When developing your plans to launch on online store, one of the first decisions you will have to make is choosing an e-commerce web hosting provider. Because your site will be accepting online orders from customers, there are some tools that an e-commerce solution can provide beyond those services of a standard web hosting provider.
A good e-commerce provider will be able to handle all of the back-end programming that you’ll need to start selling online. The company you select should be able to help you organize your product catalog, provide a database of shipping information, and track customer orders.
There are some basic tools that any e-commerce provider should offer:
- Acceptance of Online Payments: Accepting credit cards is becoming standard practice for online merchants, and more customers expect to be able to pay for products this way. When choosing a provider, make sure it has credit card processing services in place, or that it can help you set up a merchant account with your bank or another financial institution.
- Shopping Cart and Checkout Pages: Shoppingcart pages allow customers to select products, review them for purchase, and get final pricing information. Once customers leave the shopping cart page to check out, the checkout page should automatically calculate shipping, taxes, and any other information (such as discounts or gift certificates) needed to finalize sales. Choose a provider that offers intuitive shopping cart and checkout pages — the easier these are for your customers to use, the fewer carts will be abandoned during the checkout process, and the more money you’ll make online.
- Order Management System: An e-commerce provider should offer the functionality to easily view, approve, and process your customer’s order information.
- Product Catalog Tools: You’ll need a system that helps you manage your inventory of products and organize your products into pre-defined categories.
In addition to the specific tools needed to run an online store, an e-commerce provider should also provide the basic features of a web hosting provider. Here are the options that you should look at when making your selection:
Cost: Most e-commerce providers charge both a start-up fee and a monthly service fee. In addition, providers often charge a transaction fee that is applied to each transaction processed through your online store.
Disk Space: Make sure that you have enough disk space to accommodate your current web site content as well as the expansions you expect down the road. Most sites use less than 5MB of web space, but depending on your use of pictures, graphics, Flash, or multimedia files, you might need more. Ask how much space is included and how much extra space will cost should you need it.
Bandwidth: Bandwidth refers to the number of bytes transferred from your site to visitors when they browse your site. The higher the bandwidth, the faster your pages will load, making the browsing experience better for your visitors. Be sure that the host you choose specifies exactly how much traffic it will allow. Most new sites require less than 3GB of bandwidth per month.
Domain Names: Your e-commerce provider may offer you free registration for your domain name. If you need more than one domain name – one for your home page and one used to promote specific products, for example – ask if there will be an extra fee.
Email Address: Most hosts offer at least one email address associated with your site. Make sure you can get several email accounts to accommodate your current and future employees as well as addresses that are dedicated to support and information, for example, info@yourcompany.com or support@yourcompany.com.
Security: To ensure a reliable and secure shopping experience for your customers, you’ll need a secure server (often called an SSL server). There may be an additional fee for secure service, but it will pay off in the long run because many customers won’t make a purchase or submit their personal information from an unsecured site.
Sales and Activity Reports: Sales reports provide you with information on your order totals, revenue generated, average order size, and inventory levels. Activity or access reports can include information on the number of visitors to your site, which pages were viewed the most, how long users viewed each page, and how users found your site. Find out exactly what information will be provided and how often you’ll receive updated reports.
Support: Find out how service and support will be provided. Ask if calls are toll-free, and see how long you can expect to wait for a response to any calls or emails. Ask if customer service is free, and because your web site will function 24 hours a day, make sure you have access to support at any hour.
Keep the reliability of your service provider in mind because your company’s reputation and your financial transactions will rely heavily on the company you choose. Finding the right e-commerce provider can make the transition to selling your products online an easy one. Make sure to choose one that matches up well with your business and suits your needs – taking the time to do so will pay off in the end.
Article taken from Yahoo!
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-article-a-6676-m-3-sc-17-choosing_an_ecommerce_provider-i
