Published: · 3 min read
An online store has more “moving parts” than a regular website: catalogue, cart, payment, delivery, order management, legal texts. Its price therefore spans a wider range and depends more on what you already have ready. This article breaks the cost into components so you can evaluate an offer realistically.
Starting price and market orientation
At webandapp online store development starts at GEL 600 — the starting cost of a simple store: an organised catalogue, a cart, an order form and one payment method. For comparison, in September 2026 public offers from Georgian agencies often start at GEL 2,000–2,500 for an online store, and complex, integration-heavy projects cost several thousand lari. The difference lies mainly in catalogue size and integrations — not in the notion of a “store”.
What creates the cost
- Catalogue complexity. 30 products without variants and 3,000 products with sizes, colours and stock are different work. Structure matters more than count: categories, filters, variants, product types.
- Payment methods. Integration with a Georgian bank or payment provider, instalments, cash on delivery — each is a separate component. The bank must approve a merchant account, which also affects timing.
- Delivery rules. A simple flat rate, zones by city and region, weight-based pricing, pickup, automatic courier integration — cost grows with complexity.
- Platform. WooCommerce (WordPress) with a ready admin panel and plugins is cheaper; a custom store for non-standard logic costs more.
- Data import. Moving products from a ready Excel file is fast; cleaning up a messy catalogue (mixed formats, no photos) is separate time.
- Integrations. Warehouse or accounting synchronisation, CRM, email marketing, marketplaces.
- Design and languages. Custom design and several languages also mean a fully translated catalogue.
Payments with Georgian banks: what to know
Online payment requires a merchant account with a bank or payment provider. It is opened in the business’s name, approval can take from days to weeks, and providers often require return and delivery policies on the site. Technical integration follows the provider’s documentation and is tested for successful, cancelled and failed payments. The provider keeps a commission on transactions — a running cost that does not appear in the proposal but must be included in your pricing. That is why the bank process should start in the project’s first week.
WooCommerce or a custom store
| WooCommerce (WordPress) | Custom store | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Low–medium | Medium–high |
| Management | Ready admin panel, your team independently | Exactly as planned for your process |
| Payment modules | Often ready or easily integrated | Every integration written separately |
| Speed on large catalogues | Needs optimisation | High |
| Maintenance | Regular updates required | Depends on the developer |
| Best for | Most stores | Non-standard pricing, ERP sync, very high traffic |
For most businesses WooCommerce is the right and economical starting point. Details: WordPress development and online store development.
Running costs not to forget
- Domain and hosting — a store needs stronger hosting than a regular site
- Payment-provider commission on every transaction
- Paid plugin and theme licences (for WooCommerce)
- Maintenance: updates, backups, compatibility checks of payment modules
- Content: photos and descriptions for new products — your team’s time
- Marketing: a store does not sell by itself — ads or SEO are a separate budget
How to lower the price without losing quality
- Organise the catalogue in Excel in advance: name, category, price, variants, photo file name. The biggest time saver.
- Start with one payment method and one delivery rule; add the rest after launch.
- Choose WooCommerce if the logic is standard — and adapt a ready theme instead of custom design.
- Postpone integrations (warehouse, accounting) to a second stage until order volume justifies them.
- Prepare legal texts (delivery, returns, privacy) according to your real rules — the bank asks for them.
What to plan before technical work starts: online store checklist. For an exact quote, tell us the product count, preferred payment and delivery methods and whether the catalogue has variants — starting prices are on the pricing page.