What is an Ecommerce Website?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
An ecommerce website allows you to sell products and services online. Think of it as the digital equivalent of a small shop or a big shopping mall.<\/p>
The products sold on ecommerce stores can be both physical or digital.\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Physical products<\/strong>, even though paid online, will still require shipping to get the customers. On the other hand, you can send digital products<\/strong> electronically once payment is received. This kind of flexibility allows pretty much every entrepreneur to get their goods in front of a wide audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond that, online stores also allow the use of various business models<\/strong>. For example, in dropshipping, online store owners don\u2019t even need to hold an active inventory but simply act as intermediaries between customer and supplier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Irrespective of your business model, there can be many types of online shops. In some cases, there may even be overlapping of different categories. Some major types of online shops include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brand store is generally the property of a single product brand or company. These online stores almost often act as a brand portfolio showcase<\/strong>, allowing them to feature their latest product collections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Goods sold on brand stores will often closely follow the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)<\/strong>. Examples of online brand Stores are nike.com<\/em>, apple.com<\/em>, and starbucks.com<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to the increasing ecommerce popularity, many online stores today fall into this category. Modern technology today easily supports the effortless creation of small online stores<\/strong>. This has allowed individuals to start their own ecommerce business even without any previous experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Single Seller Stores can sell products from either one or many brands. The difference between them and brand stores lies primarily in ownership<\/strong>. Single Seller shops are generally free to price products<\/strong> and select the range of items sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Businesses representing several brands<\/strong> can also build ecommerce sites to cover their entire product portfolio. For instance, an online retailer may sell products from Levis, American Eagle, Timberland, <\/strong>and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These retailers will usually have extensive collections for a few select brands and categories. Some good examples of online retailers include harveynorman.com<\/em>, <\/strong>bestbuy.com<\/em>, <\/strong>and walmart.com<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another increasingly popular concept is the digital marketplace. These are the cyberspace equivalent of shopping malls<\/strong> that house many different sellers, offering a wide variety of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon.com<\/em> is one of the pioneers in this medium, but the current market has many new additions. Some like eBay <\/strong>follow Amazon globally, while others such as Tmall<\/em> and Shopee<\/em> have a more regional focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although ecommerce shops can have unique needs, several critical factors play an essential role in your web hosting choice. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your website loading speeds play a crucial role in getting visitor traffic. Search engines like Google fancy websites that load quickly to recommend them to potential visitors. When we are talking about ecommerce sites, this flow of organic traffic can be the difference between success and failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although many factors contribute to how quickly online stores load, many overlook the role of the web hosting provider. Make sure to find a proven and reliable host to avoid performance issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping your online shop and its visitors safe is very important. Aside from potential brand damage,<\/strong> if your store gets hacked, you may be subject to legal scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some providers may have partnerships with leading cybersecurity companies to protect their web servers, while others offer advanced security options<\/strong><\/a> to customers. Make sure you’re covered from all sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to the many dynamic sections in an online store, owners need to be clear on which features they need to run their store. This is especially true if you have more unique requirements, such as using a specific database type <\/strong>or application environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n An ideal hosting solution for online stores should be agile enough to adapt to various needs<\/strong>. At the same time, the right feature\/cost ratio<\/strong> needs to be maintained. Hosting prices can get high, especially in the long run, so avoid overpaying for features you likely never use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Online stores often display many products dynamically<\/strong>. At the same time, the ability to handle large traffic volumes is necessary. All this means that sufficient resources need to be available on demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CPU, memory, storage space, <\/strong>and bandwidth<\/strong> factor in your online shop\u2019s success. If you fail to allocate enough resources, ecommerce sites may fail or perform erratically. Once this happens, customers will quickly lose confidence in your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re building your online store, the focus will naturally be on selling your products. Customer support from the hosting provider should always sit at the back of your mind.<\/p>\n Remember, though, things inevitably break sometimes. <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n When that happens to your ecommerce store, you will need a fast and responsive support team from your host to make things right. Take note of what support channels<\/strong> the hosting provider offers. Some may have a broad spectrum of ways to get help – live chat<\/strong>, phone<\/strong>, tickets<\/strong>, forums<\/strong>, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shared hosting is often the first type of web hosting that comes to people\u2019s minds. This type of hosting is readily available<\/strong> and usually at low prices<\/strong>. While this may seem difficult to resist, shared hosting is seldom very suitable in the context of online shops.<\/p>\n Here’s why.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n The underlying characteristics of shared hosting make it very difficult to recommend for ecommerce websites. Let\u2019s examine some of the pros and cons of this type of deal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, there are some cases where you can consider shared hosting for online shops.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re starting a brand new store, launching it on a shared server can save some money on hosting costs at the beginning<\/strong>. As your traffic volume grows – you can migrate your site towards better web hosting plans.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtual Private Servers (VPS) <\/em><\/strong>solve most of the problems related to shared hosting. Part of this is a much lower volume of users on one server, and another part comes from the isolated account environment.<\/p> But what if you don’t know how to manage your own virtual server?<\/p> That\u2019s where Managed VPS hosting<\/a> comes in.\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Managed VPS plans offer all the benefits of owning a server without the need to be a technical wizard. In this type of hosting, the host takes on the responsibility for your account’s technical management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All you need to do is build your online shop and promote it to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VPS is an ideal solution for online stores in so many ways. Let’s check some of its benefits but the drawbacks as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, the advantages that a VPS offers to online shops are quite significant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n ScalaHosting offers a wide range of plans, but our Managed VPS solutions are particularly beneficial for online shops. Here are some of the reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\nTypes of Online Shops<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Brand Store<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Shared](\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Levis.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSingle Seller Stores<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOnline Retailers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDigital Marketplaces<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow to Choose Web Hosting for Online Shops?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Speed and Reliability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Security<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Customer Support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Shared Hosting for Online Shops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Advantages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Disadvantages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Managed VPS Hosting for Online Shops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Advantages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Disadvantages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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ScalaHosting and Ecommerce Websites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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