What drives the cost?
Three decisions shape the budget for ecommerce website development: the platform (hosted, open source or custom), the design (adapted theme or custom) and the integrations (payments, shipping, invoicing, marketplaces, ERP). When comparing quotes, look at first-year total cost, not one number.
Build cost items
| Item | Includes | Pushes cost up |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Scope, category structure, integration list | Many channels and stakeholders |
| Design | Home, category, product, cart, checkout | Custom design, animation, bespoke pages |
| Build | Platform setup or custom development | Custom search, filters, B2B pricing |
| Integrations | Payments, shipping, invoicing, marketplaces | ERP and multi-marketplace sync |
| Product import | Products, variants, images | Thousands of SKUs, messy data |
| Content and SEO | Category copy, legal pages, technical SEO | Multiple languages |
Running costs
- Platform plan or hosting.
- Payment processing fees: a percentage of every sale; grows with revenue.
- Apps and premium plugins.
- Domain, SSL and business email.
- Maintenance and support.
Three typical scenarios
| Scenario | Setup | Build | Running |
|---|---|---|---|
| New brand | Hosted platform, adapted theme, a few hundred products | Low | Plan + fees |
| Growing store | Hosted or WooCommerce, custom design, marketplace and invoicing integrations | Medium | Plan/hosting + integrations + fees |
| Complex / B2B | Custom build, part-number search, dealer pricing, ERP | High | Hosting + maintenance, no platform plan |
Hosted platforms are cheap to start but charge every month; custom builds cost more upfront but have no platform fees. Compare over two or three years. Platform comparison: Shopify vs WooCommerce.
Questions to ask when comparing quotes
- Which pages, integrations and how many product imports are included?
- Whose name will the domain and platform account be in?
- How many revision rounds, and how long is post-launch support?
- What are the yearly running costs?
- Will all access and source files be handed over?
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to hire a freelancer in another country?
Often, yes, because overheads and living costs differ. Make sure scope, timeline, communication hours and ownership of the domain and accounts are agreed in writing.
What are the hidden costs of an online store?
Product photography, cleaning up product data, premium apps or plugins, platform migrations later on, and marketing to actually bring traffic.