For the last decade eCommerce software has offered companies of all sizes the ability to not just get their products online, but give customers a simple and secure way to purchase items. Now, thousands of eCommerce providers exist for enterprise, corporate, and small business clients, each with their own brand of product management and eCommerce solutions. One emerging trend in the marketplace for providers of all types is the use of cloud-based hosting, which offers a number of benefits to eCommerce users.

A Move to the Cloud
Cloud technology has been one of the most-hyped advancements in the world of online service provision for the last few years, and recent advancements in security, scalability and price have now made it a viable solution for eCommerce hosting. Instead of using a local server or single virtual server, cloud-based eCommerce software instead hosts a company's product data across multiple servers, providing greater failover protection along with nearly 100% uptime. In addition, cloud-based solutions mean a company does not need to pay a licensing fee as it is the provider, not the company that hosts the software solution.

Benefits for Businesses
There are a number of direct benefits that any company will see when using an eCommerce software solution based in the cloud. The first is price - by hosting multiple clients over a large number of servers, providers can help keep prices low and typically charge only a monthly fee for use, along with providing technical support and regular updates as the software evolves. In addition, the nature of cloud technology allows for completely separate partitions to be created so that one company's data does not interfere with any other company's different operating systems and applications can be used without any ill effects; it is as if each company is on its own server, even though they all share some of the same physical space. In addition, a cloud-based eCommerce software option lets business owners access their store and make changes anywhere, anytime. Instead of being tied to a local desktop or server, any computer or mobile device with the right permissions can be granted access to the software, allowing changes to be made on the fly. Cloud hosting also gives companies the ability to expand their store as needed without purchasing new hardware. When more space is needed for a great product catalog or if a company wants to upgrade the type of software they are using, contacting the software provider is all that is required - they can in turn make more space for a company in the cloud.