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Fasthosts Launches Reseller eShop Builder

Financial Services
Fasthosts Internet has unveiled a partnership with ePages that results in a new range of ecommerce packages for Fasthosts’ network of thousands of UK resellers. The Fasthosts eShop Builder, powered by ePages, is now offered to resellers with generous commissions and support. The move is a further signal that more SMBs than ever are seeking quick routes to multi-channel ecommerce.

Fasthosts operates a well-known and attractive reseller hosting platform, offering a range of customisable web solutions including hosting, domains and email products at discounted reseller rates and with unlimited web space. Fasthosts‘ advanced reselling features include a powerful reseller API, customer management system, white label sales collateral and product trainings.

From today, Fasthosts Reseller eShop Builder means an agency or IT professional will no longer lose an ecommerce project due to cost or time constraints. The ePages Software-as-a-Service platform makes far more projects viable and profitable, with time saved on support, maintenance, legal and software updates. Resellers can deliver a fully-managed, yet highly configurable ecommerce solution rapidly, to satisfy users not requiring the customisation and complexity of open source tools.

For the reseller, addressing the e-commerce customer has excellent benefits – a high level of ARPU and long customer lifetime. Value-added-resellers have much potential to combine with their own services. In fact, the market for associated design, implementation and support services comprises an additional $6bn today, rising to $10bn by end of 2019 (Forrester).

With Fasthosts Reseller eShop Builder, ePages’ shop functionality has been combined with the high performance and reliable hosting for which Fasthosts is renowned. The packages make selling easy with attractive designs, integrations of the best shipping, payment options and marketplaces, up to 15 languages, App & Theme store and built-in SEO module for all static and mobile devices.

Participation in online retail is at remarkable levels, meaning the market for retail technology continues to surge. A recent study of 1012 UK adults, commissioned by ePages, found 44 per cent of Britons have earned additional money by retailing goods or monetising skills or a hobby online, with 30 per cent expecting to do this regularly. A high level of awareness for internet tools has made selling online a feasible and enjoyable pursuit for many – meaning the market for eShop packages such as Fasthosts’ is more brisk than ever.

Wilfried Beeck, CEO ePages, said, “Cloud-driven platforms and powerful apps now make ecommerce activity highly accessible. As many SMBs and individuals are planning to jump into online retail, there’s an excellent opportunity for resellers to support them. For agencies in particular, Fasthosts eShop Builder comprises a swift and reliable way to profit from a booming sector”.

Chris Sopp, Product Manager, Fasthosts Internet Ltd, adds, “Fasthosts see a significant growth in new eCommerce resellers. From talking to our web design partners, we are very aware that they are looking for new revenue streams with minimal investment.”

“eShop Builder gives them exactly what they need without the overheads of employing a developer. Instead, they can look at a good designer to drive the ‘drag and drop’ theme-based application and still build a very professional looking shop for minimal outlay. An experienced designer could produce up to ten sites a week depending upon complexity and, of course, Fasthosts is on hand to support them throughout the process”.