Push behind the demand of E-Commerce Website
- The e-commerce growth was touching the highs of $2.7 trillion in 2017, which is expected to cross $4.5 trillion in 2021.
- In a developed economy like the US alone, the retail market is alive with a 10 percent share of e-commerce.
- The e-commerce industry is taking the development project rate of 15% every year.
There are many challenges that the developers have to face while developing an e-commerce website. These challenges may affect the cost of building the website. Below in this article, there are points that will make all the factors that affect the cost of building an e-commerce website clear. The urge to find the best web development company insists on the cost going higher. Also, there is a great trend in the market to make progressive websites, which can later be converted into PWAs.
Microsoft based asp.net development services are ahead of others in leveraging PWA development. Also, the use of javascript is now set to get replaced with Blazer.
Calculating the Cost of Building an E-Commerce Website
One of the easiest methods to calculate the cost of software development for an e-commerce website is to compare various e-commerce websites. Know what the tools are that they have used, what the add-ons, and some other additional services that one might want on their website. Additional services are decided on the basis of the business of the business.
This way, the businesses can get an accurate estimation of the cost that goes into developing an e-commerce website. There are many ways in which e-commerce websites can be developed. It is advised to avoid using the online cost calculators on e-commerce websites because their estimations are often inaccurate.
Below is a breakdown of the factors that are considered for the estimation of the cost of developing an e-commerce website:
- Hosting charges.
- Cost of payment processing.
- cost of designing
- Cost of Add-ons and extensions.
- The total cost of Developing the e-commerce website.
Let's Look at the Above Points in Detail
Hosting Charges
It is clear that no matter what kind of website is being developed, there is a cost that is to be included in the final budget, which is the hosting cost. Hosting the website is the first step, and for hosting it, a domain name is also important. Both hosting and a domain name demand money. Both of them are compulsory; there are no alternatives to them. Hosting is important because that is how all the files for the website will be stored.
There are two ways to host a website, and both of them have different costs and a different set of features.
Below are both types with descriptions:
Cost of a Self-Hosted e-commerce Website: One of the most popular and successful e-commerce platforms in the world. This is a free platform that is available as an application too. The users can easily download it and create as many e-commerce websites with the availability of the features of responsive web design services as they wish.
To install and use it, the users will require a WooCommerce web hosting account. What else is needed? a domain name, and an SSL certificate. The websites can be created for free, but the hosting fees have to be paid. The starter plan for website hosting is $7.99 per month. The charge for buying a domain name is $14.99 per year. These are the costs that cannot be excluded. There are many other platforms like WooCommerce that offer these kinds of services, and they might be offering the same thing for a lower price. It is better to do research before choosing the platform on which you want to host your e-commerce website.
Advantages of a Self-Hosted E-Commerce Website
- The owners have full control over their website. They can design the website as they want, they can add the features which they like. There is no one who can interfere with the process of creation or hosting the e-commerce website.
- This is comparatively cheaper, the developers or the business owners can save a lot of money on hosting and domain name. They can use the money saved to improve the quality of the e-commerce website.
- The e-commerce website hosted this way can make unlimited sales, list unlimited products on the website, and add any payment gateway and method that the businesses like.
This is the only way for e-commerce business owners to go. There are some who don't want to learn the process of installing their own ecommerce software, and they prefer something to be done for them. For the people who prefer something already done, the SaaS e-commerce platform is the choice.
Cost for SaaS ecommerce Platform: If someone chooses the SaaS e-commerce Platform to host their own ecommerce website, they might have to pay more, but the process becomes very easy. In this case, the developers or businesses do not have to install software, manage it, or even host it themselves.
The price of hosting is included in the custom software development. This eliminates the need to worry about managing the hosting of the website.
There are two popular SaaS ecommerce platforms: Shopify and BigCommerce. Both of them are incredibly easy to use and have very scalable e-commerce platforms to sell their products on the internet. Both platforms include the SSL certificate in the price of hosting, but the domain name has to be purchased separately.
Shopify E-Commerce Website Cost Plans Are As Follows
- Basic Shopify: $29 per month
- Shopify: $79 per month
- Advance Shopify: $299 per month
The BigCommerce e-commerce website cost plans are as follows:
- Standard: $29.95 per month
- Plus: $71.95 per month
- Pro: $224.95 per month
All these plans have different features. As the price increases, the number and quality of the features also increase. The users need to check both the platforms and then decide for themselves. Both of them are fairly popular, and the only difference is in some of their features. There are many things that need to be reviewed.
There are some major differences between the two, and one of those differences is that the BigCommerce standard plan limits the e-commerce website to doing sales of $50,000 per year. After that, the website owner has to upgrade their plan.
Shopify also has a drawback, they force their users to use Shopify payments. If the users want to use another payment method or gateway, then they have to pay 2 percent of each transaction that is made on their e-commerce website. That is why using a third-party payment gateway can be a risk.
The Estimated Cost of Hosting a Website
- Self-Hosted e-commerce Website cost: $2.75 - $241.67 per month
- SaaS ecommerce Hosting Cost: $29 - $299 per month
The people who are thinking of starting an e-commerce website should know that these cost estimates are for small to medium-sized e-commerce websites development services. For large e-commerce websites, the costs can not be calculated accurately.
Cost Of Payment Processing
This is something that most business owners ignore. The cost of payment processing is one of the most important factors. This can change the total cost. The cost of payment processing has a serious impact on the e-commerce business, and it can significantly reduce the total profit.
For example, various e-commerce platforms use various payment methods and gateways. These payment gateways take payment processing charges from them.
Payment processing cost on WooCommerce
As discussed earlier, this is open-source software to host e-commerce websites. This platform has many payment providers that integrate with the e-commerce websites. The users of this platform can use all the payment gateways for free. This platform by default supports PayPal and Stripe payment gateways to accept payments from debit and credit cards. There are dozens of other payment service providers from which the users can choose. Now, the users are free to use any of the payment gateways, but they still have to pay the payment processing fees to the payment service. The rates are different for different payment services. It is important to analyze which payment services are popular and also offer lower payment processing charges.
The charges that some payment services charge WooCommerce users are:
- PayPal: 2.9% + $0.30 for transactions over $10
- Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30 on every transaction
- Authorize.net: 2.9% +$0.30 per transaction +$25 per month
Other platforms have different plans. This is one of the most important parts of the total cost, and it is important even after the e-commerce website is made and is live on the internet.
Cost Of Designing
I will now come on to the part that is considered most important. Most of the cost is here. The design of the website is the most expensive thing. All other things are completed in smaller amounts, and there are options to choose from. This is one thing that needs to be done properly if the e-commerce business wants to succeed. The design of the website should be responsive, it should be user-friendly. The template that is chosen should be attractive as well as simple. A vibrant template can bring customers, and there are chances that they will come back.
Read More: How Ecommerce Website Development Can Boost Your Business Online
This is the part that needs the most attention. The world is changing rapidly; there are so many new e-commerce websites coming up, and all of them are different and have amazing designs. This is where the work of the website designer comes into play. The design of the website should be cool, simple, and easy. The users should feel at home, and secondly, the home page opens. It is one of the most expensive phases of website development, but it is important to spend on this one. Custom software development companies need to add or create designs that have not been created by anyone else in the market.
The design of the e-commerce website should look professional. Sometimes it happens that when people try to make their website look cool, they also make it look unprofessional. The website should look like an e-commerce website and not like a gaming or social media website.
For people who don't know how to design or cannot afford to hire a professional website designer, there are platforms that offer tools to develop their own designs at some cost.
Designing cost for WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the most flexible options for people who want to design their website. The websites in WooCommerce are built on top of WordPress, this gives the users to choose from a wide range of themes. There are WooCommerce specific themes that will provide better options for an e-commerce website. There are thousands of WooCommerce themes from which users can choose.
Most of the themes are free, but there are some that are not available for free. Those designs start at $30. $30 is not too much of a cost when you are looking at the design of an e-commerce website. The themes can also be customized by the users. This is one of the best options for people who are total beginners in the field of design. On demand solutions are available on this platform for the purpose of designing.
Estimate Design Cost for an e-commerce website on various platforms:
- WooCommerce: Free, $99 for premium themes, and $5000 for customized
- Shopify: Free, $160 for premium themes, and $5000 for customized
- BigCommerce: Free, $160 for premium themes, and $5000 for customized
Note: Both Shopify and BigCommerce have a very limited number of themes, both free and paid. The best option if variety is in consideration is WooCommerce.
Cost of Add-Ons and Extensions
It is not possible for an e-commerce or any kind of website to have all the features. If someone will try to do so, the results might be very messy. Adding up all the features into one software will just increase the difficulty of the website. To solve this problem there are add-ons and extensions that can be integrated with the e-commerce websites. Add-ons are the features that are taken from third party software and can be used on the website or software.
e-commerce websites are built with a modular approach, which helps in adding extensions and add-ons. New features can be added very easily because of this approach. To add these features as add-ons or extensions to the e-commerce websites some amount has to be paid. It is for the profit of the business and is a profitable investment. This increases the functionality of the website. Website development services always push their clients to use more plugins and add-ons than in-site features because it keeps the page light.
Extensions and add-ons on WooCommerce
Just like designing, WooCommerce is the best option when it comes to extensions and add-ons. Other websites are not even close to them. They have thousands of free and paid extensions and add-ons for their users. It is already known that this platform runs on top of WordPress, meaning that the users already have access to almost 55,000+ plugins, all for free. There are so many plugins that it will be hard to choose. It is important to know what kind of plugins are needed beforehand to avoid confusion.
The starting price of plugins and add-ons on WooCommerce is $19, and they can go as high as $299. For e-commerce websites that require customized plugins, WooCommerce provides them with a developer who will develop a customized plugin for them. The charges for it can be between $500 to $10,000.
Estimate cost of Add-Ons and Extensions on WooCommerce:
Free, $299, $500 - $10,000 for customized plugins. Custom web development services are provided, and that is one of the most important reasons why they are the best. On-demand solutions like these help e-commerce businesses a lot.
The Total Cost of Developing an E-Commerce Website
To go into the analysis of the cost of building an e-commerce website, applications have been discussed. It would cost too much if all the things that are discussed above were not done with the help of an e-commerce platform. There will be difficulties too, choosing any one of the platforms that have been named in the article above will make it very easy.
Read More: Design Ecommerce WebSite
Your E-Commerce Company Should have its own Website
If you want your business to last, a separate e-commerce site is essential.
Market directly to customers by creating an email list of customers
You can market to consumers and website visitors directly through your website. Unlike marketplaces, where the consumers of your goods are the marketers, your website allows you to sell directly to customers. If you have your clients' email addresses, you can send them email marketing promos, deals, or alerts about new items.
In a marketplace, when you don't have direct access, it is more challenging to obtain repeat business. There are fewer opportunities for you to market your items or provide customer assistance. Keeping an existing customer is less expensive and simpler than finding new ones. This is why keeping in touch with your current clients is crucial if you want to grow your business.
Strengthen and establish your brand
You can market to consumers and website visitors directly through your website. Unlike marketplaces, where the consumers of your goods are the marketers, your website allows you to sell directly to customers. If you have your clients' email addresses, you can send them email marketing promos, deals, or alerts about new items.
In a marketplace, when you don't have direct access, it is more challenging to obtain repeat business. There are fewer opportunities for you to market your items or provide customer assistance. Keeping an existing customer is less expensive and simpler than finding new ones. This is why keeping in touch with your current clients is crucial if you want to grow your business.
There are a lot of choices. You may utilize personalized boxes to strengthen your brand and leave a lasting impression on clients. The fact that you receive credit for the product and not some other marketplace is the nicest part.
Find out more about your audience
You can better understand your clients by having your own online store. This comprises information on their demographics, such as where they reside and how they found your website. On your website, you can examine their browsing patterns. This covers what they observed and how they arrived.
You can concentrate your efforts and spend more money on traffic sources that send quality clients to your company.
You may learn more about your consumers as well as the stores they visited but didn't make a purchase at. Maybe there aren't enough user reviews or pictures on the product page. Or perhaps customers remove items from their shopping carts because of expensive delivery.
Maybe your homepage isn't designed well for users, or your consumers won't be able to utilize their preferred payment methods during the checkout process.
To help you sell more, you must also use this data to enhance your website and boost conversions.
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Conclusion
The above article describes the different costs that are involved in the development of different e-commerce websites. Various companies have hired many highly experienced professionals from web development company who can help them develop the e-commerce website as per the client's needs, thus creating a boom in the IT industry. The search engine trends show a huge number of searches for "best website development services." This promptness to associate with the best deal in the market often increases the demand, therefore the cost.
