8 Benefits of Using a VPN for your eCommerce Business

Online security is vital for everybody, but it’s even more important for those of us who make a living on the internet. If you don’t follow the best practices of cybersecurity, your business’s money might not be safe in transit, and either you or your customers could be left fuming. The easiest way to stay safe is to use a VPN for eCommerce.

A trustworthy virtual private network (VPN) costs money, but if you don’t make that investment, you could stand to lose a lot more. The benefits don’t stop at security, either. With a VPN, you can research more markets, make your business more international, protect your data while you work, and safely pursue highly effective sales strategies.

In this article, we’ll explain everything a VPN can do for your eCommerce business. If you’re convinced — or you just want to see what’s on offer — check out this curated list of the best VPNs on the market by PrivacyJournal.

What Is A VPN?

A VPN, or virtual private network, is a piece of software connected to a global network of servers. Using the software on a desktop computer or mobile device, you can connect to a server in the network, and then use the internet with that server as your home server. Once you connect, all your traffic is encrypted with a strong cipher.

The result: not only can nobody see what you’re doing online, but you can claim an IP address anywhere in the world. You can foil surveillance, protect against doxxing, and circumvent geographic content blocks all at once. This convenience has caused a massive boom in VPN usage (see these VPN statistics to learn more).

Before we start, note that a VPN can’t protect you against all the dangers you’ll face as an eCommerce business owner. It can’t do anything about sellers who sent fraudulent payments, for example or request frivolous chargebacks. Though a VPN can still do more than enough to pay for itself, we recommend checking out some other security threats and solutions to be safe.

8 Benefits of Using a VPN for eCommerce

A VPN is as versatile as a Swiss army knife for eCommerce entrepreneurs. Here are 8 things you’ll be able to do once you subscribe to a VPN service.

1. Protect Your Browsing Data

This one goes for everybody who spends time online, not just eCommerce business owners. You expose a lot about yourself when you use the internet. Your IP address alone can be used to determine your physical location, even if you only use HTTPS pages.

Internet service providers (ISPs) can also see your whole browsing history (you can tell because they use it to target those ads that know way too much about you). When you connect to a VPN, all that data is encrypted and shielded. Your ISP can’t see what sites you visit, and nobody can see your real IP address. A VPN keeps your eCommerce business just that — your business.

2. Communicate Securely With Customers

While building your eCommerce store, you’ll spend a lot of time communicating with customers — setting up sales, answering questions, settling complaints, and so on. These people are the backbone of your business, but they’re also mostly strangers, so it pays to adopt a “trust but verify” attitude.

You already know not to give up sensitive information to someone you only know online. However, if a tech-savvy customer is looking to exploit you, they may be able to follow a trail of breadcrumbs to spy on your IP address and activity. A VPN keeps you safe from those few bad apples so you can focus on building rewarding customer relationships.

3. Use Public WiFi Safely

As a business owner, you need to be able to work whenever the job requires. That often means using unsecured WiFi networks in restaurants, cafes, hotels, or airports. “Unsecured public WiFi” means any network that doesn’t require a password to log in, or where the password is posted for everyone to see.

These public networks are prime locations for man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, a common assault where a hacker hijacks your connection to a legitimate destination. Hackers can set up fake-but-believable public networks, or monitor communications on real ones without security. 

By watching your activity, they can steal your account credentials, your banking information, and even access to your eCommerce business. From there, it’s easy to steal your money by posing as you. But a VPN stops them in their tracks: if your communication is encrypted, MITM attacks will only serve up useless gibberish.

4. Secure Remote Desktop Access

If you store information for your business offline, such as on a computer hard drive, you may find yourself needing data for a customer but not having access to the device where it’s stored. You can save a lot of headaches in these situations by using an app for remote desktop access. This software lets you use an authorized computer as though you had it in front of you.

However, a connection between two devices creates a vulnerability for hackers, who could piggyback on it to spy on your activity. Using a VPN for remote desktop access cuts criminals out of the loop. You can even pick a service like NordVPN that turns personal computers into temporary VPN servers (this NordVPN review explains exactly how it works).

Remote access gets more useful the more your business grows. If everything goes well, you may end up with storage in multiple countries and branches serving more than one continent. It’s crucial to have a secure communication system set up before you get to the point.

5. Get Around Geographic Restrictions

Readers who already know something about VPNs may be aware that you can use them to check out streaming libraries in foreign countries. It’s an easy trick: just get an IP address in the country, then log onto Netflix or another streaming site to see a different selection of shows and movies.

What you may not know is that this trick can also help your eCommerce business. Suppose you’re looking for the lowest-cost supplier for a specialty good. Plenty of sources that could help you save a huge amount of money — and pocket the difference – are inaccessible due to government restrictions on commerce across borders.

You can get around these walls by using a VPN to pretend to be in a country with access. If you’re in the United States but your best cheap source is in China, just connect to a VPN with a China server and shop as though you were there. The more expansive the VPN server network, the more places you can search for deals (and this ExpressVPN review talks about a great network to start with).

6. Research the Opposition

It’s not just low-cost suppliers you can search for, either. You can use a VPN to get an accurate picture of what your direct competitors are charging, then change your prices to compete in the same markets as them. This is a crucial strategy to master when selling your products internationally.

Many websites change their prices automatically based on the country you access them from. Sometimes, this is just to make sure prices are displayed in the right currency, but sites also change costs to match each nation’s purchasing power. If you want an accurate picture of what people in a market are paying, use a VPN to get an IP address in that market.

7. Keep Clear Of Malicious Websites

Ad and malware blockers aren’t a core feature of VPNs, but many of the best services have added them anyway (check out this list of the best VPNs with ad blockers). VPN ad blockers can stop ads from displaying, keep cookies from tracking you between websites, and — most importantly — warn you when you’re about to enter a malicious site.

By itself, connecting to a VPN can’t keep you from downloading malware that might compromise your computer and business. However, a built-in warning system protects you against many of the threats a VPN doesn’t handle by itself. For example, if you get a phishing email with a link that steals your credentials, a VPN malware blocker keeps the link from opening.

8. Protect Yourself From Data Breaches

This is another benefit that comes from a side feature, not the VPN technology itself. When hackers breach a major corporation, they often sell the credentials on the dark web — or share them freely with other criminals. If your credentials leak, your business could be at risk, especially if you’re hit with the dreaded ransomware attack.

Some VPNs now include scanners that check for your email address and passwords in leaked data files and then alert you when any of your information has been compromised. This warning gives you time to change your logins before hackers undo all your hard work. Again, though, this only works on VPNs with a data breach scanner included.

Final Thoughts

A VPN is a low-risk, high-reward investment in the ongoing safety and health of your eCommerce empire. For a few dollars a month, you can gain an edge over the competition while keeping yourself safe from costly threats.

It’s a no-brainer for us, but we’d like to hear your thoughts — leave a comment below with your experience using a VPN for eCommerce. Thanks for reading, and happy selling!