Ecommerce development cost in 2019: Set the right budget for your project

Let’s check out some important aspects you need to take into consideration to determine the online store development cost.

The size of your business. Ecommerce stores are usually differentiated by the number of products they sell and the amount of traffic their websites receive. Small business - a limited range of products, a small customer base. Mid-size business - a decent range of highly specialized products, an average customer base and and also increase your sales in the future. Enterprise business -  a wide range of products, a large customer base.

Ecommerce platform. These days, building an online store has become so much easier than a few years ago, thanks to a variety of ecommerce platforms becoming available on the market. Whatever ecommerce platform you choose, most often you still need to hire a team with certain technical skills to be able to launch and maintain your online store (unless you’re using SaaS platforms like Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace). A developer can charge $10-250 per hour to develop an online store. 

Design. What is the average cost to develop an online store design? Usually, the cost can range from $250 to $20,000 depending on the design’s complexity and requirements.

Functionality. Numerous ecommerce platforms offer various modules or extensions where functionality has been developed by someone else and can be applied to your online store for a much lower price than you could build on your own.However, you need to check what plugins are available before writing custom code. Quite often extensions are incompatible with certain online stores. 

Web hosting. Web hosting cost is one of the easiest aspects to calculate when we talk about ecommerce website development cost. The costs start cheap and grow as your sales volumes increase. Expect to pay at least $20 – $250  per month. Hosting for a custom ecommerce online store is likely to start at around $250 – $350 monthly for decent service and support. If you also need to include high-quality security, high speed, scalability the cost for hosting can go up to $2,000 monthly.

Ecommerce developer rates. According to Upwork, ecommerce developers charge between $5 and $125 per hour. North American developers charge the highest, followed by Western European, Eastern European, South American Asian developers respectively. Expert agencies specializing in designing ecommerce online stores charge between $50 up to $250 per hour. Working with an agency is a more reliable option than working with a freelancer.

Conclusion

As pointed out, there is a number of different aspects that influence the ecommerce website quote. Each business is different and has its own requirements regarding the website and its online presence. It’s important to gather all the requirements during the discovery phase and outline the business objectives of your ecommerce project.