{"id":256,"date":"2026-10-03T00:05:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T21:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigdrop.gr\/how-much-does-an-online-store-cost\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T00:25:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T21:25:28","slug":"how-much-does-an-online-store-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigdrop.gr\/en\/how-much-does-an-online-store-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"How much does an online store cost, and what exactly are you paying for"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;How much does an online store cost?&#8221; is the first question in almost every conversation, and the hardest to answer with a single number. The quotes you get can differ several times over, and they usually don&#8217;t compare like with like. Let&#8217;s look at what drives the cost and what to ask.<\/p>\n<h2>What drives the cost<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The catalogue:<\/strong> how many products, how many variants (size, colour), where their data comes from and who will enter it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Integrations:<\/strong> ERP or invoicing software, warehouse, couriers, payment provider, tax reporting. This is usually the biggest difference between a simple store and a serious one.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Special rules:<\/strong> wholesale prices, customer-specific discounts, special shipping costs, cash on delivery, gift cards, products with conditions of sale.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Design:<\/strong> a ready-made theme with adjustments, or a design made for you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Languages and markets:<\/strong> each extra language or country brings translations, currencies, taxes and shipping rules.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Migration from an old store:<\/strong> products, customers, orders and redirects, so you don&#8217;t lose your Google rankings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The cost after launch<\/h2>\n<p>An online store does not end on opening day. Budget from the start for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>hosting suited to a store, not the cheapest shared plan,<\/li>\n<li>maintenance: updates, backups, monitoring, fixes,<\/li>\n<li>licences for premium plugins or services,<\/li>\n<li>payment fees and courier contracts,<\/li>\n<li>marketing: without visitors, even the best store doesn&#8217;t sell.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>When an off-the-shelf platform is the right choice<\/h2>\n<p>If you are just starting, have few products and need no integrations, an off-the-shelf platform with a monthly subscription is often the most economical and fastest option. There is no need to invest in a custom store before you have confirmed demand. We tell our clients this even when it means we won&#8217;t take on the project.<\/p>\n<h2>When a custom store is worth it<\/h2>\n<p>When the store already has revenue or a serious business plan, and the manual work (data entry, stock, shipping labels, invoices) starts to cost more than a proper solution. At that point, integrations and automation pay for themselves quickly.<\/p>\n<h2>What to ask before you sign<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>What exactly does the price include, and what is charged separately?<\/li>\n<li>Who enters the products and the copy?<\/li>\n<li>Which integrations are included, and who maintains them when something changes in the ERP or the courier&#8217;s system?<\/li>\n<li>Who owns the hosting account, the domain and the licences?<\/li>\n<li>What happens after delivery: is there a maintenance agreement, and at what cost?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>To give an order of magnitude: the online stores we build start at \u20ac3,000, and the final cost depends on the points above. After a short call we send a written proposal with cost per phase. See <a href=\"\/en\/ecommerce-development\/\">how we build online stores<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What drives the cost of an online store, what you pay after launch, and what to ask before you sign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-commerce"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How much does an online store cost? | BigDrop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What drives the cost of an online store, which costs come after launch, and which questions to ask before you sign.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bigdrop.gr\/en\/how-much-does-an-online-store-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How much does an online store cost? 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