In this article
A professionally built e-commerce website costs €15,000–60,000 in 2026 for most businesses: template-based shops start around €5,000–15,000, custom-designed storefronts run €15,000–60,000, and headless or multi-market builds go from €40,000 upward. The platform decision shapes not just the invoice but every monthly bill after it — so the honest budget covers both.
The e-commerce price map#
- Template shop on Shopify or WooCommerce, light customization: €5,000–15,000
- Custom-designed storefront on a standard platform: €15,000–40,000
- Headless commerce (custom front end, API-driven backend): €40,000–100,000
- Multi-market EU store (languages, currencies, VAT, shipping zones): add 30–60%
What actually drives the cost#
Not the number of products — the number of moving parts. Catalog complexity (variants, bundles, B2B price lists), integrations (ERP, warehouse, invoicing, payment providers, shipping calculators), and checkout customization dominate e-commerce budgets. A 2,000-product store with clean data and standard checkout is cheaper to build than a 50-product store that needs live ERP sync and three shipping integrations.
The second driver is design ambition. Template stores look like template stores — fine for validating demand, limiting for brands competing on perception. Custom storefront design typically adds €10,000–25,000 and pays back through conversion and brand price tolerance.
The monthly bills nobody puts in the proposal#
- Platform fees: Shopify from €39 to €2,300+/month for Plus; apps add €50–500/month quietly.
- Payment processing: 1.4–2.9% + fixed fee per transaction, varying by provider and volume.
- Maintenance: plugin-heavy WooCommerce stores need the same patch retainer as any WordPress site; headless static front ends need almost none.
- The speed tax: every 100ms of load time costs roughly 1% in conversions — on €1M annual revenue, a sluggish theme is a five-figure yearly leak.
How we approach it at iweb.eu#
We size the platform to the business, not the other way round: standard platforms where they fit, headless storefronts where speed and multi-market SEO carry the revenue. Every quote is line-by-line — build, integrations, content, launch — with the monthly running costs calculated honestly next to it.
Frequently asked questions#
Shopify or a custom headless store — which is right?
Shopify wins on time-to-launch and operational simplicity for standard shops. Headless wins when storefront speed, custom UX or multi-market SEO drive revenue — typically from ~€500k annual online sales, or in fiercely competitive niches where milliseconds convert.
What does it cost to migrate an existing store?
Typically 60–80% of a new build of the same scope: product and customer data migration, URL redirects to preserve rankings, and integration rebuilding are the bulk. Order history migration adds complexity but preserves the numbers your accounting depends on.
Can I start with €5,000?
Yes — a clean template store validating real demand beats a delayed perfect one. Spend the budget on product photography and copy rather than design tweaks, and plan the custom rebuild for when revenue proves the case.