E-commerce industry has seen phenomenal growth in the recent past, and the trend is set to continue in the years to come. You need to have an e-commerce platform in place if you want to beat the competition in today’s times. That is the reason why businesses these days want to have an online presence to sell their products and services.
In 2017 the total e-commerce sales amounted to roughly $2.3 trillion which is set to touch $4.5 trillion by 2021 (Statista).
But with so many e-commerce platforms already out there in the market, it is not easy to climb the success ladder in the online business unless you have a well-defined strategy in place. And, when we talk of a well-defined strategy, it is important for businesses to select the right kind of hosting for your e-commerce business.
Many businesses, especially those entering the ecommerce market for the first time wonder whether to choose an on-premise or cloud-based online interface. It is a decision that has a far- reaching impact on your ecommerce business. It not only controls your capital and operating budgets, but it also determines your ability to grow and the way you respond to the opportunities present in the market.
Why cloud-hosting for your ecommerce business?
It is no secret that businesses all over the world are moving to the cloud thick and fast. According to Gartner, in 2018 the worldwide public cloud services market is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 21.4% and will touch $186.4 billion, up from $153.5 billion in 2017.
According to Forbes, the cloud equipment market worldwide is expected to reach $79.1 billion in 2018.
According to the LogicMonitor’s survey, 83% of enterprise workloads will run in the cloud by 2020. It is not surprising to note that on-premise workloads are expected to come down from a present 37% to 27% of all workloads by 2020.
Companies, cutting across all verticals, from financial services and manufacturing to healthcare and retail, are planning to shift their operations to the cloud because it offers the ultimate storage solution for a range of activities that include online storage gateways, backup storage, and data movement and access.
So, if your ecommerce business is looking for an efficient data storage solution, then the cloud can offer numerous benefits, and hence makes it a perfect option.
The ecommerce companies are opting for cloud services because it allows them to reach their goals and provide a customized experience to its customers. Also, those who have adopted the cloud have a distinct competitive advantage over the ones who have not yet embraced the cloud.
Here are some major benefits to consider cloud hosting if you are planning to start your ecommerce business.
Benefits of cloud hosting for your ecommerce business
The ecommerce industry has hugely benefitted from the cloud computing market. If you are planning to start your ecommerce business, you should consider cloud hosting for the ecommerce platform. From cost and scalability to reliability and flexibility, cloud computing can offer several benefits to your ecommerce business.
Here are some of the major benefits cloud computing has to offer to your ecommerce business:
Cost savings
Whether you are planning to shift your present operations to the cloud or start your new ecommerce business, there are a lot of savings that are up for grabs in case you move to the cloud.
When it comes to cloud computing, you only need to pay for the services you take and use. Also, as and when you grow, you don’t have to worry about investing huge amounts in upgrading the hardware and software infrastructure. You also don’t have to bother about developing and maintaining the IT infrastructure which amounts to substantial savings.
When businesses plan to foray into new geographical locations, cloud-based ecommerce solutions offer them a great deal of flexibility and scalability at prices that are reasonable.
Unmatched accessibility
When your ecommerce business is hosted in the cloud, all the relevant business information is easily accessible by the users through any standard web browser. When you start or move your ecommerce business to the cloud, you don’t have to worry about setting up an in-house system. Your business processes can be fast and easy because all your employees, partners, distributors, and suppliers have easy access to information.
Unquestioned scalability
One of the most important attributes of cloud computing is scalability. When businesses opt for cloud computing, you don’t have to worry about increased customer activity or a surge in the number of customer visits. As and when your requirements go up, you can easily scale up the resources in any given active session. Whether it is a promotional activity or flash sale, with cloud hosting you can easily manage your resources to suit your needs. Cloud servers are designed to provide maximum performance. Moreover, as easily as you can scale up your resources, you can also scale them down after your requirements are over. Scalability for the ecommerce business is an important consideration as it is difficult to upgrade and downgrade your IT infrastructure.
Unparalleled security
Security for an ecommerce business is always an important consideration. It is important to secure your business files, applications, tools, and networks. Since cloud hosting solution is professionally managed, you can rest assured that your business data remains secure at all times. Providers of cloud hosting solution ensure that the highest levels of security measures are put in place to keep your data secure. From end to end encryption, antivirus programs, and managed firewalls to multi-level authentication process, cloud hosting provides complete protection of your business data and files.
Recovery and backup
Cloud hosting allows you the best available option for backing up your customer data. There can be a lot of problem for your ecommerce store if your data isn’t secure and backed up at all times. From natural disasters and hard drive failures to power surges and corrupt software, you have to keep your data protected from a lot of factors. Local data backup can provide you some protection, but it proves insufficient in case of extreme emergencies. Cloud hosting offers you better control over the data you want to save and gives you the option of the place where you want it stored.
Your business operations can get adversely affected if there is a power outage or system failure at your place. And, in any such eventuality if you lose your business data, then it is a big problem. But, when you have your ecommerce business hosted on the cloud, you don’t have to worry about system failures or physical damage. When your website is hosted on the cloud, your servers remain functional at all times which ensures smooth customer operations.
More flexibility
Cloud powered solutions are perfect for ecommerce websites because they generally have fluctuating bandwidth requirements. It is easy to scale up the resources as and when your bandwidth requirement increases. And, since scaling up of resources is possible in cloud computing, hence there is no reason why your website will become slow.
Enhanced mobility
Your employees can access important data and applications from anywhere they want and when ever they so desire. This allows the employees to manage their work at their convenience from their smartphones and tablets. Your employees can also share important documents and data through the cloud without any hassle. This helps you reduce the time-to-market and improves product development and customer service.
Increased reliability
In the case of cloud hosting the servers are linked to the same network because of which they work in a complimentary fashion. This helps the load to get evenly distributed between the cloud servers which improves the functionality. It means your website has an on-going backup system which makes it more reliable.
Competitive edge
Since you don’t have to invest time in IT procurement, the cloud hosting resources gives you a distinct edge over your competitors. You can get significant business benefit by deploying critical applications for your ecommerce website. And, you can do all of this quickly and at no additional cost. With cloud hosting, you can concentrate on expanding your business instead of investing too much of your time on IT infrastructure.
Complete Root/ RDP access
When you opt for cloud hosting, you get complete control over your hosting platform. You get complete root/ RDP access which allows you to install applications and do a lot many other things. This feature can be used to enhance the activities of your ecommerce platform and for the smooth functioning of your website.
If you want to propel your e-commerce business to the next level, you need the necessary resources and cloud computing is what offers you all of that and more. If e-commerce business is what you are planning to start, you should get in touch with vStacks Infotech now for affordable cloud hosting plans.
vStacks Infotech has been in the cloud hosting and storage business for a long time now, and we know what it takes to make your e-commerce business a success.
