The cost of building an e-commerce site is determined by four things: the platform you build on, the number of products, the payment and shipping setup, and the preparation of product photos. The effort required to get ready to sell often outweighs the cost of building the site itself, so decide on your preparation schedule at the same time as you work out the budget.
Four factors determine the cost of building an e-commerce site
The cost of an e-commerce site is the total of the following four items.
- The platform you choose (a service or software with shopping cart features)
- The number of products and how fully the product pages are built out
- The payment and shipping setup
- Preparing product photos and copy
Item 1 makes the biggest difference. If you rent a monthly service, the initial cost is small but you pay a usage fee every month. If you add e-commerce features to WordPress and own the system yourself, the initial cost is larger but the monthly cost stays low.
Which works out better depends on how many products you sell and how much revenue you expect. If you have only a few products and want to test whether they sell, renting suits you. If you expect your product range to grow and want to build out your brand's world, owning the system suits you better.
When we build an e-commerce site, we quote the price according to the features you need.
The platform you choose changes your monthly costs and your flexibility
The platforms commonly used in Japan fall into three broad types.
| Platform | Upfront cost | Monthly cost | Design freedom | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A service that also supports global sales, such as Shopify | Low | A service usage fee applies | Adjustable within the limits of the template | You want to sell overseas as well, or start quickly |
| A domestic service such as Color Me Shop | Low | A service usage fee applies | Adjustable within the limits of the template | You want to sell within Japan and start easily |
| Adding features such as Welcart to WordPress | High | Mainly server costs | High | You want to run it as one with your website and build out your brand |
None of the three is inherently better than the others. Services that effectively mean running your website and your online shop separately require a different amount of work from WordPress, where the shop lives inside the same site.
With WordPress, it is easy to introduce a product in an article on your website and lead the reader straight to the purchase page. Because visitors who arrive from search can see both the reading material and the products, your products get found without spending on advertising.
Get everything ready to sell before you launch
Even a finished site will not sell if the groundwork is missing. Here is what to have ready before launch.
- Product listing details (name, price, size, material, stock quantity)
- Product photos (the whole item, the item in use, close-ups, and shots that show the size)
- Product descriptions
- How shipping fees are calculated, and how many days delivery takes
- Return and exchange conditions
- Payment methods (credit card, bank transfer, convenience store payment, and so on)
- Disclosures based on the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions
- Privacy policy
Item 7, the disclosures based on the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, is information that mail-order businesses are legally required to display. It covers the business name, address, telephone number, product prices, shipping fees, payment methods and timing, delivery timing, return conditions and so on. The Consumer Affairs Agency publishes guidance on this, so be sure to check it before you launch.
The most time-consuming part of the preparation is the photos and the descriptions. With a few dozen products, shooting and writing alone can take several weeks. Fix the photo shoot dates in advance to match the point when site production finishes, and your launch will not slip.
When asking for a quote, share the details in this order
When you ask a production company for a quote, organize and share your information in the following order.
- The types of products you will sell and how many you will list at the start
- How many more you expect to add within a year
- The payment methods you want to use
- Shipping and delivery rules (regional shipping rates, frozen or chilled goods, pre-orders, and so on)
- Whether you need features such as member registration or loyalty points
- Whether you will supply the product photos yourself or commission a shoot
- When you want to launch
Items 3, 4 and 5 are the parts where costs balloon most easily if they are added later. Deciding up front whether you need them makes it much easier to compare quotes.
Building an e-commerce site takes longer than a standard website; with us it takes about two to three months. Because the preparation takes time, work backwards from your target launch date and get started early.
Common mistakes in e-commerce site projects
Choosing a platform on price alone
A common mistake is choosing a platform because the initial cost is low, only to find it does not support a feature you need later. Think about what you want to sell a year from now and what features that will require before you choose.
Leaving the photos until last
If you only prepare the photos once the site is built, the launch will be delayed. In an online shop, where customers cannot see the real thing, photos are what clinch the purchase.
Launching with no plan for attracting visitors
Nobody visits an online shop just because you have launched it. Decide before launch whether you will bring people in through articles that get found in search, social media, advertising, or a combination.
Not providing a point of contact for enquiries
Some people give up on a purchase when they have a question about a product but cannot find where to ask. Put a contact form and a phone or LINE contact somewhere prominent.
Taking on the whole operation alone
If one person handles orders, packing, shipping and enquiries, things fall apart as soon as orders increase. Decide on your shipping procedures and who is responsible from the outset.
How to judge
Here is a summary of which approach suits which situation.
| Situation | The approach that suits you |
|---|---|
| You have a few products and want to test whether they sell | Start quickly with a rented service |
| You have many products, or expect your range to grow | Build it out on a platform you own |
| You want to run it as one with your website | Build it on WordPress and link articles with products |
| You want to sell overseas as well | Choose a platform that supports multiple languages |
| You do not have the capacity for photography and copywriting | Commission a production company to handle the photography too |
We build e-commerce sites as an extension of website production. Our creators spend their time on site planning and design, and we leave the coding to AI. You can also commission product photography and video as part of the project. We quote the cost according to the features you need and the number of products.
Include post-launch costs in your budget too
If you set your budget by looking only at production costs, you will come up short after launch. With an e-commerce site, the following costs continue after launch.
- The platform's monthly usage fee, or server costs
- Payment processing fees (typically a set percentage deducted from sales)
- Packaging materials and shipping costs
- Additional product photography
- Advertising spend and article production to attract visitors
The payment processing fees in item 2 vary by provider. Before signing a contract, check the latest rates on the official page of the service you plan to use. Because the total fees rise as sales grow, calculate your profit using figures that already have the fees deducted.
An example schedule for the first three months
Here is the path to launch, broken down month by month.
- Month 1: Decide which products you will sell and how many, and choose a platform. Set the dates for the product photo shoot
- Month 2: Review the design and register the products. Decide on shipping fees, return conditions, and the disclosures based on the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions
- Month 3: Test the process yourself from order to dispatch. If there are no problems, launch
The test order in month 3 is especially important. Place a real order with your own card and check everything through to the end: that the confirmation email arrives, that the amount is correct, and that you can send a dispatch notification. Discovering a fault after launch costs you the trust of your very first customers.
Numbers to review once sales begin
For the first one to three months after launch, check these three numbers every week.
- The number of people who visited the site
- The percentage of people who added an item to the cart from a product page
- The percentage of people who went on to buy after adding to the cart
If few people are visiting, work on attracting visitors; if few are adding to the cart, review the photos and descriptions on your product pages; if they are not completing the purchase, review how you present shipping fees and the form fields. Once you know where people are dropping off, you know what to fix.
FAQ
It varies greatly depending on the platform, the number of products, and whether payment and membership features are needed, so we cannot give a single fixed price. We quote according to the features you want included. Start by telling us what you will sell and how many items.
With us it takes about two to three months. Because preparing product details, photos and descriptions takes time, we plan by working backwards from your target launch date.
If you already have photos, we can use them. If not, you can commission a photo shoot from us.
In some cases, yes. After checking how your current website is built, we will advise whether to add a shop to it or build a new site from scratch.
You can continue to commission site updates and news postings after launch. You handle orders and shipping, while we take care of site fixes and maintenance.
For a cost estimate, start by telling us how many products you have
The cost of an e-commerce site is determined by the platform, the number of products, payment methods, and the preparation of photos. To begin, let us know what you want to sell, how many items you will list at the start, and the payment methods you want to use.
We provide flexible quotes for website production, including e-commerce sites, based on the features you want included.
