Should you use a hosted shopping cart

Written by Secure Net Shop

One of the decisions when looking at shopping cart services is whether to install on your own server or to go with a hosted solution. With a hosted solution, you get a plug and play cart already setup and only have to insert code into your website to get started. Installing one yourself can be a lot more work but comes with more control. Here is how to choose between the two:

Technical skills

Not everyone will have the technical know how to install their own shopping cart. Then there is the part of setting it up and integrating it into the website along with the payment gateway. A hosted solution will have a guide on website integration and will have the entire setup done you.

Customization

For those that have the skills to install and maintain a self hosted shopping cart, there is the potential for more customization. Every part of the look and feel can be customized and in some case even the behaviors can be changed in the code. While there will be limitations on hosted systems, this kind of customization will be possible at an additional cost.

Security

Here the hosted solution comes ahead as providers to many customers will mean a greater attention to security and fraud. When it comes to shopping cart solutions security is extremely important so consider how secure the self hosted system will be in comparison to the cloud hosted option.

___________________________________________________________________________

Add the ability to sell goods or services from your website with one of the many shopping cart ecommerce systems from Secure Net Shop