First of all, you will need your online store to be hosted on a secure server. Purchasing an SSL certificate shows your customers that you are who you say you are and that their information will be encrypted during transit. You may want to shop for an ecommerce hosting plan that provides you with a free SSL certificate to save money.
The next important feature to have in an ecommerce web hosting plan is a shopping cart program. You may purchase a shopping cart program and use it to build your store or find a hosting company that will build one for you. However, there are many open source shopping cart programs that are often built into your web hosting package for free. Agora, Os Commerce, Zen Cart, and Cube Cart are some of the most common and best shopping carts that are provided by hosting companies for eCommerce solutions. Also, you will want to to make sure that your ecommerce hosting supports the merchant account company that you wish to use. Customers like to have multiple payment options, so in addition to accepting credit cards, you may want a hosting plan that supports alternative forms of transferring funds such as PayPal or Google Checkout.
Most importantly, when operating an online store you are going to need an ecommerce hosting company that will help you promote your business. Many ecommerce hosting plans will submit your site to the search engines for you. In addition, they should provide you with marketing tutorials that teach you how to increase your sales. Often, ecommerce hosting plans will even come with advertising credits for Google AdWords or other popular search engines to help you get your name out.
There are many web hosting companies that a geared towards operating an online store. Some companies even sell separate hosting plans that are specific for ecommerce. Be sure to research multiple hosting options and select the one that is best suited for your marketing needs.
FatCow and BlueHost offer some of the best eCommerce hosting plans at cheap eCommerce hosting prices!
