31 January 2023 18min.
How much does Magento cost?
This question falls under the category of those rather hated and the answer is: It depends! You need to look at Magento stores a bit like buying a car. You can buy a cheap used Fiat from 2010, or invest significantly more in the latest Mercedes CLS. The choice, of course, depends on your needs, preferences and budget, which you were able to save for this purpose.
Article content:
The cost of a Magento development usually starts at 25 000 EUR. Treat this as a minimum budget.
Sure, you may have received a lower estimate from an agency. Maybe even with a fixed price agreement. Only here comes the question, what are the chances that the developers from that agency will stick to a budget of PLN 60,000 (approx. USD 15,000) and successfully implement the entire project? From our experience, the probability of such a situation is close to zero. Unless you decide to have an e-Commerce in its most basic version, without integrating anything and not even changing the colors in the template.
But why do you need a Magento store if a much cheaper SaaS can offer you these basic features?
Magento cost B2C vs. B2B
Yes, there is a difference between what you will pay for a Magento store operating in the B2C sector and what a B2B sales platform will cost you. And this does not result from the agency’s whim, but from fundamental differences between the scope of work and functions needed to meet the needs of the end customer. You can set up a simple B2C store relatively cheaply. The situation is different for business-to-business e-commerce. Its specificity is often more complex, which creates the need for more complex functions, such as multi-accounts, complex configurators, or individual trading conditions. So it’s no wonder that the cost of such a store is significantly higher.
What comprises the cost of Magento stores?
The cost of e-commerce is not just the amount you pay to the implementation agency. There are many other components of this puzzle that you need to consider when planning the cost of a Magento store.
Costs before implementation
Let’s look at the things you will pay for <strong>before</strong> starting to build a Magento store:
a) Effective strategy development
Without it, even the most advanced Magento stores will fail. “Let’s make a store and that’s it” approach usually ends in failure, often very expensive. It is necessary to define customers and their needs and formulate an e-commerce development strategy that is not only a store, but a whole ecosystem.
You may be wondering where the cost is, as it will be you and your team who will be doing this task. I’ll explain. You may not receive an invoice for creating your company’s e-commerce strategy, but it is still a cost that you will bear. After all, <strong>your time also costs</strong>, and your employees have set rates.
It’s worth highlighting the role that the quality of a store’s strategy plays in later stages of Magento implementation. A well-prepared strategy indicates the direction of your e-Commerce development and allows for comprehensive fulfillment of the brief, thus providing the implementation agency with all the important information about the business.
A well-informed agency is able to make a Magento online store for you that will meet your customers’ expectations and bring profits.
b) Your Magento store requires a good brief!
If your brief is on one page of A4, it means that you have certainly omitted many important issues. Preparation of a good brief is a time-consuming task that is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires returning to the company’s strategy and planning all the necessary elements of your e-Commerce. Key issues that should be described by every brief are: company strategy, offered products, target customers, order characterization, and marketing. Without this information, the e-Commerce agency will not be able to prepare a reliable estimate.
Attention! Remember, Magento’s estimate is as good as your brief. Only a comprehensive document will allow you to make a reliable comparison of estimates from potential suppliers.
As you can imagine, preparing a good brief is not an easy task. It requires meticulousness and time. It is also not a task that you can delegate to a marketing intern.
The time you need to spend preparing the right document is another cost you will incur before the project begins.
c) Graphic Preparation for your e-Commerce
This stage can take place both before starting the creation of the Magento store and at the very beginning. It all depends on you and the agency you work with.
Graphic design and user experience are very important issues in the process of creating an online store on Magento. The cost associated with graphic design for each e-commerce varies. In addition to differences in prices of individual companies, the final cost of the graphic stage is influenced by, among other things:
- the number of sub-pages that will require design,
- whether you will need to prepare prototypes,
- the number of iterations of each project.
Remember, nice Magento stores do not sell – usefulness counts. That’s why it is so important in the process of designing an e-commerce graphic design to accurately outline the platform and visualize the user’s interaction with the store. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs do not appreciate the benefits of creating wireframes.
So how does it relate to costs? I’ll explain. Any changes made in the high-fidelity project (final look) are significantly more expensive than those made on wireframes. That’s why it’s worth starting with the preparation of wireframes for work related to store usability. Only after the functionality layer has been refined can you move on to designing the store’s appearance. It often happens that by designing immediately in high-fidelity, the visual layer obscures the system’s operation, leading to unnecessary discussions and prolonging the graphic stage over time.
And this, in turn, generates higher costs.
d) Work of the Product Owner and e-Commerce Manager
To create a functioning online store that will sell, a larger team is needed than just a programmer + graphic designer. The e-Commerce Manager plays a very important role here, determining the direction of your online sales development, and the Product Owner, who makes implementation project decisions regarding the scope of work for the agency. Both functions can be performed by the same person. It all depends on what kind of e-commerce team structure you have established for yourself.
Regardless of whether it is one person or two, you will have to pay for their time and work in building an online store. It may not be a new item on the invoice or another employment contract for the person, but it will be a cost you will bear partially at the planning stage of the project. Unfortunately, many e-Commerce owners forget to include the cost of their own employees in the profitability analysis of the project.
(e) Familiarizing with basic Magento
This point is not only about installing Magento. The basic version is not that complicated. However, when implementing stores on Magento, we must also remember:
- Production server infrastructure
- Stage/test/dev servers for work purposes
- Deploying backups
- Adapting the server monitoring and log system.
Everything costs, and you will pay in the form of salaries for your developers, but also in the form of monthly server and system maintenance fees. The larger the project, the larger the team will be needed to make it a reality, more servers to support it, and a higher overall start-up cost.
Attempts to take shortcuts and excessively cut costs hinder later deployment automation and maintaining a high-quality sales platform. It is therefore not worth forcing.
Magento store – Initial costs
The cost of a Magento store depends on many factors. Most of them are based on the number of developer hours required to implement the appropriate features described in the brief.
a) e-Commerce migration or new online store
When implementing Magento 2 stores, the cost will largely depend on whether you decide to migrate your store or decide to build your e-Commerce from scratch. Moving functionalities from an old store can save time (and money) on one hand, but on the other hand, it can complicate creating new, more complex functions.
The issue of data transfer remains. If you already have a fully functioning store, you probably have thousands of records that you would like to transfer to the new platform. You can order the data migration from an agency or do it yourself by outsourcing the data rewriting to an intern. Choosing the first option, you have to take into account that your Magento online store cost will be higher.
b) Project Scope – MVP
When implementing Magento stores for our clients, we always recommend creating an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), a version of the service that will allow for basic e-commerce functionality.
It is not a full version of the store with all the flashy configurators and embellishments. However, it is a variant that allows you to start e-commerce operations, obtain first orders, and verify the functionality being implemented.
Why is MVP important from the cost point of view of a Magento store? There is a clear logic behind it. If you are continuously testing and checking the compatibility of the implemented functions with the needs of your customers, you minimize the risk of creating a solution that will be redundant or incorrect for your target group. This means that you will spend less time making corrections, and as you know, each correction means an additional cost that you will have to bear.
Many e-commerce owners are afraid of publishing what they think is an “unfinished” and not fully polished store. However, MVP is a fully functioning product that can be lacking some features but already starts making money. So there’s nothing to be afraid of. Planning MVP will not only save you time but also money.
c) Changes in the Magento store user interface
When discussing the pre-implementation costs of a Magento store, we wrote about the price you will pay for a graphic designer to prepare the visual design of your e-commerce and to develop the entire User Experience. Now it’s time for this visual design to become a real store. And here comes the process of creating the user interface, the cost of which depends on two factors: the difficulty of the graphics and the number of additional elements.
The cost of creating graphic projects will depend on their complexity. The more non-standard solutions (such as specific content composition on mobile devices, dynamic animations, etc.), the more time will be needed for their implementation. And as we know, time is money.
Similarly, this applies to all elements beyond those found in the Magento standard. If you want to add some complicated configurators, extended pages, etc. to your online store, the cost of your e-Commerce will automatically soar.
d) Changes in the logic of the Magento platform
They usually come hand in hand with changes on the user side. Any deviations from the Magento standard will also result in an increase in the cost of e-Commerce.
The changes in the logic of the price are composed of:
- Data feeding of the appropriate views and user elements
- Handling what the user does
- Modifying the way Magento works
- Functionalities that go beyond the standard of this engine
It can’t be hidden that this stage of building an e-Commerce is often the most time-consuming and consumes the largest part of the budget. A long list of requirements translates into a large number of hours needed to encode them. And as we know, the time of work of programmers has a huge impact on the price of the Magento store.
e) Magento stores and external integrations
Regardless of whether you are just starting your e-commerce adventure or have been operating in the e-Commerce market for years, you are certainly using tools such as CRM, WMS, or ERP. Perhaps there are many more programs in your business arsenal that allow you to handle accounting or logistics issues. And there arises an interesting network of systems that are supposed to make it easier for you and your employees to achieve your business goals. The problem arises when these programs do not cooperate with your e-Commerce.
If your Magento store does not communicate with the WMS, someone in the company probably manually enters the stock levels after each order is completed. A small error and during inventory your employees can play Sherlock Holmes, searching for products lost in the system. Loss of time and money.
Therefore, it is such an important issue to communicate your online store with all the systems necessary for smooth order processing. This is associated with additional costs. Here, the price will depend not only on the number of programs that need to be appropriately integrated with your e-Commerce, but also on the method and degree of complexity of such a connection.
Magento stores – What affects the cost of integration?
- Number of systems – integration with one system is much easier to maintain than with many (e.g. separately WMS, PIM, CRM, ERP)
- Method of integration – applications that provide the ability to integrate (e.g. via API) are safer to integrate than “digging” directly into the database
- Documentation – integrating an undocumented system is more R&D than programming work. Unfortunately, this is a daily reality for many projects, so you have to count on it
- Scope – the approach “everything with everything in every direction” will be more expensive than sending only the data that is needed, in the direction in which changes actually occur.
f) Testing of introduced solutions:
To ensure the best quality of your online store, it is necessary to thoroughly test it. And that’s where testers come into play. You may be wondering why you should increase the team with additional people. Can’t the developers working on your e-Commerce test their own solutions? Theoretically they can, but they shouldn’t. Why?
- A programmer will not detect as many errors as a professional tester, especially when testing their own code. It’s not easy to find flaws in your own (in your opinion good) creation.
- A programmer feels much more comfortable in the environment where they are programming. Testing is not their domain and it won’t bring them pleasure. If you force them to do it, there is a high probability that their morale will decline.
The testing team’s task is to verify the correctness of individual elements of your store and the whole solution. Ongoing checks of critical path stability are invaluable support.
What does the cost of implementing this stage depend on in Magento? On the number of hours testers will need to spend searching for bugs. This is directly related to the size of the entire project and represents about 10-15% of the time needed to bring the project to life.
g) Accompanying services:
- The Product Owner, which we wrote about at the beginning of this article.
- An analyst who will be documenting,
- Marketing, who will feed the store with data and content.
Magento stores don’t just require technical competence. Very important links in this entire process are also:
If you don’t have these resources within your organization, you can use the services of external companies specializing in e-Commerce development.
After the golive
Your Magento store has already been coded? The system has passed all tests? It’s time for the go-live!
The project has been successfully completed. The last invoice from the agency has already been paid. The end of the costs associated with your e-Commerce site has arrived. But are you sure? Unfortunately, not.
You still need to maintain your online store. That’s why when planning your e-Commerce budget, remember to include additional costs that you will have to incur cyclically.
The costs of the go-live include:
- Hosting and platform maintenance fees,
- Commission fees for payment providers,
- Subscriptions for additional modules.
Magento price – cheap, expensive, very expensive?
Let’s not fool ourselves. A Magento store is a big expense. It consists of many elements. Some eat up a significant portion of your budget, others are so small that you barely feel the difference in your wallet.
There is a lot of it. We know it’s hard to keep up with everything. That’s why we have prepared a table that will give you an overview of the cost of a Magento online store and give you a clearer picture of how each element affects the implementation budget.
Changes in user interface | |
Simple stylistic changes | Minimal impact on budget |
Template modifications based on graphic designs | Average impact on budget |
Replacing the template with a custom one due to custom graphics | Large impact on budget |
Strategy | |
Prepared brief containing functional and non-functional requirements | Minimal impact on budget |
The brief needs to be further detailed, missing requirements, user stories | Average impact on budget |
Lack of proper business requirements, details of the project to be further specified by the e-Commerce agency, workshops required, analysis and deepening of needs | Large impact on budget |
Graphic and UX | |
We use a ready-made template | Negligible impact on budget |
We use a ready-made template, which we modify | Low impact on budget |
We perform custom graphic and UX designs | Large impact on budget |
Note: the budget also depends on the amount of materials required in the project
Implementation of basic Magento | |
Implementation of basic architecture | Minimal impact on budget |
Implementation of server architecture, environments, backups, monitoring system | Average impact on budget |
Changes in user interface | |
Simple stylistic changes | Minimal impact on budget |
Template modifications based on graphic designs | Average impact on budget |
Replacing the template with a custom one due to custom graphics | Large impact on budget |
Changes in application logic operation | |
Ability to use ready-made modules | Minimal impact on budget |
Minor modifications to the standard Magento operation | Minimal impact on budget |
Many dedicated and complicated functions | Very large impact on budget |
Integrations:
Integrations | |
Basic integrations, to be performed using plugins | Minimal impact on budget |
No existing solutions, handling complicated processes | Very large impact on budget |
Note: Lack of documentation for integrations additionally increases the potential budget.
Other | |
Ensuring quality | Up to 15% of project costs |
Consulting and analysis | Up to 15% of project costs |
Note: Quality assurance, consulting and analysis can add up to 15% to project costs.
Magento 2 Cost – How to Optimize It?
You can see that Magento stores are a very time-consuming matter. And since you mainly pay for the time, the implementation cost is high. So it’s no wonder that you, like every other e-Commerce owner, are thinking about how to optimize the final cost of your Magento store.
Take Active Part in the Project
When working with clients, we always strive for them to actively participate in the project. It’s not about being personally present at every daily meeting. However, it’s important that someone competent and, above all, decision-making (e.g. e-Commerce Manager) takes an active part in the project. This way, you will reduce the time needed to make important decisions and minimize the likelihood of errors caused by lack of communication.
Transfer Part of Competencies to Yourself
Of course, not personally. Unless you have a lot of free time and just prefer it. By hiring an e-Commerce manager, product owner, or marketing on your own side, you take away from the agency those competencies that you can do faster and cheaper on your own. This way, not only will you reduce Magento costs, but also ensure better communication between your business and the agency.
Use a template
Every person is tempted by an individual and original appearance of a store. We also would like to do only “turnkey” websites. However, it is necessary to take into account that on Magento a site will not work without certain solutions, but it will work with a ready-made template. That is why in the case of a tight budget, we propose to our clients to use a template that is simply good – and adapt it to their needs. This shortens the project time and, as a result, also the cost of Magento. You’ll be surprised to see the well-known Magento shops that were created thanks to templates.
Start with MVP
We have already written about Minimum Viable Product in the context of implementation costs. The application of this strategy greatly reduces the final cost of Magento. It is worth considering this option.
Choose Agile
Agile is not for everyone. We hear daily doubts about the risk of endless deadlines, budget overruns, or lack of responsibility for project quality. However, the problem is not the agile methodology itself, but the company that does not understand it.
However, Agile itself is not an advantage. The ability to respond to current needs and continuous project control is. And this gives you a pretty good overview of how Magento costs are shaping up.
Trust the implementing company
Coming to an agency with ready-made solutions, you close yourself tightly in your own box, limiting the freedom and creativity of specialists in the process. You are only doing yourself harm. Why? Because the agency has been creating Magento shops for years, knows what solutions may work for you and what may not. It will find the appropriate modules and, if necessary, ask for adjustments to the requirements to meet the capabilities of the Magento platform.