The e-commerce business was not to be feared even before the coronavirus outbreak, as the numbers were very encouraging. However, covid-19 brought digitalisation forward by about 5 years, and the online stores really took off.
If you are here and reading these lines, you have already thought about starting a webshop. The first question is, of course, how much will it all cost?
We have to admit that as many webshops and as many individual needs, there are different prices, so it is very difficult to give a specific, exact amount. Therefore, we will take as a starting point a webshop with a completely average need, structure and size.
Initial costs of starting a webshop
Many people miscalculate right from the start, as they do not include costs such as the domain name, SSL certificate, hosting provider and so on.
So let’s look at these first.
Domain name
A .ro, .hu, .eu or .com domain is usually between €7-15 per year.
Typically, international domain endings are more expensive, and it is also worth paying attention to the cost of renewal if you buy it as part of a promotion.
It’s easy to buy it for €10 now with an 80% discount, but then renew it for €50 later.
Hosting provider
Now that’s something you shouldn’t compromise on, because a stable hosting provider with helpful customer service is worth of a Jew’s eye.
Here you can buy different packages that contain information that is difficult for the average person to understand, such as hosting, email account size, domain names you can add, etc.
Without going into the serious details (that would be worth a separate article), let’s take a brief look at the main parameters and their meanings. This will give you a more comprehensive picture of what is important to look out for in a given hosting package.
Storage size: for an online shop, the size of the storage is particularly important, because if you want to upload hundreds or thousands of products, it’s a space-consuming feat. Most hosting providers sell 20 GB hosting packages, but depending on the size of your webshop, you might want to go above that. If you’re only going to have a few hundred products, that’s enough, but for thousands of items, it’s definitely not enough.
Database size: this is also important for a webshop, because with a database of thousands of products, if the size of it is small, the website will slow down considerably.
The size of email accounts: without attachments, an email takes up just a few kb, and most hosting providers offer packages of several gigabytes, so you don’t have to worry about that either.
Backup: it’s important to have backups, because if your website is attacked or infected by a virus, you can restore it from the backup. Otherwise, you could easily have to rebuild the whole website from scratch or spend a hefty €1000 to recover the data.
With a quality hosting provider, packages range from €50 to €150 per year on an annual basis.
SSL certificate
An online shop is no longer a viable option without an SSL certificate. On the one hand, Google takes it into account for ranking, on the other hand, it encrypts payment data on the network, protects users’ personal data and makes communication secure.
Most hosting plans offer SSL certificates for free, but if you choose a hosting plan that doesn’t, you’ll have to pay an extra €15-30 per year.
Where are we so far?
We calculate the costs on average, so:
- Domain name: €10
- Hosting provider with SSL certificate: €100
Total €110/year.
These are just the basics, now let’s scroll down and see how much the webshop itself costs.
How much does an webshop cost?
In a way, you are at a crossroads here, as you have several options.
One is to choose a webshop engine for hire, such as Unast, Shopify, etc.
The second option is a website built from code, where you have a team of programmers build your webshop.
The third option is to have a custom, but WordPress-based website.
Let’s take a look at all three options and see when to choose each of them.
Webshop engine for rent
- Shopify starts at $24, but the pro package can be up to $300 per month.
For who is a good choice?
A rental webshop engine can be a good solution for those who want to get their webshop up and running quickly, but are willing to compromise. Because, perhaps we’re not being too funny here, cheapness comes at a price, in terms of customisation and functionality.
In addition, these sites are less SEO-friendly than, for example, a WordPress site supported by WooCommerce.
Advantages
- Cheap
- Ideal for beginners
- Quick solution
Disadvantages
- Less customizability
- Plugins can be expensive
- Not very well SEO-ready
Custom development
The biggest advantage of custom-built, code-from-scratch webshops is that they are fully customised to your features, both in design and UX. It is highly scalable, capable of serving millions of customers at lightning speed.
For who is a good choice?
As you can see above, it is not recommended for beginners. Custom development is extremely cost-intensive, with prices starting from a few thousand euros, and the sky’s the limit, tens of thousands of euros. It all depends on the complexity of the development, the specific features and the time needed.
But for those with an established customer base and sufficient funds, it is the ideal solution.
Advantages
- Completely unique, customizable
- SEO-friendly
- Scalable and optimisable
Disadvantages
- Very expensive
- Time-consuming to develop
- It also requires a development team and maintenance staff
Custom WordPress webshop
In fact, the WordPress (WP) solution combines the best features of the two previous alternatives. WP itself is a free, open-source content management system that can be customised to the max.
Of course, this requires a website developer who can make the necessary changes that are required.
Who is it for?
It can be as good a solution for a start-up webshop owner as it is for someone who already has a shop but is frustrated with one or the other. It’s more expensive than renting a webshop, but you get the customisation and freedom of a custom development.
Advantages
- Also recommended for start-up webshops
- SEO-friendly
- Completely customizable
- Quick solution
Disadvantages
- There are limits to scalability
Other, additional costs
There are, of course, other additional costs, but the story does not stop there.
These include, for example
- integration of card payment,
- the content of the website,
- writing blog articles,
- search engine optimisation of the webshop,
- the management of social media platforms,
- and advertising your webshop on various channels (such as the social media platforms mentioned above or Google Ads).
These are usually all individually priced in addition to the development, and you’ll also need an external freelancer or agency for copywriting, SEO and marketing.
How much does each webshop cost?
All in all, starting a webshop with a rental webshop engine starts at around €200/month. This doesn’t include the cost of text, logo, design and setup, so you’ll have to do all of this on your own or with outside help.
And the cost of custom development… well, let’s just say that it starts at thousands of euros and who knows how many zeros in the end.
It is difficult to give an exact price for custom WordPress web shops, as there are so many different price ranges for each house. However, we (fortunately) can give you a specific price quote, in-house.
WebsitExpo, custom WordPress webshop prices
We have 3 different packages to choose from.
We offer our smallest package for smaller, start-up webshops, available from €750. We offer custom development, contact form, installation, Google map, SSL certificate setup, payment on delivery, all in compliance with GDPR standards.
In addition to the above, our Medium package now includes a separate blog section, which is key for SEO, and customer reviews, which increases the reliability of the webshop. In addition, we integrate not only cash on delivery, but also card payment into the webshop. This package is available from €900.
And with our Advanced package, we can even design your logo, so you don’t need to find a graphic designer to do the job. This is available from €1050.
If you are interested in a webshop, you can access our previous works and references by clicking on the link. And if you are interested in more details about our webshop packages, please visit our dedicated page by clicking on the link.