A Quick Guide on Choosing the Best eCommerce Web Hosting Providers in 2020

In the digital era, eCommerce web hosting is the talk of the town. Nowadays, businesses have gone online for several reasons. One of those reasons is accessibility. Companies have turned their small business into online stores where you can buy anything you want. If you are in this field, you know how difficult it is to pick the top eCommerce hosting provider. But, not all these hosting providers suit your business. To give your clients a great experience, you would need a trusted provider.

In this post, we will compare providers that are among the leading eCommerce hosting services. We based our list on their performance, customer support, safety, and the features that they provide. We will assist you in selecting the best eCommerce hosting provider.

What is eCommerce Hosting?

eCommerce hosting is a web hosting platform that acts as an electronic commerce website. It is a platform where people purchase products or services. In simpler terms, it is a sort of online store. eCommerce hosting performs several functions needed to run a commercial website. It relatively does more than the typical web hosting. These functions include a shopping option, SSL certificates, and payment processing services. Plus, it has reliable website security programs. It is a hosting type that provides everything needed to operate an eCommerce business successfully.

There are several eCommerce hosting providers to choose from in the market today. The perfect fit for you varies on what your goal is. You must consider web traffic, sales volume, and website size. You must think about the appropriate hosting solutions and budget. When your potential source of income is dependent on your website, it is imperative to plan. Start the whole process by choosing the right eCommerce hosting service provider to give you the best option. 

Why Is Getting the Best eCommerce Web Hosting Important?

It is important to get the best provider because your website will be the primary tool for running your business. Today, eCommerce has become a profitable channel for retailers and business enthusiasts. But the quality of the hosting services that many businesses use has lots of room for improvement. Since eCommerce hosting is an online-based platform, you need to invest in your website. In setting up your business website, you should take a lot of factors into consideration.

• One of these factors is the visual appeal. You want to make sure that your eCommerce web hosting provider offers you an appealing look. Your site should suit your taste and unique brand. It would be best if you strive to have a pleasing site. This is to ensure that you attract more customers and make them stay longer.
• Hosting for eCommerce entails that the page loading capacity must be efficient. Users tend to leave a site when it takes a long time just to wait. Humans are naturally impatient; that is why it is important to serve them efficiently.
• It should also not be prone to constant maintenance to avoid losing customers. If a page does not become accessible for long periods, consumers tend to forget visiting it eventually.
• An eCommerce site must also have tight security to prevent hacking or theft. People are more drawn to trust your site if you can assure them that their privacy and data will not be compromised.

These are just some factors that must be considered when planning to enter the eCommerce Web Hosting world. Your site serves as the medium for the world to see your business. That is why you must ensure that you showcase what you are offering the public in the best way. 

Read how to host your own website here.

Features You Have to Consider for an eCommerce Hosting Plan

While researching for the top web hosting eCommerce provider, you must be critical and not just pick one based on performance. You also have to see if the provider provides features that are specific to your e-commerce needs. You have to remember that your site's uptime is critical, and you cannot afford it to crash for even a short period. 

We have made a list of more technical vital features that are important when planning to enter the eCommerce business. While deciding on the top hosting with eCommerce provider that fits your store needs, you must search for these essential points:

• SSL Certificates

SSL or Secure Socket Layer certificates are digital certificates. They provide safe and encrypted communications between an online browser and a website. These certificates are usually required when the end-user seeks to submit confidential information. These kinds of information include credit card matters or passwords online.

These certificates are necessary. If data is transferred in a non-encrypted or text format, it may be intercepted. It may also be compromised or stolen, which can be used for fraudulent activities or even purchases. Also, the presence of SSL certificates makes a website trustworthy. Online sellers and institutions need to secure their sites using these certificates. They have to this if they want their clients to leave with confidential information and make online payments. 

• PCI Compliance

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard applies to an institution of any size that accepts credit card payments. The hosting provider must be PCI compliant if they permit card payments and store or transact your data. The host should offer several layers of security, and that incorporate both virtual and physical safety systems. 

When we talk about virtual security, identity verification and password storage are covered. On the other hand, physical security involves storage locks, networking, server, and restricted access to your data. 

• Customer Support

If your website crashes, it will cost you a significant amount of profits. In case of a setback, you need to get help immediately. It would be beneficial for you to team up with a provider that offers 24/7 customer support, so help is available whenever needed. 

But you should also look at consumer reviews or forums to find out which provider provides better service and if there is a waiting period. Also, if they do not have excellent support staff, having a 24/7 service would be useless.

• Dedicated IP

A dedicated IP is designed primarily for your websites and hosting accounts. Utilizing a dedicated IP means complete access to your website, regardless of where the DNS is set up. This case suggests that you can access or configure your website using a browser. It also gives heightened speed and increased security, especially when there is a high traffic load.

Having a dedicated IP is also beneficial for the reputation of the email sender. This is because having one IP would isolate your email from the consequences of abuse. Similarly, it provides greater security for your customer's data if you are not going to use a third-party to handle payments.

• CDNs (Content Distribution Network)

A CDN looks for a copy of your media assets on the closest server to the user whenever someone would visit your page. These systems temporarily store a copy of your images, videos, style sheets, and JavaScript files on a global network of servers. These networks mostly make your website faster. They also reduce the number of requests sent to your server; thus, increasing the number of shoppers your site can handle.

• Database Throttling

Before committing to any eCommerce web hosting provider, it is necessary to inquire about any database throttling or limiting. Throttled data transfer or data transfer throttling is the intentional regulation of the data transfer rate in a system. Data transfer throttling can be utilized in any case where it is necessary to limit the amount of data that can be received or sent.

• Caching 

Caching is a process where your server stores a temporary copy of a page that does not usually change. It uses this cache to serve future requests. It helps you save essential server resources and allows you to serve more pages faster. Most eCommerce web hosting platforms come with a built-in caching system or through an extension. Caching is essential, especially if your venture is primarily an online store. It is necessary to ask your hosting provider if they can help with caching. A failure in monitoring or storage can crash your website.

• Ecommerce Hosting Server Location

Data travels very fast through fiber optic cables. But it becomes slow if your customer base is in a different country to where your server is located. Make sure you know which country it will be hosted in. So that you will be assured of faster delivery, transaction processing, and rendering of services. 

1. A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting provides eCommerce-specific qualities for all its hosting plans. Regardless of whatever you choose from shared, VPS, or dedicated plans, you will always have a selection specifically catered to your very own online store. A2 is the best choice for you if you value security and customer service, above all else. 

Pros

• A2 Hosting solutions have servers with load page speeds up to 20x faster than most servers making it their prized edge over the competition.
• Helpful features such as SSD storage, SSL certificates, and unlimited disk space are also offered.
• With an uptime of 99.95%, A2 ensures that you will experience excellent performance.
• A2 Hosting's customer support is an outstanding feature that is available 24/7 via phone and live chat.
• For security, the free SSL certificate included with every plan guarantees that your store will be safe.

Cons

• Although it has good uptime, competitors have a better uptime percentage
• The homepage is crowded which makes the sign-up process slightly hard and complicated

Pricing

• With A2 Hosting, you can select VPS, shared, and dedicated hosting for your online store. This would enable you to avail eCommerce hosting for as little as $3.92 per month on shared hosting plans.
• For the faster Turbo Server option from A2 Hosting, you need to be on at least the $9.31 monthly Turbo shared hosting plan. As your site grows and your store earns more, you can quickly shift to higher edged plans for more optimized web performance.

2. SiteGround

SiteGround has the best selection for their eCommerce platform features. It is also a practical choice for an average-size store. It is the perfect option if you want to see the best performance out of your money. On top of its decent bandwidth, SiteGround provides features you cannot find anywhere else.

Pros

• SiteGround's eCommerce plans are backed with auto-installation, free shopping carts, SSL certificates, free eShop transfer, and an eCommerce Optimized Server.
• They also utilize CDNs (Content Discovery Networks) to improve site speed and performance.
• With unprecedented scalability of its data transfer operations, SiteGround promises quality performance.
• Its multiple servers strategically located across three continents entail better speed for all their customers.
• SiteGround's uptime guarantee is around 99.98%. This uptime converts to approximately one hour and 45 minutes of downtime per year. It also has an impressively wide array of several other features.
• SiteGround's hosting solutions offer a knowledge base and 24/7 live chat and phone support for whatever concerns their users need.
• SiteGround also provides a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.
•  They also offer advanced spam protection at no extra expense, which provides a filter for email messages. In short, SiteGround's huge supply of features even extends to its security offerings.

Cons

• Compared to competing providers, their packages are more expensive.

Pricing

Siteground's hosting solutions are an excellent choice to consider if you have created your store using WordPress' WooCommerce plugin since prices start at just $3.95 per month. However, there are three price plans to choose from:

• The StartUp shared hosting plan is SiteGround's most affordable plan. This plan is packed with eCommerce web capabilities. This is very suitable for startups and budding small-scale businesses with no extra budget
• The GrowBig plan, on the other hand, is poised at $5.95 per month
• Meanwhile, the GoGeek plan is at $11.95 per month.

Both the GrowBig and GoGeek plans promise PCI compliant servers, SuperCacher for faster web speeds, and more expandable web features. Furthermore, when you sign up for any SiteGround plan, you are entitled to a 30-day money-back guarantee.

5. HostGator

HostGator is considerably one of the leading WordPress hosting providers. It is also the best web host choice for customer support. Their reliable customer service, impressive uptime, and features put them in front of most of their competitors. With over 8 million domains around the world, HostGator is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Pros

• HostGator, one of the leading eCommerce host, has plans that come with several features. These include unmetered file transfer protocol accounts, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited email accounts. It also has a free domain for your website, which you can use for the first year.
• HostGator also provides an impressive 99.99% web uptime and just an hour of downtime per year, which ensures a fast page load.
• HostGator's customer support services offer 24/7 live chat and phone service. This was designed to help the needs of their partner stores.
• HostGator also provides 24/7 server monitoring, a free SSL certificate, and flood protection to prevent malware attacks.
• The Business plan has a private SSL certificate to improve your site's security.

Cons

• Their plans are relatively higher than other competing service providers
• Their website design and control panel are not as updated as other hosted eCommerce providers. This may result in the sign-up process being unappealing for some.

Pricing

HostGator offers shared, WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting plans.  

• Their eCommerce Business shared plan starts at $5.95 per and includes a dedicated SSL and IP address. It also enables shopping carts and payment gateways for your online stores.
• HostGator also offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.

Your choice of eCommerce web host will have substantial repercussions throughout the lifetime of your stores. Your host can affect your store website's performance, security, and quality of support. If you follow your gut using our comprehensive listing of our top service providers, you are bound to choose your store or business venture.

Also check our free web hosting for students.

Make the Right Move

A hosted eCommerce platform must be present to keep up with the growing needs of consumers, especially with the rise of several online stores. Today, web hosts compete to be called the best eCommerce website and attract massive patronage from people who aspire to put their businesses and stores out into the world.

But making that choice is not that easy. You have several things to consider to materialize your dreams of building your very own online store. But you should always remember that your brand identity will set you apart from a competing hosted eCommerce platform.

Choose a selection of web hosts and trim your choices to the best of the best. Let your online store make its mark in the market. Make the right move and choose the best eCommerce Web Hosting provider today. But don't worry if you get lost along the way.

Comment your questions or thoughts below and let our global community of readers share their insights with you! You don't have to enter the world of eCommerce web hosting all alone. We are here for you.