What is the average cost of an e-commerce development project?
Owning an e-commerce website has become a must for businesses no matter how big or small they are.
It not only gives them a lively online presence but also shows that the organization is well aware of upcoming trends and changing technologies that can benefit their customers. An e-commerce website is a mirror of the brand and is one of the most important aspects of any retail business.
Any company planning to start a real business is often asked how much it will cost to build a website. The cost of a website depends in particular on the design and icons that will be present on the site. Over the past decades, the craze for e-commerce websites has grown exponentially. The cost of development varied during these years as well. Thus, it becomes very difficult to estimate the exact cost of developing an e-commerce website. The exact cost can be calculated by considering various factors such as business objectives, project scope, development method, design complexity, integration, features, functionality, hosting, maintenance and much more.
Factors affecting the total cost of developing e-commerce projects
An e-commerce website is made up of different components and all of them affect the overall development cost. Here in this part of the article, readers will learn about the factors that make up the total cost.
business volume
The size of the business will determine the scope of the site. Small scale ecommerce businesses don't need a lot of features or pages on their website. They also go to chimneys which provide them with less functionality but that can be enough according to their requirements. This cannot be the same when it comes to larger companies. They need a massive framework and their wireframe must be strong and deep. They need to create a website that can compete and match the standards of the big players in the market.
The reason for this is that even though your delivery system or offers are great, customers will always judge you based on the website. why? Because it's the first thing they come across. If they can't easily add products to the cart and check out the same way, their chances of leaving the site are high. Even if they buy something from the website, the chances of them returning to it are very low. This is something no business wants. This is why it is important to determine the size of the business first and then scale the website accordingly. Take a look at the different business sizes and how they can go forward:
- small business
For small businesses, it is not important to get out of the box to develop an e-commerce website. They also have the option to list their products on other aggregate websites such as Amazon and eBay. This option can give them a larger customer base without a development cost. But this is something that will never give them a chance to interact directly with their customers. Therefore, they can choose to have a website that can sell their products with as few components as possible. Although they should make sure that they include a support or complaint page on the website. Almost every e-commerce development company in the market offers website development services on a tight budget. These may not look great, but they fulfill the requirements perfectly.
- Medium business
Companies that have gone beyond their stage to become a small business and are starting to grow at a steady rate need a better website. They need to increase their sales at a rate that can support their growth. This cannot be done with a basic website and therefore they need to increase the cost. They need to look for solutions that can give them most of the features found on other websites in the competition. In order to be better than others, they may also need to customize something and the user interface of the website. This solution should also be scalable as things always go up from this point. Having a website that cannot be scaled is an investment that will fade as the requirements increase. They will need a bigger website and getting a website developed from scratch will cost time and money. This cannot be the best way to grow a business, and therefore it must be thought of in advance.
Medium-sized businesses need to go with an e-commerce application development or website development company that understands what they want at the moment and how they will shape in the future. This is what helps companies decide which stack to use for website development so that they can scale it when needed. Having said that, e-commerce sites for these types of businesses need a higher cost than those of small businesses.
- Enterprise business
If they are looking to stay in the market for a long time, they should not be concerned with the budget and should focus only on quality. These companies are at a stage where they have a good customer base and just want to grow it. How can they do this? By providing customers with more features and functionality on their websites. There are many e-commerce websites that have integrated more advanced technologies such as augmented reality on their websites. This not only attracted people, but also increased sales to them. But is it mandatory?
no. It is recommended though also after proper research. Not all companies need advanced technological features. The most important factors are the user interface and user experience of a website. If you are not in accordance with the users' preferences, and regardless of other features used, the users will not go to the website. This is not what companies want. Hence, it is important to have a website that offers all the relevant features along with a great design and experience.
E-commerce website development platforms
It is not difficult to create an e-commerce website at this time. There are platforms that allow business owners or their development suite to have their own sites with some customization in templates. These platforms take some fees but provide ease of web development services. Even a person with basic knowledge of development can create a fully functional website with the help of these platforms. It reduces the cost of developing an e-commerce website or app as well as the time it takes to develop it. The reason for this is that all components are already developed, and only templates have to be modified and customized accordingly.
This can be a great solution for small and medium businesses with short term goals. They can use these platforms to have an e-commerce website for a short period of time and start their own business so that they can have a website of their own. This is convenient and fruitful. Although, these are not recommended for large organizations because users already understand the difference. They know when to use a website that was built using a template and template that was developed from scratch. It is not easy to deceive users on the Internet nowadays. Where the Internet has provided companies with a platform to sell their products, it has also made customers smarter. This is actually the best of both. No business wants stupid customers unless they sell something priceless.
The gist of all this is that these platforms can be used when a company wants a website in short time and on a small budget. They provide quality and maintenance as well. There are some negatives and many benefits.
Website design cost
Website design is very important. As mentioned earlier, the first thing users see is the website design. This is why no company can afford to overlook it. If the site design is not good, no matter what's inside the site, you will not get sales. Companies need to make sure that they spend a significant amount on the design and do not make it look popular. Hire web developers in India who have good design and development skills if you are not old enough to hire another agency. Companies with deep pockets can still choose to outsource and have professional teams working for them.
A website design cost can range from $250 to $20,000. The final cost depends on the complexity or detail of the website design. Although users are now beginning to prefer simplicity, this does not mean that companies can opt for simple designs. This will not work. There must be a balance between simplicity and attractiveness.
Website functionality cost
This is the part that makes up for the maximum percentage of the total cost. The reason for this is that it determines how the website will work and what features it will have. The behavior of the site depends on the number of functions it has. It all depends on the requirements of the company that wants an e-commerce site. There cannot be a specific number because this is quite variable. The features and balance between the modules are all that make up for the functionality of the website. This is the development part and that's why there should be no loose ends here. Although companies can save here if they can strike the delicate balance between advanced and essential features.
What most companies do is they ask for a lot of features and then end up realizing that most of them are not useful to them. This happens when the research that is done before scoping the website is not deep. It is important to know which features customers use the most, what they want most, and especially what is relevant to the site. For example, augmented reality features could be important for a clothing website and a car website, but the same is not true for the consumer goods sector. Their products are not sold as they look, they are sold based on their quality and functionality. This is why, if a cosmetic brand uses the same feature, it may just waste its money. Companies can hire web developers in India so that their in-house team can control all operations if they have proper knowledge of the development market.
Marketing cost
Marketing costs are basically the costs incurred on SEO, SMO, and other digital marketing activities. The reason behind doing these activities is obvious. There is no importance to owning an e-commerce site if customers do not know about it. The cost can range from $10,000 to $30,000 per month. This cost is significant. Businesses know they need to make their website rank first in Google search results and on social media platforms. A website that does not generate enough traffic causes losses to the business. The cost that is used for digital marketing is always to the advantage of the company.
There are ways a business can also hire web development service providers, and that includes digital marketing. It's critical at this time when everything is digital and the competition is more intense than ever.
web hosting cost
Once your ecommerce site is ready and the business wants to pass it on to its customers and hire a Ruby on Rails developer, it will need a hosting service. This is so that the website can gain a place online. This is like when you want a house, you need land where it can be built and there are services where the house is built in a different place and then it is placed above the ground. Here, the website is also placed on the World Wide Web using hosting services.
There is a change that website owners must pay to be able to keep their website online for the world to access. This is something that needs a little research and some thought, which would be the best option. Also, website owners can host the website themselves as well. They should take a domain name for themselves and get started. Website hosting can cost anywhere between $20 and $250 if you opt for the cheap options. Otherwise, this cost can also reach $2,500.
Cost of maintenance
Once a website is developed and released to clients, it requires maintenance. This should be regular and can be done either with the help of our in-house developer team or with the help of an e-commerce development company. The cost of maintenance can range from $1,000 to $6,000 per month depending on the size of the business and the website. This is something that cannot be automated or left unattended. There are many issues that keep popping up and if not resolved, the website will crash and there will be no way to renew it. That's why, to stay in the market and satisfy customers, companies need to find a way to maintain their websites. This is something that can also help them save themselves from online attacks. An e-commerce site that is not maintained will attract hackers and will lead to a huge loss in terms of money and goodwill in the market.
Developer recruitment cost
Ruby on Rails developer hiring rates depend on the location, experience, and expertise of the web developers. Other platforms for development are also considered. Regular fees for e-commerce developers range from $5 to $125 per hour. The cost varies depending on the geographical location of the developer. In general, North American developers charge the highest cost, followed by European and South American developers. The lowest costs are taken by Asian developers. There are agencies that outsource their services and deliver websites on the mentioned deadline, thus fulfilling the requirements and needs of the organisation. These types of organizations charge between $50 to $250 an hour. It is safer to work with agencies because they have a stable and reliable business that one can count on. If a company is considering hiring or outsourcing individual or freelance developers, they should review their business records fully to understand their projects and business style before closing the deal with them.
Cost based on company size
- Small Size Ecommerce Site:
A small scale ecommerce site has the smallest catalog of all, some special themes, and custom programming. Small websites have a maximum of 25 pages and cost around $2,000 to $15,000.
- Medium Business Website:
These websites have medium traffic and themes that are dedicated to attracting a specific audience. The cost of these sites ranges from $15,000 to $30,000. These sites usually have less than 100 pages and limited options.
- Custom Ecommerce Website:
A custom ecommerce website is a site built from scratch that usually has a large catalog of products with custom layouts and high traffic. These sites have an estimated cost starting at $30,000.
conclusion
Thus, in the above guide to understand the estimated average cost of developing an e-commerce project depends on many factors. For an easy and best successful e-commerce project, you can also hire a dedicated e-commerce app development company.