Ask five web companies what an online shop costs and you’ll get five versions of “it depends”, usually followed by a form asking for your budget. Not very helpful when you’re trying to work out whether selling online is even viable for you.
So here’s the actual answer, with real numbers. MarketingDone4U publishes its ecommerce prices, which makes this easy: we can show you exactly what each level costs, what’s included, and (the bit almost nobody itemises) the extra costs that turn up after the website quote, whoever builds your shop.
What an ecommerce website actually is
Worth 30 seconds, because the price differences make more sense once you see the moving parts. An ecommerce website is a normal website plus a shop engine: product pages, categories, a basket, a checkout, a payment gateway that takes the money, and the plumbing that emails receipts, tracks orders and calculates delivery.
That shop engine is why ecommerce costs more than a brochure site. Every product needs a page, a photo, a price and a description. Payments need to be secure. Delivery needs rules. Refunds need a process. None of it is exotic, but all of it is work, and the amount of work scales with how many products you sell.
Which is why sensible ecommerce pricing is based on product count. Ours certainly is.
Ecommerce website costs by product count
MarketingDone4U prices online shops in three tiers, sized by how many products you’re selling. All three are managed monthly plans with hosting and SSL included, so there’s no big upfront build cost.
| Starter, £149/mo | Growth, £249/mo (most popular) | Pro, £399/mo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products | Up to 15 | Up to 50 | Up to 100 |
| Core pages | 5 core pages, categories, delivery page | Everything in Starter, plus subcategories and a returns page | Everything in Growth, plus enhanced categories |
| Selling features | Payment gateway set up, 1 revision round | Discount codes, product SEO formatting, GA4 analytics | Featured and bestseller sections, enhanced product pages, basic abandoned cart (where available) |
| Monthly edits | 30 minutes | 45 minutes | 60 minutes |
A few honest notes on how the plans work, because pricing transparency only counts if you include the conditions:
- These are managed monthly services with a minimum 12-month term.
- MarketingDone4U owns the website unless you buy it out, and a buyout is available if you ever want to take it in-house.
- Hosting and professional email are included. Extra work beyond your plan’s scope is £50 an hour, quoted first. Support is by email or ticket.
- Selling more than 100 products? That’s a bespoke quote, because past that point the structure of the shop matters more than the count.
You can see the full breakdown and start the process on our ecommerce packages page.
Which tier fits which business?
Up to 15 products covers more businesses than you’d think. A candle maker with a focused range, a butcher selling meat boxes, a course provider with a handful of offerings. Small ranges convert well because choosing is easy.
Up to 50 products is the sweet spot for most independent retailers going online properly: a gift shop, a clothing boutique, a parts supplier with a defined catalogue. This is the tier we’d point most established shops at, which is why it’s the recommended one.
Up to 100 products suits bigger catalogues where customers browse and filter rather than scan, and where features like bestseller sections and abandoned cart prompts start earning their keep.
The costs nobody itemises
Here’s the section we wish more web companies wrote. Whoever builds your shop, on whatever platform, these costs exist. They’re not in most quotes because they’re not paid to the web company, but they’re real money and real time, so plan for them.
Payment processing fees
Card payments cost money to process. Payment providers such as Stripe and PayPal charge a fee on each transaction, typically a small percentage plus a few pence, set by the provider rather than your web designer. On low-priced products those fees deserve a line in your margin maths before you commit to selling online. Nobody waives them, whatever a sales page implies.
Product photography
The single biggest difference between a shop that looks trustworthy and one that doesn’t. You don’t need a studio: a modern phone, daylight, a plain background and consistency across the range gets you most of the way. But somebody has to photograph every product, and if that’s a professional, it’s a per-day or per-product cost on top of the website. Budget for it, or budget the weekend.
Writing and loading the products
Every product needs a title, a description, a price, options (sizes, colours) and delivery settings. Fifty products means fifty of everything. It’s the most underestimated job in ecommerce. On our plans the initial product load is part of the build for the products in your tier, which is a chunk of the value hiding inside the monthly price.
Delivery, packaging and returns
Postage rates, packaging materials, and the time to pack and post. Plus a returns policy, which UK distance-selling rules require you to have and honour. None of this touches the website bill, all of it touches the business case.
What about DIY platforms like Shopify and Wix?
The honest comparison, since you’re probably weighing them up.
DIY ecommerce platforms advertise low monthly prices, and the platforms themselves are genuinely capable. The gap is everything around the platform: the subscription typically covers the software, while themes, apps for features that don’t come built in, and every hour of setup, product loading, design and maintenance come from you. The advertised price is the start of the bill, not the total, and transaction fees can apply on top depending on plan and payment setup.
For some owners that trade is fine, and if that’s you, start with our head-to-heads on Wix vs Shopify and Shopify vs WooCommerce, which go deep on the real costs of each route.
The question we’d ask is simpler: what is your time worth? If you’d bill £40 an hour doing your actual job, and the DIY route takes 40 or 50 hours to set up plus a few hours every month forever, the “cheap” option costs four figures in the first year before the subscription. That maths is the whole argument for done-for-you, and we’d rather show it than hide it.
One-off builds vs monthly plans
The traditional route is paying an agency a one-off fee to build the shop, then paying separately for hosting, maintenance and changes. One-off ecommerce quotes vary enormously with scope, which is why we won’t pretend there’s a single market number; for the general lie of the land on build pricing, our UK website cost guide covers how one-off pricing works.
The structural difference matters more than the number. With a one-off build, you own the site outright but every update, security patch and fix after launch is your problem or a fresh invoice. With a managed monthly plan, the cost is flat and predictable, updates within your edit allowance are included, and the site is kept running for you; the trade-off is the 12-month term and the ownership model, which is why we state both plainly.
For a small business without in-house tech help, we think predictable monthly beats occasional-and-lumpy. But it’s a genuine choice, not a trick question.
How to keep your ecommerce costs down
Whichever route you take:
- Launch with fewer products than you think. Fifteen well-photographed products beat sixty rushed ones. You can always grow into a bigger tier; you can’t un-bore a visitor.
- Write your own product descriptions first, even roughly. You know the products; a copywriter or your web team can polish faster than they can invent.
- Photograph in batches. One consistent session beats six mismatched ones.
- Don’t pay for features you don’t need yet. Abandoned cart emails matter at volume, not at week one.
- Get delivery pricing right early. Surprise postage at checkout is where sales go to die, and reworking delivery rules later is fiddly.
What happens if you start with us
The process is deliberately boring: choose your tier on the ecommerce start page, complete the onboarding form, send your content, product list and access details, and your shop goes live in 7 working days once we have your completed form, content and access details. Then it’s a fixed monthly price, edits included, and a real team on email when you need changes.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an ecommerce website cost per month in the UK?
With MarketingDone4U, £149 a month for up to 15 products, £249 for up to 50, and £399 for up to 100, each on a managed plan with hosting, SSL and professional email included, on a minimum 12-month term. Larger catalogues are quoted individually. Payment processing fees are separate and set by your payment provider.
Why do ecommerce websites cost more than normal websites?
Because a shop is a website plus a selling engine. Product pages, categories, baskets, secure checkout, payment gateway setup, delivery rules and order emails all need building and maintaining, and the workload scales with product count. A brochure site only has to inform; a shop has to transact safely.
Is Shopify cheaper than a done-for-you ecommerce website?
The subscription is cheaper; the total often isn’t. On DIY platforms you also pay for themes, apps and, above all, your own hours for setup, product loading and upkeep. Value your time at your hourly rate and compare honestly. For some owners DIY wins, for most busy ones it doesn’t.
What extra costs should I budget for when selling online?
Four that quotes usually skip: payment processing fees on every transaction, product photography, the time to write and load every product listing, and delivery costs including packaging and returns handling. None are paid to your web company, but all belong in your margin calculations before launch.
How long does it take to launch an online shop?
With MarketingDone4U, your shop is live in 7 working days once we have your completed form, content and access details. The honest caveat is that gathering product photos, descriptions and prices is usually the slow part, so the fastest launches belong to owners who prepare their product list early.
Can I move up a tier as my shop grows?
Yes. Plenty of shops start on Starter with a tight range and move up as the catalogue grows. Growing into a bigger tier is a plan change, not a rebuild, so the shop, domain and customer experience carry straight on. Past 100 products we quote bespoke, because structure matters more than count at that size.
Want this done for you? See our ecommerce website plans, or compare every service and price in one place.
