Nowadays, creating a DIY e-commerce is an operation within everyone's reach, thanks to the numerous platforms available on the market. But when how much does it cost to make a site valid and competitive e-commerce on the market?

To answer the question, let's start by evaluating all the factors that influence the cost of an e-commerce site.

Factors that influence the cost of an e-commerce

1) The cost of advertising in e-commerce

According to the B2C eCommerce Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic, product purchases recorded a growth of 2020 billion euros in 5,5, reaching a total of 23,4 billion in the entire sector.

It all started quietly with the first lockdown: most Italian SMEs operating in retail still did not have their own e-commerce, despite this sector having been growing steadily since 2014.

But once the extent of the closures was understood, more or less everyone equipped themselves to create an online shop; many invested in an advertising or software agency, others committed themselves to DIY.

Now e-commerce is a habit for 3 out of 4 Italians, in a scenario of real economic boom.

It is therefore clear that the situation has changed compared to February 2020: demand is at an all-time high, with people and families stuck at home browsing online catalogues and menus from various shops and restaurants.

Against, the offer continues to increase and in every sector there are more and more competitors.

What does it mean? That the "going online" is no longer enough - especially in the most competitive sectors.

In addition to the costs of creating an e-commerce site, you also need to take into account the costs of advertising.

2) The license of the chosen platform

Platforms like Woocommerce, Magento, Prestashop and Shopify have made it accessible to everyone to create their own online shop.

Staying on the surface we must first consider their licensing cost, which is not always within the reach of a startup or SME.

We exclude platforms that require web design skills and consider the most intuitive and accessible ones:

• Make an e-commerce site with WordPress it is certainly the cheapest solution, given that we are talking about a rate from 8 to 45 euros per month;
• Professionals tend to rely on Magento, whose license costs from 22 thousand dollars a year (approximately 19 thousand euros), increasing depending on the turnover.
• An economical alternative that is enjoying good success is Shopify, which costs between $29 and $299 per month.
• Prestashop interface It is available for free, but each added feature costs money and not all the features offered are of the same quality. For example, some templates are definitely less graphically good than others, and more difficult to index.

3) The cost of the domain

This is the most variable factor, but it makes sense to take it into consideration. It is not easy to establish an average domain cost, so check how much the domain you would like for your e-commerce costs, and see if it is available at this link.

4) The cost of skills

To understand how much it costs to make an e-commerce site, you also need to consider what basic skills you have - if you want to make a DIY site - and what features you want to develop. If you are thinking of delegating the creation of a site to an agency, you should consider that they often offer a complete package (we at Pizero Design Let's start from a basic ecommerce site creation 3 thousand euros).

But what are these skills that are so fundamental to creating an e-commerce? Let's look at them together, to understand how they affect the final cost, whether you decide to do it yourself or rely on an agency.

How much does it cost to make an ecommerce site? The skills that influence

1) Data analysis

If you already have a physical store or a point of sale, you are already in the habit of matching a product to the target. In addition, you already know how many orders you can handle at the same time, how much other expense items, such as packaging and shipping, cost you.

In an e-commerce there is also the need for improve online sales with data analysis, an operation made much simpler by the easy availability of all the necessary data.

Of course, you need the right tools and awareness of which metrics are important to understand the results we have. A skill that has its costs.

2) SEO knowledge

It's all well and good to open a shop, but how can we be sure to have customers? The answer is in Search Engine Optimization, a technical discipline that also requires a good dose of creativity. Literally meaning "search engine optimization", it requires that some elements of your future e-commerce must be done according to the rules of the art.

We're talking about URL structure, meta tags, titles, page tree structure... if you don't pay attention to taking care of these elements, search engines won't find them, and your future customers will never see your products.

- SEO oriented articles are a very popular method for SMEs to show themselves as reliable sites in the eyes of search engines, and there are several services SEO consultancy that can clarify your ideas.

3) Knowledge of graphics and web design

A little basic graphic knowledge is no longer enough in an era where we are talking about customer journey and of sites responsive web and UX oriented.

A basic knowledge of how CSS works and how to modify it is the basis to which you need to add a study of marketing-oriented images.

from choose the right colors from how to position buttons and screens correctly, to the right valorization of your logo: a good knowledge of graphics is essential to understand how to create a successful e-commerce.

4) Marketing knowledge

Marketing is useful. Especially if you offer a new product or one for which you are creating demand. But even more so if you need to advertise on the Internet using social networks or paid advertising in the best way.

The risk of making a wasted investment is just around the corner. Perhaps, giving in to the flattery of a social network that does not host the age group of your target audience.

Throwing a message to a crowd of people is certainly more effective than throwing it into the desert, and only an up-to-date knowledge of how it works digital marketing today can help you.

we at Pizero Design we offer a creation of commerce and websites starting from a spending of 3 thousand euros.

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Da WordPress to Woocommerce to Laravel or Shopify: let's evaluate together which platform is best suited to your needs.