All our shop and web hosting packages give you complete control of your website. Manage your website using the feature packed cpanel. We have servers located both in the UK and USA using fast and reliable LINUX Servers.

If you dont have your own products, we have setup a special package to allow you to sell items from a dropshipper, without holding your own stock.

Standard Shop

The Standard Shop is the entry level ecommerce system. Allows you to get your shop online, configured and populated with your products.

Professional Shop

The professional Shop is the search engine optimisation ecommerce package. Allows you to get your shop online and configured to your specification, and set up to maximise marketing and for search engine optimisation. The professional Shop has many more features than the standard shop.

Dropshipping Starter Pack

If you do not have your own products to sell, then our Dropshipping starter pack is designed to get your shop up an running and puts you in contact with a wide range of UK and International dropshippers to enable you to sell products online, without having stock.

This package includes well over 130+ dropshippers willing to provide you with your goods to sell.

The dropshipper starter package inlcudes implementation of an easy populate system that allows you to import supplier product data file to add/update your products quickly into your shop.

Additional Optional Services to the Shop Packages:

Customised Template

If you require us to create a customised template for your site, professionally made, then we can do that based on any brief you give us.

Logo and Header

If you require us to create a logo and header for your site, professionally made, then we can do that based on any brief you give us.

Update Your Products Automatically

Updating your products can be a pain, and a very time consuming one. Constantly having to check if your products are in stock, what new products there are, price changes etc. The administration for making sure your shop products are up to date can be a nightmare, especially if you have hundreds or thousands of products. An impossible task to be done accurately and quickly.

The majority of suppliers can provide a data feed containing their products. For zencart shop owners this can be a life saver. However, what you find is that the data feed is not compatible with importing into Zen Cart so manual amendments have to be made to ensure the file can be imported. Whats more, you have to look for new and amended products where you have to manually upload the images.

RapidSSL Certificate

For every ecommerce website, a dedicated SSL Secure certificate is advised. It gives your site a professional touch and makes your customers feel secure.

The Certificate includes a dedicated IP address. At this time, we only install dedicated SSL certificates to websites hosted with iwebshop.

Stable, 128/256 bit single root install SSL certificates ideal for lite ecommerce.

If you intend using the SSL Certificate to allow you to take credit cards online for your shop, then we will install any relevant module to your shop (Zen cart shops only). For instance, PROTX Direct, Paypal Web Payments Pro.

Shop Maintenance

Whether iwebshop has created and launched your online shop, or another developer, we can maintain your shop, saving you hours of time. We can appreciate that you want to spend your time running your shop and not updating the shop.

Migrate your Hosting

We have a free migration service, for those looking to move hosting to us. Whether your unhappy with the support you recieve from your current host, or want to go with a cheaper or alternative hosting solution then we are available to move your site to us for free.

We have servers located in the UK and USA, which you choose your preferred location when ordering. We have recently increased our server numbers and reduced account numbers on each server to ensure effecient and cost effective hosting.

Zen Cart Optimisation Pack

The zen cart optimisation pack, is designed for those zen cart users who would like to maximise their Search Engine Optimisation of their site and products.

iwebshop will first backup your files and database (files that would be over-written only), then install the addons which you require. We will install the newest verison of the addons required and determined by the zen cart version you are using.

Install Zencart Addon

iwebshop can install the majority of addons to your zen cart shop. Please specify in the text box which addon you would like us to install.

iwebshop will first backup your files and database (files that would be over-written only), then install the addons which you require. We will install the newest verison of the addons required and determined by the zen cart version you are using.

Once your order is recieved we will contact you for further details to access your site and database.

We are currently running a special promotion, enter the coupon code DSF at checkout to recieve a 17.5% Discount.

You can see its current full feature list here: http://www.iwebshop.co.uk/demonstration-shops-c-47.html

One of the things that will be added is the ‘Big Royal Mail module’. Which allows many different types of delivery to parts of the UK and abroad.

There will be a few more modules to enhance the site, and we are looking for suggestions of what to add. So please if there is an addon you would like to see implemented then please post here or email us through this site.

Basics- Disk Space and Transfer

The core states of any kind of hosting, ecommerce or not, remain space and transfer, or traffic. Generally measured in monthly increments, your space and transfer will place a crucial role in determining just what size plan you need. Ecommerce sites will, generally speaking, require more space and transfer than an equivilant sized site without ecommerce. This is due to the presence of the shopping cart upon which the online storefront is based. Shopping cart programs are installed to the account on which they operate, requiring space, and their scripts for running the store will require additional transfer to handle customers as they browse, add items to their cart, and check out. Will there be a tremendous amount of extra transfer required by the cart? That depends on how many use the cart and on the cart itself. This is why its best to start small and having a clear upgrade path to handle future popularity.

Prospective online merchants will generally have a good idea how many products they’ll be selling initially. This will vary wildly from merchant to merchant, and many merchants don’t put their entire stocks online. It is wise to start with a considered selection of products first, especially if you wish to initially keep your hosting plan small and upgrade as the store prospers. Those with a great deal of products need to be aware they will probably be facing a bigger monthly fee for a larger hosting plan. Once the decision is made regarding the products, attention can be turned to finding a suitable shopping cart program to contain them.

Shopping Cart

The choice of shopping cart can be a personal one. Those entirely new to ecommerce will probably not have any experience with any kind of shopping cart software. There are a number of popular choices, and most hosting companies will provide one, if not a variety, from which you can choose. It is important to find a shopping cart that suits the individual user, as attempting to change your shopping down the road can be a long process that will, most likely, bring your store down during a transitional period. Don’t immediately jump at the first cart a host offers. Ask if they have demos and try them out. Be sure it’s a program you can learn and use, as it is the primary way you’ll be doing your online business. Even if you have a large business and have a design firm setting up the cart, a rudimentary knowledge of the cart’s processes is highly recommended.

Learn as much about your prospective shopping cart software as possible. Make sure it supports SSL, a common site security protocol that will help keep your customer’s credit card numbers safe when ordering online. It will need to support your merchant account and payment gateway. In many cases a host might bundle these services, so compatibility isn’t an issue. If you secured your merchant services separately from hosting, be sure they are compatible. Find out if the cart has a recommended maximum product limit and, of course, try not to exceed it. The store may slow down and perform poorly if there are too many products in it.

Finally, make sure it will do everything you want it to do. Some merchants sell services and downloadable items that don’t conform exactly to the order-product-ship-product flow. If your cart doesn’t support these features by default, there may be 3rd party add-ons that will provide this functionality. Miva Merchant is one such shopping cart with a very active 3rd party developer community providing a wide range of add-ons, or “modules” to extend the feature set of the original program. The merchant will have to buy these add-ons and have them installed on their own initiative, though, and the hosting company will not be able to support them.

Reliability and Support

Perhaps of greatest importance is reliability in your chosen host. Think in terms of a “brick and mortar” storefront. If someone locks the front door during business hours, then no customers can come in and nothing is sold. Similarly, if an online store is down at any hour, no customers can come in and nothing is sold. You want the most reliable hosting for such a mission-critical site. Never just take the word of a hosting company’s site in regards to their uptime. Do research and look for customer reviews of your prospective host. Online merchants should always be willing to pay more for a reliable hosting company with good uptime and support. A good rule of thumb is to stay away from free or “bargain basement” hosts, since support and uptime are usually the first things to suffer with this kind of hosting.

Conclusions

Finding the right ecommerce hosting company requires a few additional considerations. Decide on your products, your shopping cart, and then shop for your hosting company. You will need more space and transfer than an equivalent site, but start small with your product selection and you can still save money on your hosting. Find a shopping cart that’s easy for you to use and understand, as switching at a later date can result in downtime and a lot of work transferring your products. Finally, make sure your host has solid uptime, as an online store that’s down isn’t generating any sales.

iwebshop.co.uk offers ecommerce hosting for ecommerce sites.

Artcile source: Free ecommerce article tips