eCommerce Website Cost: The Complete Cost Breakdown

eCommerce Website Cost: The Complete Cost Breakdown

The world we live in is dominated by all things tech. And in this age, keeping up with tech, such as having a website, is what helps decide whether a business stays or fails.

That is why the importance of having an eCommerce website cannot be overstated. And this is not just a make-do kind of situation where you have to have a website just for the sake of having it.

But in truth, eCommerce websites do offer a ton of benefits to businesses, such as expanding business online, establishing an online presence, reaching wider audiences, building brand awareness, and whatnot.

All of this is why the eCommerce market is a thing. Not only that, but it is quite successful at that. That is because as per Statista’s report “The revenue earnings from the eCommerce market are set to reach US$4.32 trillion by the end of 2025.”

Yes, that’s right, trillions of dollars my friend! These are some serious numbers and it proves that eCommerce is a different ballgame and it’s not here to kid around; it means business.

So, what would it cost you or any other business for that matter to build an eCommerce website?

To find out the answers, we will look at estimated eCommerce website costs in this blog. More so, we will discuss the factors that shape the website cost.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started.

What is the Average Cost of an eCommerce Website?

Let’s get straight to the point right off the bat without beating around the bush, and let’s talk about how much does an eCommerce website cost.

While it’s not an easy question to answer, as there are many factors that influence the eCommerce website costs, we can give you estimated figures.

So, on average, an eCommerce website design & development price starts from as little as $10,000 and can go up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some websites can cost even half a million dollars. Insane, right? 

Well, not exactly because when you think about it, some of the best websites in the world, such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube just to name a few. are built using the best tech stack.

These websites have the best platform, and the best responsive design that works on just about every piece of device there is.

Most importantly, these sites can onboard as many users as half the population of the world without crashing.

So, when it comes to websites and features, the sky is the limit. And as the law of the world will have you, the more flavors, bells, and whistles a thing has, the more expensive it is.

Estimation Overview of eCommerce Website Cost 

We figured enough chit-chat for now, let’s give you some numbers and estimations of the cost of an eCommerce website.

So, before we dive deep and break down the costs based on factors, here’s an overview of estimated eCommerce website costs based on the size of a business:

Cost Breakdown: 4 Main Factors that Influence eCommerce Website Cost

There are 4 things that eat up your custom eCommerce website budget; Domain & Hosting, Design, Development, and Maintenance. Let’s discuss these key cost elements and components below:

1. Domain Registration and Hosting

The first main factor for eCommerce website cost is domain and hosting, albeit it’s a fraction of the total cost.

Every website on the internet needs web hosting to store its files. Likewise, just about every website needs to register a domain name.

The domain name is your website’s address on the internet for instance (webnhubs.com). Usually, businesses choose their company name as their domain name for their eCommerce store.

On the other hand, for buying web hosting, there are two ways you can go about it. Either you can go with a self-hosted eCommerce website or SaaS eCommerce platform hosting.

What is the difference between the two, you might ask? Well, let’s look at these two types of hosting in a bit of detail, one at a time.

Self-Hosted eCommerce Website:

The first way you can go about getting web hosting for your eCommerce website is to self-host your website.

For that, you will need to buy shared hosting from hosting providers which costs around $5 to $10 per month.

Keep in mind that it is a shared hosting, and it comes with storage limitations. You’ll be managing this hosting yourself.

However, there is also a second and most common way of getting a self-hosted eCommerce website and it is through an eCommerce platform.

These platforms such as WooCommerce and Magento are free for all. More so, millions of small and large eCommerce stores use these eCommerce platforms.

Both software are free to download and you can use them to create as many eCommerce websites as you like.

But there’s a catch: you will need a web hosting account with the eCommerce hosting provider to install it and get things underway.

More so, you will need to buy and register a domain name and get an SSL certificate. A starter website hosting plan normally starts at $7.99 per month, whereas a domain name can register for as little as $15 per year.

On the other hand, the SSL Certificate might cost you around $70 annually. However, there are some web hosts such as Bluehost that offer a cheap alternative.

They offer web hosting along with a free domain name and SSL certificate for just $2.75 per month. It is worth noting that the basic hosting plans have little storage capacity.

So, when your business starts growing and more people start visiting your website, you will need to upgrade your hosting plan to handle larger web traffic.

For websites with high-volume traffic, the cost of self-hosting can go as far as $1,000 to $2,000 per month.

SaaS eCommerce Platform Hosting

The other way to go about doing things is by choosing SaaS (Software as a Service) eCommerce platforms.

This method is a much easier one as these eCommerce platforms such as Shopify and BigCommerce manage everything on their own.

That means you do not need to install, manage, or host a domain yourself. Everything is managed and taken care of by the eCommerce platform.

All of these things are included in the monthly subscription fees of the eCommerce platform. More so, Shopify offers different plans and each one has a secure hosting and SSL certificate included in it.

This way, you save big on eCommerce website costs in the grand scheme of things. More so, you also save yourself from the hassle of managing and hosting a domain on your own.

However, you will need to buy and register a domain name on your own which will cost you around $15 per year. Once you have done that, all you will need to do is buy a subscription plan from an eCommerce platform.

We know you must be wondering how much is a Shopify store plan. So, Shopify’s plan starts at $19 per month whereas BigCommerce’s plan starts at $29 per month. Keep in mind that both platforms are different from one another.

More so, each platform has different plans that offer different sets of features. So, you will need to review the plan and assess your needs before choosing the right one for your online store.

2. Web Design 

The second and one of the most important elements in eCommerce website cost is the web design bit.

Your website’s first impression is its last impression! And it only takes a person about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) to form an opinion about a website.

In this fraction of a second, your website needs to make an impression that blows away the viewer’s mind and leaves a lasting impression.

And for that to happen, your website’s design needs to be spot-on in terms of aesthetics, responsiveness, structure, navigation, and overall user experience.

And this is where half of your eCommerce website cost will go to nail the design aspect of your website.

You might want to spend on premium and paid themes for your site or custom designing to create a layout and web design that strikes.

The main goal is to have an effective web design that appeals to the users and establishes trust that encourages them to buy from your website.

As for nice themes, they cost from $20 to $100 whereas premium ones can cost from $100 to $500 or more.

Or if you really want your website to stand and take things to the next level, you can hire a professional web design agency such as Webnhubs to custom design your website. This will cost you around $1000 or more depending on the size of your website.

3. Custom Development

The other half of your eCommerce website cost goes into development. Development is where developers code your website and bring it to life.

This means developers get to work to develop the front-end (what users see) and the back-end (the engine under the hood) of the website.

As for eCommerce website development cost, it depends on the pricing of the development firm or development service provider, the needs of your website, and the tech stack you want to use for your site.

Custom development is about tailoring each and every single aspect of your site according to your needs and brand image.

This means your website is truly personalized and there is no other website that looks or works like yours.

While it all sounds great and fun, custom eCommerce website development can cost you from as little as $5,000 to as high as $500,000.

But on average the figure is closer to the former than the latter as most websites start off with the basic requirements and tech stack.

The custom development cost for most eCommerce sites is around $15,000. This cost covers installing a Content Management System (CMS) on your website.

As the name suggests, the CMS stores, manages, and displays content on your site. Most websites use open-source CMS such as WordPress with its eCommerce plugin WooCommerce.

However, some enterprise organizations also use bespoke CMS for their online stores.

4. Maintenance and Support

The last key factor that shapes the eCommerce website cost is the ongoing maintenance and post-launch support part.

While the eCommerce website maintenance cost does not incur upfront, it still adds to the overall eCommerce website cost. Keeping a website running smoothly and working as intended is not as easy as one might think.

That is because the world of tech is always changing and technology keeps evolving, your website will need to keep up with these changes.

That means you, or the website development company that provides the maintenance, will need to monitor your website and update it for optimal performance.
More so, when your website traffic increases, you will need to upgrade your website in terms of hosting and tech stack to handle the increased visitors.

Also, your website will crash every now and then or have bugs that will need fixing. So, all of this problem-solving and updating will fall into the maintenance and support part of your website.

This part will cost you from as little as $500 per month to $3000 each month, depending on your site’s size and needs.

Additional Costs of Building an eCommerce Website

If you think the main costs are the only eCommerce website cost, then you have got another thing coming pal, and they are hidden costs.

These costs might not be shown to you on the bill receipt but they are there and you’ll need to watch out for them.

These additional costs of eCommerce website are as follows:

• Payment Gateway Fees: You will need to add a payment gateway to handle all the transactions on your eCommerce website. Their cost includes paying monthly fees of $25. However, some payment gateways charge transaction fees of about 1% to 3% for domestic transactions and about 3% to 5% for international transactions

• Security Features: You will need to add security features for your website to keep its security intact. This includes getting an SSL certificate for about $70 per year as well as getting security services like PCI compliance audits.

• 3rd Party Integrations: You might need to integrate a third-party system into your website. This could be ERP, HCRM, or other systems for that matter. Integration can cost you anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 or more depending on the system.

• Software and Plugins: Your website will most definitely need a plugin for various needs. This can include using a pre-built eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce or an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO. More so, you might need to create a custom plugin which can cost you around $250 to $500.

• Digital Marketing and Advertising: You’ll need to implement a website marketing strategy and run ad campaigns to promote your website, increase its visibility, and bring in more visitors. You can read more about digital marketing from our blog on website marketing.

• Branding: Your site will need branding to differentiate your company by designing your logos, color schemes, typography, and other brand assets.

Website Design Choices that Impact Website Costs

While we did cover the design a bit earlier in this blog, we also want to shed some light on the design choices as well. That is because your design choices will also play a key role in shaping your eCommerce website cost.

As you know, web design is nothing short of an ocean, as there are too many variables that come into play when designing your website.

So, let’s take a look at these design choices you will have to make: 

Choosing Template OR Going With Custom Design

Using a pre-made template is the best way to go about choosing a web design for your eCommerce store. More so, most people use pre-built templates as it is the most cost effective eCommerce design route.

There are a lot of eCommerce platforms that offer free as well as premium templates that you can tweak and customize to your liking.

That being said, many enterprise organizations take the custom design route to make their website design look unique and one of a kind.

This comes at the cost of hiring a professional web design agency which adds big expenses to the overall eCommerce website cost.

Using Responsive & Mobile-Friendly Design

The second design choice that will ramp up your eCommerce website cost, is implementing a responsive design.

This choice is justifiable and if anything, it is needed the most. That is because by choosing responsive design, you ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

It will make sure your eCommerce website has the right Website Dimensions so that it adapts to different screen sizes and looks well on different types of devices.

This is no longer an option, but a necessity. Most pre-made templates are already responsive.

But with a custom design, you will need to add responsiveness which will increase the eCommerce website development cost.

User Experience (UX) Design

Designing a perfect user experience will be the secret to your eCommerce website’s success.

This will make your users interact easily with your website. You will need to nail a few elements such as smooth and intuitive navigation, fast page loading times, clear calls to action (CTAs), Landing Pages, and streamlined checkout processes.

All of this will increase your conversion rate. So, paying attention to details for UX design will really take your website to the next level.

Animations & Augmented Reality

Adding bells and whistles to your website will help your website stand out. This means you can add interactive elements such as augmented reality (AR) to make your website special.

With AR, your eCommerce store will offer an engaging and immersive visual experience. The AR will overlay users’ real-world surroundings with digital information.

More so, it will allow customers to choose an item from your eCommerce store and place it in their real-world settings, such as placing a piece of furniture in your house virtually before buying it.

Likewise, animation designs will add to the user’s experience and enhance it by ten times.

However, all of this will significantly increase your eCommerce website cost, with the web design alone costing $15,00 or above depending on your animation and AR choices.

Two Different Ways to Launch an eCommerce Website

There are two different ways that you can go about starting an eCommerce website, and they are as follows:

Choosing Off-the-Shelf eCommerce Websites

The first method to launch an eCommerce store is by choosing an off-the-shelf eCommerce platform such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce.

These platforms are the crowd favorite as they offer the easiest way to start an eCommerce website. More so, this method is the most cost-effective as well. That is because there is no Shopify website development cost besides subscription fees.

You have to worry about nothing but a domain name, which you can get and register for $20 per year.

Besides that, everything is taken care of by the eCommerce platform, from web hosting and SSL certificates to product management, payment processing, and even shipping.

More so, these platforms even offer basic SEO. However, you only have to pay for the subscription fee, which can go from a monthly fee of $30 to a few hundred dollars depending on the plan you choose.

Other than that, some platforms like Shopify will charge a transaction fee if you use your payment processing system.

But if you use their payment processing system, then you do not have to pay transaction fees.

Other optional costs include paying for premium themes and plugins if you choose not to go with the free ones.

But if you can’t set up the eCommerce website yourself, you will need to hire a professional web development agency, who will charge you for the setup.

However, they will set it as per your needs and customize the website according to your liking,

Building Custom eCommerce Websites 

The other way you can go about launching your eCommerce website is by choosing a custom approach.

This approach means building and designing everything from the ground up. This method is a bit expensive compared to the one above. But in turn, it offers the most customization opportunities and provides the highest degree of flexibility and control.

This means that you can custom and tailor each and every aspect of your website according to your needs, preferences, brand image, and business model.

When you go with a custom eCommerce website approach, you will have to develop the website as well as design and maintain it yourself.

More so, you will need to update it with changing needs and requirements. You will also have to pay for web hosting and domain registration and manage them on your own.

This approach is taken by enterprise organizations that have higher needs compared to startups.

How Development Approach Selection Influences the eCommerce Website Cost 

When you choose to create a custom website as opposed to going with off-the-shelf options, you get different approaches to developing your eCommerce websites.

Some of these approaches are as follows:

Building the Custom eCommerce Website Yourself

The first approach to building an eCommerce website is by doing it all yourself. That means coding the website’s front-end and back-end, designing the user interface and user experience, and adding a content management system.

More so, you will need to install plugins and add-ons, integrate with third-party systems, and create web pages all on your own.

If you are a web developer who knows his or her stuff, then this approach is the one you should take as it is the most cost-effective and personalized way to create a custom website.

However, if you do not have the coding or designing skills, then this approach is not for you, as you will more than likely get stuck right after you begin.

Using DIY Website Builders

If you do not know how to code or design a website; then no worries! This second approach is for you which is using a website builder.

It is also the second most cost-effective method besides creating a website on your own.

These DIY (do it yourself) website builders such as Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace act as tools to create your website without coding a single line. They do so by offering a wide range of templates for you to choose from.

More so, these platforms offer easy-to-use features such as drag-and-drop tools that allow you to create eCommerce sites without having coding skills. This method is the fastest way to create and launch an eCommerce website.

More so, they are pretty affordable as well because the Shopify website design cost ranges from $30 to $700 depending on the themes and features you choose.

However, despite all of this, these websites are pretty limited in terms of customization, as what you see is what you get only.

There is no room for adding extra features that you might not want if they are not listed on the platform.

Hiring a Freelance Developer

The third way to launch your website is by hiring a freelance developer. You can hire a developer from freelance platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer.

With a dedicated developer, you get the most control over your eCommerce website development.

The developer will work closely with you and directly communicate with you back and forth for feedback and iterations. This way, all the changes will be implemented quickly and in real time.

However, a single developer can do one thing at a time, meaning the entire website development project can take longer than usual to complete.

The developer will charge based on the project size, type of work, requirements, and his or her experience and expertise.

The costs for hiring a website developer can go from a minimum of $1,500 to $12,000 or above.

Partnering With a Professional Design and Development Company

The best method out of all to create and launch an eCommerce website is to partner with a professional website development company.

This method might be a bit more costly upfront compared to others, but in truth, it is the most cost-effective method in the long run.

That is because this approach gives you a website that is full of quality and provides results that matter the most.

Not only that, but a website built by a professional development company such as Webnhubs is scalable.

This means the website will easily handle the increased traffic when your business grows. Developing a website from a professional web development firm can cost you around $15,000, but it is worth every penny.

That is because each aspect of your website is catered with expertise. Your website is designed and developed by a dedicated team of professional designers and developers who know what they are doing and excel in it.

This way, you not only get the best results but also develop a website faster than hiring a single freelance developer.

Tips to Reduce eCommerce Website Costs

Here are some of the tips you can follow to save on eCommerce website costs big time:

• Define Your Requirements Clearly: The best way to avoid costs is to avoid mistakes. And when it comes to web development, mistakes mean costly revisions and expensive re-designs. So, you can avoid all this trouble by being very specific with your requirements and defining them to a T.

• Prioritize Minimum Viable Product: Use the “Kill All Your Darlings” approach with this one. That means avoiding focusing on unnecessary stuff even if it’s appealing. Focus on the main thing and create a minimum viable product (MVP) first with basic features and functionalities to keep the cost down early on. You can always go back to add flashy features and improve your website later on.

• Focus on Minimalist Design: Keep the design simple and avoid adding too many design elements and flashiness. By aiming for simplicity, your website will look nice and clean. But above all, you will save a lot of money on eCommerce website design costs.

• Use Expert’s Helping Hand Early On: Do not shy away from asking for help from experts whenever you get stuck. It is better to use a helping hand from an expert early on than later. Because otherwise, the damage can be too great for repair. Also, avoid going for cheap resources. While they sound enticing at first, cheap resources always give you cheap results. And as you know the saying; you buy cheap, you buy twice. Therefore, put your emphasis on expertise and invest in quality.

Why Choose Webnhubs to Design and Develop Affordable eCommerce Websites?

Developing an eCommerce website is just as about using professional expertise as it is about saving on eCommerce website costs.

So, when it comes to offering both, there is no better web eCommerce development company than Web hubs.

Whether it is eCommerce website management services or development services, web hubs have the experience and expertise to create an online store that sells.

They have a team of expert designers and developers who create eCommerce stores that drive sales.

Whether you need to create a custom eCommerce website or a Shopify web store, we will help you with it and launch it in no time.

You can partner with web hubs and let us help you complete your web design and development project.

Bringing It to a Close

That is all we have to talk about eCommerce website cost in this. We hope that the cost estimation and factors we featured in this blog can help you create your eCommerce website. More so, we have listed the different ways you can create your eCommerce site as well as mentioned tips to save on costs. We have talked about how much does it cost to build a Shopify website as well as a custom site.

This blog will help you set realistic expectations and budget when you start creating your online store. However, if you need help from a professional web development agency, you can consider Webnhubs for the job. Our team of experts will take care of your eCommerce website design and development. More so, they will create a website that grows your business and sells your products.