Ecommerce Website Development Cost: Detailed Analysis for 2024

On the path to building a successful e-commerce website, the first and most important thing is to determine the development cost. Not only does this ensure that budgets are managed effectively, but it also helps the project run smoothly from start to finish.

In 2024, the cost of developing an e-commerce website depends on many important factors, such as desired features, complexity of design, and selection of integration services from third parties. This article will analyze these factors in detail and provide an overview of e-commerce website development costs so that businesses can plan website development in the most effective and economical way.

Cost Of Website Ownership

Domain name

Every company needs a remarkable domain name, and having one for your website will influence the cost of designing an ecommerce website. The domain name is your business address on the internet. The cost for quality domain names typically ranges from $5 to $10 per year. However, if you want a short domain name that ends in “.com”, you can expect to pay from $15 per year. Domain ownership contracts are usually signed for up to 10 years, allowing you to control your domain name for a long time.

Hosting

Hosting is the foundation of your website, helping you maintain an online presence. You need to host the website on the provider’s servers to provide access to users and support in case of problems. Looking for a hosting service that allows you to host a website created from scratch is ideal for businesses. However, high-quality hosting often comes with significant costs.

It’s important not to skimp on storage costs. Cheap prices often come with the risk of functional disruptions and poor support from the supplier. Hosting costs should be factored into your ecommerce website budget, which typically ranges from $75 to $10,000 per year.

SSL certificate

An SSL certificate is a digital signature that allows creating a secure encrypted association between a website and a browser via the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS uses the SSL or TLS encryption protocol to ensure data transmission. For e-commerce websites, an SSL certificate is essential because you will be taking users’ personal data and other susceptible information that needs to be shielded from unauthorized access. The cost of an SSL certificate, which is part of the total cost of developing an ecommerce website, typically ranges from $6 to $150.

Mobile responsiveness

Mobile responsiveness is an essential element in ecommerce website development, greatly influencing the user experience and overall success of the website. Although not a separate cost, it still contributes to the overall development cost. This contains designing adaptable layouts, trying across different devices and browsers, optimizing content and images for mobile gadgets, and changing the user interface to fit your needs. touch screen navigation.

Providing your website runs smoothly on smartphones and tablets, which can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $30,000 or more, is a basic necessity in the development process. This price will vary relying on the sophistication of the adjustments and optimizations needed.

Maintenance

An e-commerce website cannot operate for long without continuous maintenance. So, when budgeting, you need to include ongoing technical support costs along with initial development costs. This support includes salaries for administrators, who are responsible for managing and maintaining website functions, as well as updating new features and resolving technical issues that arise. If you neglect these aspects, your website will quickly lose its competitive benefit.

Technical support fees can range from $500 to $12,000 per month, and this is something you need to assume in your total e-commerce development costs.

Factors Affect Ecommerce Website Development Cost

Let’s explore the main factors that affect the Ecommerce website development cost:

Cost of Website Ownership

Some ownership costs that can affect e-commerce website development include:

• Domain Name: Your domain name is your business’s internet address, influencing the cost of your ecommerce website. Quality domain names typically cost $5 to $10 per year, but short “.com” names can be around $15 per year. Contracts usually last up to 10 years.
• Hosting: Hosting keeps your website accessible and supported. High-quality hosting is crucial, though it can be costly. Hosting expenses range from $75 to $10,000 per year. Cheap hosting can lead to disruptions and poor support.
• SSL Certificate: An SSL certificate ensures secure data transmission via HTTPS, protecting user information. Essential for ecommerce sites, SSL certificates cost between $6 and $150.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensuring your website works smoothly on mobile devices is vital. This includes adaptable designs, testing, and optimization, costing from $2,000 to $30,000 or more, depending on complexity.
• Maintenance: Continuous maintenance is necessary to keep your website competitive. This includes technical support and updates, costing $500 to $12,000 per month.

Features: number and complexity

As your website expands, so do the technology requirements, and so do the costs of creating an ecommerce website. Development costs are influenced by factors such as screens, buttons, information fields, and logic. Additionally, using third party APIs or writing code from scratch also affects costs.

For the basic version, or Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which includes essential features to test the feasibility of your idea, the estimated cost ranges from $8,000 to $30,000+.

Below is a list of pages that our customers commonly request, which helps determine development costs:

– Main page

– Cart

– Favourite

– Payment procedures

– Blog

– Category page

– Product Page

Other features that affect cost:

– Payment system integration (Stripe, PayPal)

– Push notifications

– Recently viewed products

– Product reviews and ratings

– Search bar with filter

– Admin panel

Custom website design

Comparable to the cost of developing an e-commerce website, the more complicated the design, the more time it takes. The design not only needs to be beautiful, but it also needs to make the purchasing procedure simple, fast and clear for customers, and can even promote them to buy more products. If you want to add animation or want to choose between 2 or 3 different design ideas, you will face higher costs.

Another important thing is that the e-commerce website must display beautifully on mobile devices. According to research by Outer Box, about 80% of mobile users in the US have made online purchases in the past half year. Therefore, mobile design is an important factor for your website to attract users.

You should add responsive web design to your list of web development services. Responsive web design helps your website show well on diverse devices, including smartphones, so you don’t need to develop different iOS and Android apps for mobile users. Cleveroad, with its web product creation skills, can help simplify the design task and provide you with a client friendly, secure and convenient e-commerce website.

Website design costs generally range from $2,000 to $35,000+. However, if you plan to create an e-commerce website, we deliver detailed project estimates to help you organize your website spending effectively.

Developers and their location

When deciding the cost of creating an e-commerce website, you should evaluate the developer’s location. For example, software development services in Central Europe often cost less than in the United States or Western Europe. Below are hourly rates at major tech hubs around the world, which are helpful when calculating average prices for e-commerce websites.

Hourly rates for ecommerce site building

However, high hourly wages don’t necessarily reflect quality, and the developer’s country may not matter – whether they’re from the US, UK or Estonia.

If you want to receive superior service at a low price, pay attention to Central Europe, especially Estonia. Estonia is in the top ten countries in terms of IT reform and is a pioneer in offshore technology development. This is an attractive location for IT outsourcing with the following advantages:

– Wide developer pool: Estonia ranks third in Central Europe in terms of number of developers. The number of IT professionals is forecast to reach 242,000 by 2025.

– Economical: Companies in Estonia cost between $50 – $60 per hour, much lower than rates in other areas, lowering the cost of making an e-commerce website.

– Trade openness: Estonia has a visa-free regime with Western Europe and a time zone difference of only 1 hour, convenient for controlling the development process. Additionally, the country uses English as its working language and has the same work values ​​as Western countries, contributing to effective cooperation.

Based on team members and scope of work, the average cost to develop an e-commerce website can reach up to $90,000, as shown in the spreadsheet. This is a number you should consider before including it in your business plan.

Type of cooperation

The type of cooperation is an essential aspect in deciding the Ecommerce website development cost. So, which choice is best for you:

– Assemble an internal team

– Outsource to third party IT vendors

Let’s look at each option and how it affects the price.

Assemble an internal team

In-house development means you have a software development team working right in your office. This structure often allows for better communication and deeper involvement in development processes.

However, hiring an in-house team requires you to spend a lot of period and budget on salaries, taxes, sick leave, office rent, and analysis costs. The salaries of web developers often take up the majority of the budget. According to Glassdoor, the salaries for the positions are as follows:

– Web developer: 64,000 – 123,000 USD annually, depending on experience and skills.

– Full-stack developer: about 86,000 USD a year.

– UI/UX designer: from 99,107 to 120,895 USD a year.

– QA engineer: about 125,000 USD a year.

– Project management: 125,200 – 156,600 USD per year.

If these costs exceed your budget, consider the next option.

Outsource and work with offshore or nearshore developers

The cost of building an e-commerce website depends on the region and the expertise of the development team. Hiring software engineers from multiple locations can help optimize costs.

Offshore and nearshore programmers often come from regions with lower personnel costs than Western countries. For example, web developers in Estonia typically charge $50-60 per hour, while in the US or UK this can range from $75-200.

Remote development teams operate in areas with a lower cost of living, allowing them to offer competitive rates without compromising on quality. This cost advantage extends to development tools, software licenses, and infrastructure costs. Eliminating travel and related costs increases efficiency and saves costs for your company. This type of partnership gives you access to top talent and ensures a cost-effective solution for the entire project lifecycle.

Average Ecommerce Website Development Cost

Average ecommerce site costs summary

In fact,  large e-commerce websites need good architecture to handle high traffic and achieve good search engine rankings. The requirement for good architecture and unique design is one of the main reasons why e-commerce website costs increase. Here are breakdown the e-commerce website development cost based on complexity

Simple e-commerce website

Simple e-commerce platforms like Puma, Nike, and Lego only sell products of one brand, so they are easier to develop. The basic functionality of these websites includes creating a storefront with products, product listings, the ability to add products to the cart, and integrating checkout.

Average cost for a simple e-commerce website: $60,000 or more

Medium e-commerce website

The average e-commerce site typically serves large stores that sell goods from a variety of brands. These sites, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, are more complex to develop because they need to manage multiple products in the catalog. This requires additional server-side work to ensure the website runs smoothly.

Average e-commerce web design cost: 150,000 USD or more

Complex e-commerce website

The most cosmopolitan types of e-commerce sites, like Amazon or Etsy, are giant platforms where entrepreneurs and private sellers can sell their products. Developing these websites is the most challenging due to the large server capacity required and complex features such as analytics, inventory control, and shipping management. Therefore, the development of these websites should be left to IT professionals with experience in enterprise web development.

Complicated custom e-commerce website cost: $300,000 or more

Ecommerce Website Development Cost: Custom Ecommerce Website vs. Ready-Made

When deciding to design an e-commerce website for your business, you need to consider the distinction between a custom solution and a ready-made solution.

Ready-made online store site

Ready-made e-commerce website solution that is ready to install and use immediately. Platforms like Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce offer many customizable templates and features for online stores, suitable for any size business without the need to build from scratch. However, these solutions may have limited customization and cannot provide the unique branding that a custom ecommerce site can deliver. This can reduce a business’s prominence in a competitive market and make business operations ineffective.

Additionally, as your business grows, ready-made solutions may have difficulty adapting and need to be adjusted, consuming additional costs and time. In contrast, custom solutions can be designed with scalability in mind from the start, meeting any business’s specific requirements and helping to strategically position the business for future growth and success.

Custom eCommerce websites

Developing a custom e-commerce website requires a high level of customization, tailored to your business’s position in the market and your brand essence. When selecting this solution, you have complete power over the design, functionality and user experience of your website, providingthat every element reflects your true identity and meets the unique needs of your target audience. While costs may be higher, flexibility and efficiency will pay off in the long term.

So, consider and compare the costs of custom e-commerce website development and ready-made solutions to make the decision that best suits your business needs.

Custom ecommerce website vs. ready-made: costs comparison

FAQs

Can I build my own ecommerce website?

Yes, you can absolutely build your own e-commerce website. To get started, you can do the following:

1. Choose the right platform to sell your products.
2. Customize your website with ecommerce themes/templates.
3. Set up pages, software or plugins and create product listings.
4. Choose a payment gateway that suits your needs.
5. Launch your website and start selling.

What is the cost structure of building an ecommerce website?

Regarding the cost structure to build an e-commerce website, you will have to pay for things like domain registration, web hosting, SSL certificate, platform registration, custom development, payment gateways. , digital marketing and ongoing maintenance. This cost varies widely, typically ranging from $50 to $3000 monthly, including a setup fee of $0 to $30,000. Additional costs may include custom design, payment processing, and expanded digital marketing strategies.

How much will it cost me to maintain an ecommerce website?

As for the cost of maintaining an ecommerce website, this will vary depending on the features, complexity, and structure of your business. However, in general, this cost can range from 50 to 1000 USD per month.

Key Takeaways

In short, the cost of developing an e-commerce website plays an important role in determining the success of the project. Factors such as features, design, third-party integrations, and development location all significantly impact the overall cost. Choosing a custom solution over an off-the-shelf solution also offers benefits ranging from flexibility to scalability.

To ensure that costs are invested reasonably and effectively, businesses need to carefully consider these factors and choose the right option for their specific needs. No matter how complicated, developing an effective and attractive e-commerce website is still an important step in every modern business’s online business strategy.