This thesis explores the topic of E-commerce as a Service with focus on startup businesses. It provides an explanation for what E-commerce as a Service is and also sheds light on related aspects. In a literature review, existing research is examined to identify critical success factors for e-commerce startups. The identified factors are: service quality, system quality, information quality, website design, interactivity, data security, playfulness, cost and payment structure, personalization, scalability and ease of use. The thesis also provides a list with services currently offered for e-commerce businesses in the field and gives an overview of decision-making criteria that helps startups to choose the most appropriate provider. To test whether the identified critical success factors are exhaustive and indeed critical for an e-commerce startup’s success, a quasi-experiment is conducted. The quasi-experiment finds interactivity, playfulness, cost and payment structure, personalization and ease of use to be critical for business success. The other factors identified in the literature review could not be tested, due to the nature of the experiment. In addition to the critical success factors addressed in previous research, the quasi-experiment finds connection to social media and analytics to be further factors that should be added to the list. Factors concerning the business aspect are also identified in the quasi-experiment.

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