95% of all purchases are expected to be made online by 2040, according to Nasdaq, which proves there’ll be an increasing demand for new ecommerce websites in the upcoming years. If you’re one of those looking to build a successful ecommerce website and would love to get a detailed ecommerce website cost breakdown, you’re in the right place!
Find the key drivers of ecommerce costs, read about the most popular ecommerce website features, and check successful use cases in our comprehensive guide to ecommerce website development costs.
What affects the price while planning ecommerce website development
Building an ecommerce website is a challenging task, and the cost can fluctuate significantly depending on various factors. Before proceeding with the development process, find out what factors affect your project budget:
Business requirements
Whether you want to build a new online shop or to upgrade your existing one – you should start with requirements. First, define the purpose of the project, identify your users’ needs, and list both functional and non-functional specifications. Conduct a market and user research to understand your audience’s preferences and analyze your competitors' platforms.
If you have a functioning website, gather feedback from users to pinpoint what’s missing or needs to be improved. Well-defined business requirements are a solid basis for a smooth development process, reducing the risks of unexpected cost-related issues.
Website complexity and size
The common ecommerce website costs vary based on its complexity and size. Key factors like your product catalog and sales volume determine the scale of development, influencing the number of pages and custom features needed to handle the user traffic.
The more complex your website – the more the cost will increase. For example, a single-brand ecommerce website with basic functionalities will be far more affordable than a fully custom-made marketplace with a vast number of retailers and products.
Apart from price, the complexity of the ecommerce website also affects the development time and the specific expertise required for the project. Suppose you want to implement AI or ML-based features into your ecommerce project. In that case, you must invest in a professional team with proven expertise. While this raises the price, it also sets your website to stay ahead of the competitors with its cutting-edge functionality, setting the bar for the rest of the market.
Development team
Cooperation with the development team is another factor that impacts the ecommerce website prices. Usually rates vary based on the team’s location, expert’s seniority level, and contract type. Outsourcing is often more affordable than hiring a local web development agency, but don’t fall for low prices – quality of website development matters more. Before signing a contract with the development team, conduct a thorough background research. Check their case studies, international certifications, security compliances, and customer testimonials to validate your choice.
How to calculate the cost of building an ecommerce website?
Dozens of online ecommerce website cost calculators claim to give you precise estimates for your project, but they often fall short. These calculators fail to consider specifics of the development process, which can be different from project to project. Here is the breakdown of the key stages that affect both the cost and timeline of creating your online store:
UI/UX design
50% of customers perceive the website’s design as a crucial factor in shaping their impression of a company's brand. The more appealing design – the more likely people are to buy products. But beyond the appealing visuals, the design must also be clear and responsive and work across different devices – from desktops to smartphones.
While using pre-made templates can speed up development, it often comes at the cost of a strong brand image. Although you can customize the templates, the options are limited and can be tricky to deal with.
Custom design, on the other hand, gives you a unique brand identity and competitive edge, but requires more time and investment. However, it will pay off with higher conversions, customer retention, and greater brand awareness.
The estimated time to design your website using an ecommerce platform with existing templates can take approximately from 60 hours, while creating a custom design from scratch will take more than 100 hours.
Frontend development
Around 42% of customers will leave the website if it has poor functionality, making high-quality front-end development an absolute must for successful ecommerce business. This stage takes up a substantial part in e-commerce cost structure, often requiring more time than design and backend development altogether.
Regarding cost to build ecommerce website, the main factor here depends on whether you use a monolithic or headless approach. In monolithic setup, common among most ecommerce platforms, the frontend is connected with the backend as one whole. It is easier and cheaper to build but less customizable and more challenging to scale.
The headless approach, on the other hand, creates a more personalized customer experience. It is written in JavaScript, decoupled from the backend, and interacts with it via API. Headless approach gives you more flexibility to go full creative mode on the frontend and implement changes quicker without risk of breaking backend. However, this approach raises the cost of an ecommerce website development.
The typical time for front-end development is more than 100 hours.
Backend development
While the frontend is your website's face, attracting the customer to make orders, the backend is the cornerstone for its flawless operation. From product and customer management to order processing and transactions – all are managed on the backend side.
When it comes to setting up your backend, you have two main paths: choose an e-commerce platform with ready-made features or opt for custom development.
Ecommerce software, such as Shopware, allow for hassle-free and rapid launch of your website on the market. With pre-made templates, plugins, and basic built-in features, you can set up your website conveniently – ideal for tight deadlines and budget. It can take from 80 hours to create your online store using a platform solution.
However, if you are aiming for full flexibility and scalability, custom development is the way to go. Open-source content management systems like Drupal offer a rich toolkit, allowing you to create a custom ecommerce website with advanced functionality to fit your business. You can also easily scale your site as your business grows. Custom development requires a bigger upfront costs and over 200 hours of work, but it pays off in the long run.
| Custom development | Ecommerce platform | |
| Functionality | Functionality tailored to business needs | Ready to use functionality |
| Scalability | Easy to scale | Limited scalability |
| Cost | Lower in the long term | Lower in the short term |
| Ownership | Full ownership | Dependence on provider |
Payment gateways integration
For payment gateways we recommend using existing and proven global payment providers. Such integration will save you money and time and ensure a high level of data protection. If you are looking for an example of integrating a payment solution, check out how to integrate Apple Pay with Drupal Commerce here.
Moreover, payment providers enable various payment methods and simple checkout. The only payment option usually raises suspicion and leads to client loss, as 37% of users leave the website due to limited payment options. With multiple payment methods, customers will be less likely to abandon their carts and shop elsewhere.
In terms of the cost of payment gateway integration, providers charge differently. Below, we have collected pricing plans of some well-known payment gateway providers for comparison*:
| Payment gateway providers | Pricing plan (for US) |
| Stripe Standard | 2.9% + 30 cents per successful charge + 0.5% for manually entered cards + 1.5% for international cards + 1% if currency conversion is required |
| PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + fixed fee based on currency received |
| Adyen | $0.13 processing fee + a fee determined by the payment method |
| Square | Free Plan: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction + no monthly fee Plus: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction + $29 monthly fee Premium: 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction + $79 monthly fee |
*information taken from the official websites of providers
Payment gateway integration usually takes 40+ hours to complete.
Shipping integration
The shipping rates depend on your business needs. Do you want to ship locally or internationally? Do you want standard shipping or express shipping for your customers? Once you understand your needs, you can research which provider will work best for you. After that, your development partner will handle all the hassle of integrating the API into your store by setting up the delivery workflow.
Integrating the shipping API into your ecommerce website can take from 20 hours.
Custom features to consider for your ecommerce website
Aside from the core ecommerce functionality, you can boost your online store’s performance and customer satisfaction with these optional custom features:
- ERP integration
By centralizing all business data, ERP integration streamlines core operations, from order processing to inventory management. The ecommerce site communicates with the ERP platform and updates all data without the need for manual input, reducing the likelihood of errors.
- AI-based tech support automation
AI-empowered online support automation significantly transforms customer support service, with AI chatbots handling all basic customers’ inquiries, so your team can focus on more complex issues. While this tool can not fully replace the customer support specialist, it enhances the customer satisfaction.
- AI-based inventory forecasting solution
AI-based inventory forecasting can optimize stock distribution between physical stores to prevent understocking. This tool can accurately predict the amount of inventory that needs to be purchased or produced, thus helping businesses save a great deal of costs.
- AI-based pricing optimization
Leveraging the power of AI for pricing optimization allows businesses to adjust their prices based on sales activities and market fluctuations. Ecommerce stores can use this solution to offer competitive prices without compromising on profits and improve customer satisfaction.
- AI-based recommendation engine
An AI recommendation engine makes the shopping experience more personalized and smooth for the online buyers. Smart algorithms analyze the available data about each customer to generate the list of specific products they could be interested in. Recommendation engine helps customers avoid choice fatigue and contributes to sales growth for businesses.
| Feature | Timeframe |
| ERP integration | from 40 hours for one-way synchronization from 120 hours for two-way synchronization |
| AI-based tech support automation | from 100 hours |
| AI-based inventory forecasting solution | from 150 hours |
| AI-based pricing optimization | from 200 hours |
| AI-based recommendation engine | from 200-250 hours |
Ongoing ecommerce website costs to budget for
The biggest misconception is to think that at the end of the development process, there will be no more expenditures. However, to keep your ecommerce website functioning, you should consider the following factors which influence the ongoing ecommerce website cost:
Support and maintenance
Your website demands continuous support and maintenance, which in turn costs money. Invest in a reliable team that can control the work of your ecommerce website and do regular system updates to prevent any possible technical issues.
Hosting
The hosting provider handles all the infrastructure matters, protecting your website from potential cybersecurity threats and ensuring it operates efficiently. There are several types of hosting solutions, such as cloud, VPS, shared hosting, and dedicated servers. Do not try to save money on hosting providers by opting for a cheaper solution like shared hosting. As a result, it can make your website slower, considerably worsening the user experience.
Fee for paid features
This aspect applies to those who develop their website on an ecommerce platform. Depending on your provider, you have to adhere to certain subscription terms. Failure to comply with them can negatively impact your business by “freezing” your website and making it inaccessible to your customers.
Examples of websites built by LS
We have a proven track record in building high-quality ecommerce websites that match various ecommerce business needs. Take a look at our clients' projects, for whom we have built ecommerce websites and strengthened their online presence.
Webshop for wellness brand LELO
Our client, LELO, is a top Swedish intimate lifestyle company, contacted us to manage a website migration within a short period of time. In the process of cooperation, we upgraded LELO’s website to headless Drupal 8/9 from Drupal 7. This task demanded a high level of experience as the website consisted of complex dependencies, pricelists, promotions, and unique modules. Apart from that, LELO has several small online stores, for which we provide comprehensive support and maintenance services.
Historical artifacts webshop for Archiv Verlag
Archiv Verlag, an online shop specializing in historical artifacts, needed a profound update of their website to boost shop efficiency and user experience. We developed a Drupal Commerce platform for Archiv Verlag and integrated an SAP solution to optimize the product management process. For user convenience, we integrated several payment methods, such as Credit Check, Saferpay, and GoIban. Moreover, we implemented analytics tracking services to automate email marketing. Also, we ensured the platform's compliance with GDPR requirements by integrating it with the consent management system.
Webshop for trading company MDM
MDM is an international collectibles trading company and leader in precious metal artifacts with over one million satisfied customers. Their primary demand was to upgrade the legacy frontend and enhance the UI/UX of their website to make their interface more appealing. Our team developed a responsive frontend system built on the Vue 3 framework that boosted conversion rates and sales indexes within one week after the launch.
Webshop for e-learning platform LIA
Laser Institute of America, a leading expert in laser applications, sought help to renew their website, upgrading it from Drupal 7 to version 9, and extending its functionality. We conducted workshop sessions to find an appropriate solution for LIA. Our team successfully completed one of the most difficult tasks – migrating one type of client database to a completely different structure. During our cooperation, we also optimized the registration and purchase processes to improve the user experience.
How we estimate ecommerce website development cost at Lemberg Solutions
At Lemberg Solutions, we have a well-established and thorough process for average ecommerce website cost estimation. This process depends on whether the client’s project is in the ideation phase, or has defined requirements and wireframes, or is an existing project.
No worries if you don’t have all the matters covered from your side. Based on your business idea, our specialists conduct a solution discovery phase with brainstorming sessions. During these sessions, we collect all the information about your business. Our BAs, tech leads, and UI/UX designers will work together to build the roadmap for your project based on your business goals and requirements.
Of course, the estimation will move faster for those who come fully prepared. In case any critical information is missed, our experts will contact you to discuss this issue. If you already have a website, we will run an audit to study its current state and functions. This will help us make informed decisions for further development steps.
Typically, the discovery phase can take between one and four weeks. However, based on your request, we can quickly research your needs to provide you with an estimate of costs and start our cooperation right away.
Feel free to share your ecommerce project idea, and our team of experts will provide you with detailed cost estimates and a clear roadmap of the development process.
