How Much Does It Cost to Build an eCommerce Website?

It may become quite a challenge to answer the question of how much it costs to build an eCommerce website. Several factors actually influence the final project implementation price. Even an experienced developer will have a hard time providing a customer with a definite figure until the specialist gets answers to certain clarifying questions.

Depending on the platform and technical requirements, the price of eCommerce website development can range from $3,000 to $300,000. The better you comprehend your actual needs, the more reasonable the price will be. Instead of overpaying for unnecessary features, it is better to invest this money in marketing.

In this article, we will look at the main factors directly affecting the budget and setting an ecommerce website development cost. Having read it, you will know how to plan your budget and how it is possible to save money and not to lose quality at the same time.

eCommerce Website Budget: 6 Factors Influencing Cost

1. Analytic Data and Writing Technical Specifications

The pre-project analysis allows a more conscious approach to functional planning, design, and work sequence plan as a whole. It is necessary to make sure that the resulting product meets customer needs and is convenient for the target audience. It would be wise to think over all the details at as early as the prototype stage, rather than correct errors on a fully functional website.

The customer can either draw up technical specifications themselves or delegate this work to the contractor’s side. If you see your product clearly and can formulate your requirements and desires, the project will be evaluated more accurately, and its development cost will be lower. Therefore, while filling out your brief, try to explain your business objectives and needs to the development team as clearly as possible.

2. eCommerce Website Design: Development From Scratch or a Ready-Made Template

Generally, there are two ways to resolve this issue:

1. Develop a new unique design (from $1,500 for a simple design).
2. Purchase a ready-made design template that suits your subject ($70 to $200 for a quality template).

To choose one of the two options, it is worth considering your financial standing in the first place.

Some unique design is certainly the best choice. This approach implies thinking over an eCommerce website style and taking all your business features into account. A custom eCommerce website design will allow you to reflect your company’s uniqueness and realize all your business requirements. However, it is the most expensive option as well.

A certain ready-made premium design template is a lot cheaper and provides several advantages:

• premium templates are developed by professionals who take current web design trends into account;
• they comply with accepted usability standards;
• such templates do not require any development time and can be utilized right after you have purchased them;
• they are more affordable;
• you can customize some elements (icons, elements colors, etc.).

3. eCommerce Platform to Use

To build a website, you can use the following types of platforms:

1. A ready-made CMS designed for eCommerce platforms (for example, PrestaShop);
2. A framework to be used as the basis for custom solution development (for example, ASP.NET Zero framework);
3. A product completely created by developers from scratch.

According to the price, the list of possible solutions can be arranged in the same order. In most cases, option 2 is the most consistent as it allows you to use ready-made features available in the framework and adapt them easily to your needs.

4. Planned Functionality

Another factor determining eCommerce website development cost is its functionality. For example, an eCommerce website with one language will not require additional costs. However, to implement a multilingual platform, developers will have to spend additional time. This is another argument in favor of using frameworks with most of the required functionality.

It is sometimes difficult for a customer with a vague idea of the web development process to comprehend how laborious, hard, and expensive it may be to implement some “simple” functions. Consequently, having made a complete list of capabilities to be implemented on your website, take a critical look at it and filter out the ones that are not essential for your business.

5. Integration with Other Systems

This refers to such important things for an eCommerce business as:

• data exchange with the warehouse accounting system;
• integration with CRM to manage sales;
• connection to payment gateways to implement online payment;
• utilization of various support services.

eCommerce website development cost will also depend on the number of services with which it is necessary to integrate it. Depending on the platform utilized, it may contain ready-made libraries or require integration development from scratch.

6. Custom Development Cost

To get a correct answer to the question of how much it will cost to develop an eCommerce website, it is necessary to know who will be engaged in its development. As well as with any other important task, we can provide you with a universal piece of advice: hire professionals. Quality of work is not the aspect to save on under any circumstances.

It is better to start a project with less functionality or extend the development time than to hire inexperienced developers.

You can delegate the work to a freelancer or agency, and your choice will also affect the cost. If there is a lot of work, it is better to hire a team that works more harmoniously and has several specialists with different expertise. Outsourcing an eCommerce platform development is another way to save money without losing quality.

You can read about this in more detail in our article “9 Reasons Why to Outsource your App Development to Ukraine”.

How Much Does an eCommerce Website Cost: Final Word

Having read this article, you already know how much does it cost to build an ecommerce website. It depends on several factors, the combination of which in each specific project determines the price.

We can name the following average figures (including individual design development):

• from $3,000 to $10,000 for a small project;
• from $10,000 to $25,000 for a mid-level eCommerce website;
• from $25,000 and more, for the development of a large eCommerce platform.

Surely, all the figures provided are rough, but you can use them as an approximate guideline. If you are interested in a more accurate assessment, please contact us, and Lvivity specialists will assist you in this.