Let’s get started. You need to understand the major factors that impact your ecommerce website cost.
Everybody shops online and you now have options to sell online too. So eCommerce isn’t a riddle that only a few can solve.
Your peers might have told you that eCommerce is tough, getting customers will be a pain, the logistics are a headache and much more.
On one hand, they might be right.
Building an eCommerce website is no child’s play and that’s why majority of eCommerce businesses fail every year. There are a ton of things to consider and you need to have an idea of how much you can spend.
When considering the types of eCommerce stores, they can generally be categorized based on the nature of transactions and the parties involved. Here are the common types:
- B2C (Business-to-Consumer): This is the most common model, where businesses sell directly to consumers.
- B2B (Business-to-Business): In this model, transactions are conducted between two businesses.
- C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): Platforms like eBay where consumers can sell goods or services to each other.
- C2B (Consumer-to-Business): Individuals sell products or services to businesses.
As for the costs, they can vary widely based on several factors, including the complexity of the website, the platform used, resources hired and additional features required. Here’s a rough estimate of the ecommerce website costs in INR and USD.
In India:
• A basic eCommerce website can start from around INR 35,000 to INR 75,000. (Within USD 500 – USD 1000)
• A mid-range site might cost between INR 1,00,000 and INR 4,00,000. (Within USD 1,500 -1 USD 5,000)
• A high-end, custom-built site could start from ₹5,00,000 and go up significantly higher.(Approx USD 10,000 + above).
Having a vague idea won’t help so I have come up with an estimate that suits your business needs. This estimate is close to the accurate prices in the market now so that it doesn’t go beyond your budget.
Let me break down each component one by one.
Ecommerce Website Cost Breakdown
Millions of eCommerce websites are made every year. Some fail. Others make a decent profit while a handful makes hundreds, if not thousands of dollars every day.
The nine components here sums up the entire eCommerce website cost calculation in India. All the factors are essential for every eCommerce website and their costs are close to recent estimates. Let’s go through one by one:
- Business Logo
- Domain Name
- Hosting Service
- Professional Photography
- Web Design
- Payment gateway integration
- Logistics service
- Messaging service
- Maintaining cost
1. Business Logo
The logo obviously comes first.
Did you know that Twitter’s logo cost only $15? Can you get your logo designed for that price now? Of course, you can!
In fact, you can design it for free with an online logo designer. I don’t recommend that because it will be just an “image” and not represent your business.
A few thousand rupees is a small portion of your eCommerce website cost. Hire a logo designer and they can craft the right logo for your business.
The right bandwidth to spend would be around INR 2,000 – INR 10,000 ( USD 30-USD 200) for your brand’s logo. A good deal would be to negotiate for a logo package where you get the logo in different dimensions.
2. Domain Name
The right domain name helps people to recognize your business easier. Choose a domain name that represents your business, simple and unique.
The domain name comes with a wide range of options. For eCommerce websites in India, .com, .store, and .shop are the most suited extensions.
The price band could be between INR 1000 to INR 1500 a year (USD 10 – USD 25). You can buy the domain name at affordable prices. I searched for a domain name for a flower shop and here are suggestions from Reseller Club India:
Namecheap is a good choice to buy your domain name. The best part is they offer an SSL certificate which is essential for any eCommerce website.
Pro-tip: Keep the name short and try to add a keyword. The name should be self-explanatory and people should identify what kind of business you are.
3. Hosting Service
Amazon would lose around $220,318.80 per minute if it goes down. You cannot turn a blind eye when it comes to hosting your first eCommerce website.
Here are the different hosting plans that Hostgator offers:
On average, the cost to host your eCommerce website in India will be around INR 3000 to INR 10,000 a year (USD 60 – USD 200). (a minimum)
As you are new, you can choose to go for a shared server as it won’t crack your budget. A dedicated server is expensive but offers the best performance. Once you get to see some sales and profit, you can migrate to your own VPS server.
4. Professional eCommerce Photography
“Can’t I just add my own photos? Is a photographer really necessary?”
Well yes but only if you are a photographer yourself.
There is a new demand for product photographers these days and they live up to their reputation. If you have a product line to sell, you need a professional touch and that is what every customer expects from an ecommerce store.
Hiring photographers in India for your eCommerce website can cost INR 10,000 to INR 50,000 (USD 200 – 600) depending upon the number of products, shots per product, images for the cover, carousel and more.
Pro-tip:
One thing you can do is to hire the same photographer if you are planning to launch multiple products down the line. That way, you can negotiate for a better deal.
5. Web Design
You won’t have any doubt here. A professional web designer is super necessary.
The price will highly fluctuate as there are a lot of factors to consider. From the platform to their team, the cost of hiring a web designer will vary.
The bare minimum price to build your eCommerce website in India would be INR 30,000 (USD 400) but it can climb to six figures depending upon your ideas. If you want customized designs, long term support and have a ton of products in hand, it will end up with a big budget–> INR 2,50,000 – INR 5,00,000 (USD 3000- 6000).
WordPress and Shopify are great options to create web design. Hire an ecommerce development company that are specialists in what they do. WordPress has WooCommerce, a plugin to offer great support for business owners. Shopify is exclusively meant for online businesses that offer premium features.
Pro-tip:
If the designer’s profile says “Wix designer/Squarespace designer”, skip them. Read my article on my DIY website builders are a red flag for eCommerce. You will thank me for that.
6. Payment Gateway Integration
You know that you need a payment gateway to support the interaction with your clients. Without one, the entire transaction becomes vulnerable to threats online so customers avoid your site altogether.
When you choose a payment gateway here are some of the features, they offer:
- The gateway will support many payment methods from credit cards, debit cards, UPI, and internet banking.
- The big names use AI algorithms to verify risky orders, verify shipping addresses and offer all round protection during transactions.
- You have better insights on tracking your orders, get customer support and pay nominal fees for every transaction.
There are a lot of players like Razorpay, CC Avenues, and Just Pay in India for eCommerce websites and their pricing can be around INR 6000 to INR 40,000 (USD 80- USD 500). When you choose a provider, you have to be aware of the setup fee and the transaction fee.
Some providers have zero setup fees so you can sign up for free. Later, they levy a transaction fee of 1% to 2.5%. Just like any other service company, they will have packages that suit different businesses so choose yours and negotiate for the best deal.
To have a clear picture on how the costs look, use my ecommerce website cost calculator.
7. Logistics Service
Now, time to dispatch your orders.
By this time, your eCommerce website is designed and hosted. You are about to receive your first order. That being said, you need support to deliver them.
Logistics services offer more than just delivering packages. They assist in cash on delivery (CoD), print labels and invoices, and an account manager to support you.
So how much does they charge?
Most platforms don’t charge for the registration. You will undergo a verification and then you start shipping. The charges apply for the number of deliveries you make, starting at INR 25 per kg.
You can check out Instashipin, Bluedart, and Delhivery as they dominate the market now.
8. Messaging Service
As a customer, I want to know that you are there for me whenever things go sideways.
More than that, I want quicker responses and a clear explanation so that I can trust you to make another purchase.
Live chat bots have proven to be useless as the responses are not customized to the issue and offer delayed responses. In fact, 21% of companies don’t respond to customers through live chat at all.
The alternative? Go for SMS services or set up messenger apps for continuous support.
You can send customized messages for new launches, live tracking, updates on their support tickets and much more.
Textlcoal is a website where you can set up SMS options to send notifications to your customers. You can get started with just INR 295 for 1000 messages.
However for US ecommerce store owners, they have to pay between 2 cents per SMS (for large volumes) to 4.5 cents per SMS for 1000 messages.
9. Maintenance Cost
“Wait. My website is up and running fine. What should I spend for now?”
Without proper maintenance, everything falls apart. So does your eCommerce website.
It could be your design, the SEO for your content, tweaking the code to manage glitches. It could be something simple like updating your banner image or integrating a newsletter feature.
Since you will have a relatively new website, you won’t get tangled in website migration and design updates as they cost a lot.
The minor updates include content optimization, technical glitches like dealing with spam mails, tightening up security, and slow website speed.
These can cost anywhere between INR 10,000 to INR 20,000 (USD 80 – USD 250) or more in case you run into unfortunate situations where your website is down or a malicious threat is detected.
Now to sum things up, it would take around INR 75,000 to INR 3,00,000 (USD 1500 – USD 5000) depending upon your needs.
Can you build your eCommerce website at a lower price than that?
Yes but remember. This is your business that you will be investing a large portion of your life into. Wouldn’t you want it to be close to perfect?
Going cheap isn’t always the best way if you wish to make good returns online. A well-built eCommerce website is the best one-time investment you can make.
Want to build your eCommerce website within your budget?
Gyan Devign Tech Services is a top ecommerce development company India for aspiring entrepreneurs like you. Our web design services have helped our clients to achieve their business goals and we never failed to deliver.
You can check our Ecommerce website packages India and we can discuss your business idea and build that eCommerce website with no hidden costs whatsoever!
