How Much Does an E-commerce Website Cost?

E-commerce projects have a wider price range than standard websites because the underlying complexity varies so much — a 20-product store and a 2,000-product store with variants are fundamentally different engineering problems.

Platform-based vs. custom-built

A platform-based store — built on Shopify or WooCommerce — is usually the faster and more cost-effective route for businesses with a fairly standard catalog and checkout flow. A fully custom-built store makes sense once you need behaviour the platform genuinely can't support: unusual pricing logic, non-standard product configuration, or deep integration with internal systems.

What drives the cost

• Catalog size and structure — number of products, variants and categories
• Payment setup — Stripe and local payment methods relevant to Romanian and Moldovan customers
• Shipping logic — flat rates, carrier integrations, or more complex rules
• Admin tooling — how much your team needs to manage without developer involvement
• Design — a templated theme versus a fully custom storefront

Typical ranges

A platform-based store with custom theming commonly falls in the €2,000–€5,000 range depending on catalog complexity. A fully custom-built storefront with a bespoke admin panel typically starts around €5,000 and scales with functionality.

Costs beyond the build

Payment processing fees, hosting, and platform subscription costs (for Shopify) are ongoing costs separate from the development price, and it's worth budgeting for them from the start rather than being surprised later.