If you sell products or services online, then you probably already know how important it is to maintain a professional web presence. What you might not know is the qualities that are essential to making your store a success for the long haul. E-commerce features are virtually endless these days, but here are five that we consider must-haves. 1.) PCI Compliant Web Hosting Since you will likely be accepting credit or debit card payments from your website, it is crucial to find a web host that can provide you with a secure, PCI compliant environment. PCI is part a standard that applies to all businesses that store, process and transmit card data. If you are not complaint, you run the risk of encountering hefty fines or penalties that put your business in jeopardy. While there is a lot that goes into meeting PCI compliance, a secure hosting environment is that first essential step. 2.) Search Engine Appeal If you want to leverage the quality traffic search engines have proven to deliver, then you will need an e-commerce solution that provides SEO-friendliness right of the box. This basically means that it lets you customize your own URLs, title tags and meta descriptions, allowing you to optimize at your leisure for the benefit of the search engines. 3.) Flexible Catalog Management A good e-commerce system offers flexibility that allows you to get your store up and running quickly. One feature that can help you accomplish this is the ability to import and export your catalog items. This can turn out to be an invaluable feature that carries you for the duration of your business venture. You may also want to look for a solution that offers the easy resizing of product images, item cloning to simplify making additions to your catalog, and inventory management capabilities that let you specify quantities and identify back-order items. 4.) Built-in Shipping Capabilities You will certainly want your e-commerce system to support the major shipping options customers are using the most. This means it should ideally integrate with shipping providers such as UPS, USPS and FedEx. Likewise, it is important to have the ability to provide real-time shipping rate quotes by either a fixed amount or by a certain percentage. These luxuries will give you the option to charge transparent fees for handling. 5.) Review Feature Reviews can be very powerful tools for marketing your products. In fact, various studies reveal that even negative reviews result in more sales than products that have on reviews at all. Therefore, an e-commerce shopping solution that allows your customers to post reviews can be of great value. Most of these programs give you the freedom to approve the reviews before posting them or display them automatically. The e-commerce software behind your store can be the difference between its long-term success or immediate failure. A countless number of businesses are started each year but more than half of them crumble within the first 12 months. Therefore, it is well worth it to evaluate your options carefully and invest your time in finding the best solution possible. | 
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