Ecommerce Hosting Built to Keep Your Store Selling

Slow checkout pages are something an online retailer simply cannot tolerate, since a page that slows down by just a couple of seconds could mean losing sales and therefore money. This is where ecommerce hosting comes into play, taking into account the unique challenges that arise when running a storefront on a server.

The following sections explore what distinguishes a true ecommerce hosting plan from one which simply offers better prices, and what platforms such hosting needs to support.

Why Online Stores Need a Different Setup

The typical website hosts mainly static information. An online store always receives product information, handles transactions, and processes changes to cart items, which adds extra load to the server compared to that placed by a blog or an informational website. The hosting for an online store has been developed taking into consideration such a load, often providing larger amounts of resources for each particular user.

All these issues become especially obvious when it comes to peak periods and promotions, when the usual package of services slows down at the crucial moment.

Matching Hosting to Your Platform

This is because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, hence WooCommerce hosting should take into consideration the base WordPress software as well as the additional burden placed on the database by the catalog of products and cart sessions. However, the process of hosting for Shopify will differ from that of the others due to the fact that Shopify owns their servers and thus a Shopify hosting plan is really a Shopify subscription tier rather than a separate hosting product. Magento hosting requires more server power than the other two, since Magento is a heavier platform by design, built for larger catalogs and more complex storefronts.

What a Reliable Store Setup Actually Needs

Uptime and Speed under Load

Fast ecommerce hosting becomes particularly important when it counts the most — during a new product release, holiday discounts, or a viral mention of a store. In addition to affecting the patience of visitors, speed becomes critical in terms of completion of the payment process, which is where carts tend to be abandoned.

Payment and Data Security

SSL is essential for ecommerce hosting when a store deals with credit card data for even a moment until the payment processor takes over. Secure ecommerce hosting goes further in most cases, offering firewalls tailored specifically for the attacks typical to storefronts, malware scans, and account isolation so that any breach on other parts of a shared server can't affect the checkout process.

Everyday Management

Ecommerce web hosting cPanel access is necessary for managing files, installing updates for a platform, and performing other administrative actions without having to go to a developer for help. This is typical for WooCommerce and custom-store hosting packages and less applicable to Shopify, where management is done using their own dashboard.

Planning for Growth

Ecommerce hosting "unlimited" claims are something that should be examined carefully, just like any other hosting package; this will often mean that there will be lots of storage and bandwidth available within the parameters of fair use, rather than literally no limits at all. When it comes to an ecommerce website, however, it becomes particularly important to verify this information.

Weighing Cost Against What a Store Actually Needs

Affordable ecommerce hosting can easily be found being marketed, but what really matters is what happens after the initial offer expires and when there is a sudden rush of traffic, not what is on the signup page. The best ecommerce hosting for any particular site does not necessarily mean the plan that costs the most money; rather, it means the plan that is compatible with the particular ecommerce platform.

What to Compare

Comparing ecommerce hosting providers on these points, rather than the advertised price alone, tends to surface which plans are actually built for a store versus which are a general hosting plan with "ecommerce" added to the marketing copy.