What does an e-commerce platform actually cost?

Price obviously matters when you’re choosing an e-commerce platform. Who wants to pay more than necessary? But as with any long-term investment, price and cost are not the same thing. It’s often said that the more advanced an e-commerce platform is, the more expensive it becomes. So why not just choose a cheaper platform that covers the essentials? And what happens when your e-commerce business expands and develops new needs that the “cheap” platform can’t handle? Do you then need to add costly extras to support your growth? Which option is actually the most cost-effective? What looks cheap at first can quickly become very expensive when it’s time to scale.

To make a smart choice that doesn’t become unnecessarily expensive over time, it’s important not to compare apples with pears when choosing a platform, in other words, what you’re paying for and when. Let’s take a closer look at the real costs of an e-commerce platform. That makes it easier to see what you’re actually paying for in the long run, and to choose a solution that is both cost-effective and gives you room to grow without friction.

Why price and cost are not the same when it comes to an e-commerce platform

People often say it’s expensive to buy cheap shoes. They last one season, maybe two, and then you need a new pair. But if you’re willing to pay twice as much, you get a quality pair that lasts at least ten seasons. In the long run, that’s far cheaper. This equation between price, value and real cost applies to almost every long-term investment. Look a little further ahead and the cheap option can become expensive, while what seemed costly at the start turns out to be the smarter investment.

That’s worth keeping in mind when you’re choosing an e-commerce platform. A solution with a low upfront price will probably give you what you need at the beginning. But when order volumes and traffic increase, and you want to add more functionality or expand into new markets, what will it cost then? What’s the price tag for the add-ons, integrations and consultancy hours needed to scale? Value and real cost are about seeing the full cost picture of your e-commerce operation. That helps you make smart decisions that are also cost-effective over time.

What does it cost to get started with an e-commerce platform?

One important thing to remember is that a platform comes with several different types of cost. To make a financially sound decision for the long term, you need to understand the difference between them. The first cost, in other words the price tag, is the initial setup cost. This usually includes costs such as:

Any start-up fees for the platform.
Platform configuration, plus building and designing the store.
Any integrations and custom functionality.
The cost of servers and any other hardware.

What it costs to run an e-commerce platform

On top of the initial cost of getting started, the platform will also have ongoing costs. These typically include things like:

Maintenance and development of your online store.
Hosting, subscription fees and transaction fees.
Updates, security and support.
Marketing, content creation and SEO.

What it costs to scale an e-commerce platform

The initial and ongoing costs are the price of getting started and keeping the business at roughly the same level. But no profitable business idea is built on standing still. An e-commerce business with growth ambitions is built to develop. As that growth journey unfolds, new needs emerge and the demands on the platform increase. How well does it handle more traffic and higher volumes when customers start pouring in? What happens if you start selling B2B or expand internationally when the platform was never built for that in the first place?

As soon as an e-commerce business starts to grow, the platform is expected to do more. That leads to new costs, for example for customisations, more integrations, increased capacity and so on. This changes the total cost of the platform, and can mean that the initially low price tag is topped up so much that the total cost ends up higher than it would have been if you had invested in a more advanced and future-proof platform from the start. That’s why it’s important to calculate the estimated total cost over the longer term as well. In other words, the initial price tag together with the costs that are added later when the platform needs to scale.

What does it cost to be composable?

Planning for the future is a financially smart way to choose a platform. That’s one reason modular solutions based on a composable architecture have become an increasingly popular option. Composable commerce is built on a best-of-breed strategy with a stable core that is gradually extended with value-creating integrations. This makes it easier to develop the platform with features for things like payment solutions, warehousing and logistics. At the same time, your e-commerce business gets future-proof flexibility from day one.

But there’s another cost that’s important to keep in mind with this platform strategy. Bringing in suppliers to piece everything together often results in a lot of consultancy hours. That’s a major cost that is often forgotten when looking at the platform’s total price. When many parts need to work together, it’s easy to build complexity and unclear dependencies into the solution. Keeping the number of components down reduces complexity, which in turn keeps costs down, because every part comes with its own fee.

Factor in hidden costs

There’s also good reason to calculate other costs that may appear once you start working in the platform. For example, what would it cost if your online store crashes when traffic increases and the platform can’t handle the extra load? What’s the price of the lost sales during that downtime? Or if the solution has inefficient customer service that creates extra work and lost business?

Other hidden costs can arise if several suppliers need to stay in sync to make the whole setup work while maintaining their respective components. It’s also more cost-effective to be able to create sales-driving activities yourself instead of hiring a consultant, who you also have to wait for.

It’s also worth thinking about the opportunities for automation and the work you’re putting in yourselves. If the platform lets you automate processes so that work that used to take a week can now be done in a morning, what would that be worth?

Thinking long term pays off when you calculate the cost of an e-commerce platform

It may sound like a lot to keep track of, but it always pays to think long term and look at the bigger picture. When you factor in all the costs that come with the different options, you also get a fairer price tag. Expensive add-ons and integrations, lots of consultancy hours, or the cost of changing platform because your current one won’t let you scale, can quickly turn a low price tag into a high total cost. It’s worth calculating the platform’s TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) to get a full picture of the investment across its entire lifecycle. That gives you a more accurate view of the cost and helps you make the most profitable choice.

Viskan E-commerce Platform is a scalable, composable platform for e-tailers who think ahead. Flexible tools help you create an attractive site tailored to your customers’ needs. At the same time, it’s easy to integrate and upgrade, so it can adapt smoothly to your future needs. We work closely with you in the day-to-day flow and when new needs arise. Our goal is not just to give you the best possible e-commerce platform that can grow with you. We want to help you succeed.