In recent years, the cloud has indisputably become more prominent and relied upon in nearly every aspect of technology. By eliminating the need for huge hard drives and introducing the ability to access anything anywhere, it’s a necessary part of life to this day that many people don’t even give a second thought.
But what about e-commerce? Can your online store exist solely in the cloud? Despite fierce competition from on-premise hosting platforms, cloud-based e-commerce is consistently becoming more prominent in the field to this day.
Here are just five reasons why you should consider employing it yourself.
Everything is in one place
The main benefit of opting to use the cloud to host and run your online store is the fact you have everything in one place. From the web design, all the way through to the very back-end of the site, from invoices to order fulfilment, everything is together. Consider using a provider such as Knovial to ensure this.
The ease-of-use and fluidity that comes with hosting your store in the cloud is simply unparalleled by any on-premise setup. With so many different types of hardware and software being required otherwise, it simply make sense to migrate to the cloud and make everything a lot easier.
You can manage your store anywhere
Another major plus of the cloud is that it isn’t accessible from just one location. Whereas an office may be required for usual e-commerce processes, the cloud can be accessed from just your laptop if need be.
This means you don’t have to worry about being tied down to one strict location. You can manage your store from practically anywhere, whether it be the coffee shop down the street or on holiday in a completely different country. Accessibility is key.
It’s a cheaper alternative
Where with normal e-commerce you may need to purchase an abundance of software and hardware, which will become more and more expensive as your store grows bigger, the cloud won’t rack up the costs at all due to just how little you need.
As previously mentioned, you may need an office depending on just how big your store becomes, and costs become sometimes extortionate when thinking about hardware, dedicated servers and the multitude of software you might require. The cloud will eliminate it all.
Updates are done seamlessly
There’s no denying that, when using so much software in hosting an online store, updates are frequent and often put a hold on any work you need to do. It may require downtime, and could take hours or even days in some cases.
Again, the cloud eliminates this process. Updates are done seamlessly without any input, rolled out in the background whilst you work and keeping your online store running simultaneously. Downtime isn’t a thing in the cloud.
Processes happen much faster
All in all, the cloud lets you work much faster. With everything all together you can easily navigate between wherever you need to be with speed, and the cloud itself is always fast and ready to take on any demand.
If you’re looking to bring your online store into the future and make the process of running it a whole lot easier, the cloud is the way to do it.
More useful tips:
- Depending on what’s best for you, on-site platforms such as Siteground and other equivalents remain frontrunners in e-commerce considering their reliability and status. Consider what will work best for your desires.
- Consider combining your hosting provider with other cloud-based services. Zendesk and Freshdesk are two great ways to keep the customers happy – with their support you’ll be able to answer queries, requests and perhaps the occasional complaint. These services are great ways to keep track of it all.
