The increasing penetration of the internet and smartphones has made eCommerce extremely popular. Be it groceries or electronics, eCommercehas become the first choice for a large portion of the population. In fact, in 2019, the value of the global eCommerce market stood at $9.09 trillion. Between 2020 and 2027, this market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.7%.
But to sell products and services online, businesses need an online store. This is where WooCommerce comes in. WooCommerce is a plugin that converts WordPress websites into completely functioning online stores. It is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms and used by millions worldwide.
Using WooCommerce, you can build a shopping site from scratch or add it as an extension to your existing WordPress website.
Benefits of WooCommerce
Some of the main reasons why WooCommerce is so popular are:
- It is open source. This means not only is it 100% free but it also provides you with complete control over your eCommerce store.
- Unlike other eCommerce platforms, the licensing fee is not included in its pricing. This means you can create as many eCommerce stores with it as you like.
- Since it is built on top of WordPress, you benefit from all the features of WordPress as well.
- WooCommerce offers thousands of beautiful themes and templates that you can use for the online store.
WooCommerce Hosting
Tohave your own WooCommerce store, you will need a trusted hosting service provider. In a nutshell, hosting is like storage for website data, which helps keep it up and running on the World Wide Web. This is where all your files are placed, so that they can be available on the internet at all times.
In India, there are hundreds of hosting service providers but not all of them are the perfect fit for your needs.
To choose the best hosting service provider, consider the following:
Types of Hosting
There are different types of hosting available, such as VPS, shared and dedicated. Depending on your needs and budget, you can choose one of them. While all three hosting types offer slightly different services, the most affordable one is – shared hosting. That is because you share the server space with other users. If you choose the right host, shared hosting can work great for smaller sites.
Next comes VPS hosting, which provides higher speed and better security than shared hosting, although at a higher price than shared hosting. The third option is dedicated hosting. As the name suggests, you have sole access to the server. It offers the highest level of resource allocation, control and privacy. It also provides the fastest WordPress hosting.
Speed
If your online store does not load in 3 to 4 seconds, chances are the visitor will move on to a site that does. Plus, the faster the site loads, the quicker the customer can make purchases. The site loading speed affects Google’s rankings too.
Security
You will need to protect your store from malware, system crashes, hackers and accidental loss of data. Look for a hosting services provider that offers regular backups, firewall and protection against malware, along with 24/7 support by an expert team.
Apart from these, also look for the uptime offered by the WooCommerce hosting service. Look for a provider that guarantees at least 99% uptime.
