Ask five agencies what an online store costs and you will get five numbers separated by an order of magnitude. None of them are necessarily lying. 'Ecommerce website' describes everything from a 20-product catalogue with UPI checkout to a multi-warehouse platform with ERP sync, and the price follows the plumbing, not the pixels.
This is the breakdown we give clients before they see a single design. It is deliberately unflattering to our own upsells.
Why Quotes Vary by 100×
- Catalogue complexity — 30 simple products is a weekend; 3,000 SKUs with variants, bulk pricing, and GST slabs is engineering.
- Checkout logic — flat shipping is trivial; weight-based, zone-based, COD-limited, partial-COD shipping is not.
- Integrations — each one (ERP, Tally, Unicommerce, Shiprocket, WhatsApp, CRM) adds real days.
- Content readiness — missing photography and product copy is the most common reason projects double in cost.
- Ownership model — a template you rent is cheap monthly; a codebase you own costs more upfront and less forever.
The Four Realistic Tiers
| Tier | Typical build cost | Best for | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter store | ₹25,000 – ₹60,000 | Under 50 SKUs, single warehouse, UPI + cards | 1–2 weeks |
| Growth store | ₹75,000 – ₹2,00,000 | Variants, coupons, abandoned-cart flows, basic analytics | 3–5 weeks |
| Scale store | ₹2,50,000 – ₹6,00,000 | Multi-warehouse, ERP sync, B2B pricing, custom checkout | 6–10 weeks |
| Custom platform | ₹8,00,000+ | Marketplace logic, subscriptions, custom fulfilment | 12+ weeks |
Most Indian businesses reading this belong in the first two tiers and are being quoted the third. If your monthly order volume is under 500, you almost certainly do not need custom architecture — you need good product pages, a fast checkout, and follow-up automation.
Running Costs Nobody Quotes
| Item | Typical monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Hosting / platform | ₹500 – ₹8,000 |
| Payment gateway fees | 1.9% – 2.4% per transaction |
| Shipping aggregator | Per shipment, ₹35 – ₹90 typical |
| Transactional messaging (WhatsApp/SMS) | ₹1,500 – ₹6,000 |
| Maintenance & updates | ₹3,000 – ₹15,000 |
Add these up before you commit. A ₹40,000 store with ₹12,000 of monthly running cost is a ₹1,84,000 first-year decision, and that is fine — as long as nobody pretends otherwise in month three.
Budget 20% of your build cost per year for improvements. Stores that get a small change every month outperform stores that get one big redesign every three years, every single time.
What You Can Safely Skip in Year One
- 01A native mobile app. A fast, well-built mobile site outperforms a poorly-marketed app for almost every early store.
- 02Loyalty points. Repeat purchase comes from product and follow-up, not from a points ledger.
- 03Wishlists and complex account areas, unless your data shows customers returning to compare.
- 04Multi-currency, unless you already have overseas orders in hand.
- 05A custom design system. Buy the polish where customers look — product pages and checkout.
- ✓Complexity, not design, drives ecommerce cost.
- ✓Most Indian SMBs are correctly served between ₹25,000 and ₹2,00,000.
- ✓Running cost is the number that quietly decides profitability.
- ✓Spend on product pages, checkout speed, and follow-up before anything else.
- ✓Own your codebase if you plan to be trading in five years.
Frequently Asked Questions
AuraXLaunch gives a fixed-scope ecommerce quote with running costs itemised — no surprises in month three.
Get a free AI-powered review of your website.
We'll benchmark your homepage against 42 conversion, SEO, and positioning criteria and deliver a private report within 48 hours. No sales call required.
