First of all, you'd need a web server provider. You could technically create your own server for use but it is highly impractical as you need to serve large amount of visitors and residential internet connections are not usually built for such load. Therefore you can Google for the many web server provider. The big ones are like GoDaddy.com or if you prefer local web server provider you could go with Server Freak. If you plan on serving mostly Malaysian customers it is wise if you take up a local web server provided as long as they host their server locally. You can email them and inquire regarding the location of their server.
If you sign up with Server Freak, make sure you take up a suitable package depending on your need. For starters, their RM 100 Linux cPanel package is adequate. However they don't include any free domain name in that package so you'll be required to purchase a domain name separately. After purchasing the domain and web hosting together, you should be able to log in once they have confirmed your transaction. Check your email for log in details. Usually you'd need to go to www.yourdomain.com/cpanel to log in. Use your username and password that you are given in your email to log in. There is an automatic first time set up for you to do. follow the instruction closely and you're set.
I suggest downloading an application called FileZilla. It is an FTP client. FTP is short for File Transfer Protocol which for layman means it allows you to remotely access your web server files. You need some server details to link FileZilla to your server which is provided in your email.
After that, open up your cPanel dashboard at www.yourdomain.com/cpanel and scroll down to a section that says Software and it should like Softaculous. Click on it and you'd be redirected to a web site with multiple softwares that you can install onto your server. Feel free to browse the section if you can find new things that might suit you.
After messing about, go to the eCommerce section in the Softaculous website. Here you are presented with eCommerce softwares for you to install onto your server. The big names are Open Cart and also Prestashop. I tested both and went for Prestashop due to their higher level of customization. Click on install and fill up some basic information like store name and description. Choose a strong password for your store and start installing.
Presto! You have your own eCommerce webstore. All you have to do now is log in into your Prestashop administration panel by typing something in the line of www.yourdomain.com/admin123 or whatever link was given to you after you have finished installing Prestashop.
Here you can do multiple things. Go to Preferences > Themes and upload your store logos, banner and so on. You can tweak a few settings here an there. There are many tutorial online for you to read if you want to do something and you could also go to the official Prestashop forum to ask specific questions. Usually they are very helpful and quick to help you out.
Lastly of course is to upload your products photo and description by clicking on the Catalog > Product tab. If you want a faster method to upload multiple product your can always use CSV Import. This way you would type out all the information you need in an Excel spreadsheet and upload that file. This will be processed by your server and automatically update all your products in one go. You can find tutorials online regarding CSV Import for Prestashop.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of how to use web hosting and Prestashop. If you need any help feel free to ask me in the comment section below!
Yours truly,
Izzudin Hafiz
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