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An e-commerce website costs more than a brochure site because it must support products, checkout, payments, tax, shipping, stock, orders and post-launch operations. ACA Tech Solutions currently publishes simple catalogue-store starting points of about £2,900 for Shopify and £2,400 for WooCommerce, with standard migrations from about £1,200. These are ACA examples, not market averages or final quotations.
Reviewed: 9 September 2026
ACA e-commerce starting prices
| Example | Published starting point | Scope assumption |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify entry store | From about £2,900 | Theme setup, catalogue, payments, shipping, basic apps and launch |
| WooCommerce entry store | From about £2,400 | WordPress setup, theme, catalogue, core plugins and launch |
| Standard migration | From about £1,200 | Mapped products, customers, orders, redirects and test runs |
| Advanced or custom store | Scoped quotation | APIs, subscriptions, complex logic or operational integrations |
Confirm current inclusions on ACA’s e-commerce development page. Platform subscriptions, payment fees, paid apps, premium extensions, hosting, content and ongoing support may be separate.
What changes an e-commerce quote?
The main cost driver is operational complexity, not the number of colours in the theme. A ten-product subscription store connected to fulfilment can require more work than a thousand-product catalogue imported from clean data.
Define the platform, catalogue, design, content, checkout, payment, shipping, tax, stock, integration, migration and support assumptions before comparing totals.
Platform and hosting
Shopify bundles hosted commerce infrastructure into its plan; WooCommerce runs on selected WordPress hosting. Each model creates different recurring costs and responsibilities. Include plan upgrades, hosting capacity, environments, backups, monitoring, CDN and specialist support where required.
Catalogue preparation
Count products, variants, attributes, categories, bundles, subscriptions, digital items and custom options. Identify who supplies descriptions, images, dimensions, weights, tax classes, identifiers and stock. Data cleanup and mapping often require more effort than the import itself.
Storefront design and content
Price depends on whether an existing theme is configured, a theme is substantially adapted or a custom component system is built. Include mobile navigation, search, filtering, product templates, basket, checkout, account, error and empty states. Content work may include product photography, buying guides, policies and emails.
Payments and checkout rules
List card processors, wallets, local methods, subscriptions, deposits, gift cards, refunds, disputes and fraud controls. Confirm country availability, verification, settlement and fee structures directly with providers. Custom checkout logic needs careful testing because it sits on the revenue path.
Shipping, collection and returns
Define destinations, locations, carriers, package sizes, product restrictions, flat or calculated rates, free-shipping thresholds, local delivery, collection and returns. Real-time carrier rates and label services may depend on the plan, carrier account or paid application.
Tax and international requirements
Record where the business sells, how prices are displayed, customer types, currencies and required evidence. Technology can apply configured rules; it does not decide the business’s tax or legal obligations. Include appropriate professional advice in the project plan where needed.
Stock, fulfilment and business-system integrations
Integrations with ERP, accounting, CRM, warehouse, point of sale, marketplace or supplier systems can become the largest part of the build. Define the system of record, field mapping, timing, retries, duplicate prevention, reconciliation, alerts and manual fallback.
Migration and redirects
A migration may include products, media, customers, orders, reviews, subscriptions, vouchers, URLs and search metadata. Customer passwords and recurring payment tokens may not be portable in the same way as catalogue data. Run test migrations, reconcile counts and plan redirects and rollback.
Security and compliance work
Include staff access, multifactor authentication, platform and extension updates, payment architecture, logging, backups, privacy controls, vulnerability handling and incident response. Using a payment provider can reduce the amount of card data handled directly, but merchant responsibilities remain. Confirm PCI DSS scope with the payment provider and a qualified adviser where appropriate.
Testing and launch
Test devices, browsers, products, discounts, tax, shipping destinations, payment success and failure, refunds, emails, stock, fulfilment and analytics. Use controlled test orders and then closely monitor initial live transactions. Budget for fixing data and rule assumptions discovered during acceptance.
Ongoing commerce costs
- platform plan or hosting;
- payment and transaction fees;
- apps, extensions and external services;
- monitoring, backups, updates and security;
- content, product and campaign changes;
- support, optimisation and integration maintenance.
Model at least the first year and a normal operating year. A low launch price can become expensive if essential functions depend on several monthly applications.
How to get a more reliable quote
- Map the real customer and fulfilment journey.
- Provide sample product and order data.
- Separate launch essentials from later improvements.
- Name each integration and system owner.
- State migration, testing and handover requirements.
- Compare recurring fees and maintenance responsibility.
Start with ACA’s website cost and scope estimator, then use the platform fit finder to clarify the operating model. Both are planning aids rather than quotes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I launch an online store for less than £2,000?
Possibly, using a tightly constrained self-service or template setup. Compare what is excluded: content, migration, integrations, testing, support and ongoing operation still need owners.
Why does an e-commerce migration cost money?
Data must be mapped, cleaned, tested and reconciled, while URLs, integrations, passwords, subscriptions and order history need explicit treatment.
Are platform and payment fees included in a build quote?
Do not assume so. Ask for one-off delivery, recurring subscriptions, transaction charges and ongoing support to be shown separately.
