Cost of creating an online store is a question that interests many business owners. It is relevant both for entrepreneurs who are just planning to open their own business, and for those who have been working in the offline market for a long time, but want to develop and make the most of the capabilities of modern information technologies.
Having its own online platform allows a company not only to sell, inform about new positions, but also to introduce products to a wide range of people, increase the loyalty of regular customers, present its business and its values online, support sales with useful materials, etc.
Before filling out the brief and working out the details, indicate how much does an online store website cost in a short time without detailed calculation very difficult. Indeed, the calculations take into account not only functionality, structure, number of pages, volume of content and various technical parameters, but also a number of marketing factors, SEO, management, automation.
| Type | Online store cost |
| Budget (template) | $3000 – $5000 |
| Individual | $6000 – $12,000 |
| Complex functional | $20,000 and above |
Price for creating an online store in 2023-2024
Depending on who and how it is carried out creation of an online store, price for services can vary within quite noticeable limits. The scale of the project, the experience of the team, the choice of tools, the effectiveness of communication between all participants, the correctness of the drafted technical specifications, the client’s understanding of the goals of cooperation – all this matters.
The more detailed the task is written and the clearer the end result is seen, the faster and more efficient the process goes. Having a detailed plan and strictly following all its points allows the team to adequately manage time and complete the project on time.
When choosing a web studio, it is important to focus not on numbers, but on the experience, professionalism of employees, the number of completed viable projects, and the presence of a large portfolio. The services of highly qualified developers cannot cost little, and therefore before order online store, price which corresponds to the lowest bar on the market, it is worth thinking carefully about it.
Minimum platform requirements for e-commerce:
- Pleasant adaptive design, informative – so that it opens equally correctly on any device in all browsers, giving a person the opportunity to carefully study a product or service, and get answers to all his questions.
- Performance and functionality – high loading speed, fast request processing, availability of all options within one or two clicks, intuitive interface, presence of filters, tags and other useful features.
- Availability 24/7 anywhere in the world – so that the buyer can make a purchase at a time convenient for him, being in any place where there is coverage.
- Security – for secure storage of payment and other data.
- Intelligent SEO and marketing are a prerequisite for successful promotion and increased sales (and, therefore, business development).
- Internal optimization, tools for analytics and reporting, which allows for effective management of business processes and control, research and development.
All these conditions can be guaranteed only if you turn to professionals with sufficient knowledge, skills and experience.
What you need to know about development
One of the fundamental points that influences the final result and price of building an e-commerce platform is the choice of CMS on the basis of which it will be deployed.
Several possible options:
- Constructor – have a number of restrictions on functionality, service, promotion, etc. The online platform is made up of already existing blocks, attracting many non-professionals with such advantages as low cost and accessibility. Among the minuses, it is worth mentioning the difficulties with modification and expansion, standardized visuals, lack of customization, and other nuances.
- Taking one of the popular systems (paid or free) as a basis, installing and modifying it in accordance with the client’s requirements. This approach guarantees stability and excellent quality, the presence of ready-made functions and components, flexibility of configuration and integration with various services. The preferred option is to choose a paid offer.
- Designing from scratch is an expensive undertaking, but it gives maximum freedom to implement any ideas.
What factors influence the cost
When the requirement is to create an online store, price often becomes the main argument when searching for a performer. Therefore, before applying, it is important to study what exactly affects the amount downward or upward, at what stages you can save without compromising quality, and what you need to pay the main attention to.
Main expense items:
- Web programming.
- Hosting and domain – costs for renting a server and registering a domain name.
- Reliability – protection against hacking and cyber attacks, SSL certificate for data encryption.
- Purchase of a starter package, CMS template, subsequent updates.
- Content and SEO optimization.
When discussed creation of an online store website, price can be announced only after detailed study of all the details. The total amount is calculated taking into account all the above parameters.
What logic should be used to build an online store:
The final calculations are directly influenced by two parameters – structure and functionality, which are closely interrelated and are designed to create a space where users can easily find the information and positions they need, easily perform certain actions, go through the entire ordering algorithm in a couple of clicks and receive exceptionally pleasant emotions from the experience of interaction.
Structure
- Home page – this is where visitors go when they access a direct address or link; key information about the company is posted here.
- Menu – makes it easier to navigate the resource.
- The catalog is a large section that presents the entire available range.
- Categories are subsections of the catalog where products are grouped into categories for ease of search.
- Product pages with detailed descriptions and characteristics.
- Sales, promotions, a selection of popular offers.
- Cart – everything that is added to the order is displayed here.
- Checkout – windows for entering information about delivery, payment method and completing the purchase.
- Personal account – here registered customers can view their orders, change profile data and manage subscriptions, lists of favorite or expected items.
- Footer is the area at the bottom that introduces visitors to contact details, privacy policy and other important information.
- Blog or news section – interesting content is published here, which is used for marketing, customer engagement and improving SEO.
Functional
Includes tools for searching for a product (the input field itself and setting up sorting, filters, comparison), adding it to the cart and sending an order, introducing various services into the system (delivery, payment, etc.). Also, the online store should have a feedback form, sending notifications (about the receipt of the desired unit, receiving a completed application, changing its status), and a field with previously viewed pages.
On the one hand, it is important to provide the client with all the options he needs to simplify the purchasing process; on the other hand, it is important not to overload the space with a mass of unnecessary buttons and fields that can irritate and distract attention. Everything should be organized simply, clearly, accessible and at the same time effective.
Formation of technical specifications
The terms of reference are the document on the basis of which the work will be carried out. His main task is to provide a clear vision of the result for the customer and the contractor, to work out and record all the key steps of the process with maximum detail of each of them.
What is included in the terms of reference:
- A detailed description of the activities of an enterprise or organization – the scope, goals and objectives of the future online representative office, the interests and needs of the target audience, competitive advantages.
- Requirements for the future site, which are specified in detail during the interview process or filling out the brief.
- Selection of a team, justification of expenses, indication of deadlines, algorithm of actions in case of force majeure situations, etc.
Components and approximate prices of work
A simple option using a free CMS or designer with a minimum of customization options and without support will cost less. If it is planned creation of an online store on a turnkey basis, price will be significantly higher. Costs will increase in direct proportion to the complexity of the project, the number of implemented features, the amount of time spent, etc.
Full cycle of designing an online representative office for trade:
- Preparation – filling out a brief by the client, analyzing and studying the target audience, competitors and their products, writing technical specifications.
- Searching and identifying tools for implementing ideas.
- Prototyping – to understand how it will all look and how much does it cost to create an online store, evaluation and approval by the client, making changes and a chance to refine some points.
- Design – work on the structural and functional part, UX/UI design, installation of plugins and modules.
- Security and protection – installing SSL certificates, encryption, blocking bots and phishing.
- Testing – checking for stability and presence of bugs, security, compliance with technical specifications, etc.
- SEO promotion – a business owner can perform this item of the terms of reference on his own, entrust it to a separate specialist, or entrust it to the studio that developed the platform.
- Maintenance is also an optional item that is not necessarily within the competence of the development studio.
Hosting
The hosting tariff on which the platform will be hosted depends on the amount of resources and storage (processor, RAM, disk space), level of service, type (shared, virtual, dedicated, cloud, under WordPress, with a designer, etc.), additional services ( SSL, backup), geographical location of servers and subscription duration.
For online trading, it is advisable to order a tariff with high performance and reliability, and sufficient storage. When considering offers from hosting providers, they take into account the needs of the online product and the budget. Annual subscriptions to the service range from $100 to $300 per year.
Domain name
Expenses are relatively low in the overall structure, but they also should not be forgotten. The tariff is formed based on the domain zone (for example, .com, .net, .org), the popularity and demand for a particular name, registrar, and additional options provided (WHOIS protection, DNS management). Payment is made once a year in the amount of $50-150.
Price depending on the choice of CMS
Free Content Management systems (such as WordPress) are affordable and easy to customize, but complex tasks may require paid plugins or customization. Paid ones (such as Magento, Shopify or Drupal) usually provide more scope for activity, are suitable for large projects, but require regular payments for license renewal.
When is it planned online store development, price largely depends on the decision made at the current step. It affects the level of payment for a particular web specialist – for example, designing unique digital products is more labor-intensive and requires deep knowledge and special skills, which significantly increases the amount in the estimate.
Cost of design and execution of an online store
A simple option can cost upwards of $1,000, including the logo and basic elements. For more complex, unique developments with adaptive layout you will have to pay from $2,000 to $10,000 or more.
Many clients pay insufficient attention to the issue, trying to save on visuals, but investing in complex internal architecture. This approach often causes low traffic and worsening behavioral factors, leading to loss of profit and sometimes even business collapse.
Success lies in the details, and for many online store visitors it doesn’t matter at all how many modules were involved in the structural part. People prefer simple and understandable solutions. And, paradoxically, the success of the entire event can depend on the correct distribution of colors in the scheme, the correct use of fonts and graphics, the overall aesthetics and overall impression.
Layout cost
Layout is the process of designing the structural and visual component of a web page to achieve optimal organization of space. The standard work package is based on HTML for markup, CSS for styling and JavaScript for interactivity to ensure responsiveness, user-friendly user interface, cross-browser compatibility, etc.
It will cost from $300 for a template approach with basic support to much more impressive for web platforms with animation and interactivity, web applications, a large set of modules, etc.
Prototype cost
The sketch allows you to preview the navigation menu and the location of blocks, sections, areas – evaluate the appearance and form a general impression in order to avoid misunderstandings during the actual implementation of the project. The layout estimate is based on the number of screens drawn, the complexity of the interaction, and the level of detail.
The simplest prototype can cost from $500. For more detailed development with interactivity and animation you will have to pay $1,000-$3,000 or more. The level of prototyping is chosen in accordance with the features and objectives of the product.
Cost of programming and additional work
A basic set of functions can cost from $2,000; complex projects will require investments of $10,000 or more. Additional work such as integrating payment systems, improving security, SEO optimization or introducing specific functions increases the amount of investment. Effective development also involves testing, detecting and eliminating bugs, and optimizing to ensure correct and high-performance operation.
Price for content filling
It is extremely difficult to indicate exact numbers here, since we are talking about a wide variety of tasks. The content can be text or photo/video, created in the format of product descriptions or long reads for a blog. Multimedia content is much more expensive than writing texts. SEO-optimized articles on highly specialized topics cost many times more than short sentences in article cards.
Types of content for the resource:
- Informational – longreads, news materials, reviews with up-to-date and relevant information for the visitor.
- Visual – graphics, video/photo to present products, clarify parameters, entertain and attract attention.
- Educational – training materials, courses, instructions.
- Selling – aimed at promoting the business with an emphasis on competitive advantages.
- Interactive – questionnaires, polls, calculators and other methods of involving the audience in dialogue.
- SEO is optimized text that takes into account the requirements of search engines and is aimed at increasing the site’s place in search results.
In addition, there are a number of other nuances that require an individual approach to pricing.
conclusions
Trying to count how much does it cost to create an online store, you need to understand that each specific statement of work will have its own expense items and amounts. For example, a small store of handmade accessories with a minimum set of functions and a standard design, assembled using a construction kit or a free Content Management System, can cost $3,000 to $5,000.
While writing from scratch a multi-level platform for a chain of equipment supermarkets with the introduction of unique components, complex adaptive design, animation, web application, SEO optimization, etc. will require an investment of at least $20,000 or more.
Besides, online store costs may vary greatly depending on the region, level of experience of the developers, technologies used and customer requirements.