What is the cost of building an e-commerce website in 2026?

Building a webshop in 2026 will roughly cost €3,500 to €60,000, depending on whether you use a Shopify template, have a custom Shopify theme created, employ WooCommerce, or opt for headless commerce. Variables include: number of products, payment and shipping integrations, custom design, multi-language support, and integrations with your inventory/accounting system. On top of the build cost, budget €30-€500/month for platform fees and €1,000-€5,000/year for maintenance.

What's included in a webshop price?

A webshop is a complex piece of software with multiple cost components:

• Platform choice — Shopify, WooCommerce, headless, or custom. Determines 30-50% of the total architecture.
• Theme/Design — template (€80-€350), customised template (€2,000-€6,000), fully custom (€8,000-€25,000).
• Product catalogue — entering 10 or 10,000 products takes hours or weeks respectively. Includes images, variants, attributes.
• Payments — Mollie, Stripe, Adyen, Klarna, iDEAL. Setup per provider 2-4 hours.
• Shipping — PostNL, DPD, GLS, ShipBob. Real-time pricing and label printing.
• Inventory integration — integration with ERP (Exact, Unit4, AFAS) or standalone (TradeGecko, Inventory Planner).
• VAT & legal — terms and conditions, GDPR, VAT settings NL/EU/world.

Price ranges per webshop type

• Shopify template + minimal config: €1,500 - €4,000. Standard theme, max 50 products, one payment provider, basic integrations. 2-4 weeks of work.
• Customised Shopify theme: €5,000 - €12,000. Custom design on a paid base theme, 100-500 products, multiple payment methods, email marketing integration. 4-7 weeks.
• Premium Shopify with integrations: €12,000 - €25,000. Fully custom theme, ERP integration, multi-language, subscriptions or B2B pricing, advanced marketing. 8-14 weeks.
• WooCommerce shop: €4,000 - €18,000. Comparable to Shopify but with WordPress flexibility. Important: WooCommerce requires more maintenance (plugins, security).
• Headless commerce (custom): €25,000 - €80,000. Next.js/Astro front-end + Shopify/Commerce Layer/Saleor back-end. For brands that want speed, design control, and scalability.

Fixed monthly costs (often forgotten)

• Shopify Basic: €27/month. Shopify: €79/month. Advanced: €289/month. Plus: from €2,000+/month.
• WooCommerce: hosting €25-€150/month (Kinsta WooCommerce, Cloudways).
• Apps & integrations: budget €50-€300/month for 5-10 essential apps (review tool, email, inventory, etc.).
• Headless: Vercel/Cloudflare €20-€150/month + Shopify/Saleor license.

For an SME webshop: budget €100-€500/month in recurring costs, averaging €250/month.

Maintenance and further development

A webshop is never "finished". After go-live, there is continuous:

• Expanding product catalogue: 1-4 hours/month for ongoing entry.
• Integrating marketing campaigns: 2-6 hours/month for banners, promo codes, A/B tests.
• Conversion optimisation: 5-15 hours/quarter for analysis and tweaks.
• Security & updates: automatic with Shopify; 2-4 hours/month with WooCommerce.

Budget a maintenance contract of €400-€1,500/month for an average SME shop.

Common mistakes

• Starting too cheaply. A €1,500 shop often results in a shop with poor conversion performance; generating more revenue quickly requires a rebuild.
• Not preparing product data. A beautiful shop with poor product texts/photos won't sell. Reserve €2,000-€10,000 for copy and photography.
• Payment methods too narrow. No iDEAL or no credit card costs you conversions. Offer at least iDEAL + credit card + Klarna.
• No analytics from day 1. Google Analytics 4, e-commerce tracking, conversion funnels. Without data, you don't know what works.
• Underestimating stock synchronisation. An item sold online that is no longer physically in stock means customer loss. Plan ERP integration from the start.

Frequently asked questions

What is cheaper: Shopify or WooCommerce?

In the short term, WooCommerce is cheaper (no platform fee). In the long term, there's little difference — WooCommerce requires more hosting + maintenance. For 95% of SMEs, Shopify is more practical for the time investment.

How long does a webshop project take?

Shopify template: 2-4 weeks. Customised Shopify: 6-10 weeks. Custom headless: 14-24 weeks. Lead time mainly depends on content delivery and feedback speed.

Do I need subscriptions or B2B pricing?

Only if your business model requires it. B2B with customer-specific pricing requires Shopify Plus or a custom solution and costs an additional €5,000-€15,000.

What is a good conversion rate for SME webshops?

Industry-dependent. General Dutch SME shops: 1.5-3% is normal, 3-5% is good, >5% is excellent. Fashion/lifestyle higher (2-4%), B2B shops lower (0.5-2%).

Can I migrate my webshop to another platform later?

Yes, but budget 60-80% of a new build. Customer data and orders are usually migratable; design and customisations almost never 1-to-1.

Does my webshop automatically get SEO?

No. Every platform gives you a basis, but for good SEO you need optimisation of products (titles, descriptions, alt-tags), categories and blog content. Budget 8-20 hours/month for SEO work.

Ready to get started?

Read our approach for building a webshop, or schedule a brief introduction — we'll take a no-obligation look and provide an honest estimate of scope, costs, and lead time.