a second delay in page load speed reduces conversions by 7% than hosting has a great role to play in this ever-expanding environment of quick shoppers and many shops to buy from.
With higher resources come greater speed and guarantee that the store will be able to take on higher amounts of traffic. When it comes to options, shared hosting and VPS are the services most suitable for running a successful ecommerce website. If you are a small store with a limited amount of products and you are just starting in the world of online shopping than shared hosting will do the work for you. Bigger plans are sure to pass the test of the higher traffic that comes with the initial buzz.
For most high-profit stores, however, it is recommended to not rely on the shared infrastructure that comes with any shared hosting plan. VPS hosting instead, with better resources and stronger security levels, is what most successful businesses rely on. Make sure that the hosting provider has good support that is ready to help you at any time of the day. Nowadays, it is incredibly fast to start a new website – now let’s see the available options for a platform.
Platforms to run the online store on
For us, the race comes down to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. Shopify is widely considered to be the best all-around ecommerce platform on the market. With templates to choose from and the easiness to add products and control the platform, Shopify is a powerful tool that can help you make your store a success.
WooCommerce is the free WordPress plugin that turns your WordPress site into an online store. It is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms mainly because it is free and because of its easy integration with everyone’s favorite WordPress. WooCommerce includes its own secure payment processor and a shopping cart.
Magento is a scalable open-source platform. Even the enterprise-level companies rely on Magento because of its user-friendly admin area, variety of extensions, and customization options. This platform, however, has the biggest learning curve and requires technical abilities to get the most out of it.
Ecommerce trends and tips for a successful online shop
Okay, you have chosen the right ecommerce hosting option and a platform to run the shop on. Now let’s look at some tips that if you keep in mind, might come a long way and prove crucial for the success of your online store.
- Mobile ecommerce is expected to reach 2.3 trillion dollars in 2019. This, however, doesn’t mean that mobile shopping is the most preferred – desktop still leads the way.
- Develop a marketing plan. Start marketing your store before it launches and create buzz with the help of channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. If you can build a mailing list before the official launch and give a special offer for first-time buyers then you are sure to have customers knocking on the door since Day 1.
- Try making product videos. This is guaranteed to boost your sales. A short product demonstration is a very good way to create demand.
- If you can afford it, offer free delivery – it is the silent factor that influences the decision-making process.
- The majority of buyers firmly believe that they will strike on a better deal if they shop online, rather than in physical stores. Give them that special deal!
- Make sure that your customers can purchase from your store with their preferred payment method. Integrate them all into your store.
- Deliver a website that is well optimized and is loading the pages fast. Optimized ecommerce hosting has a lot to do with that but so do you. Read our 5 tips to improve your website speed.
Excited to start your new business venture into the unknown…or, in this case, the online world? You are just a few steps away from doing it. It is easier than ever with good ecommerce hosting and the appropriate platform. So load up your online shelves with products and start selling!
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