Looking at the cost of an eCommerce website will help you understand the most significant outlay if you’re considering shifting your physical store online, making your first foray into eCommerce now, or ensuring you’re not paying too much. So let’s consider how much it will cost to construct and maintain an eCommerce website.

What to take into account when estimating the price of an eCommerce website?
A website compromises numerous components, each of which affects the final price. You may choose the best platform for you and the add-ons you can afford by knowing how much money you intend to spend beforehand. Without a set spending limit, it’s simple to overboard.
We’ll respond to the question immediately ahead:
The entire cost of hosting an eCommerce website can range from $40 to $4000 per month, plus startup costs of $1,500 to $30,000 for the website itself.

Why is the range so wide?
It’s hard to provide an accurate price without knowing your catalog’s size, the modification needed, your annual sales, and your overall requirements.
Small eCommerce businesses may get by with straightforward Shopify plugins and free themes. For more significant eCommerce sites, it would be necessary to customize and add other hosting services like security and redundancy.
But do not fret. We’ll break down the choices for each expense you’ll have to make below and show you where you can save money and where you should spend more.

Your time is valuable
Since time is money, the most significant expense for your eCommerce website may occasionally be the time required to put it up.
You can save time by utilizing specialized eCommerce software like Shopify. Spend your essential time filling up a pre-designed theme rather than wasting time connecting several applications, creating checkout carts from scratch, and personalizing each product page. Support will also be provided via dedicated eCommerce platforms and routine maintenance to keep your store operating.
In as little as 100 hours, you may create an entire eCommerce website from scratch. According to
our estimates, this excludes particular product listings. The development of an enterprise-level
website can take up to 200 hours.

Costs of web hosting for your online store
For your website, you’ll need to invest in some supporting architecture. An SSL certificate, a domain name (the web address where your store is situated online), and web hosting are all part of this (security for your website).
Depending on your eCommerce platform, some of this architecture might be covered by your fee. For instance, SaaS products (such as Shopify or BigCommerce) offer to host and let you buy domain names through them.
Self-hosted solutions require purchasing a separate hosting solution (such as WooCommerce self hosted). The installation of the eCommerce software on your server makes the deployment of self hosted solutions more technically complex.

Small-scale to medium-sized enterprises
- Domain names cost $10 to $20 annually.
- $29 to $250 monthly for web hosting (a SaaS option).
- Self-hosted web hosting costs $2.99 to $200 per month.

Enterprise firms
Your system needs rise for a busy website with thousands of daily visitors. You’ll require more protection, tighter redundancy, and the ability to manage much traffic without slowing down your page load time.
Although hosting fees can vary, budget up to $1000 each month.

Software expenses for your eCommerce website
Product pages, inventory management, carts, and checkout pages are common elements on all eCommerce websites. Most eCommerce organizations rely on a SaaS solution designed specifically for eCommerce because developing this capability requires time, expertise, and effort.

SEM vs. SEO: What Are the Differences?
Some eCommerce SaaS solutions start at around $20 to $30 per month on the low end and provide various options based on your sales volume and your required capabilities. A quick comparison of some of the more well-known eCommerce programs is provided below:
- Wix eCommerce site cost: The Business Basic plan, which costs $13 per month when paid
annually, is the minimum requirement for running an eCommerce site on Wix; this does not
include extra features like personalized reports, support for different currencies, automatic sales
tax computation, and more, but it does offer to host and a free SSL certificate. - Shopify eCommerce site cost: When paid annually, the basic Shopify plan is $29 per month; this
does not include extra features like duty and import tax computation or bespoke pricing by
market, but it does include hosting and a free SSL certificate. - BigCommerce website cost: An average Bigcommerce website is $29.95 per month, paid monthly or annually. Hosting and a cost-free SSL certificate are included. You’ll require their Plus package, which costs $79.95 per month, for businesses with yearly sales of more than $50,000.

Enterprise companies
Your eCommerce site will cost more to put up the more customizable it is. On the other hand, large companies will need to invest in a platform that can customize more quickly if they have an extensive, diverse product catalog or exceptional shopping experiences, such as wholesale orders.
These platforms (like Magento) demand coding and programming expertise, making it impossible for the typical business owner to set them up. Your eCommerce site’s creation will come at an additional setup cost, and there will be recurring expenses for keeping the site updated.
- Setup fees start at $5000.
- The cost each month is approximately $2000.

Cost of designing an eCommerce Website
It will help if you make your eCommerce site attractive now that it is hosted on a domain: this includes picking a layout, revising your branding, uploading product beauty images, and planning the general structure of your website.
You have the option of creating a custom website that is specific to your store or using an existing template or theme.

Cheaper Designs
Most SaaS systems include stores with themes and templates that you can easily use on your website. They provide easy-to-update website templates and pre-designed product pages.
Even some free themes for more well-known programs like Shopify and BigCommerce might be available. Though utilizing one of the well-liked templates might not be sufficient to make your shop stand out, these templates might not be the ideal fit for your company. To ensure you (and your consumers) get what you need precisely, think about investing in more personalization.
- 0 to 250 dollars for website design
- Costs of Customization are $1,000–$5,000

Expensive Designs
You may choose a bespoke design with unique functionality to offer your website a competitive advantage. It is undoubtedly expensive, but it can be a game-changer for larger companies with additional needs and a sizable enough customer base.
- Custom website design costs at least $5,000.

The cost of your eCommerce websites' payment processing software
Payment processing is a fee that you should factor into your plans, even if it is not a startup cost.
Different systems provide various processing choices, each of which has a price.
The following are a handful of the most well-liked payment processing solutions for eCommerce
websites:
- WooCommerce and PayPal or Stripe: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction
- In addition to an additional 2% per transaction for third-party payment gateways, Shopify
Payments for Shopify charges between 2.4% and 2.9% + $0.30 for Basic Shopify and 2.4 + $0.30 for Advanced Shopify. - Depending on your BigCommerce plan and an additional $0.30 per transaction, PayPal or Stripe for BigCommerce provides rates of 2.4% to 2.9%.

The price of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your eCommerce website
Your firm won’t be successful even if you have the most stunning website. Because of this, it’s crucial to incorporate SEO into the design of your eCommerce website. It is much easier to start with an optimized site and build upon it than it is to try to organize your content after it has already been created. You may end up saving money in the long run if your design includes SEO functionality from the start.
The majority of SEO companies will charge a monthly retainer.
- Cost of an SEO agency: $2,500 to $10,000 per month.

Other plugins and software
You may make your eCommerce site stand out using various tools and services. Here are just a few examples of extra tools you might want to budget for:
- All your client information is organized and stored in a CRM database or customer relationship management software. Personalization can enhance your marketing initiatives.
- Search functionality: You may need to install a plugin to add more search functionality to your store, but your customers will find things much more quickly.
- Other extensions, such as an abandoned cart saver, can raise your monthly costs overall, but
they can also boost conversion rates by luring potential consumers back to finish their purchases.

The price of content for your eCommerce website
For your website, you may create the copy and the graphics yourself. Time is money, though, as we said at the beginning of the post. Your content has a price, regardless of whether you choose to invest time in it or outsource.
Your expenses if you outsource content generation will be as follows:
- Copywriter for product descriptions and blog articles on websites
- Expertly captured product photos
- Multimedia and videos creation
Although the cost of employing creative varies greatly, always plan to spend at least several
hundred dollars per day. To secure a successful conclusion, ensure your briefs are comprehensive
and detailed.

How much does an eCommerce website generally cost, then?
A new eCommerce website will cost you between $50 and $3000 a month in addition to setup fees. We may, however, further dissect that.
Small-scale/Medium Enterprise | Business | |
Hours | More than 100 hours | More than 200 hours |
Hosting a Website | $29 – $250 per month | $1000 per month |
eCommerce Applications | $20 – $100 per month | $2000 per month plus $5000 setup |
Innovative | $0 – $1000 per setup | More than $5000 per setup |
Payment Making | 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction | 2.4% plus $0.30 per transaction |
Overall setup | $0 – $1000 plus your time | More than $10000 plus your time |
Sum/total per month | h $50 – $350 per month plus transaction fees | $3000 per month plus transaction fees |
You most likely only need the essentials when launching an eCommerce website. But over time, that changes. As your sales increase, improve your site’s infrastructure and design to ensure that it outperforms the competition. After all, you need money to make money.
You can safeguard that investment by caring for your clients and making them devoted brand ambassadors. eDesk makes providing excellent customer service simple; you may use it without risk right away.
