Selling products through online stores is becoming more and more popular among small businesses in the United States. Internet technology has advanced since the beginning of the dot-com era, making online stores much easier to setup and manage, more reliable and affordable.

This explains why 53% of small businesses in the United States sell their products or services through their own online stores and have seen a 4.3% increase in online sales revenue between 2001 and 2006.(1)

E-commerce web hosts, like Netfirms, make it easy for small business owners of any skill level to startup and manage their own online stores.

Over 20,000 online stores are powered by Netfirms Commerce Pro, a complete e-commerce solution that gives customers the ability to setup their online stores with total control of product catalog, shipping rates, and methods of payment. It also gives small businesses added features including marketing tools, secure transactions, and customizable sales reports to help maximize their online sales revenue.

Online stores powered by CommercePro have secure and reliable features that make it easy for shoppers to purchase the products they desire without a glitch. Searching for products is easy, the shopping cart has smooth navigation, and shoppers have the opportunity to read or post reviews of their favorite products and access their order status and purchase history.

Philbert Shih, Analyst, Tier 1 Research, states, “The e-commerce hosting solutions available to small businesses are becoming easier to use, more secure, and affordable – one of many reasons why businesses are choosing to sell products through their own online stores.”

Although many small businesses are already selling their products online, it will become a must-have capability for in the next two years.(2) As online selling becomes more of a necessity, it is also becoming more profitable as 97% of small businesses expect their revenue from online sales to stay the same or increase(3) over the next one to two years.

Ecommerce web hosts help small businesses with small budgets generate revenue from their own online stores with reliable solutions that are easy to setup and manage.

Netfirms Inc., founded in 1998, provides web hosting solutions and technology to successful small and medium-sized businesses, home office, entrepreneurs and individuals worldwide. Netfirms hosts over 1,000,000 websites, with offices in the U.S. and Canada. Netfirms was selected in 2006 as one of HostReview.com’s Top 10 Fastest Growing Web Hosting Companies.

(1) Out of the 57% of business with websites in the United States According to the latest Small Business Research Board (SBRB) study http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070831/20070831005347.html?.v=1.

(2) Forrester Senior Analyst, Tamara Mendelsohn, predicts that multichannel selling will become “a must-have capability over the next two years,” in Best Practices In Multichannel Retailing, December 2006.

(3) According to the latest Small Business Research Board (SBRB) study http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070831/20070831005347.html?.v=1.

Source: Netfirms. “Online Stores Gaining Popularity: Over 20,000 Small Businesses Increase Revenue Through Own Online Stores Hosted at Netfirms,” Press Release 09/27/07.

Related Post: “US Online Retail Maturing,” EBT Blog 06/10/07.

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