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Masifa Bukhari
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Shopify
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16 April, 2024
Shopify Website Development Cost
Are you looking to expand your business through Shopify? If so, Shopify website development cost implications can be concerning, especially if you’re new to the e-commerce industry. With numerous factors to consider, like design customization and app integration, it is essential to have a clear estimate of the investment required to build a highly functional Shopify website. It helps avoid any problems that can compromise the functionality of your store.
There are two main ways to create a Shopify website: using a Shopify website builder or hiring a web development company. These methods and attributes significantly impact the Shopify website development cost and contribute to the overall cost variability of building a highly functional online store.
In this blog, we will discuss the factors affecting Shopify website cost, the development stages of a custom Shopify website, and how much it actually costs to build a Shopify website for a business.
Let’s begin!
Factors Affecting Shopify and Shopify Plus Website Development Cost
Here, we will discuss all the essential factors affecting Shopify Website development cost:
Factors Affecting Shopify Website Development Cost
Customization
The most significant factor in determining the cost of Shopify website development is the level of customization you need for your e-commerce store. A basic Shopify website includes a simple design and a few products, usually costing $5,000 – $10,000. However, this cost will increase as you add advanced functionality to your store, i.e., complex custom coding by hiring a developer or using third-party apps.
Complexity
The level of complexity of your Shopify website directly impacts the overall cost of it. When you add more customizations to your store, you make it slightly more complex to attain optimal functionality. The increased effort causes the overall Shopify website costs to increase.
Integration
If you want to integrate other apps and platforms with your store, you’ll need to up your budget. For example, inventory management and payment processing systems, directly impact the cost of the Shopify website.
Operational Costs
On-going or operational costs arise after you’re done with the website development. You need to plan ahead and allocate a good chunk of your overall budget to operational expenses. For example, the monthly fee of the platform ($29-$299), third-party app costs, and ongoing maintenance are all operational costs that need to be accounted for.
Products
The number of products you add to your Shopify store also determines the cost of the Shopify website. If you are adding many products to your store and plan to do the same in the future, this can affect the design and development of your site and, hence, impact the cost.
If you’re building your e-commerce website on Shopify Plus, there are many factors you need to consider.
Factors Affecting Shopify Plus Website Development Cost
Importing Product Data
When you migrate your product catalog to Shopify Plus, you move your product attributes, descriptions, images, and videos to your new store. While it might seem simple, it requires extensive and meticulous planning and execution. Remember, the larger the product catalog, the more resources are necessary for a smooth transition.
Functionalities and Features
The functionality of your e-commerce platform contributes significantly to user experience. You might have to introduce advanced features to optimize user experience and stand out in today’s competitive market. AI-driven recommendations, chatbots, customized shopping, and easy checkouts will enhance consumer engagement; however, they will also add related expenses.
Project Size and Complexity
The overall project size and complexity are significant factors when calculating the Shopify website development cost. The larger your store is, the greater it will cost to design a compatible website.
Third-Party App Integration
If you’re enhancing the functionality of your e-commerce store via third-party apps, you need to keep some extra budget for them as well. These apps specialize in their niches and capabilities; hence, they can help you optimize marketing, sales, finance, and business operations. Therefore, it is essential to strategically select a third-party app that aligns with your business goals.
Payment Gateways
Shopify has its in-house payment gateways. However, if customers are uncomfortable using them, they can use third-party payment gateways like Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, and credit and debit cards. Shopify offers 100+ payment gateways and optimizes the consumer experience.
Regulatory Compliances
Each industry has its own compliance requirements and regulatory expenses. Hence, do your homework and ensure your Shopify store meets these standards. Building a strong and compliant e-commerce store requires extra effort and resources.
Maintenance and Updates
If you want your Shopify store to stand the test of time, you must invest in its ongoing maintenance. You must regularly monitor and update for bug fixes, platform functionality, and security patches. If you neglect maintenance, you might encounter vulnerabilities, potential downtimes, and glitches, which would ultimately cause you to lose consumers.
See our latest relevant exploration BigCommerce to Shopify Migration
Development of a Custom Shopify Website
If you’re building a custom Shopify website for your business, knowing everything about the process is important. Our expert developers have broken down the development process into the following six steps:
Step 1 – Defining The Project Plan
Planning is the most important stage in building a Shopify website for your store. It helps you set your goals and define what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. Once you have a clear plan, it is easier to communicate your vision for the store to any designer or developer you might be hiring.
Typically, the planning stage takes anywhere from 10 to 30 hours and depends on the complexity of your project and how well you prepared yourself before diving into website development. Some common challenges faced by entrepreneurs in this stage include:
- Not setting SMART goals – (Specified, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound)
- Ineffective research of target market, industry trends, and competitors
- Lack of resources and budget
Step 2 – Designing The Store
The design stage is all about putting the creative side of your plan into action. A well-designed website is a sure-shot way of grabbing users’ attention and ultimately improving customer engagement and conversions.
You have to either deploy a theme or create the theme from scratch. While theme deployment is relatively easy, creating a theme from scratch is more complex; hence, hiring a Shopify web designer is your best bet. Shopify offers hundreds of themes to choose from, and they come at a reasonable cost. They choose the images, videos, fonts, and color palettes that align with your brand identity to create a visually stunning website.
Typically, the design stage takes approximately 60 to 120 hours. Remember, this time frame solely depends on the level of customization you want. The greater the customization and complexity the longer the wireframing and MVP will take.
Some challenges that entrepreneurs face during the design stage are as follows:
- Choosing a website theme that doesn’t align with your strategic goals and sticks out like a sore thumb.
- Adding many elements to the website
- Being rigid and not testing other design options
Step 3 – Developing the Store
This stage is the lengthiest and most technical. If you’re creating a custom store, then it’s best to hire a developer. The developer will create a custom code and integrate the features and functionalities that you want incorporated in your store. In this step, they also focus on the website’s UI to ensure it is user-friendly and responsive on all devices and browsers.
The development stage can take anywhere from 250 to 550 hours. It depends on the complexity of the Shopify website as a whole. The developers may also optimize product catalog, email marketing, Search Engine Optimization, product filters, product features and descriptions, payment gateways, cart pages, email notifications, and invoices.
Some common challenges faced by entrepreneurs during this stage of the development process include:
- Choosing an inexperienced developer who can’t grasp the project’s complexity.
- Not defining the project’s scope ultimately leads to scope delays.
- Not doing contingency planning and hence being unable to deal with unexpected problems and changes.
- Not planning for the long-term maintenance and scalability of the website during the development stage.
- Not testing the website regularly during the development stage.
- Not accounting for any changes that might come up during the development stage.
Step 4 – Incorporating App Integrations
Apps and integrations significantly impact the cost of Shopify website development. In this stage, the developer installs and customizes necessary integrations and/or applications, such as shipping providers, analytics tools, payment gateways, social widgets, etc.
Our experts say that app integrations are a relatively simple process and take anywhere from 10 to 25 hours. Some challenges faced by entrepreneurs during this stage include:
- Installing unnecessary apps that slow down the website.
- Installing too many apps that increase costs.
- Not researching which app suits the business model the best and choosing an app that misaligns with the strategic goals.
- Not debugging integrations and apps before you launch your website.
Step 5 – Quality Assurance (QA) Testing
The testing stage ensures that your Shopify store works properly and provides an optimized user experience. During this stage, the development team tests your store’s performance, security, functionality, and compatibility with different devices.
Typically, this stage can last up to 20 to 40 hours. Some of the major challenges entrepreneurs face during this stage include:
- Not testing integrations and apps.
- Not testing the website on other browsers and devices.
- Not testing the website’s performance under heavy customer traffic.
- Not testing the website’s security.
Step 6 – Support and Maintenance
Now that your Shopify website is ready, you need to start accounting for your store’s ongoing support and maintenance. Investing in maintenance ensures that your website stays up-to-date, secure, and optimized. During this stage, the Shopify store developer you’ve hired will provide support services like fixing bugs or providing technical support where needed. Here are some common challenges faced by entrepreneurs in this stage:
- Inability to address bugs and issues quickly
- Not investing enough resources into ongoing support and maintenance
- Not keeping your website up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates
How Much Does a Shopify Website Cost?
Creating a custom Shopify website can quickly become a worthwhile investment for your business. However, it is important to consider the following costs:
Upfront Shopify Website/Store Costs
Millions of businesses use Shopify daily. It charges a monthly fee for its platform and offers five distinct plans.
- The Starter Plan costs exactly $5/month. It limits businesses from selling products, messaging, and social media apps. A “Buy Button” may also be embedded on an existing website for your products.
- The Basic Plan costs about $39/month. You can create a standalone online store with unlimited products and get two staff accounts.
- The Standard Shopify Plan costs about $105/month. In addition to a store, you can create professional reports and use additional features like abandoned cart recovery and gift cards. Moreover, you’ll be provided with five staff accounts.
- The Advanced Plan costs about $399/month. It allows you to use advanced reporting, custom third-party shipping rates, and up to 15 staff accounts for store operations.
- The Shopify Plus plan is available for approximately $2000/month. It offers large businesses a dedicated support team, API access, etc.
Shopify Store Design
After buying a Shopify plan, you can choose a free or paid theme from the Shopify Marketplace. You can also use any other platform to get a theme. The average cost of a paid theme lies somewhere between $150 to $350.
You can hire a web designer or developer to create a custom theme. You can create a theme that aligns with your brand identity and strategic goals. The overall Shopify website designer cost varies and depends on the complexity of the web design and the customization you demand. However, it typically ranges between $500 and $2000.
Third-Party Applications
Shopify has thousands of free and paid applications that you can use to optimize your business operations and performance. The median cost of a paid app ranges from $10 to $50 per month. Some apps also charge based on usage rates instead of a specified monthly amount. If you want more personalized and advanced features, you can hire a web developer to create custom applications for your business. However, custom app development incurs additional costs.
The overall cost of custom apps varies depending on the complexity and scope of the project. However, the typical cost of a custom application ranges from $1000 to $5000.
Why should you partner with Coding Pixel to build an e-commerce website on Shopify?
An optimized Shopify e-commerce website is a strategic investment that will pay dividends for years, especially during this time. From its vast customization options to 24/7 support, Shopify is the best platform for a solid foundation for any e-commerce business.
At Coding Pixel, we are your trusted partners in this e-commerce app development journey. Our experts will help you elevate these benefits and optimize your store for unparalleled success. With over 8 years of experience, our experts ensure a seamless development process for your digital store.
We can help you build a scalable and functional website for your business. See our Shopify Development Service
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Hiring a Shopify expert is an intelligent investment, especially if you value your time and would much rather invest it in strategizing for your business growth. Hiring an expert gives you the window to focus on the critical side of your business while they manage the technical side of it.
Shopify offers a lot of reasons for an e-commerce business to create a Shopify store; some of them include ease of use, security, mobile-friendliness, customization, fast loading times, marketing tools, payment gateways, app integrations, scalability, and support.
The time it takes to build a Shopify store depends on the store type and the customization level you want to incorporate. However, on average, it takes about 4 to 6 months to build an e-commerce site.
Masifa is a Content Specialist with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and over three years of experience in content marketing and the IT industry. She is passionate about writing and talking about website and mobile app development, e-commerce, and advancements happening in the IT Industry. She creates engaging and user-centric content to optimize digital experiences for these niches. When she is not creating content, you can find her buried in a good book.
