Hosted Vs Self-Hosted Ecommerce Platform: Which Is Fit for You?

When you look into the ecommerce sales figure, then you will not ignore the substantiality of ecommerce.  It seems to no break down or slowdown in the growth of the ecommerce industry and the number of online shoppers is skyrocketing.  

Some analysts state that there will be more or less the digital buyer figure will be 2.1 billion. The major contributor for this figure is from online food ordering and fashion and retail store which has the best fit style.  

This influence up to 56% of in-store purchase. And in 2019, B2B firms are expected to spend more on ecommerce and new technologies than online retailers. This led to more people to look for a stable and perfect ecommerce platform. it is likely to have some unique features that are a must for every ecommerce site.  

And most important thing over here is you should not rush over a platform without analyzing it completely. You may think of having a great performance or attractive website look but this all will be secondary because without a strong base. 

The first and foremost step in the Ecommerce Empire is to select something like a backbone. In simple words selecting hosting for your ecommerce platform. Without Backbone is useless to build a network. Because there is a high chance of failure. 

Both the Hosted and self-hosted platforms each come with their own set of pros and cons. Here are some things to know about hosting and self-hosting. 

Self-hosted Ecommerce Platform  

The word “self “indicated the meaning that is self-hosted ecommerce solution is nothing where your company or by yourself is responsible for the hosting.   
Since it is self-handling you would need to set up a server like a cloud or another server and host your platform. Also, you put your files and data that are to be maintained on that online server.  
Here you would be provided with any central support systems that you can use if you run into an issue  
If there are any changes in the user communities, then it is your responsibility. Hence it is necessary for you to educate yourself on how to troubleshoot problems while hosting the platform.  
If you have trouble make solving the errors, then you may hire a qualified developer would be a good idea.  
While self-hosted e-commerce solutions may appear less expensive at first, but costs while start to rising once your store start working on many products.  
Once you are in an ecommerce platform, you need to handle the dynamic change in storage as per customer virtual demands if you want to have a successful online store.  
If you wish to have a successful online store, then take charge of meeting the virtual demands of your customers.  

Benefits of Self-Hosting Ecommerce Platform  

If you know about hosting and can afford a dedicated team to monitor the hosting, then it will be beneficial for you.  

You can take advantage of a self-hosted website by creating one more page of your blog or other data’s that can be indexed by search engines, like Google. It may help in improves your SEO because it allows you to posts in search engines, which drives new organic traffic to your blog.   

Improves ranking
In the self-hosting it easy for you to optimize your blog for SEO. By using this feature, you can customize your Meta titles/snippets, change links, add keywords, tags, and more.  

Customized solution  
If you choose a self-hosted solution, you can change anything at any time since the code is open-sourced.   

You own everything
If you have a self-hosted ecommerce platform, you need to have any worry about ownership. Hence in this everything like your code, content, and everything related to your online store you will have full control over it.  

Difficulties with Self-Hosted Ecommerce Platform  

Technically challenging setup  
In the self-hosting setup will be the challenge. Either you need to have technical chops or able to do yourself, and if you don’t, you’ll spend a lassie amount of time and money to do so.   

Maintenance difficulties  
In a self-hosted platform, you are limited to access to the resources. Based on the scheme you using everything varies from setup to hosting it.  

For example, in this hosting, you need to take care of change a font you’ll have to download the desired font file, upload it to your server via FTP, find your font folder and paste it in.   

You are the only one who is responsible for maintenance, research, and fixing bugs. Here you won’t be able to have to fall back on if you need support. It is up to you to do find solutions to your problems.  

Safety becomes your responsibility  
As stated above, you’ll be responsible for everything related to the safety of your store. This includes all safety preferences like PCI compliance, as well as SSL certification. To ensure the consumer’s data security and trust which play a role in deciding on whether to buy from your store.  

Hosted Ecommerce Platform  

In the Hosted platform your website will be ruined on someone else’s server, and you are provided with limited access and control over your online store. When you want to launch your store immediately and running out of time, then this service will be perfect for managing your online store.   

You are provided with automated services like install updates and security patches. It also takes care of your reduce downtime and implements the latest features that consumers looking for. As a result, you can focus on other areas of your business.  

In the Hosted platforms, third-party providers will manage your site and make sure everything runs smoothly in your store. As a store owner, you no need to worry about code or customization of the online website. They also provide you talented technical support and dedicated customer service which you wound get in self-hosted solutions.  

Advantage of the Hosted Ecommerce Platforms  

No hosting or server worries
Here you need not worry about the servers or hosting like what server I have to use or which hosting services will suit my business. There will be no worries rather you are provided with perfect web hosting services and an adaptable server.  

Simply pick a plan for your platform based on the size and overall activity of your store. And you don’t need too much worry about servers and how much power they need. They do everything for your platform.  

Limited security risks
Since it comes with a guaranteed level of security, it will give you peace of mind. You will have access to specialize in coding and developing your ecommerce store. Like the same, they manage your security every day. In the hosted ecommerce platform maintains becomes a simple and easy process.  

Easy scalability  
This is another area where hosted ecommerce platforms are especially advantageous. They simply do a better job of growing with you like your company and its ecommerce needs to evolve and change. Take traffic spikes, for example.

A hosted platform typically absorbs those spikes more easily than a self-hosted solution does. That’s because your service provider can perform a quick upgrade that will enable your platform to accommodate extra or wildly fluctuating traffic efficiently without you or site visitors missing a beat.  

Disadvantages of Hosted Ecommerce Platforms  

Limitations on custom features  
The major problem with a hosted ecommerce platform is the limitation of custom features. You may need to add features over time for your platform. In hosted it difficult to convince the providers to add new features.  

Higher cost
Always take something from someone will be costly like the same cost of using third-party platforms sometimes appears higher than self-hosting. That’s mainly due to the cost of the platform is all-encompassing hosting software development, customer service, and profit for the platform owner. Moreover, some platforms may include a lot of indirect costs that you might be missing.  

Non-standard stores  
Hosted is entirely suitable only for the standard store which has the right business model. An ecommerce platform might not be a good fit if your store has a non-standard business model such as exclusively flash sales or it’s entirely a marketplace of buyers and sellers.  

Heavy reliance on customer support  
When you have a third-party platform means you will probably rely on its customer support personnel. Even if you are assigned dedicated staff, you may need to depend on their expertise. It is like migrating to an ecommerce platform, contact its support department.  

Self-Hosted Ecommerce Platform vs Hosted Platform  

Since you have received a brief gist of the two, let’s try to figure out the best platform by taking into consideration five key pointers, namely,  

1. Price Point  
2. Customization  
3. Reliability  
4. Marketing  

Price Point  

Sometimes, the feasibility of a platform or a product makes no difference if a business can’t afford to employ it. So, for anyone, it is nearly impossible to keep prices as sustainable as possible.   
Mostly the major cost of building your online store is depended on the hosting investing high cost reflected in the rest of the business.  
You need to keep in mind several details while deciding on the price of the platform you wish to employ as the cost of additional elements like web design, support and SEO also needs to be taken into account.  
With the Self-Hosted platform, you will spend on much of your cost will spend on set up is upfront. You need to set-up your site all by yourself or will have to hire a skilled developer this reduces much of the cost. This again may not be the most frugal use of your time, especially when you are just starting.  
Also, in a self-hosted platform when compared to a hosted platform, the cost of maintenance is generally higher.  
When you take Hosted platforms, it works on a subscription model so you need to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee to the provider. Only you need to spend on entirely no extra cost will be required like costs involved with self-hosted platforms developing and maintaining.  

Customization  

Self-Hosted platforms customization as they are easily configurable and make the changes. Here changes can be made on design according to your wish and fancy and won’t be limited by the capability of the platform. But the thing is you can’t customize so you need to hire a skilled developer, efficient enough to create customization.  
But this will be beneficial for you if you have a large enterprise and have an initial capital available.  
On another hand. With a hosted platform you will get an out-of-the-box solution that can be set up in a day. But you won’t be able to provide unique customer experience and will be limited by the constraints of the platform. 

Reliability  

Building an ecommerce store from scratch is not much easy, and you won’t earn a fortune in the beginning. Instead, it is extremely plausible that you may end up losing some.  
But the end of all in the ecommerce business customer satisfaction is the one most required for everyone.  
This depends on the responsiveness that you gave to your customers to make them satisfied.   
So, making ensure that you earn your customer’s trust by providing an extremely safe & secure website and also adheres to all the necessary compliance.  
To make a responsive site, you need someone skilled in web development for a self-hosted ecommerce platform. But in the hosted, you can easily opt for a responsive website.  

Marketing  

Marketing is the thing that makes you visible in the ocean of the competition.  
Self-Hosted Platforms will require you to set up the whole process yourself, but you can customize your marketing campaign as you want.  
With Hosted Platforms, you won’t need to waste your time and efforts on setting up SEO Optimizations and other marketing initiatives as they are already included in their offering. I strongly recommend you to choose a platform that has the whole marketing package and can provide you with Search Engine Optimization(SEO), Social Media Marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising, Reviews, etc.  

Conclusion  

When you create a customized site, you only need to rewrite a code that has already been efficiently written. So, it is better to employ a self-hosted platform. If you have a self-hosted ecommerce platform, then you will decide on the features that are needed for your ecommerce store and define how they must work on your store. You have the liberty to choose the hosting providers, the type of hosting and the application.  

Purchase Commerce gives you full control over your platform and freedom of choosing your hosting provider. Moreover, Purchase Commerce offers you have one-time payment with a lifetime license subscription model.