eCommerce website development has been on the boom for the past few years. It is becoming popular as people prefer shopping online instead of visiting an offline store.
It offers them enormous shopping facilities like exploring products just by moving their fingers on the screen, paying via different payment methods, getting delivery to their doorstep, and many others.
If you are planning to move your traditional retail store online, you can embark on your journey by taking steps into the eCommerce world.
Examining the cost of building an eCommerce website will help you get an idea of the budget before investing in eCommerce development services. It will save you from overspending your money on your online store development.
However, no figure can tell you how much exactly you will pay for it, but you can consider some factors to get an average estimate for the same.
This blog post will break down the cost-affecting elements that will help you decide on the budget. So, keep scrolling the page to get an insight into the factors that affect eCommerce website development costs.
Factors Influencing the eCommerce Website Development Cost
Your Requirements
Remember that the more complex your requirements are, the more you will have to spend on their implementation. So, it majorly depends on your needs.
Be aware of the functionalities you want in your eCommerce site and, if possible, list them. It can be integrating a payment gateway, choosing a CMS platform, integrating a plugin, and taking professional assistance.
In addition to knowing how feature-rich your site will be, there are some more deciding factors.
- Number of Pages
The foremost pricing factor is the number of pages your site will have. It will be a smart approach to have a particular page for every product. Page layouts must be responsive to provide an equal website view on different devices and screen resolutions.
All in all, the number of pages in an eCommerce site can be more than 250. Well, the choice depends on you, but no doubt, the site will consist of a lot of pages.
- Theme Based Development
Another significant factor that impacts the cost is deciding whether you should rely on themes or hire an eCommerce web development company for custom development.
You can consider a theme-based approach for quick development, but it has various limitations. There might be a chance that the theme you choose for your online store development might resonate with someone else’s brand. It could also be your direct competitor.
With this, you will end up with an ordinary eCommerce site.
- Custom Development
In contrast, custom development allows you to develop a unique site tailored to your needs. Though it is possible to customize a theme, it is not always suitable to cater to unique needs.
Hiring a development partner will be much more beneficial to develop a site that sets your business apart from your competitors.
Selecting an eCommerce Platform
Once you are aware of your needs, now the time is to choose a relevant platform for your online store development.
Though there are various platforms available, the popular ones are –
- Magento
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
Let’s discuss these platforms and see how choosing a platform impacts the cost of developing a website.
Magento
Top brands like Nike, Nestle, Samsung, Ford, Land Rover, and others have used Magento, which is enough to show its popularity. This top-tier eCommerce platform is perfect for developing robust online stores. It is even helpful in developing multi-vendor eCommerce marketplaces. There are various benefits of using Magento, such as –
- It is a feature-rich and robust platform.
- SEO-Friendliness
- Faster Loading
- Flexibility
- Various Customization Possibilities, and so on.
If you choose Magento, the cost-affecting factors will be its different pricing plans and payment gateway integrations.
Shopify
Another significant eCommerce platform is Shopify, which comes with enormous features.
Benefits like easy setup, app integrations, security, reliability, payment gateways, and others make Shopify the right choice for your eCommerce store development.
However, there is a certain recurring cost associated with using Shopify. It includes different pricing plans, purchasing a theme, and others.
WooCommerce
This popular WordPress plugin is a cost-effective way to develop top online stores. It lets developers build an eCommerce store from scratch or add a shopping cart functionality to your existing site. As it is based on WordPress, using it will benefit you with all the WordPress features.
Unlike other eCommerce platforms, WooCommerce does not include any licensing fees. Well, you have to pay for WordPress hosting, domain name, and SSL certificate to make a website on WooCommerce from scratch.
Incorporating Additional Functionalities Using Plugins
Every eCommerce platform comes with a bundle of functionalities you require for your online store development. But if you do not find one to cater to your needs, you can purchase a plugin to incorporate such a feature into your site.
If we talk about using WordPress, a wide range of plugins are available. You can use them to enhance your site security, speed up your performance, and incorporate SEO-friendly features. These plugins are not free to use; you will have to spend money to use them on your website.
Integrating a Payment Method
Integrating a checkout option differentiates an eCommerce site from an ordinary website. Some eCommerce payment options like Google checkout or PayPal are free to use initially, but they take a share of your profits on every payment.
For instance, PayPal takes 2.9% + $0.30 on every transaction you make. This is how setting up a payment gateway affects the cost.
Conclusion
Nearly every eCommerce site includes similar components like product pages, inventory management, carts, and checkout pages. Building a site incorporated with such functionalities requires professional assistance, effort, and, no doubt, money.
These were the factors that influence your online store development cost. You can explore them to be more clear with the pricing. As mentioned, to do this, you have to be well-versed in your specific business needs.
Yeah, it takes money to make money.
Apart from the above factors, hiring an eCommerce development company also impacts your online store development cost. A company’s budget and offerings have always been a significant factor in defining the website development cost.
