The global eCommerce market is expected to reach $7.9 trillion by 2027. As an entrepreneur, if you’re looking to enter this market, the timing couldn’t be better.
But there’s a catch: Despite this significant growth, the eCommerce market is not easy to crack into. It’s highly competitive, ever-changing, and extremely demanding.
You need a secure online store that allows customers to shop how they want to, at their convenience, and use their preferred online channels.
Your eCommerce features should be top-notch, including a secure payment gateway. Most importantly, you’ll need scalable web hosting during peak shopping times.
Not sure where to start? This guide will walk you through everything you need to set up a secure and scalable online store—from choosing the right web hosting to optimizing your site for success. Let’s get started!
What Is eCommerce Hosting?
E-commerce hosting is a specialized web hosting service that empowers your online store to run smoothly without breaking under pressure.
Online sellers leverage it to support their online store’s infrastructure, security, and performance requirements. It provides the necessary server resources, bandwidth, and software integrations to ensure secure transactions, fast page loads, and high availability.
Your website needs a strong foundation to handle traffic, process transactions, and keep customer data safe—all responsibilities of eCommerce hosting. Remember, a weak hosting setup slows down your store, makes it vulnerable to attacks, and creates a frustrating experience for shoppers.
What Makes a Strong eCommerce Hosting Solution?
A robust eCommerce hosting site includes:
1. Speed & Performance
Your hosting provider controls how fast your store loads—and how well it performs during high-traffic periods. If your site is slow to load, your customers will look away even before they reach checkout. That said, a strong hosting setup includes:
- High-speed storage for quick data access
- Optimized server configurations for smooth performance
- A global content delivery network (CDN) to load pages faster
2. Security & Data Protection
Your store processes payments and stores sensitive information that hackers are always on the lookout to steal. A secure hosting environment prevents attacks and protects your reputation. Look for:
- Encrypted connections to keep transactions safe
- 24×7 monitoring to detect and stop cyber threats
- Firewalls and malware scanning to block unauthorized access
3. Scalability & Growth Support
Your hosting should grow with your business. A small store might work on a basic plan, but more products and traffic demand stronger resources. A scalable hosting solution offers:
- Automatic resource expansion during high footfall
- Load balancing to prevent crashes during sales events
- Flexible plans that adjust as your business grows
4. Control & Customisation
Your hosting choice affects how much control you have over your store’s backend. Some providers manage updates and security for you. Others let you configure settings yourself. You must opt for a partner based on your contextual needs:
- Managed hosting for a hands-off experience with automatic updates
- Self-managed hosting for full control over settings and security
- Customizable environments to support unique store requirements
Setting Up an Online Store: Tips and Strategies
Customers love the convenience of online shopping, but they expect more than just an easy checkout. For instance, social media has emerged as an in-demand shopping platform, with 50.7% of customers shopping on Facebook today:
Additionally, fiercely protecting customer data and making it extra convenient for customers to shop are also factors in retaining loyal customers.
So, if you want to set up a secure online store, you need to view your store from all angles, be it security, infrastructure, user experience, speed, and more. Here are expert-approved tips worth looking into:
Tip #1: Prioritise the Right eCommerce Hosting Provider—One That Allows You to Scale Easily
Who This Helps: Entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and growing eCommerce brands that need a hosting plan that supports both their current traffic and future growth.
The first thing on your checklist should be selecting an eCommerce host that supports your growth. Your hosting provider should never be the reason your store struggles to scale.
You don’t need to overpay for resources you won’t use, but your hosting must handle your current traffic and have room for more as your business expands.
Otherwise, the wrong choice can force you to deal with slow speeds, downtime, and security risks instead of focusing on growing your store—never a good sign for an entrepreneur just starting out.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Can this hosting plan handle my busiest sales days without slowing down?
- If my traffic doubles next year, can my hosting plan handle it?
- Will my site slow down if I add more products, images, or customer accounts?
- Does this provider offer easy upgrades, or will I need to move to a different host later?
- What kind of customer support is available when I need help scaling up?
- Does it support the platform I’m using?
- Will it give me full control over my store, or does the provider handle updates and security?
Best Practices:
- Align Hosting to Your Business Size: A small boutique selling handmade products will have different needs than a store handling thousands of daily transactions, so choose the right hosting plan. Cloud and VPS hosting allow you to scale up resources when needed.
- Test Performance Under Load: Ask your provider how they handle traffic spikes and whether they use load balancing to distribute traffic.
- Consider Future Integrations: If you plan to add advanced features such as AI-driven recommendations or live chat, ensure your hosting can support them.
- Prioritize Uptime and Speed: If customers can’t access your site or it loads too slowly, they’ll buy elsewhere. Look for a provider with at least 99.9% uptime and fast server response times.
- Check for eCommerce-Specific Features: Built-in security, automated backups, and one-click integrations with payment gateways make life easier.
- Think Beyond Today: Choose a plan that supports growth so you don’t have to migrate to a new provider when traffic increases.
Tip #2: Look Beyond Price, Focus on Value.
Who This Helps: Business owners who need predictable costs without surprise charges that eat into profits.
A low-cost plan might seem like a great deal until you discover hidden fees for basic, essential features! Some hosting providers lure businesses in with cheap starting rates but charge extra for things such as SSL certificates, backups, and bandwidth overages.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Does this plan cover everything I need, or will I have to pay extra for SSL, backups, and security?
- What happens when my store gets a traffic spike? Will I be charged for extra bandwidth?
- How much will my hosting cost after the initial discount period ends?
- Are there migration fees if I need to switch hosts later?
Best Practices:
- Check the Renewal Price: Many hosts offer low first-year rates but charge significantly more when you renew.
- Understand Bandwidth and Storage Limits: If your plan has a cap, ask what happens if you exceed it. Some providers throttle your site speed while others charge extra.
- Look for All-Inclusive Plans: Some hosts bundle security, backups, and performance features. This will inadvertently save you money in the long run.
- Plan for the Future: If your business grows, can you scale up without paying excessive upgrade fees?
Tip #3: Boost Site Speed to Keep Customers Engaged
Who Needs This?
- Businesses running high-traffic promotions that can slow down servers.
- Stores with a global audience that need fast loading across different regions.
- Anyone struggling with abandoned carts and low conversion rates.
You already know slow load times can frustrate your customers to no end and convince them to abandon their cart.
A complicated checkout process, extra costs, slow delivery, and the requirement of creating an account all contribute to higher bounce rates and abandoned carts. If you want to keep your shoppers engaged, you need to embrace every trick in the book to improve site speed and the shopping experience.
Why Speed Matters for eCommerce Growth:
- A fast site builds trust. Shoppers associate speed with reliability. If your pages lag, customers second-guess their purchase.
- Google ranks sites faster. Slow stores struggle with SEO, which automatically translates to less organic traffic and fewer sales.
- Speed influences mobile shopping. More people buy on their phones, and they expect instant page loads.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- How fast does my store load on mobile and desktop?
- Does my site slow down during peak hours?
- Is my hosting provider optimizing for speed, or am I stuck with slow servers?
- Have I taken steps to reduce load times beyond just upgrading hosting?
Best Practices:
- Avoid Shared Hosting: Shared servers mean your store competes for resources. Switch to VPS, dedicated, or cloud hosting for better speed and stability.
- Use a CDN: A content delivery network (CDN) distributes your content across global servers, thus reducing load times for international customers.
- Optimise Your Images: Use WebP formats, compress large files, and lazy-load images to speed up pages without losing quality.
- Reduce Unnecessary Scripts: Every extra plugin, tracking code, and third-party widget slows your store down. Audit and remove anything non-essential.
- Use Caching to Speed Up Page Loads: Implement both browser and server-side caching so returning visitors don’t have to reload everything from scratch.
- Test and Improve: Use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to find and fix bottlenecks.
Tip #4: Go with Managed Hosting for Core Infrastructure
Who Needs This?
- Business owners who don’t have the time or expertise to manage hosting.
- Stores that need strong security and PCI compliance for payment processing.
- Growing brands that require automatic scaling during traffic surges.
Running an online store comes with enough responsibilities. Managing servers, security patches, and software updates shouldn’t be on your plate.
Want expert-level security without hiring an in-house team? Want your site stays up and running, even during events such as Black Friday sales? Want to never worry about software updates, backups, and server maintenance? Go with managed hosting.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Are you spending more time fixing website issues than working on marketing, customer experience, and product development?
- Have you ever lost sales because of a sudden traffic surge that your hosting couldn’t handle?
- When was the last time you tested your store’s security? Are you confident it’s safe from cyberattacks?
- If your store went down right now, how quickly could you get it back up? Do you have immediate access to expert support?
Best Practices:
- Choose a Host with Proactive Monitoring: Your host should allow you to monitor performance and security in real time.
- Look for Built-in Security: Cyber threats aren’t just for big businesses; hackers today are targeting eCommerce stores of all sizes. Your host should offer automatic malware scans, firewalls, and real-time DDoS protection.
- Ensure Automated Backups: A single technical issue or cyberattack can wipe out product listings, customer data, and orders. Daily automated backups mean you can restore everything quickly without permanent damage.
- Verify 24×7 Support: Issues don’t wait for business hours. Your hosting provider should have a reliable, knowledgeable support team that responds fast whenever you need them.
Tip #5: Speed Up Your Store with a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Who Needs This?
- Stores with international customers
- eCommerce businesses running global marketing campaigns
- Websites that see high traffic during promotions
If your store attracts customers from different locations, loading times can vary dramatically. A visitor across the world from your server might face lag, causing them to leave before they even see your products.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Do customers in different regions experience slow load times compared to local visitors? Is there any way to monitor this?
- How does site speed impact your bounce rate and cart abandonment?
- Are you relying on a single hosting server to handle all user requests?
- Have you noticed slower performance when running global ads and flash sales?
Best Practices:
- Choose a Hosting Provider That Supports Cdn Integration: If it’s not built-in, ensure your host allows easy setup with top-tier CDN providers.
- Enable Caching for Faster Content Delivery: Static elements such as images and stylesheets should load instantly from the nearest server.
- Optimize Cdn Settings for Ecommerce: Configure caching rules for product pages and checkout processes to avoid delays in real-time data.
- Use SSL/TLS for Security: Protect transactions while keeping performance high.
- Monitor Performance with Analytics: Track load times across different locations to see where you need improvements.
Tip #6: Handle Traffic Surges with Auto-Scaling
Who Needs This?
- Stores running seasonal promotions or flash sales
- eCommerce sites featured in media or influencer campaigns
- Businesses with unpredictable traffic patterns
Traffic spikes are great—unless your website crashes under pressure. If your store can’t scale resources on demand, you risk slow performance and downtime during big sales events, leaving your customers fuming!
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Can your site handle a sudden surge in visitors without slowing down?
- Have you ever lost sales because your store crashed during a big promotion?
- Are you overpaying for hosting during slow periods just to ensure performance during peak times?
- Does your current hosting plan adjust automatically, or do you have to upgrade manually?
Best Practices:
- Set Up Auto-Scaling Rules That Match Your Needs: Scale up for traffic surges and scale down to save costs when traffic drops.
- Ensure Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: Get notified when traffic spikes so you can track performance.
- Check Pricing Transparency: Some hosts charge high fees for extra resources. Understand the costs before you commit.
- Test Performance Before Big Promotions: Run simulations to ensure your site can handle the expected demand.
Tip #7: Protect Customer Data with Strong Security Measures
Who Needs This?
- Anyone processing online payments (Stripe, PayPal, credit cards)
- Store owners handling customer data (emails, addresses, phone numbers)
- Businesses with user accounts or subscriptions
Reportedly, 3.1% of eCommerce revenue is lost due to payment fraud, which generally stems from a security breach. In other words, a single can destroy customer trust and cripple your bottom line.
eCommerce sites, in particular, are at greater risk for theft of credit card details and personal customer data. If your store doesn’t ensure end-to-end security, you risk falling at the hands of fraud, chargebacks, and legal trouble.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- If a hacker targeted my site today, would I even know?
- How easy is it for someone to steal customer data from my store?
- Do I have protection against fake transactions and bot-driven fraud?
- Can I recover quickly if my site gets hit with malware?
Best Practices:
- Get a Host with Active Security: Look for real-time threat detection, automated malware removal, and built-in firewalls.
- Use an SSL Certificate That Actually Matters: Some providers offer basic SSL, but it’s not enough for serious encryption. Opt for Extended Validation (EV) SSL if you’re handling sensitive transactions.
- Monitor Login Attempts: Getting too many failed logins? That might be a brute force attack in progress. To counter this, you must install a rate limiter or enable 2FA for admin accounts at the very least.
- Have a Recovery Plan Before You Need One: Set up daily backups and store them offsite. If you get hacked, restoring your site should take minutes, not days.
Tip #8: Ensure Your Hosting Can Handle Large Files
Who Needs This?
- Stores with large product catalogs and media-heavy pages
- Businesses running seasonal promotions frequently
- Businesses offering downloadable products such as eBooks or software
- Sites with large product catalogs that require fast search functionality
An eCommerce online store needs high-resolution product images and videos. You want to attract customers with your visually appealing signature products. However, your site will keep crashing if your hosting doesn’t offer enough bandwidth and storage options.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- Is my hosting plan limiting my site’s performance with low bandwidth or storage?
- Will my store slow down if I add more product images and videos?
- Can my hosting handle thousands of visitors at once during a sale?
- Does my hosting provider charge extra for bandwidth overages?
Best Practices:
- Check Your Hosting’s True Limits: Many “unlimited” plans lower speeds after a certain amount of data usage. Look at the fine print before trusting the hosting provider’s claims.
- Use a CDN to Load Pages Faster: A Content Delivery Network (CDN) caches your site’s images and videos on multiple servers worldwide. This means visitors get faster load times, no matter where they’re shopping from.
- Invest in SSD Storage: If your host is still using old-school HDDs, your database queries will crawl. Go for NVMe SSDs for lightning-fast performance.
Tip #9: Know What’s Slowing Down Your Sales (Before Customers Complain)
Who Needs This?
- Stores losing sales but unsure why
- Owners who want real-time tracking of performance bottlenecks
- Anyone dealing with slow page loads and abandoned carts
Your sales are dropping, but you have no clue why. Maybe pages are taking too long to load, checkout errors are popping up, or mobile users are bouncing. Without full-stack monitoring, you’ll be second-guessing what’s going wrong instead of actually fixing it.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
- How long does it take for my checkout page to load on mobile?
- Are customers getting stuck in certain parts of the buying process?
- What’s the first thing that breaks when my site gets more traffic?
- Do I get alerted when my site is down, or do I find out from angry customers?
Best Practices:
- Use Heatmaps to Track Where Customers Drop Off: Tools such as Hotjar show where visitors hesitate, scroll past, or rage-click.
- Set Up Transaction Monitoring: Use the right platforms to track checkout failures, slow cart loads, and backend bottlenecks.
- Run Synthetic Tests: Certain services simulate real-world user interactions so you can see where your site struggles before real customers experience it.
- Get Real-Time Alerts: If your site goes down, you should be the first to know. Use a real time monitoring tool to receive instant notifications.
Power Your eCommerce Growth with BigRock
Customers view slow-loading websites, crashes, and security lapses as excuses; in the cutthroat eCommerce landscape, there’s no room for forgiveness.
On this note, partnering with a hosting provider like BigRock is a smart move. Our team will handle your eCommerce task—from product inquiries to customer expectations.
Our scalable hosting solution is built for eCommerce success, whether you want fast-loading pages, DDoS protection, and a secure payment gateway that safeguards customer transactions.
Don’t let poor hosting hold you back. Sign up today and build an online store that’s secure, reliable, and ready for success!