How Much Does WooCommerce Development Cost?

Introduction

WooCommerce is a versatile and popular WordPress website plugin that comes with great flexibility, user-friendly experience, customization options, etc. This amazing tool also comes with a free version allowing you to start your eCommerce store cost-effectively. Presently, WooCommerce development initiative powers approximately 93% of WordPress digital stores and has around 82.5 million downloads.

You can add extensions that are reasonably priced to this free professional platform to make it more robust and secure. It grows with your online business and is an open-source platform. You can add various features, create custom extensions and themes, improve the existing ones, enhance customer experience, and add greater functionality seamlessly. It offers high cybersecurity and strong SEO extensions with robust marketing plugins.

This customizable platform also comes with built-in analytics to make the eCommerce journey all the more smooth and hassle-free for you.

Now that you know the benefits of using this top eCommerce CMS, let us understand the costs associated with it.

Factors Influencing WooCommerce Development Costs

A. Website complexity

1. Simple vs. Complex Online Stores

One of the key factors that determines the WooCommerce development costs is the degree to which the project is complicated. Simple websites with basic information will cost you less while complex projects with advanced eCommerce capabilities, refined functionalities, intricate designs, or bespoke integrations will cost you more.

2. Customization Requirements

If you wish to integrate additional customized functionality and features such as complex search engines, product detail page in eCommerce, more secure payment gateways, membership portals, elaborate forms, third-party integrations, theme modifications, or elaborate personalized designs, it will cost you more as they require more time, expertise, tools, and technology.

B. Design and Theme

1. Pre-built vs. Custom Themes

Themes are your website’s visual backbone. The wrong theme can lead to issues such as a mobile-unfriendly interface, lack of responsiveness, and negative customer experience. If you are just starting your online store, you can opt for free themes but they don’t have exclusive support and you may have formatting issues. If you wish to differentiate your brand from your competitors, then custom themes can cost you $30-$200. Also, elements like add-ons, support, licensing, and renewals, will affect the theme’s final price.

2. Responsive Design Considerations

If you want your eCommerce store to stand out from the rest, you can work with skilled WooCommerce developers to explore responsive designs and give your store an appealing, distinctive, and enticing appearance. These features will also make your website more responsive and quicker than ever by making it clutter-free, clean, and lightweight. Even though this will cost you more than a basic website, it will boost customer experience and website performance.

C. Functionality and Features

1. Core WooCommerce Features

Your online store must have the core WooCommerce features to ensure website performance and functionality. It can cost you anything from $100 to $300 depending on the WooCommerce features you choose for your website.

2. Additional Plugins and Extensions

A WooCommerce plugin is important to make your online store operate—increasing the checkout speed, adding a new product or service to the shopping cart, sending orders directly to the supplier, or developing an affiliate program. As with most plugins or extensions, the costs vary depending on your choice.

The WooCommerce Plugins and Extensions Can Cost You Around $20 to $250.

D. Hosting and Infrastructure

1. Shared Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting

Your web host is responsible for storing the code options and data information for which you will be charged a few dollars monthly. Shared hosting will be less expensive as your website or application is hosted on a server that is shared with a few other websites. It can cost you $2.75 to $40/per month. In contrast, if you want a hosting server that is used only for your website, it will cost you around $200.

2. Scalability and Performance Needs

If you want scalability and high website performance, you will be required to shed a few extra dollars. The first step would be to use dedicated hosting, and premium WooCommerce features, and opt for plugins.

E. Maintenance and Support

1. Ongoing Updates and Security

Your website will require support for ongoing updates to ensure that your website is full-proof at all times. Also, your website stores a ton of data like customer addresses, login information, and payment details which need to be protected. WooCommerce comes with various security options like SSL certificates, PCI compliance, and security plugins like Secure and Jetpack that can cost around $50 to $200 per month.

2. Technical Support and Troubleshooting

Good technical support is required at all times because your website can experience issues like server errors, broken contact forms, faulty shopping carts, etc. You may be able to get free help in WooCommerce support forums but may always bring the best results. Hiring a WooCommerce professional will allow you to get your website back on track and gain the trust of customers.

Your WooCommerce developers’ fee will range from $10-$200 per hour depending on the technical support required.

Average Costs Breakdown

You can choose from a Basic, Mid-range, or High-end WooCommerce website depending on your budget and business requirements. Here is an average cost breakdown table with features and limitations to help choose the ideal one for your online business.

Additional Costs to Consider

A. Domain Registration and Renewal

Many hosting providers allow businesses to purchase a domain name. Renewal fees can be applicable to a range of services and plugins used for your eCommerce store and may be charged yearly or monthly, depending on the subscription plan. Also, it is important to note that some providers may offer discounts but come with hefty renewal plans.

B. SSL Certificate

Securing your application or website with an SSL certificate is the primary step to enhancing a user’s trust and experience. SSL certificate allows you to better protect your important data and affirm the identity of your site. It employs the HTTPS protocol on your web server and also improves your search engine ranking.

For smaller websites, it can cost as low as $8/year but for bigger brands looking for better security, it can cost over $1000/year.

C. Payment Gateway Fees

It is essential to make the payment process completely easy for your customers to ensure that they end up purchasing from your store. WooCommerce comes with multiple plugins for payments that will make the payment process highly secure and minimize friction. Typically, a 2%-3% is charged by the provider on each sale.

D. Content Creation and Marketing

We all know that content plays an important part in any eCommerce site. Broken hyperlinks and outdated content can harm your website even if you offer the best services and products available in the market. Content creation and marketing support and extensions can cost you $500+ or even more depending on your requirements.

E. SEO Optimization

If your eCommerce store is not properly optimized, it will be difficult for your customers to find it on the search engines. SEO optimization extensions will improve your site performance, compete with your rivals, and increase sales, and can cost you around 100$ to $1000+ per month (depending on your requirements).

Tips for Cost Optimization

A. Prioritizing Essential Features

If you are just starting or have a limited budget, the first step to cost optimization will be to prioritize core WooCommerce features that will ensure website performance, security, and user experience. You can refrain from expensive plugins and extensions if you don’t find them giving high returns.

B. Choosing Cost-Effective Hosting Solutions

You can either go for shared or private hosting solutions. If you feel that the shared hosting solution is providing enough security to your data, you can go ahead with it. The aim is to ensure the security of customer data using cost-effective hosting solutions.

C. Using Pre-Built Themes and Plugins When Appropriate

If you are a small online business or just starting, you can use prebuilt themes and plugins. These free plugins can add great functionality to your website if you are not looking for customization at the moment.

D. DIY vs. Hiring Professionals

If you have good technical knowledge, you can set up your own WooCommerce website using free themes and plugins. However, we recommend opting for professional WooCommerce developers to integrate the functionality, security, and technical soundness into your website.

Case Studies

Today, we are here to share with you some of the top world-class websites that use WooCommerce for their online business.

1. Clickbank

This global internet retailer is known to almost every individual. They provide various types of products and allow manufacturers to seamlessly sell their products and benefit from the site’s marketing and promotion strategies.

It is one of the top-ranking eCommerce sites and ranks 4493 in Alexa.

2. Awesome Inventions

When it comes to cool stories, gadgets, and gift ideas around the world, Awesome Inventions is the ideal place. Ranked 4642 on the internet, this site allows you to shop for your dream gadgets, outdoor items, wearables, and toys. This site has been using WooCommerce throughout and setting examples for other brands to follow.

3. WorthPoint

WorthPoint uses WooCommerce to manage over 300 million items on an everyday basis. It leverages the best features, plugins, and functionalities of WooCommerce to deliver exceptional customer experience.

WooCommerce charges a commission on sales made by online businesses, ranging from 2.9% to 29.9%. Additionally, development, plugins, and maintenance charges can cost you around $3000-5000 or even more per month. These costs are generally higher for bigger brands as they use premium WooCommerce websites to handle huge volumes of data, products, and customers.

The exact cost is unique for every WooCommerce store, but anyone can start using the platform with a few $100.

• WooCommerce installation is free
• A domain name is approximately $15 per year
• Hosting can cost around $120 per year

You can opt for a free theme and free plugins if you are just starting. But if your website is growing and needs some premium plugins to make it look professional, then you can opt for paid versions. Plugins can cost up to $299 per year and themes can cost approximately $79 per year.

Also, you need to pay a transaction fee which can cost 2.9-3% of your sales.

Conclusion

The total WooCommerce development costs depend on a range of factors including the developer’s expertise, project intricacy, plugins and extensions used, customization features, functionality, hosting infrastructure, and maintenance support. You can choose from a basic, mid-range, and high-end WooCommerce website depending on your business goals and budget constraints. You must list down all the core features, plug-ins, and extensions that you need for your website and invest in them wisely. Also, when planning for WooCommerce development make sure that you integrate long-term goals as well. You can hire top notch woocommerce developers from Dolphin Web Solution.