It is exciting to set up an online store. With plugins like WooCommerce and WordPress available, the process is simpler and quicker than ever. But is it also cost-effective?
You must be aware that WooCommerce is an open-source platform that allows eCommerce store development for free. But this is not the complete truth, and there are a lot of hidden costs involved in WooCommerce development.
While planning for a website utilizing WooCommerce, you must be aware of all such hidden expenses. It will help you define your budget and make it easier for you to hire WooCommerce experts accordingly.
WooCommerce Pricing – Components of WooCommerce Development Cost:
The WooCommerce subscription is available for free, and it is a significant reason why it is considered a preferred option for most eCommerce store development.
It is possible to customize your store, increase its credibility and performance, boost user experience, and enhance revenue and sales. However, everything is not available for free. Here are the major components that influence the WooCommerce development cost.
1. Domain Name Cost:
Various domain names are available like ‘.store, ’ ‘.shop ’ and ‘.com.’ Among them, ‘.com’ is reliable and trustworthy.
There are premium domain names available, which already belong to a popular website and are pretty expensive to obtain. You can check the GoDaddy store, where thousands of domain names are available at a very low rate.
If you don’t want to spend more, you must not be rigid about selecting a particular domain name.
2. Hosting Service Expense :
Every site requires space to appear online. For this, web hosting is needed, and you need to pay some web hosting fees to run your website. Hence, web hosting is a mandatory service for your website. But you can choose among the various web hosting service providers.
You can select among the BlueHost WooCommerce web hosting plans in three categories – Starter, Plus, and Pro plan. Bluehost provides a 30-day plan with a money-back guarantee.
Hostinger, Hostgator, SiteGrouns, and Dreamhost are other popular and reliable web hosting providers.
3. Plugin Cost :
WooCommerce plugins are software that enhances the capabilities and functionalities of a website without needing complex coding. Contact forms, email automation, payment processing, and more such features can be added to a website with the help of these plugins.
The essential plugins that your website requires are advanced coupons, mail chimp, field editor, stripe payment gateway, email / SMTP mailer, product add-ons, wholesale suite, and email log.
4. Theme Price Expense :
One main reason why people prefer WooCommerce is it offers customized themes. There are thousands of free themes in WooCommerce, but they are not regularly updated. Hence, it is best to go for paid themes.
Paid WooCommerce themes come with regular updates and the latest functionalities. They come with customer support and can make your website look modern and fresh. The price for each theme differs.
5. Fees for Ecommerce Developer :
With the drag-and-drop interface of WooCommerce, it is possible to develop an awesome online store without programming and coding skills. But it is better to hire WooCommerce experts as they can help you exploit the design opportunities in the best way.
In addition to offering your store an enticing and appealing look, they can develop a lightweight, clutter-free, and clean website. The WooCommerce design and development cost may vary depending on the experience and location of the developer. Their professional assistance can make your website responsive and fast.
6. Cost for Advanced Shipping Features:
UPS shipping, internal shipping, shipment tracking, table rate shipping, and other shipping features are available in WooCommerce. You can add one or more such features to your online store to speed up the delivery process and offer customers a seamless shopping experience.
But each extension comes at an additional cost, which you need to pay every year.
7. Time Involved in Store Setup and Maintenance:
Developing a website is not a one-day task, and it involves a lot of effort. You even have to spend money to continue maintaining your website.
Hiring WooCommerce experts from a reputed company are best to save time and gain an agile development process.
8. Email Marketing Integration Expenditure:
Email marketing is a vital component of Ecommerce marketing, and it allows you to send reminders for abandoned carts, personalized offers, and important details to your clients. You can send automated emails to your existing customers and potential targets to collect vital information about your clients.
Omnisend, Mailchimps, and AWeber are some of the email marketing services available at cost-effective rates.
9. Payment Processing Fees:
You can integrate your preferred payment gateway into your eCommerce store. The fee cost depends on the payment gateway you select.
No matter which payment gateway you select, make sure it offers a transparent pricing policy with no additional costs or monthly charges. Stripe, PayPal, 2CheckOut, WePay, WorldPay, Square, and Braintree are some of the popular payment gateways.
10. Advertising Cost of your Ecommerce Store:
If you think that launching your online store and listing your products is enough to attract and engage customers, you are mistaken. Paid advertising is vital to extend your customer reach.
Paid Ads can be run on Bing, Google, and social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. The cost for every ad network is different. For example, Google Ads charges $1-$2 per click; Facebook charges $0.50 - $2.00 per click, and so on.
Also, there are various technicalities involved in paid advertising, which only an expert can handle. Hence, you need to hire a PPC expert, which involves an additional expenditure.
11. SEO and Content Marketing Cost:
While SEO lets you gain higher rankings in the search engines, content marketing helps you achieve a higher conversion rate for your website. To get SEO and content marketing services for your website, you need to work with a leading SEO firm.
Hiring professionals let you plan a robust SEO and content marketing strategy for your website. The cost for both these services can vary between $500 and $7000 per month.
12. Expenditure on Customer Support:
To make sure your eCommerce store is a success, you need flawless customer support. Chatbots can manage your huge product catalog and are ideal for use if your customer base is expanding.
You must get round-a-clock support for your website. Also, it is best to integrate a CRM or customer relationship management software into your website. This serves customers with a personalized experience.
CRM software may cost around $50 per month. Chatbot integration may cost $75-$100 per month. If you plan to hire a customer support team on an hourly basis, you need to pay $40-$50 per hour.
WooCommerce Store Development – Decide Your Cost Plan Beforehand
In addition to the abovementioned expenditures, a WooCommerce store development can come with more expenses. For example, warehouse cost, supply chain cost, cost of hiring staff, and others.
Also, there are no fixed expenditures for a particular process, and the cost will increase if your business scales up. So, before you move ahead with your online store setup, do consider these costs.
To have a customized cost plan for your store, you must contact WooCommerce experts like AIS Technolabs. Having everything handy lets you go ahead with your schedule without experiencing monetary problems.
