A web shop is more than a website with a shopping cart. It's a sales channel that runs 24/7, processes payments, tracks stock and leads customers through a journey that ends in an order. The cost doesn't depend on "how pretty" you want it, but on how complex your sales processes are. And that complexity is different for every entrepreneur.
What determines the price?
The platform
The choice of platform is the first big cost factor. Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento — each platform has its own cost structure. Shopify costs monthly, WooCommerce is free but requires hosting and extensions, Magento is powerful but expensive in development.
Rough guidelines:
- Shopify web shop (standard): €2,000 – €8,000
- WooCommerce web shop (bespoke): €3,000 – €12,000
- Magento / bespoke e-commerce: €10,000 – €50,000+
The number of products and variants
Ten products with two variants each is a different story than five hundred products with sizes, colours and materials. More products means more attention to navigation, filtering, search functionality and product-page structure.
Integrations
Shipping software, accounting system, stock management, email marketing, payment provider — every integration costs development hours. Standard integrations are relatively cheap. Custom API integrations with your ERP? That's a different price tag.
Design and user experience
A standard Shopify theme with some tweaks is affordable. A fully custom design with an optimised checkout flow, cross-sell modules and personalised product pages is an investment. The return on investment is in the conversion: 0.5% higher conversion on 10,000 visitors a month is directly measurable in revenue.
Content and product photography
Writing copy that sells, product photos that convert, category descriptions that rank in Google — content is often forgotten in the budget but determines a large part of the success.
Ongoing costs
A web shop keeps running. That costs money structurally:
- Hosting: €20-150/month (depending on platform and traffic)
- Platform/licence: €0-384/month (WooCommerce free, Shopify €36-384)
- Payment costs: 1.5-3% per transaction (depending on provider and method)
- Extensions/apps: €50-300/month (depending on how many you use)
- Maintenance: €100-500/month (updates, bug fixes, small changes)
Common mistakes
Starting with the design
A beautiful web shop that doesn't convert is an expensive shop window. Start with the strategy: who is your customer, how do they search, what convinces them to buy? The design follows from that.
All features at once
"I want everything: reviews, wishlists, a loyalty programme, abandoned-cart emails, live chat, AR product view." Start with the basics that work. Add features based on data, not on a wish list.
No budget for marketing
The best web shop without traffic is a shop in a dead-end street. Set aside at least 20-30% of your total budget for marketing: SEO, Google Ads, social media, email.