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A large chunk of the global economy stems from ecommerce websites. There are a countless number of individuals and businesses buying and selling products every day. eBay was a major factor in the ecommerce boom. Created only a decade ago, they have expanded by leaps and bounds.

The eBay Marketplace

eBay’s thriving marketplace is an area where vendors can sell their product and consumers can buy a product. These products can be brand new, refurbished, home-made or digital so the possibilities are endless. As a result, eBay has generated a tremendous amount of cash with this idea. Being the middleman, it does not matter to them who buys the goods and for how much because they collect a small portion either way.

eBay to Drive Traffic

Aside from the profitability of selling on eBay, they also help to drive a tremendous amount of traffic to websites. An eBay vendor has access to thousands of customers at all times. Single items can receive hundreds of page views and numerous bids in a matter of only a few hours. As an independent vendor, you can use this to your advantage.

Auctiva Overview

Auctiva allows you to display your ecommerce website onto eBay. When a user clicks the auction, it brings them right to your site. This significantly helps you bring clients from eBay that may remember your store and make reoccurring purchases in the future. Another solution is to have an eBay store. Again, with access to hundreds of thousands of potential consumers, the options are limitless.

The benefits of Auctiva include a centralized interface, convenience to busy store owners and customers and the diversity of store templates, resources and tools. This makes the duties of running an ecommerce store much easier.

eCommerce Hosting

To host all those stores, they have developed eBay Stores. Within this hosting plan, you can create your own eBay store within the marketplace. There are unique tools and that will help you merge your store with eBay. For instance, there is an option to create a button next to your products that says, “view other items like this.” This transports the consumer to another one of your auctions similar to the product you were viewing.

eBay is a great resource for not only selling your old items, but making a full-time living from its features. By utilizing their tools to market to millions of customers, you will be making profit in no time.
 

eCommerce is definitely one of the most profitable industries in the world for the small business owner, as it provides a unique global opportunity through which retail markets can be penetrated with very little effort and investment. Ecommerce hosting accounts give you everything needed to become a successful online business owner and open an internet shop that is aesthetically professional, however it cannot provide you with the right business plan or model. If you want to be successful with eCommerce hosting then you will need to find a profitable business model that will allow you to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time possible. The following information will compare two of the most popular online business models – drop shipping and wholesale merchandise.

The Pros of Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is perfect for novice business owners that do not have a lot to invest and would like to being making money as soon as possible with minimal work. With drop shipping you simply list the item for sale on your web site with the help of your eCommerce hosting plan, and when an item sells you order it from your supplier and it gets sent straight to your customer. Some drop shipping programs will even print your company name on the package so that it appears as if it is being shipped from you. This is especially important in this modern society where company branding is essential to success. The investment required for drop shipping is minimal. In fact, the only investment required is a website, as you’ll never have to purchase a single product with your own money.

The Cons of Drop Shipping

Although drop shipping may seem like the best option for starting your own online business, it should be noted that the potential for profit is much less than investing in wholesale items. In general, items that are drop shipped only provide a few dollars in profit for the seller, as the drop shipping provider makes most of the profit with minimal work. Drop shipping is also much less reliable then normal retail business, primarily because items are frequently out of stock unexpectedly.

The Pros of Investing in Wholesale Merchandise

Investing in wholesale merchandise is much more profitable than investing in drop shipping because you are able to benefit from the discounts offered when you purchase items in bulk. With wholesale merchandise the profit margins are much larger, you have more control of item stocking, and you can provide quicker shipping times to your customers. You’ll also sell a lot more items if you invest in wholesale products because you’ll be able to sell them for a more competitive price. In short, you can sell items for less, make more profit, and offer a more reliable service to your customers with wholesale merchandise.

The Cons of Investing in Wholesale Merchandise

Investing in wholesale merchandise is much more costly than drop shipping, and a substantial investment is required in order to fully stock every item in your online store. As such, many online business owners decide to drop ship some of their products and then stock the more profitable items for maximum profits and minimal investments.

eCommerce web hosting is perfect for aspiring online business owners that need a simplified and robust platform to manage and build online stores. Contrary to popular belief, most online business owners are not very technically skilled, especially during the first couple of months after initiating their online business endeavors. Nonetheless, through the use of a good eCommerce hosting account many people have built and profited from online shops with minimal internet skills.

The Importance of a Shopping Cart

The internet is a massive marketplace that is full of people from all parts of the world, so the concept of local supply and demand does not apply for online shops. In fact, there is often much more supply than demand online, because nearly every niche is being saturated with people trying to capitalize through eCommerce. To compete in the eCommerce industry you will have to offer your customers a simple, user-friendly interface that will allow them to have a convenient shopping experience that gives them everything they need. In order to facilitate this convenience you will need an eCommerce shopping cart. Without a shopping cart your site visitors would not be able to purchase multiple items and shop with ease on your site.

Benefits of Cube Cart

Cube Cart  is a new free solution has emerged that is changing the way people conduct business and buy items online. This incredible open source software will completely transform the look and feel of the shopping experience, which is why it is used by more than 1 million stores online. Even though Cube Cart is completely free, it is constantly expanding and improving because and independent developer can enhance its functionality. Any eCommerce web hosting panel that includes cPanel automatically comes with Cube Cart – another reason why the software has become so incredibly popular. Cube Cart can be installed by anyone with cPanel and the ability to click the mouse a few times. Surprisingly, this amazing free software is comparable to paid shopping cart solutions, and is not currently lacking any needed features for the average online store.

Disadvantages of Cube Cart

There aren’t many disadvantages to using Cube Cart, however it should be noted that the features of the software are intended to provide a basic shopping cart functionality. If you want a comprehensive shopping cart solution for larger, corporate web sites then you may want to consider a paid solution that is designed to be used professionally. This is not to say that Cube Cart cannot be used for a professional eCommerce shop, however its capabilities will generally be more limited than a paid solution in mot cases. With that begin said, there are some paid solutions that are no better than Cube Cart, which is why it is important to make sure you conduct a thorough and accurate comparison of any prospective shopping carts.

Click on the admin username box and create a new admin username and password for your website. This will grant you admin access to the backend of your store for store customizations and setup. Then type in your email address and your name in the base configuration text boxes below. Please ignore all other boxes and click on install cube cart.

Once the install is complete, please write down the web address and admin address of your website, and don’t forget what your admin username and password are. From here, you should jump right in start customizing your web store by logging into the admin using the URL you just wrote down. The admin features are very simple to navigate. If you get stuck, you can simply watch one of the free online cube cart video tutorials from their website

eCommerce hosting is a very unique kind of web hosting that was specifically designed for online business owners that need a comprehensive solution for their internet retailer shop. Online stores have special needs that must be accommodated by comprehensive hosting solutions that can only be found in an eCommerce hosting. Most eCommerce hosting plans are inclusive packages that provide everything needed to create a thriving online store with minimal effort and investment. One of the most important tools included with an eCommerce hosting plan is the site builder, which gives the webmaster the ability to create professional online stores with no previous training or technical knowledge. If you’re not sure of your need for an eCommerce site builder then you may want to consider the following reasons.

Simplicity and Convenience

The number one reason to using a site builder is the sheer simplicity and convenience it has to offer. Rather than taking several weeks to learn about various web design techniques, you can simply start up your site builder and begin selecting from an assortment of designs and themes that will bring your site to life in no time. The site builder is located conveniently within the control panel of your web hosting account, which makes it easy to access and highly convenient for novice webmasters that are not familiar with control panel navigation.

Support and Savings

Another reason to use an eCommerce hosting plan for the site builder is the quality support that comes with the tool. With your web hosting support you’ll be able to depend upon a qualified support agent that is trained to teach you how to sue the site builder. Since you’ll no longer have to pay people to design your sites for you, you’ll be able to save hundreds of dollars on each project. If you have a significantly large site that you need to build you may be able to save hundred using the simple product catalog creator alone.

Organization and Professionalism

Most integrated site builders that are offered with eCommerce hosting plans are excellent at helping you build a well organized site complete with a comprehensive control interface, categories and other organizational tools that minimize your efforts. With a good site builder you can be sure that your site is going to have a professional appearance, regardless of your web development experience. Aside from saving money on web design, you’ll also be saving countless hours, or even weeks of time that would have otherwise been wasted in an attempt to learn advanced web development techniques that are almost obsolete if you have access to a site builder.

Conclusion

Having a professional looking web site is extremely important for the progression of a business, especially one that focuses on retail sales. If you want to convert visitors into sales then you’ll need an excellent looking web site complete with extensive product catalogs and interactive site features. Ecommerce site builders can give you all of this and so much more.

The internet represents the biggest business opportunity in history, making it possible to expand the outreach of your business to a global level, with minimal investments. Brick and mortar shops require a significant investment to buy or rent, while online business only require a web site and the right resources. Local shops can only target local customers, while a web site can target the entire world. Storefronts require daily maintenance, while web sites bring in traffic and sales 24 hours per day, even as the owner sleeps. With such obvious benefits it is not surprising that there are new online businesses born every day. The entire journey begins with purchasing the right hosting account.

Assessing Business Site Needs

The first step in selecting the right web hosting for your business site involves assessing the needs of the future business web site. What do you want your site to contain? If you are trying to sell hundreds of products, or host a plethora of videos, then you may need a comprehensive plan such as a VPS or eCommerce hosting plan, both of which include excessive server resources and extracurricular tools to aid in the construction and management of a business web site. If you are planning on building a portfolio site for your business, then a powerful web server will not be needed. In fact, there are some people that choose to host their business portfolios on free blogs. If you’re serious about the success of  your portfolio site, then you’ll want a paid web hosting service such as shared hosting.

Business Oriented Web Hosting Types

Some web hosting companies offer advertising coupons such as Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising credits. Look for companies offering hosting plans that are specifically targeting a business audience. Reseller and eCommerce web hosting are both business oriented web hosting types. Reseller hosting gives you the ability to offer web hosting services to your online clients. If you are already in the online service industry this is the perfect kind of web hosting to have. Many people pay for their own hosting expenses by reselling server resources, while also making a hefty profit. Ecommerce web hosting is built for retail businesses that want to create online stores quickly and easily. With eCommerce hosting you’ll be given tools such as site builders, product catalog managers, shopping carts, and integrated payment processing capabilities.

Corporate Business Hosting

Large corporations need more powerful web servers that are capable of dealing with excessive traffic levels and thousands of files. Dedicated web hosting is the ultimate web hosting types, aside from owning a colocated dedicated server. Dedicated web hosting lets you lease a dedicated server for about $100 – $350 per month, depending upon the hosting provider and plan size. You can also buy your own web server for a few thousand dollars, and then have it safely stored and monitored in a colocation facility. Colocation facilities are state of the art datacenters that are the perfect environment for any web server.