WordPress-focused web host BlueHost has announced a new open-source eCommerce play, meant to lower barriers for SMBs to sell online. It accomplishes this by simplifying the process of opening a store, managing it, and selling products. These functions are bundled into its hosting plans.
Known as eCommerce Essentials, it creates a sort of template for eCommerce businesses, or any SMB that has an eCommerce component. In other words, it standardizes the process of getting up and running with a curated set of eCommerce tools, and hosting packages built around it.
The benefit to SMBs is fewer headaches. Often, the process of launching an online store involves bringing together a patchwork of functions, plugins, and transactional tools. eCommerce Essentials demystifies this process with a set of pre-defined tools and an onboarding process.
For example, this includes pre-installed eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce. Altogether, it’s a designated and structured hosting plan for SMBs that sell things online. That could be an SMB’s primary function, secondary layer, or something they may want to grow into in later stages of their road maps.
“Our new WordPress eCommerce plans are the most complete open-source solution available today — combining AI-powered site building, integrated WooCommerce, world-class SEO, and membership tools into one seamless platform,” BlueHost CEO Sachin Puri told Localogy Insider. “Whether you’re launching your first product or scaling an existing storefront, we’re helping businesses grow online through faster development, better product discovery, and optimized checkout — all at performance scale.”
Additional & Adjacent
Stepping back, BlueHost’s latest move represents an ongoing trend we’re tracking: web hosts expanding up the stack. Hosts traditionally focused on the core function of hosting websites. But due to several factors, they’re expanding into other areas such as website builders, plugins, and optimization.
This is driven partly by the common drive for any industry to expand and diversify as it matures. With web hosting, this has accelerated due to competition and downward pricing pressure that’s diminished revenues in the core product. So adjacent services like eCommerce and SEO are the name of the game.
In addition to diversifying revenue and growing ARPU for web hosts, these additional and adjacent functions have helped them deepen relationships with their customers. Put another way, their services are stickier, as hosts now handle more website functions on which SMBs rely for daily operations.
BlueHost has been an exemplar in all the above, with rapid evolution and product rollouts over the past few years. Among other things, this includes AI-driven website builders, cloud hosting, and its WonderSuite of multidimensional functions for website creation, management, and optimization.
“Today’s creators and businesses need more than just hosting,” said Puri of this strategy and the latest addition. “They need a powerful, integrated commerce engine that scales and shortens time to market.”
Header image credit: Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash
