You do no need to reinvent the wheel to launch an online store nowadays. There are great E-commerce Solutions For Retailers. The whole thing should not be a rocket science – to be successful you need to find the right tools within your managed hosting. From self-managed e-commerce site builders to online merchant services, there are plenty of available e-commerce resources. These tools allow you to start your online business easier than ever. If you always wanted to go online, do it now. It can be difficult to deal with all the offers, that is why we decided to discuss the main solutions you need to get started.
First of all, you need to decide on whether to have a managed hosting or to manage it yourself.
E-commerce Solutions For Retailers: Here are the key benefits of using managed e-commerce hosting solutions:
- Time (it usually takes a couple of days to set up a store);
- Resources (you do not need to hire developers or know how to code yourself);
- Help (there is always a support team to help you on each stage of your online experience);
- Website management (hosting company is usually responsible for a full set of services, including security, coding, uptime etc.)
E-commerce Solutions For Retailers: The basic package of a managed e-commerce hosting usually include:
- Setup of a new store or migration to another (new) system
- Upgrade of an existing system and security software
- Uptime warranty and speed optimization
- Built-in supported e-commerce system (Magento)
- Built-in shopping-cart
- 24/7 technical support
E-commerce Solutions For Retailers: What other features should you look for?
- Look whether your hosting company has base commercial applications available – it will allow you to save money, customizing those applications to your need, instead of creating a new system each time you will launch a new project. Such approach will save up to a half of your budget.
- Look whether it is possible to start with the basic package and upgrade with the increase of the traffic to your website.
- Look whether the site-builder is available, so that you can create your unique user-friendly design. If such option is not included, ask whether the company can provide you with free templates and the help of third-party professional designers.
- Look whether the company optimizes the site’s code for search engines.
- Look what options for shopping-cart are available – the good new tool is an X-cart, that allows you to have a full access to the templates, database and codes.
- Look whether the system is integrated with popular shipping carriers and payment gateways.
- Look whether the mobile-optimized version of the website is available.
- Look whether marketing tools are available (i.e. Google feed, coupons, banners etc.)
- Look whether the system can be connected with social media and whether it is possible to sell directly from social media (e.g. Facebook or Pinterest)
- Look whether it is possible to automatically add new products from an Excel file or save the list of consumers to a third-party database.
- Look whether analytics tools are available.
Of course, you may find out that several companies offer very similar packages of services for E-commerce solutions for retailers. in that case look on how flexible the company is in terms of changes and what are the price offers.
Another difficulty may arise from choosing a type of hosting (shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud). Read the article Which Hosting Services Should I Use? to find out what is the difference and which type of hosting fits the best to your business objectives.
E-commerce solutions for retailers Conclusion
It’s no longer a secret that the global Internet sales are increasing steadily year by year. Currently, online trading is already a little more than 5% of world trade. Just imagine, one in twenty dollar spent on purchases is spent online. This situation is simply forcing the owners of not only large, but also medium and small businesses to go with their products and services to the Global Network (the Internet). And here the question arises: how to get to the e-commerce market? One of the main components of this issue is the choice of platform for the future online store. And among all the platforms available, how to determine which one is more suited to the specific needs?
Your e-commerce business is unique as you are. Whether you sell services, products or intelligence property you need an e-commerce solution that will fit your needs and requirements and help you to get profit from your business. In this article, we tried to describe the main software features you need to choose the right platform and build your business online.
