Sales websites (or e-commerce websites) have become a highly sought-after type of website on the internet – both by users and business owners. A sales website allows any business owner to reach a much larger audience than a physical store. Setting up a sales website is a process that should be done in a planned and organized manner, as there are many parameters that need to be taken into account and characterized before you start uploading products to the site.
There are many open source systems for building sales websites. One of the most popular is WordPress (with the WooCommerce plugin), and there are other systems such as OpenCart, PrestaShop, Magento, and more. When setting up a virtual store, there are many components that need to be characterized: design, functionality, user interface, payment methods, and even terms of use and privacy policy. One of the most important decisions relates to the storage of the sales website – and the question arises, which storage package should you choose when setting up a store website? Website storage is the most basic and important infrastructure for your sales website, so it is important to choose wisely.
First, consider the type of system you will use to build the website and choose an appropriate hosting server. For example, if you plan to set up a WordPress store with WooCommerce, you will need hosting that is suitable for WordPress websites. It is a good idea to check the technical requirements of each content management system before setting up the website to ensure that your chosen hosting is suitable for running the system.
If it is a relatively small store, with a few dozen products in total, you may be able to make do with cheap website hosting and purchase a basic, small hosting package. Even if your store is small, it is recommended that you do not settle for less than 1GB of storage space. Installing WordPress and WooCommerce will take up a significant amount of space. In addition, virtual stores often rely on the extensive use of plugins such as Elementor, Jet Elements, inventory management plugins, and more, so they take up a relatively large amount of storage space.
If you have a larger store with hundreds of products, you will need more storage space (probably 5GB or more). For a large store, you may also want to consider purchasing reseller hosting, which allows you to add unlimited domains. This will allow you to create landing pages on a separate domain for campaigns or open supporting websites to help you promote your store.
If you have a huge store with thousands of products, or a chain of stores or brands, you should consider setting up your store on a private virtual server. This type of storage is more expensive, but it is powerful, secure, and high-quality, ensuring smooth management of your sales website. If you do not have your own IT team, it is worth looking for a server maintenance professional to help you operate the server.
Another important consideration when choosing storage for a sales website is information security. E-commerce websites transfer and store a lot of sensitive information, such as credit card details, customer details, purchase history, and more. E-commerce website owners cannot afford to have their website hacked—we are not talking about malicious code or minor vandalism, but rather the theft of customer data (and the responsibility lies with the website owner). Therefore, it is important to choose secure and professional website hosting.