E-commerce
How Much Does an E-commerce Website Cost?
What an online store really costs to build and run — platform, payments, shipping, content and the features that move the price.
On this page
An online store costs more than a brochure website — and less than you might fear, once you know where the money goes.
The Cost Stack
- Platform & build. A focused store with up to ~50 products, local payment gateway and delivery options typically starts around LKR 150,000 custom-built; template platforms can start lower but with less flexibility.
- Payment gateway. Setup fees plus a per-transaction percentage (commonly 2.5–3.5% locally). Non-negotiable — build it in from day one.
- Shipping. Courier integration or flat-rate logic; free-shipping thresholds need configuration and testing.
- Content. Product photography and descriptions are the biggest hidden cost. Ten great product photos outsell a hundred bad ones.
- Operations. Hosting, maintenance, updates — a small monthly figure like any serious system.
What Moves the Price Up
- Customer accounts, wishlists, loyalty points
- Inventory sync with a physical shop or POS
- Bulk import of large catalogues
- Multi-currency or international shipping
What Does Not Belong in Version One
Resist building for imagined scale. Launch with the smallest feature set that lets a customer find a product, pay, and get it delivered. Add the rest with real revenue.
The Revenue View
Judge cost against margin, not against nothing: if a store brings ten extra orders a month at LKR 5,000 average, it pays for itself quickly — the store is infrastructure, not decoration.
ArcStack quotes e-commerce in clear layers — platform, payments, content, operations — so you always know which part of the number is which.
Written by
Thamilnilavan
