How much does an online store cost, and what should the estimate include?
How to assess online store development: catalogue, payments, delivery, product management and integrations. What Shvetsov Studio's starting price of €12,000 includes.
Starting price versus your project's price
Online store development at Shvetsov Studio starts at €12,000, with an estimated timeline of 4–6 weeks. These are our starting terms: the final estimate depends on the goals, pages, product data and integrations. We record the price and timeline in the contract after a written brief.
Understanding how someone buys your product matters more than counting pages. A store selling standard products and a workshop accepting custom dimensions may have similar numbers of screens, but different rules for choosing options, calculating prices and placing orders. These differences need to be described before work begins.
Catalogue: data volume and structure
Send examples of products with different requirements: a simple item, an item with variants and a made-to-order product. Include categories, specifications, photos, product codes and stock rules. These examples show what data needs to be stored and how customers will choose.
We discuss the source of product information separately. Preparation depends on data quality: a consistent spreadsheet with images requires different work from disconnected files with duplicate product codes. Migration, data cleaning, description editing and photography preparation should appear as separate tasks in the estimate. This makes the preparation effort clear before development begins.
Payments and delivery: describe the entire order
The basic journey includes a catalogue, product page, cart, checkout and online payment. During the brief, we clarify delivery methods, pickup-point selection, shipping calculations, order statuses and what happens after successful or failed payment. Additional options are included by agreement.
A useful brief is specific: the customer chooses a product, selects delivery, sees the total, pays and receives a clear confirmation. A member of staff then finds the order and knows what to do next. We use this journey to define the store's testing and acceptance criteria.
Integrations: data sources and responsibilities
If products are already sold on a marketplace or managed in a business system, we identify the primary source for the catalogue, prices and stock. We then define what data moves, in which direction, how often, and what happens if an error occurs. Naming the system alone is not enough to estimate the integration accurately.
The P-Line project uses integrations with Ozon, CDEK and YooKassa. We choose integrations for each store's requirements. For a new project, the available operations, source data and account settings are checked separately. External service terms and fees are also considered separately from development.
Store management and handover
List what you want to update yourself: prices, stock, photos, descriptions, categories, promotions and order statuses. Identify who will use the website and whether staff need different permissions. This defines the admin dashboard's scope.
The contract should cover the handover of source files, credentials and materials, deployment on the domain and support terms. We hand over the source files; the domain, hosting and analytics accounts are registered in the client's name. Minor changes are included for 30 days after launch. New features and ongoing support are discussed separately.
How to compare two estimates
Compare the same purchase journey and the same scope. Check whether design, mobile layouts, catalogue migration, integrations, product management, order testing and launch are included. Clarify which materials you provide and which tasks the developer handles.
Separate one-off development from ongoing costs: domain, server, external services, maintenance and customer acquisition. A finished store does not generate demand on its own. Advertising, search visibility and repeat business need a separate plan. Compare the full scope and cost, including services outside the starting price.
What to send for an estimate
Explain what you sell, to whom and in which regions. Share your current website or marketplace store, a sample catalogue and preferred payment and delivery methods. Describe special requirements such as custom sizes, multiple warehouses, wholesale pricing or pre-orders. Include your target launch date.
We use these materials to prepare follow-up questions, agree the project scope and calculate the estimate. Any necessary integration checks are identified before the final scope is approved.