Building an eCommerce site from the ground up on a new platform is a daunting task. And let’s face it comes with a heavy price tag.
To contain costs and to prevent surprise bills it essential to work out a cost of ownership.
There are hidden costs and workarounds.
The costs below the waterline are complex and can add up in no time. Ouch! That can hurt. Now let’s have a clear and objective look at the total cost of developing a fully functional eCommerce site on BigCommerce.
This blog will explain:
- Cost of ownership
- BigCommerce Pricing Plans
- Basic site development costs
Let’s dive right in.
What is, cost of ownership?
The cost of ownership of a website goes beyond the pricing plans of your platform or site development costs. It is the entire cost of an eCommerce site right from your hosting charges to ongoing security and maintenance fixes.
The cost of a basic hosting plan + domain name = $20-$50 a month.
“The cost of a website goes beyond keeping things ticking over. It is an investment.”
Here’s a quick overview of 3 major cost categories that come under TCO:
Skip this and take me to BigCommerce site development costs
Value based costs: This is a major cost driver. It is the amount of dollars you invest on adding value to your website. It could be enhanced functionality, CX changes or usability changes to your eCommerce engine.
Ongoing costs: These are the costs that will help you run your spanking new BigCommerce site effortlessly. These include administrative costs, site monitoring costs, maintenance costs, hosting costs, CMS upgrade costs and security expenses.
Emergency costs: What happens if there’s a sudden 403? How do you handle site instability when faced with sudden and huge volume of traffic? These are the unforeseen costs but are the bane of every site owner.
BigCommerce Pricing Structure
BigCommerce is a major player in the eCommerce space and offers great features that go beyond run-of-the-mill ones. It powers over 40,000 websites and has unparalleled response times, customer support and security options.
Note: This is not a plug for BigCommerce!
Most of our clients who are eCommerce merchants seem to love this platform.
There is also an enterprise plan.
Depending on the plan you choose your monthly costs towards your eCommerce platform should be anywhere between $30 to $300.
Agency cost to build your eCommerce site on your dream platform
This is where the rubber meets the road. The cost of designing and developing your BigCommerce site. Well, there are hundreds of variables and it is easy to get lost in a sea of quotations.
If you hire an experienced eCommerce development agency the cost would range anywhere between $25,000 to 1,000,000. That is a huuuuge difference, isn’t it?
Here is a quick breakdown to get a clearer idea:
Basic BigCommerce site development costs
Basic cost: The basic site design and dev cost usually starts from $25,000
Here’s what you can expect from your agency: Be wary of development companies that offer vague price estimates and slyly add up costs for the most basic of requests.
For basic eCommerce site development you can expect:
- Design and development of homepage, product, category pages, sub category and checkout pages.
- Social media and email authorization
- Basic cart management
- Integration with payment platforms
- Extensions support
- CMS management
- Order history management
- Analytics support
Timeline: 3-6 months
Advanced BigCommerce site development costs:
Need more from your store? To go beyond basic functionality and gain higher ROI it is important to develop an eCommerce site that offers state-of-the-art customer experiences and technical chops.
Cost Estimate: Upwards of $50,000
Here’s what to expect from your vendor:
- Custom CX and UI design that is optimized for all screens
- Advanced and ongoing CRO support
- Quality Assurance
- Business and project analysis
- Growth strategy and ROI forecasts
- Implementation of coupons and promo codes
- Marketing and promotions setup
- Onsite client meets
- Advanced backend development
Timeline- 6-12 months
Conclusion:
The development cost of a site varies depending on your business objective, growth plans, budget and myriad considerations.
To develop a BigCommerce site from scratch will cost you upwards of $20,000.
However, if you have a site and are planning to migrate it to BigCommerce and require just basic site changes, your development costs are considerably lower.
It all boils down to where you are in your eCommerce journey and where you see yourself 5 years from now.
Need a friend to talk to? We can help you work out a smart budget and timeline according to your business plans not ours.
If you have questions or need assistance of any kind please touch base with us.
